“It’s not a reason,” Robert hissed. The vein in his neck pulsed.
Dad glared at him. “Every time I went to find some slither of news, he was on to us. I had no choice. It’s a miracle she reached fifteen, Robert. How, how was I supposed to get word to you and keep her safe? So I stopped trying to find news and just protect her until she is ready to go back.”
Robert nodded.
Dad wasn’t my dad. Mom wasn’t my mom. “I want to meet my birth parents.”
Robert’s face fell and Dad shook his head.
Tears pooled in my eyes, turning my sight blurry. “You do not have a say in this. I want to meet them.”
“You can’t, Bear. They died protecting you.”
It hit me like a tidal wave. One rolled down my face, but no sound escaped my lips. My lower lip wobbled.
“I’m sorry.” He touched my arm. “I tried to tell you the truth. You didn’t handle it and you loved my stories. The reality of it was just too much, Bear.”
I pulled away my arm. “Maybe I was too little. Have you ever thought about that.” I got up and rushed to my room.
To hell with all of them. I was just some project that they needed to keep alive. No wonder my dad didn’t take any of my feelings into consideration. He wasn’t my real dad. He was just someone that they ordered to make sure I didn’t die.
I shut the door behind me hard and fell on my bed and cried my heart out.
16
BLAKE
Iwent back inside when Elena discovered her parents were dead. She didn’t know what she even was, what I was.
When Herbert told me to not show her yet, he pissed me off. But not as much as Dad when he revealed we would get her back to Paegeia in our human forms. I lost it.
Seeing how she sat on the opposite side, away from me, clarified that I caused her pain too. I betrayed her, even though I didn’t. I tried to tell her in my own messed up way.
This was going to cause a huge rift in a bond that wasn’t even made yet. She would never forgive me.
I stared at Herbert.
“I’m sorry, Blake.”
“Sorry! You know what she is to me, and all you can say is you are fucking sorry. It won’t surprise me if she wants nothing to do with me after this.”
“Just let her process.”
“Oh, like you had when you told her.”
“She couldn’t handle it. The mere fact terrified her for weeks. I terrified the living crap out of her. It’s not the same. I was her only parent.”
“And now you don’t even want me to tell her what I am.”
“Fine, show her then. Go. Let her look at you the way she looked at me. With fear, with disgust. She inherited Albert’s look when he didn’t approve of things. You won’t handle it either. That will cause her to hate you and not want anything to do with you.”
“Blake,” Dad said. “Remember what I told you. If you feel it’s best to tell her, then tell her. Don’t play with this.”
“Play with it? It’s already fucked up because of you two.”
They both fell silent as Herbert’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I want to go back to Paegeia soon—with her.” I pointed to the room where she was crying her heart out. It broke mine knowing that I caused some of it.
