“You’re too weak,” he says firmly. “You two can talk. I’ll be outside.”
Then he steps into the corridor, closing the door behind him to give us privacy.
Mom wheels herself closer. She reaches for my hand, and I grab hers like a lifeline. We’re both crying now, tears streaming down our faces as she leans over the bed railing.
“Are you really okay?” she asks, her voice breaking. “I’ve been so scared. When I heard what happened in the arena…”
“I feel better, Mom. I promise.”
She smooths my hair back from my face, her touch gentle but trembling. “We’ll leave the pack once we both recover. We’ll go somewhere safe, somewhere far from all of this.”
I hesitate, and she must notice because her hand stopsmoving.
“Violet…”
“Darius is my fated mate, Mom. I’m not going anywhere.”
Her expression closes off immediately, pain and anger crossing her face. “His family is the reason I lost your father and your brother.”
“Yes,” I say softly. “But Darius had nothing to do with it.”
She pulls her hand back, her jaw tight.
“I love him, Mom.”
The words hang in the air between us after I see her flinch.
“He protected me,” I continue, needing her to understand. “He loves me. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose him.” I pause, gathering my courage. “I want a chance to be happy.”
“Happy?” She pauses, her voice rising slightly when she continues. “With the son of the man who destroyed our family?”
“Darius is not Alaric,” I say, keeping my voice steady even though my heart is pounding. “This is my decision, Mom. When I took that bullet for him, it was my decision. I was so used to being abandoned and tossed aside by you that I was sure he wouldn’t come for me. But he did. He risked everything, and he came for me. He chose me, Mom. For the first time, someone chose me. You can’t ask me to walk away from that.”
She stares at me, her eyes wide.
“You don’t know how badly you broke me,” I whisper. The words hurt coming out, but they need to be said. “Darius was the one who put me back together. Granted, we both made mistakes, but he came back to me over and over again, each time I pushed him away. I can’t lose him.”
“I was only trying to protect you,” she says, her voice cracking.
“I get it.” I reach for her hand again and hold it gently. “But in the process, I suffered. I don’t want to look at the past anymore. I want to move forward.”
She’s quiet for a long time, and I can see the struggle playing out across her face. At last, she says, “I don’t think I can stay here, Violet. Not in this pack.”
This hurts, but I understand. “That’s fine. You should go wherever you can find your peace.” I squeeze her hand. “But know that you can always come back to me.”
Her face crumples, and she leans forward, wrapping her arms around me as best she can with the bed rail between us. I hug her back, ignoring the protest of my injuries, just breathing in her familiar scent and letting my own tears fall.
“I love you,” she whispers against my hair. “All I want is for you to be safe.”
“I know, Mom.”
We stay like that for several minutes, holding each other and crying, grieving everything we have lost and everything that has changed. The girl I was when I first came to this pack feels like a stranger now. That Violet thought she was sick, weak, broken. She swallowed pills every day that made her nauseous, believing they were keeping her alive when they were actually suppressing who she truly was.
This Violet knows the truth. This Violet has survived torture and her own execution. This Violet has discovered her wolf and embraced what she is. This Violet has fallen in love with an alpha who would burn the world down to protect her.
When we separate, Mom wipes her eyes, trying to compose herself. “When did you get to be so strong?”
I let out a watery laugh. “I don’t feel strong.”
