“My father is just gone. Gone. Gone!” Selina’s voice rose, and it was uncanny how beautiful the sound was, even in her anger. Kylo shook himself.Perhaps it’s just as well we hadn’t heard her speak before.
“Don’t you see? He was my construct. My creation…”
Kylo reared back, sure he had heard wrong, that maybe the wards were distorting the words somehow. If anything, Selina was James’ creation, made from his DNA.
“They thought I was weak because I was a girl. They didn’t know what I know.” Selina laughed, and the sound chilled Kylo to the core.
“Selina, child, I am sure this is all just one big misunderstanding. Why don’t we go back to the house—the house you warded to keep us all safe, don’t you remember?”
Clearly, Kylo’s mom realized she was dealing with a crazy person. She was right, but not for the reasons she was likely thinking.
“The wards are nothing.” Selina was pacing again. “A way to keep tabs on those who seek to hurt me. Did you know… Did you know how long your precious Kylo has sought to find my father? Twenty years of his life chasing a ghost.”
Kylo’s mom chuckled, she actually chuckled, and from outside of the house Kylo admired how strong his mom was even as he worried about where Conrad was. In his spider form, he’d be so vulnerable…
“Selina, now, don’t you think you’re being a bit silly? If your father is already a ghost, then you can’t be angry at Kylo for not knowing where he is. Look, what I think has happened is that you’ve had some kind of upset, perhaps over the death of your brothers, which is always difficult to deal with. We can help you. We always have. You’ve known us since you were a sweet waif found in the jungle. Do you remember? I gave you the first cookie you’d ever had.”
“It was a lovely cookie.” Selina’s voice was so quiet it was difficult to hear. “I’m not silly, and it’s you that doesn’t understand. Your son is the one that brought all this chaos to the jungle.”
“Kylo? I’m lost, honey.”
“It was Ben first, then it was Kylo,” Selina hissed. “Bringing men here who could track me down, invading my home, invading my space, taking my father away from me!”
“I’m really not sure—”
Kylo didn’t find out what his mom was unsure of, although he imagined it was a fair bit. He and his brothers had deliberately kept the nature of the threats and what they’d found from their parents in an effort to keep them safe. That was all irrelevant, because Selina screamed, “I should kill you, and then your precious sons will know what I feel!”
No. Not happening. Kylo didn’t have a clue where Conrad was, and that was a worry, but he would not stand by while Selina lost her shit and harm his parents. For all Conrad’s talk about her not killing anyone without reason, his mate was assuming they had trained Selina the same way he had been.
It was clear, from what Selina was saying, that she believed she had good reason to kill his parents. In everything that had happened, his mom and dad were truly innocent in all the shit that’d gone down. If Selina had an issue with him, and clearly she did, then she could face him and leave his parents out of it.
Calling on every ounce of strength his cat had, Kylo braced himself against the pain he knew the wards would cause him and flung himself through the glass of the window he was listening at. The pain was like someone had taken daggers and dragged them through his fur, but he was through, and Kylo would thank his mating with Conrad for that.
His mom gasped, and Selina screamed. Kylo had just enough time to notice his father had something stuffed in his mouth which would explain why he hadn’t said anything, before he leaped and launched himself at the woman who threatened his mom.
It registered, barely, Conrad’s voice yelling, “Mate, no,” before his body exploded in a mass of pain. Worse than being shot, worse than finding out about Selina’s betrayal, worse than fighting through the wards to save his mom. When he landed on the wooden floor, Kylo felt the cuts of a million knives before darkness welcomed him.
Chapter Fifteen
Conrad
In the room, Conrad made good progress, listening to Selina’s lunacy. Her voice was hypnotic and more than a little creepy. His spider form meant communication was harder, yet as he sensed Kylo’s conviction to get to his parents at the genuine threat, he tried to reach out.
Wait, Kylo. I’m here. I’ll protect them.
In the following split second, Conrad swore at Kylo, who didn’t appear to hear him. Kylo had become focused on the threat and saving his parents, and Conrad felt Kylo’s intention.
Conrad, left with no choice, shifted as Kylo breached the wards hard enough that the room shook them as if they were amid an earthquake. Pain came through their bond and tore at Conrad’s soul. He could do nothing in that moment to take that pain from his mate, no matter how much he wanted to.
Conrad gained his footing. His instinct to fight, to survive and protect, came fast. A gasp and a scream followed. The scream was unholy and came from the woman, who wore the feral look of a cornered animal, staring at Kylo.
Fuck you! You will not touch my mate.
Conrad stored away his fear for his mate as he called out, “Mate, no,” when Kylo launched at the madwoman who raised her hands, magic glowing around her in a bright ball of raging fire. It lit the room, the power scorching everything it touched.
Conrad’s naked body burned. Flesh, fur, and scales shifted over his bones, working to protect him with no conscious effort. He had a moment to register the beauty of the woman that would lure many and make her the lethal weapon they’d clearly trained her to be. It was there in the way she held herself, even with the insanity shining from eyes that could suck the soul from a person.
Every animal inside him rose at once, the power pouring out of him as he ran in front of Kylo to stop the magic hit. Kylo landed with a hard thud and became utterly still as some of the magic hit him.
