“And he took her in?” My eyes widened. I was well aware that the Papa-in-Law I knew now was not the same man back then.
“He did, gladly. He wasrelieved,” Zane scoffed. “He had Cas and me already and no idea what to do with us. Like, literally no clue. We were just babies some women had dumped on him.”
“Mahina was a convenient solution,” Casimir added.
I understood what he meant. In his own cold way, Lucian had made a practical arrangement.
“She was so much more than that.” Koa’s voice was suddenly fierce as he clicked to another photo. Mahina in a sundress, kneeling ina garden, her face bright with laughter as three toddlers crowded around her. “She loved us.Allof us.”
“Yeah, she didn’t care that Cas and I weren’t hers by blood,” Zane added. “Seb, too. She smothered him in mothering just like she did us.”
“Look at her windowsill there.” Casimir leaned forward, his finger pointing to a detail in the background of the photo. “See the flowers? Evening primrose. She always had them. Said they were like holding sunshine in your hand.”
My breath caught. Evening primrose. Koa’s mate scent.
“The Moon Goddess knew what she was doing,” I whispered, reaching for Koa’s hand as my eyes stung.
“When you first told us, my heart stopped.” His fingers intertwined with mine, squeezing gently.
“Allof ours did,” Zane smirked. “Fang-rotted fate, always fucking around.”
“Mom smelled like vanilla, Seri,” Casimir added. “Most likely from all the cookies.”
“Is that where the obsession started?” I asked with a watery smile.
“Probably,” Koa said with a little smile. “She baked all the time. Said a house without cookies wasn’t a home. Also claimed it helped her ‘channel destructive energies.’ ”
“Yeah,ours,” Zane chuckled. “I tried to prank her once. Switched the sugar with salt.”
“You did not,” I gasped.
“I was four! It was hilarious to me. But she knew. Shetotallyknew, and she let me think I’d pulled it off.”
“And then?” I prompted, sensing there was more to the story.
“And then she made the cookies with the salt, but a separate batch with sugar. Gave all the salty ones to me and the good ones to Cas and Ko.” He shook his head, admiration in his eyes. “Figured out what happened on the first bite, but Ihadto pretend they were fine, didn’t I?”
I laughed, picturing a little redheaded menace choking down salty cookies while trying to maintain his pride. The image was so clear, so warm, Mahina knowing exactly how to teach her mischievous son a lesson while letting him save face.
“She sounds incredible.”
“She was.” Koa’s eyes glossed over.
As he flipped through more photos, the love in every image was undeniable. Mahina holding toddler Zane, kissing baby Koa’sforehead, braiding Casimir’s hair, which was long even then. I watched the three of them grow through the pictures, but I also noticed how Mahina changed, too. Her radiant smile remained, but her face grew thinner and her eyes tired, and a colorful scarf eventually replaced her thick black hair.
“The cancer came back when we were five,” Koa explained. “There was no beating it, despite Lucian paying for the best care.”
“Probably the only decent thing he ever did,” Zane muttered.
The next photo showed Mahina in a hospital bed, all three boys crowded onto it with her, a book open on her lap. Despite the medical equipment surrounding her, despite her evident fragility, she was reading to them, one arm curved protectively around Zane, who was tucked against her side.
“Did you understand what was happening?” I asked gently.
“Not really,” Zane admitted. “We knew she was sick. We knew she had to stay in the hospital. But we thought she’d come home eventually.”
“She didn’t,” Casimir stated in a cold voice, but I could hear the old pain underneath.
“Lucian offered to Turn her,” Koa confided. “She refused.”
