Home.
Mother.
I sobbed and she held me even harder. “I tried to keep you,” she said, “They took my big toe for trying to run.” I pulled back then and looked down at her left foot. Sure enough, it was missing her big toe. The skin was white and thick, a-long-time-ago scar that was jagged and poorly healed. That must be why she limped. “I’m so sorry.” Her voice broke.
My heart ripped open. She’d clearly held this guilt within her all along, and I didn’t want her to. It wasn’t her fault.
I shook my head, reaching for her hand. “It’s okay. I understand.”
My gaze flicked to the girl who stood near the woman … my mother.
“Aspen, this is Maple. She’s your half-sister,” my mom stated. We’d clearly both been named after trees and that made me smile. For the first time, I’d learned something about my name.
“Hey.” Maple gave me a nervous wave and I smiled.
“Hey.”
Despite the fact that we were in the middle of a freaking war, I’d just discovered my family, and it meant everything to me.
My mom leaned into my ear and whispered. “They let us keep one child eventually, so that they can force us to keep making more without complaint. Maple will be the next breeder now that I’ve gone through menopause. It keeps the cycle going forever.”
“No,” I growled, the horror of what she’d just told me igniting my anger in new ways. “We’re getting all of you out of here. Now!”
She looked fearfully at me, peering up the stairs and following the sounds of bloodshed outside. Wolves snarled, swords clanged, guns discharged.
“Every single person is going out today!” I shouted to the women as more poured from the basement, which seemed to run across the entire span of the fort.
“They’re powerful!” a woman screamed. “The Munai will kill us all and take our children!”
I looked over at Liv, who was speaking to a woman in hushed tones. Liv was crying and I wondered if that was her mom. She didn’t look like her. The blond hair and fair skin didn’t fit, but maybe she got her coloring from her dad.
“We’ve brought over a hundred vampires and werewolves with us. They’re up there right now carving a pathway out of here for us. Be ready to move in five minutes!” I barked the order and the women stared at me, stunned.
Liv stepped forward. “You heard her! Gather your things. We leave today. You’re all getting freed!Now!”
I guess it took those words to make them move, because they burst into a flurry of activity. I told my mom and half-sister to get any possessions they could not live without and they nodded, running back into a tunnel that branched out from the main open area. This place was more dungeon than basement.
How long had they been kept down here? In the dark, peeing in buckets and God knows what. It was horrifying.
Liv walked over to me, wiping tears from her eyes, and I froze. “What happened? Was that … your mom?”
Liv shook he head. “She knew my mom. Said I looked just like her. My mom was killed a few weeks after I was born. She went ballistic and attacked the Munai.”
Silence and heaviness hung in the air between us; my throat tightened with unshed tears. “Oh, Livvie. I’m so sorry.” I pulled her into a hug, wrapping my arms around her. “She was a warrior, just like you.”
She laughed, mixed with a sob, and nodded as I pulled away. We both wiped our eyes, and I wasn’t sure what to say now. I’d met my mom, and hers was gone, and I somehow felt guilty for that.
After fully drying her eyes once more, she nodded, putting on her game face. Her jaw clenched and eyes turned into a glare. “Let’s get everyone out. We can honor her that way.”
“Of course,” I told her. I hadn’t really even thought that either of our moms would still be here and alive and now I was unprepared for mine to be here and not hers.
‘Hey. I’ve got all the women and children almost ready to go. How is it looking up there?’I asked Luka.
He didn’t respond at first, which made me nervous, but finally his voice broke through.
‘Not ideal. There are more of them than we thought. They were totally expecting us. Have the women be ready to run. I have a plan that requires a quick exit.’
Did I even want to know what that entailed? I guess I would see.
