“I don’t know. He jerked my collar off like I had tried to do so many times, and he tossed it away before walking off. And I stood there for almost too long just staring after him, terrified about what to do even though I was free. I almost didn’t run. Finally, my wolf took over when my weak mind wanted to give up. That’s how I really escaped.”
Brushing her wet hair from her face, I try to soothe her, desperate to bring her out of this.
“It doesn’t matter how you escaped. It matters that you’re here. And we really can keep you safe. Give me a chance to prove it, sweet girl. I won’t let you down again.”
She leans into my touch, giving me a touch of hope as she closes her eyes, but when her eyes open again, I don’t like the hopelessness I see.
“I wish we were just humans. Maybe things could have been different.”
I really fucking hate her tone right now—defeated resolve.
“If we’d been human, I’d have been dead long before you were born. See? Two sides to every coin, babe. We’re not human. We’re not normal. We’ve had to survive. You said yourself you’d heard about my gory past. I loved it, Roslyn—loved the kill. The beasts ruled me for a long time before I got control. You were forced into being their slave. You’re better than me, and quite frankly, I don’t feel like I deserve to die. I got over it a long fucking time ago, and so will you. Come back with me so I can protect you.”
A brittle smile crosses her lips, and she turns away again. “Go home, Thad. Be ready for the worst. Because they haven’t even gotten started yet. Believe me when I say it’s better that you’re nowhere around me.”
I jump to grab her, but the invisible barrier tosses me back, sending me sailing as a yelp escapes my lips. Fucking shit.
Chapter 34
ROSLYN
Dad’s eyes are watering when I walk back in, and he turns away from me as Thad makes himself comfortable right in front of the porch, barely staying away from the reach of the protection spell. Dray won’t meet my eyes, and I know why.
I’m the monster, and everyone knows it. Everyone but Thad, and that’s because he refuses to see the truth.
I thought he’d kill me. It terrified me at first, but then I felt the strong tug of relief to know it would finally be over.
But he denied me peace.
“What are you doing?” Dad asks me when I grab my purse.
“I don’t have their blood. They were careful of that, probably in case I ever escaped. I need to get away from you before they come.”
I wish I had the courage to kill myself, but I wouldn’t even know how to now. Unless I could get ahold of an anointed weapon somehow.
“You’re not going anywhere. I can find you, too. In case you’ve forgotten,” Dad growls, grabbing me by the elbow and spinning me around to face him.
He looks about as shitty as I feel right now, but he suddenly crushes me to him in a hug that’s just shy of being painful, and I fall apart against him as the monster sobs I’ve been holding back finally breach.
“You have to stay here. I’ll go talk to the others. Running right now will only put you in danger, and I swear, it’ll be the death of me. I’m not strong enough to lose my daughter twice.”
I nod against him, letting him win for the time being, and he holds me together when I’d love nothing more than to fall apart. I know Thad is listening to every word—we haven’t been quiet. Just like Thad and I weren’t quiet when my dad wasn’t listening.
“If you can track her, why couldn’t you find her in the rings?” Dray’s voice is sudden, and Dad tenses.
“She’s my daughter. For some reason, that makes me able to track her scent no matter what. As long as she’s in this plane. It’s when they pulled her into other planes that I lost her.”
“Then why couldn’t you find her after the amnesia spell?” Dray asks.
“Because that spell messed up. It somehow completely separated her fey side from her mortal side. I could only track her when she was in shifted form. That’s how I eventually knew she’d gone to Pine Shore, but she’d only be under the fey influence for short bursts of time.”
Dray sighs as my eyes fall back on my mother, and I move away from my dad as she rouses from sleep, groaning as she sits up. Liza is suddenly there, helping my mother, and Mom’s eyes meet mine.
“How’d you get away?” Mom asks in disbelief, as though she’s terrified to be too hopeful.
“Thad loves her,” Dray says before I can answer, and my stomach roils when I see the horror on my mother’s face.
Almost as quickly, it’s gone and replaced by… amusement? How can she be amused right now?