Chapter 59

Chapter 59

The hard hardwood floor from where I had collapsed under my mother's cruel hands was fused to my muscles when I woke up the following morning, a throbbing pain growing inside of me like poisonous vines wrapping around my limbs and imprisoning me.

I woke up with a burning sensation in my blood and a burning sensation against my bones from the iciness, and I wanted to return to the dark.

I was softer because of the years I spent hidden from her sight, away from it all, I was an idiot for pushing her memories to the back of my memory in the hopes and prayers that I would never have to see her again. I would always have to complete the task she began all those years ago because she would always find me. The only person with sufficient authority to grant her wish was me. There were methods to disrupt a mate link prior to the marking, but nothing could break the bond between a mother and her daughter. The blood bond we shared was impenetrable.

I had to drag myself to the couch after pulling myself up off the floor because the pain and worry were wrecking me. My brother's mournful glance had me wilting against the cushions, and my mother's touch was still burning a hole in my flesh. After all these years of looking for him, he had been in the one place I never wanted to return to.

Perhaps his love for me wouldn't have turned to hate if I hadn't been so self-centered.

Maybe this could have ended years ago if I hadn't been such a coward.

My spine stiffened and shuddered as a searing sensation tore through me.

Inside of me, my powers were pulsating, tumbling with the craziness of my thoughts, just waiting for me to snap. My mother was impatient and tore through the binding spell the demon had placed on me, leaving me an unstable force. The spell had been tearing me apart since the moment I found my partner.

I was a bomb waiting to go off, and my powers were prickling at my edges. I was now at the demon's mercy because it had warned me what would happen if the binding spell failed. There was nothing I could do about it.

I am dependent on my magic, my mother, and my mate for support.

I had three days to tell Derrick the truth, to tell him everything from beginning to end, and to watch as his need for me turned to loathing. I was anarchy in body and soul, in decision and in reaction. I had three days to convince him not to reject me, and then I would be back where I had started ten years before, either prepared to die or subject to my mother's wishes once more.

My impulse to flee from everything was fierce, but it was pointless. Even if I didn't tell Derrick the truth, I would still be pursued by the wolf and would end up going straight into her hands since it was their will to hunt for what they wanted.

My mother's slight error in judgment was my sole hope for survival at the moment.

Before allowing me to return to him, she ought to have ascertained who my mate was. Before she sent me back to the Alpha King, whom she intended to destroy, she ought to have discovered to whom I was bound. She ought to have realized that I would much rather be his prisoner than her pawn in another puppet show.

I had put myself in this prison of my own creation, but at least I could choose my path, and I had long since come to terms with death.

There was a steel force in my chest—a barrier between right and wrong—that I was determined to destroy once and for all.

Even though it wasn't how I had intended, it was proper of me to give in to Derrick and admit that it had been wrong of me to keep him in the dark for any longer.

I forced myself to move away from the pillows, my body protesting my resolute determination. That is, until my spine stiffened in horror and the front door's doorknob began to rattle. The fatigue tearing through my body was unstoppable, and the magic sparking against my fingertips left me helpless. The moment my powers were apparent, I repressed them, balling my fingers into fists and using one of my less destructive tendencies to try to figure out who was attempting to break into my flat.

Before I ever saw her, my wolf picked up her scent.

Hanging onto the side of the door, Vera staggered into the room, her feet scraping the rug. She gave a small laugh, then took her keys out of the door and closed it as softly as she could. With a sigh, she reclined against it, cradling her heels against her tummy with her hand. Watching her with her disheveled curls and her burgundy body-con dress, my heart sank. I hadn't even started to consider the possibility that she might have been in danger because I was so preoccupied with myself.

Had she not chosen to remain at home and been walking around in humiliation at the moment, I would have been a self-absorbed, shy friend.

If she had been in the midst of it all, if they had reached her before they had reached me, I wouldn't even want to consider what may have happened to her.

She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a guilty look as soon as she opened her eyes, locking eyes with me as if I had caught her red-handed. Though it wasn't the first time I had witnessed her acting suspiciously and breaking into our room in our previous pack after a hard night, this time she wasn't the only one.

"It looks like we both had the same idea." She bounced to the sofa, falling onto the cushions on my side, and laughed gently as she drew herself away from the door. I wanted to cry, but she moaned as she nestled against me, finding solace in my company.

She was going to despise me too, since I had spent the last ten years lying to her about who I was.

"How was your night?" She sighed heavily because she knew that if things hadn't gone as smoothly as she had hoped, I wouldn't be here. In fact, she had already calculated what would have occurred if I hadn't had a tendency to screw things up.

I'd hardly stayed with Derrick for a few hours before my guilty conscience began to bite me in the belly, and he hadn't even succeeded in getting me to his bed.

"Were you out all night?" Instead, my voice cracked against the memory of my screams as I begged her, my voice raspy.

She nodded, her head bobbing against my side as I softly exhaled, grateful that something had gone my way at least.

Though he obviously hated me now, Kyle was no longer lost to me, and Vera was secure and undamaged. In addition, my mother was unaware that my mate was Derrick Anderson, the king of wolves.

"And what about you?" I stammered as she drew me away from my rushing thoughts.

I couldn't tell her the truth about how I had ruined everything and left Derrick because I didn't want her to be angry with me again.