I found my soul.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ALENA
I knowwhenmy mom died; I just don’t remember it.
Time. Love. Life was ripped away from my young heart, and it took me months, years to get it back.
This is an eclipse of that. Another life-darkening event, but I’m older. Stronger. There’s light. I know I can find my way in time.
“So, Mom never knew?” I sniff back tears, sitting on the bed.
“No.” Dad kneels before me. He’s been telling me about our secret family. “She never knew about Nadine, her sons, or what we do. It was too dangerous. It’s all I’ve ever cared about: protecting you from danger. But…”
Protecting me? How?
Lies hurt. They make you question everything, mostly love.
“But I’m not ashamed of what we do,” Dad rushes out, seeing my tears. “We’re the beasts who kill the monsters, and we do it to keep girls like you… I mean, women too… We risk it all to save them.”
In seven breaths, they appear in my mind—Loch and his secret brothers.Dad. Sire. Axel. Grant. Jace. Nick.The names my dad just told me. Like the Big Dipper, a seven-star constellation I admire from my porch at night, they emerge in the darkness, shining over the mountains.
You mean they’ve been watching over my world this whole time?
But this means…
“So, Michael, my godfather, is really named Axel, and he’s Loch’sbrother?”
Oh god, no.This makes it so much worse. Loch doesn’t know about my first, and now it’s his brother, Axel?
And why do I care because Loch’s been deceiving me all this time? About everything. Everyone has. So has my dad. I start adding up the lies.
“And Sire, my pastor, is also his brother? And there are three others? They’re Loch’s five brothers, who I’ve never met?” Or so I thought. “And you’re telling me you’re sort of the Russian mafia, but you’re not? You’re likegoodmafia?”
What the fuck is “good mafia?” I don’t know, but Dad nods.
“Isthatthe lie Vale is so mad about?”
“No”—he shakes his head—“and it’snota lie.”
“Dad,” I seethe, fed the fuck up. “Quit being so cryptic and spit it out.”
There’s more. I can sense it. I’ve always sensed that there’s more. Something everyone knew but me.Don’t do that to someone. It’s cruel.
Dad inhales, squeezing my hands. I can see it in his eyes: how this is going to hurt.
“I told Loch to befriend you,” he says. “To meet you and keep an eye on you to keep you safe. You moved up there to those goddamn mountains, and we have too many enemies who can come after you. So, I needed to find a guard to protect you.”
Wait? What?
The convenience store? The Slurpees? The bed of green roses?
It was an act for him?
“You told Loch tobefriendme?” I pull my hands from his, feeling sick. Stupid. Betrayed. And so lost.
“Yes, but,” Dad swears, “Inevertold him to fall in love with you or ask you to marry him. In fact, I wanted to beat his ass for it.”
