Page 20 of Cage Me

I go to her side and wrap an arm around her, leaning my head on her shoulder. “I love you, Mom.”

Her hand covers mine. “I love you more than the moon and stars.”

We wait and watch together, holding on to one another unlike we’ve been able to do in over three years. Her warmth fills me with a strength I’d nearly forgotten I possess.

Not that of being able to take care of myself, but a reminder that strength comes from love and perseverance. Something my mother has always offered our family in spades.

As soon as the grave is finished being flattened out, Peter and Drake begin collecting leaves and branches to cover the disturbed ground. While they do that, my mom steps away from my side and bends next to the burial.

Her fingers press into the earth, and she bows her head, closing her eyes. I assume she’s saying her final goodbyes to her mate, but it’s not my business to ask. I let her have this moment, one she deserves and that I have no right interrupting—regardless of how much I despised Samuel.

Giving her a few minutes alone, I go farther into the trees to find Peter. “Want some help, bub?”

His arms are full of twigs with random leaves stuffed between them. “I’ve got it.”

I catch his stare landing on Drake, and I shake my head before whispering, “Accepting help is a sign of strength, not weakness.”

He slowly brings his attention back to me, a frown between his eyes. “I know.”

Hmm, seems my little brother may have gotten my stubbornness, regardless of all our time apart.

“I think we have enough,” Drake announces, and the relief on Peter’s face is undeniable as he runs toward the grave with his haul.

Mom is standing up again when I go back, and she watches as Peter disguises the upturned dirt.

“Got it,” he announces proudly as he puts the last stick into place. He, too, bends down like our mother, but unlike her, he doesn’t keep his thoughts to himself. “I hope you can be happy now, Dad. We’re going to be just fine with Pence. She’ll keep us safe.”

Emotions burn at my throat, but I don’t shed a tear. I refuse to cry at this man’s gravesite. Not even if the tears wouldn’t be for him.

Instead, I distract myself with getting another portal spell, then realize I have no clue where we’re going to go. I have two extra people with me now. Two of the most important people in my life. I can’t just take them anywhere.

Mom’s hand cups my elbow, and she quietly says, “Take me to your home.”

I look over at her, my lips downturned. “I don’t have one.”

Her responding smile only furthers my confusion. “Yes, you do. In Crossroads. That’s where we’re supposed to be right now.” She looks at Peter and Drake, then back at me. “All of us.”

There isn’t a part of me that wants to deny her, so I don’t bother. “Crossroads it is, then.”

Her eyes spark with love, and I return her smile as I get the portal opened.

Drake and Peter come closer, each one reaching for me. Peter and Mom both have one of my hands as I step forward, but it’s Drake’s hold on my shoulder that I feel the most, that weighs as if the world is balancing right there between the two of us.

Maybe not the entire world, but quite possibly mine.

Chapter 8

DRAKE

Arriving back in Crossroads immediately has me on edge again. The energy of Tartarus is ever present in this town. Not heavy enough to feel weighed down by, but there’s a lingering sensation that makes my skin prickle even this far from the portal as we arrive back at the house I followed Spencer to earlier.

Her mom looks up at the modest home beside us, smiling. “This is where you’ve been living?”

Spencer’s lips turn down. “No. I’m in this one. Though, I’ll have to fix that today, because it only fits one single mattress.”

We all turn to find the shed I thought was where she just kept some of her things.

“That’s where you’ve been living?” her mother asks before I can, and we both seem equally eager for the answer.

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