“I assume Monster is the young man you met?”
Carys nodded.
“Oh, my sweet, naïve little girl.” Her mother cupped her cheek, and Carys was transported back in time.
“Sit back down, Carys. It’s time I told you the truth.”
“What truth?”
“All of it.”
Carys settled back on her mother’s hospital bed as her mom stood and paced.
“There is no cure for what I have. I am going to die. It’s an inevitability. I knew it from the second I felt the snap.”
“But—” Her mother stayed her words with little more than a look. She walked to the door and looked out. Before turning back and lowering her voice.
“Your father severed our bond. That is a death sentence for me. I don’t know how he managed it and lived, but …” she trailed off.
“What do you mean? You left him years ago, but you just got sick.”
“Yes, but we never severed our bond. Then, suddenly one day, I felt it. At first, I thought it was his death I felt when the bond snapped, but then I got sick. Meaning he severed the bond without his death. I don’t know how he did it, but he found a way.”
“His wolf. His pack found a way to do it. He doesn’t even smell like a wolf. He can’t shift or call on him. He bragged about it, but I didn’t know …”
“That rat bastard. He must’ve performed the rejection ritual before, or I’d be free when he or his wolf left him.”
“But surely you can heal and?—”
“No, my daughter.” Her mother sat beside her, looking a little worse for wear. “There is no cure.”
Carys was confused. “Why did you let me do all this?” She indicated their surroundings. “The treatments, the trials?”
“For you. You weren’t ready. You needed hope and time to accept it. A way of feeling like you had some control over it. I endured it all for you. But had I known it would put you back on that man’s radar, I would’ve explained it before now.
Carys had disturbing thoughts pelting her from all directions.
“Mom, you don’t think he did it on purpose, do you? Knowing I would seek him out, or at the very least be receptive to him, do you?”
“I’d bet everything I have on it. He did this to me to get to you. He’s using you, Carys. You must get away. If his pack is involved, they’ll have you in an underground lab or bred by some monstrosity they’ve created.”
“His pack was wiped out. He’s all that’s left.”
Her mother let out a deep breath. “Good riddance. But Cliff has always been pack through and through. Even if he’s all that’s left, he is still reaping the benefits of their evil, I’m sure of it.”
Her mother held her hands in hers and brought them to her lips, dropping a kiss on them. “Carys, promise me you’ll get away from him. It’s too late for me, but not for you. Trust me, he doesn’t have a cure, especially without his wolf, but he’s still evil.”
Carys made that promise, but she wouldn’t sacrifice Monster and the Kings. There was only one way for that to happen—her father would have to be dead.
“Good, now tell me about your young man. Is he your mate?”
“Everything inside me says yes, but he doesn’t see me as his.”
They spent the next hour just being as they were before her mother took ill. Talking about anything and everything.
If she wanted to preserve a chance with Monster, it would require extracting herself from her father delicately.
She wondered, not for the first time, why Monster wore that silver. Was that why his wolf didn’t recognize her?
