Above us, I hear muffled bangs and footsteps, the workers on the roof.
“How long was I asleep?”
“Not long. Perhaps an hour.” As upended as my soul feels right now, he looks equally contented and happy. “We have missed you so much,Mazbushka. I never gave up hope.”
I don’t want to move. So many good childhood memories were made with him. “When’s Dad coming home?”
“He is scheduled to arrive before evening.”
“Can we call him?”
“We do not have portable phones like you do. Even if I could call, this is news best revealed in person. He will be so excited.”
There’s something in his tone, though. “Why don’t you sound happy about this?”
He sighs, playing with my hair for a moment before answering. “Because now we must find out how to send you back.”
“I don’t want to leave you!”
“You must, sweetheart. You can’t live in this world. It is too dangerous. Your father will come with you.” Hetsks. “He will be very cross with me for continuing to try after he gave up, but he will not be upset for long.”
“What do you mean?”
“He travels a lot for work. I think it hurts his heart too much staying home. Missing you and your mother. He stays busy to keep his mind occupied. He feels guilty about Sorcha dying.”
“Why?”
“We will never know all the details. Apparently, Serxon figured out how to signal with his ring. To home in on your mother’s ring. We tried to guard the stones to keep Serxon from crossing, but he slipped through and somehow made it to her. Killed her.” His tone turns bitter. “All because he wanted to ascend to the ruling class.”
“I…I don’t understand.”
“He wanted power. Your father caught him upon his return, and Serxon bragged about what he did. Once an Alpha marks a mate, that is their mate until one of them dies. An Alpha cannot have a child unless they mark their mate. Serxon killed Sorcha to try to force Parxon to mark me to produce an heir. Your father raged and killed him, but in the fight, Serxon’s ring was damaged.”
He curls locks of my hair around his fingers as he talks, stroking them. “We hoped your mother had told you about all of this, but when full moon after full moon passed, and you never appeared, we suspected you didn’t know. Parxon had trouble crossing with the damaged ring, to the point where the last time he attempted it, he almost did not make it back.
“As the years passed, I kept trying to contact you. I never abandoned hope. Grieving, your father threw himself into his work.”
“But…what about you?”
“What about me, angel?”
“You’re…alone.”
He sadly smiles. “Your father is a kind, loving man. He is my friend. We have leaned on each other through these years. The plan was to reunite him with you, move him to your world, and we’d fake his death here so I inherit everything, and then I could start a search for my own true mate.”
“We’d never see you again.”
“You will come visit with your ring.”
“Why don’t you look any older?”
“Because we live so long, sweetheart. Your father is a little older than I am, but we are very, very young in our time. I am 162 and he is 169.”
I sit up. “What?”
“Shh!”
I drop my voice. “You’re162years old?”
