Lyric turned.
Eden canted her head, and for a moment, her eyes were full of some emotion Lyric didn’t understand. “I have good memories too.”
Lyric nodded. “Let’s hold onto those when we think of each other.”
“I don’t have anyone left,” Eden said.
Aro, her father, had been killed. Her first mate had been killed right after they’d been paired. Traydon had been killed. Part of her Pack had been killed in her wars. And now Lyric would leave. Never again would she lift a finger to help Eden.
Lyric pursed her lips. “I think that is the consequence of your own actions.”
Eden’s eyebrows twitched, and she looked at the ground.
“To keep people, you have to take care of them,” Lyric said.
She lingered for a moment more, and then she got into her car, and she left, knowing she would never return to her old life again.
Lyric drove home with an aching heart. All she wanted to do was Change and be with Vic and get rid of these awful feelings.
She knew this was the right move. She knew she had to let go of her old life completely, and Eden couldn’t co-exist with the woman Lyric was becoming. She would stunt her growth and hurt her. She would find a way to regain control of her and then kill her if she stepped out of line, and that wasn’t acceptable to Lyric anymore.
She wanted freedom. She deserved it after everything she had been through.
But change was hard, and leaving the past behind could break a heart in surprising ways.
She drove to Rogue Pack territory, the music turned off, window rolled down, eyes blurry with tears as she rested her elbow on the open window frame and chewed on her thumbnail, trying to convince herself to lock away all the memories of her and Eden as children.
By the time she pulled up to Vic’s home, she was beside herself. She was raw and vulnerable, and her body ached so bad just from thinking of what she needed to do.
She wanted to be with Vic. She wanted him to take all the pain away from her and make her happy. She wanted him to save her.
A sob escaped her as she pushed the door open.
“Lyric?” Destiny asked from where she sat on Vic’s porch stairs.
“I just want to be with him,” she sputtered out, and stumbled toward the woods. “Vic,” she called. Another sob escaped her as memories flooded her, going backward from last year, to her twenties, to her teens. Her and Eden’s faces grew younger with each memory.
Them at a pool party, Lyric sitting by herself on the edge of the pool while the others played Marco Polo.
Eden brushing her hair when they were getting ready for school.
Lyric braiding hers.
“Vic!” she called louder, stumbling through the dark.
Warm tears streamed down her cheeks.
Eden throwing a tantrum over a doll she didn’t want to share with Lyric. They were kids in her memories now.
Eden throwing a plate of food because someone had put more on Lyric’s plate than hers. They were so young now.
Her mind went blank and her vision went black and she pitched forward onto her knees in her Changing place. The next memory stole her breath away.
It was a woman smiling at her from a couch. She was holding her hands and listening to a story Lyric was telling her about a caterpillar she’d found outside.
She’d never seen the woman before…right? Then why was she so familiar?
Mom.
