Jesse stood in the doorway holding Andrew in her arms. A sight that Cora never thought she would see again. Truthfully, she thought that Jesse had been killed and that she would never be coming back. Sitting on the floor for a moment, Cora gazed at her best friend with pure shock in her big brown eyes. She was unable to move as she saw how tightly Andrew was hugging his mom. The two had always been close and Cora could see that Andrew was not letting go anytime soon as he had his face buried into his mother's neck with his fingers clinging to her hair. After a moment she was finally able to stand and run over to Jesse and wrap her arms around her neck in a tight hug. For a moment, she had forgotten that Jesse had betrayed their pack and that she had kept a secret from Cora for all this time. As she stepped back, she bit her bottom lip. She was torn between forgiving Jesse and turning her back on her. In her eyes, she was her best friend, but at the same time, she was a traitor an

"What happened to Auntie Cora, momma? Why won't she wake up?" The sound of Andrew's voice was so far away. She felt like she was in a tunnel and unable to get out. She could hear the hushed voices around her and the shushes when Andrew tried to ask questions. Everyone sounded worried. She could feel herself slowly regaining consciousness, but she felt weak and drained. Her mind was blank and she had no idea where she was or what had happened. Her overall being felt different. As if she felt a release like she had been set free. Little did she know, that others had gone literally mad when they had been through what she had. The bits and pieces of her memory that had been repressed for so many years had started to come back. They would be small and short at first. The vampire that compelled her had done a thorough job and only two things could break the compulsion that he had done on her. The vampire would have to reverse her compulsion or a traumatic experience that would shock her

A week went by with the nightmares that seemed to plague her every sleeping moment. She couldn't get the images out of her mind and with each passing day, she was slipping into more darkness. As time wore on, she tried everything that she could to stay awake. Sleeping was now her ultimate fear. Ana suggested that she see the Royal Therapist once a day to start and then cut back the time as she healed. The sad thing was that Ana was afraid she was going to lose her daughter all over again. She didn't want that to happen. Cora had begun to deal with seizures and more panic attacks. Mostly because of the things she had done and they were coming back to haunt her. Once she had actually died in one of her dreams. Bringing her back to the land of the living was difficult. It was all Ana could do to get Cora to hang on. After a week, she finally stabilized enough that Ana tried to bring in the pack therapist. Cora was pulling away and withdrawing more and more into herself. Some days she

Cora lay on the bed in her room with the blankets over her head. Her head throbbed with the pain that the memories were causing her and she felt sick from her previous actions. She felt cold and weak a the moment and her eyes were closed as she tried to push the horrible things out of her head. She wanted to die at this point. Give up because she had lost hope of ever being normal or happy again. Not after what she was remembering. It didn't matter to her that she was compelled to do those things. That she was poisoned and hypnotized by the man that she thought was her father. The man that she still considered her father in some ways. She missed him at times. The hardest part of the whole thing was that she also knew that Jeffrey and Ana were her parents. That they were brokenhearted and disappointed in the daughter that they had recovered, only to find that she was not their daughter anymore. Not in the ways that counted. She didn't even know if Alyssa existed underneath all of th

The next morning Alyssa awoke to an empty warm spot next to her and she sat up to look around the room. After a moment she realized that she could hear the shower going and she knew that was where Xander went.Maya poked her head in at that moment and smiled. She was glad that Alyssa seemed to be returning to her old self."Breakfast will be served in the royal dining hall in an hour. Everyone is excited to see you."Alyssa smiled back and nodded. Her memories and dreams were slowly going away and she was able to think clearer. It seemed that all those stories that she had heard about mate healing were true. At least from her point of view.Furthermore, she didn't feel compelled to be loyal to the Rogue King. He may have raised her, but Jeffrey was her father. Something that she never would have chosen belfore.She was hoping that she was finally home and that she was free of that part of her life forever.The shower stopped and she quickly got up to get dressed for the day. She decid