CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

LILLIAN POV

The scent of chocolate tea and burning cedar logs filled the cozy safe house as I curled into the worn out armchair, my fingers tracing the fresh imprint of Drake’s teeth on my throat. The mark had not broken into my skin…not yet….but the phantom sting made my heart flutter.

Lydia glanced up from sharpening her daggers, her amber eyes catching the firelight. “Stop touching it. You will make it worse.”

“I can’t help it.” I said dreamily that my skin flushed out of embarrassment.

Salome snorted from her perch by the window, her golden hair glinting under the candlelight. “Moon Goddess save us. She has gone into a full lovestruck pup.”

A log cracked loudly in the fireplace, sending up a shower of sparks. I stretched my legs toward the warmth. “Where is Josh? He was supposed to bring more firewood.”

Lydia paused in shining her blade and looked up. “He went to see Drake.”

“Why?” I asked shocked.

“Said he needed to deliver a message.” Her gaze rested on my mark. “Though if you ask me, he just wanted to punch something after seeing….that.”

The chair creaked as I sat upright. “Wait. He told Andre?”

“Oh please…” Salome rolled her eyes. “Like we wouldn’t smell Andre heartbreak from three territories away.”

I was overcome with guilt instantly for I had known the bond would hurt him, but—

“Lillian?”

My mother’s voice spun me around. She stood in the bedroom doorway, her silver streaked hair loose around her shoulders, her hand clutching an old photo album. The sight of it—of us all before the execution, before exile—made my breath seized.

“You three are louder than a pack of howling wolves.” Her slippers landing softly against the hardwood as she approached. “What is this about heartbreak?”

Lydia and Salome suddenly found the ceiling fascinating with the worn out painting and cedar wood.

I swallowed hard. “Mum—”

“Don’t you ‘Mum’ me.” She snapped as she dropped the anion onto the coffee table with a thud. The open page showed a childhood picture of a six year old me grinning beside my mum who had stood behind the Luna with her son…a scowling Drake at the summer lantern festival, my gaze planted firmly at the back of his head. “You have loved that boy since you could walk. And now you are repeating history.”

The accusation stung. “It is different now.”

“Is it?” Her fingers brushed the photo. “His father took everything from us, Lily. Your childhood. Our home. Your father.”

The words stung deep in my heart and I reached out for her hand. “Mother, Drake wasn’t the one who—”

“I know.” She squeezed my fingers tightly, her calloused palm from years of human labor rested heavily on my skin. “But power changes people. I know what I am saying. And that boy has more of it than any Alpha I have ever known.”

Lydia cleared her throat suddenly and asked, “Should we…you know?” She jerked her thumb towards the door.

“No.” My mother replied calmly. “You are her pack now. You should hear this too.”

She sank onto the couch, the photo album gaping between us like an unheralded wound.

“You think I don’t see how you look at him?” My mother’s voice softened. “Like he hung the moon and stars. Just like you did when you were little.”

Firelight danced across the photo album pages….frozen moments of a life stolen from us. Me laughing heartily with my father. Me stealing glances at boy Drake at a distance with his friends. Me staring without a care in the world if he was near me.

And all these time, he appeared to never notice me.

Salome leaned forward and asked with surprise etched on her face. “You knew?”

“Of course.” My mother laughed half sadly half happy. “She came home everyday with another story. I saw Drake today. He smiled at me. He looked at me.” Her smile faded. “Then suddenly it was Drake won’t look at me. Drake called me the maid’s daughter.”

The memories came rushing back…the whiplash of his betrayal, the cafeteria humiliation, the way he had watched with cold eyes as his friends destroyed my school reputation.

Lydia’s claw unsheathed. “And you still want him?”

“Yes.” I said stiffly, with no room for doubt.

My mother shook her head and sighed. “Andre is good man. A safe choice.”

“He is not my choice.”

The fire popped as silence stretched between us. Outside, an owl cried…a mournful sound that’s alike to ache in my chest.

My mother turned a page in the album and a teenage Drake glared up at the camera, his gray eyes stormy even then. “You think loving him will be enough? That an Alpha raised on power and punishment will change?”

“He already has.” I touched the tender skin of my throat. “The boy who hurt me is gone.”

“Is he?” Her finger tapped a photo of Drake standing beside his father at my dad’s sentencing. “Or is he just better at hiding now?”

The question hung around my head like blade.

Wind rattled the windowpanes violently. Somewhere in the forest, a branch snapped.

My mother suddenly went rigid, her teacup freezing halfway to her lips. “Something’s coming.”

Lydia sprung on her feet instantly with her daggers drawn. “Eastern pack?”

“No.” My mother’s eyes glazed over the way they did when her seer’s blood rises to the surface. “Something is….closer.”

Goosebumps spread all over my arm. “What do you see?”

The teacup shattered on the floor.

“Drake’s mate.”

The word landed heavily on your heads and my heart sank.

Salome sucked in a breath and whispered fearfully, “But Lillian is—”

“Not his.” My mother’s voice turned hollow. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t grant second chances. If Andre is Lily’s mate, then Drake has another.”

The room went pitch black instantly as I lost my balance. Lydia’s grip kept me from sliding off the chair.

“No.” I shook my head. “That is not—he would have sensed her by now—”

“Unless an unfortunate circumstance had happened to her or she is from another pack.” My mother said seriously, her gaze piercing deep into mine. “What happens when she appears, Lily? When your Alpha is bound to another?”

The scenario unfolded in my mind like a nightmare….

Drake’s eyes glazing over at some stranger’s scent…his teeth sinking into another woman’s throat…the bond between us snapping like rotten thread.

Lydia cursed and sprang to her feet. “We need to tell Drake. He needs to be expecting her.”

“No.” My mother’s hand clamped around my wrist. “This is a warning, not a prophecy. The future isn’t fixed.”

“But if it’s—” My voice broke.

“Then you will survive.” Her thumb brushed my pulse, right over Drake’s mark. “Just like you survived before.”

The album lay open between us, it’s pages a reminder for all we had lost. And all I stand to lose again.

Outside, the wind howled like a wounded wolf.