He doesn’t carry on, not until I take one more fateful step down towards him. I can see he doesn’t want to tell me this. I need to hear it though. “Rochelle’s older sister came to Starlight City to visit her one weekend, when things were bad for me. The king was growing increasingly angry, and he had hurt Rhodes for it, leaving him with so many broken bones… I spent over twenty hours awake and putting them back for him so he would survive. When it was clear he would live, I met up with Anthony, Rochelle, and her sister, Lacey. It was one night that I barely remember. Between the lack of sleep, the whiskey I drank to forget, and the pills she dropped into my drink to cheer me up…it was all a blur. I don’t want Franklin to ever know this, but it was not what I wanted. I never once looked at anyone and wanted them, not after I knew you existed.”
“Hollis…” I breathe. “That’s assault. Not a choice.”
“And it stays between us. Please,” he asks.
“Gods, I would never say a word.” I shake my head. “This stays between us.”
“Another step, mate.” He softly orders me. I take a step, the warm water moving to my knees. I’m scared, but his story is everything I needed to hear. “A few months later, Lacey told me she was pregnant and was planning to come back to give me the child to raise. She didn’t want it. I did not know what to say. Only that I had to do the responsible thing and take my child. Anthony and Rhodes talked me through it and promised to be there. Even though you had rejected us, we were still looking for you, and I felt like I had betrayed you.” My heart cracks. “And it was fine for a while until she gave birth. She died in childbirth from complications, and Rochelle was left with no other familyother than the baby and Anthony. I was just handed a small baby and told to care for him. He didn’t even have a name. She never thought to give one to him, and Rochelle was in mourning, Anthony with her. So, I named him.”
I feel tears filling my eyes. He must have felt so alone. “Did you know my father’s middle name was Franklin?”
“Yes. I admired your father for raising a child that wasn’t even his. For loving you, and I secretly wanted to show you that even though I was holding another woman’s child, I was thinking of you always.” A sob catches in my throat. “I did not know about the drowning at that point.”
Another step down, I’m half in a trance the entire time. “Things were okay for a while. Anthony and Rochelle…we all got along well and focused on raising Franklin. Rhodes helped out too, but he was making sure the king didn’t know of Franklin. We weren’t sure the king wouldn’t take Franklin to be a new commander or kill him outright. Franklin wasn’t part of our orders.”
I wondered when they stopped following the Vian king’s orders, and it must have been around the time they found out about me. The decision was firm when Franklin came into the world. One more step and the water hovers at my upper thighs.
“Then, two years ago, everything changed. I was out with Anthony, and we got into a human car crash of all things, just outside Edinburgh. Something easy that we could have walked away from. This one we did not. We were attacked by Vian, sent by the king as revenge for Franklin. He found out. I fought them as hard as I could, but one of them was a top commander, and he had a power that nullified other powers. This man was brutal, and he killed Anthony in front of me, and there was nothing I could do. I barely escaped with my life. I had to leave his body there with them to get back to Franklin and make sure he was safe. Thankfully, Rhodes overheard the king’s plans and wentfor Franklin to hide him. He didn’t know the king had also sent people after me and Anthony.”
“I know who you mean, I think. He came into Starlight City looking for me at one point,” I whisper.
“You’ll find he’s not alive anymore.”
“Good.” Another step and tension skips in the air.
“Rochelle thought she’d lost everything and it was my fault. She wouldn’t listen to reason, and she wanted me to suffer for Anthony. She took Franklin back to the Vian city, where I could not go often because I was ordered to stay in Starlight. She knew that I was under the king’s orders never to leave, never to be suspicious, and to never show any of my Vian side. If I’d gone into that city and taken Franklin, then I couldn’t have come back for you. Rochelle got close to the king, claiming she was controlling me, and got the king’s blessing to bring Franklin up in the city, to train him, and when he is old enough, make him a commander like his father. I was livid, but I knew if I took Franklin, everything would be over. We’d all end up dead. Rhodes would have been killed too, and then you, when you were found. She knew this, and so she blackmailed me. She made it very clear that she wanted you to suffer and for me to suffer. For both of us to know what the pain of not having our mates was like. She commanded everything that I did, using my son as leverage, and only allowed me to see him if I played a part in her schemes.”
That bitch is dead. He looks down still, like he doesn’t want to see my reaction. “Hollis,” I breathe. “Look at me.”
He slowly lifts his head, his eyes wet with tears, and his face kills me. Gods, he hates himself. “You don’t need forgiveness, but for what it might be worth, I give it to you. I am so sorry for what you lost, for what you suffered and… Can I ask a question?” The water’s up to my chest now, and I’m so close to him. God,I’m scared, but he’s very much distracting me. “Do you love me? Are you in love with me, Hollis?”
“I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you, mate,” he whispers, and my heart warms. “I may have kissed her, but I felt nothing, absolutely nothing, yet one touch from you and it was like I was burning alive, and I hated it. I hated that I could not have you. I pushed you away because I know I’m not deserving of you, and you could do so much better. I was being torn fucking apart with how I feel, and I’m done with that. I have my son and he’s safe. I don’t expect you to accept him or want anything to do with him?—”
“Hollis, I want to know him.” I stop him from going further with that thought. Franklin is part of my mate, and he will be part of my life. “And I love you too. You’re infuriating and maddening, but you’re mine. I liked being your rival because it was as close as I could get to you. Now, there is nothing in the world that’s going to stop us from being together.”
“Nothing.” He comes closer. “Are you sure, mate? I’m a possessive bastard, and if you say you’re mine, I’m never letting you go.”
“You did a good job of making me think you hate me.” I move closer. “That’s the thing, Hollis.” I wrap my arms around his neck. “I always trusted you, and I never understood why until right this moment. I’m yours. We still have things to discuss with Rhodes and Georgina, but it won’t break us.” His body tenses as the water moves around us. I’m shaking as he grips me to him, holding me close. “You got me in the pool. It’s the first time I’ve been in a pool and not been terrified.”
“Then let me fully distract you.” He slams his lips onto mine, and it’s like coming home, and I can finally taste him. Hollis groans against me, and I gasp, wanting so much more. I sink into the kiss as he deepens it, pulling as close as I can get, and I moan as I feel how hard he is between my legs.
The lift clicks open, and we both turn, seeing Finnegan running in with Aleksander behind him. “Gwen, I need to leave. The Vian king has my sister and father in Starlight City. He found them.”
Chapter
Fourteen
Once my aunt learnt of the threat, she immediately got things ready for us to leave, while I told Finnegan about my dream. It wasn’t just a dream, and I should have said something to him. But, as he pointed out, what difference would it have made? We wouldn’t have known where to find them, and it would have left us in the same position we are in right now. At least my dream told me one thing the Vian king didn’t—Severi has Franklin and Nibbles. There is no way he would have left a kid and my dog in the forest alone. Why didn’t Georgina take them for the king as leverage? I shake my head and focus on the now, on what I’m going to be walking into.
Six huge army helicopters wait for us in the pouring rain, the propellers spinning loud and wild against the downfall. There is one for my mates and me. The others are full of soldiers that have volunteered to go into Starlight City to help who they can get out while we make a good distraction. It’s a trap, I know it is, but the king has Finnegan’s family, and there isn’t a world where I wouldn’t go to any lengths to help him. It made me feel like I was part of a new family today when we all started making plans for Starlight, and not one of my mates or I even thought about not going. I could see it meant a lot to Finnegan.
My aunt stops at my side as Onyx moves aside for her. Her umbrella briefly keeps the downfall of rain off me, and I miss it. I need the icy rain right now to cool how I’m feeling inside. “Each helicopter can take around twenty to forty people back, niece. They are reporting to you and your mates, and they are on orders to help you however they can.”
“The plan is rescue, not to do anything else. I’m not sure what is going to happen, but I’m going to be okay because I have them.” I nod at my mates. I feel them all watching me in the way they always do, just in case I need help or backup.
“Come back. It’s been nice having family around.” It’s the most vulnerable she is willing to show me, and I appreciate it. The helicopters are growing in noise, and it’s getting so loud it’s vibrating against my chest. “It’s a bit of a ride from here. Whatever happens, I am praying for you.”
“Wait.” I stop her from leaving. “Why did my sister never trust you and come here? I have to know. It’s been burning in my mind. My mother always said we couldn’t trust anybody, and we always had to run. My father was never quite on board with that, but you sound like you loved her. You’ve offered a sanctuary in this amazing city, and yet she didn’t come. You’re sending me with soldiers to rescue a city that you owe nothing to either, so I’m thinking you’re not all that bad. So why? She never called Starlight City her home, and she hated it there.”
