Page 42 of My Demon Mate

His smile is shaky, but it is there.

Good. I still have my Everest, even though he may be a little worse for wear. But that is no matter. I will help him through everything.

We have a lifetime together for me to love him whole.

CHAPTER 15

EVEREST

Hearing my mother was dead after all these years was a gut punch. If my father wasn’t a sadistic son of a bitch, I wouldn’t have believed him. But when it comes to hurting me, Jack would bring out every trick in his book.

I cling to the urn, the remains of my mother grounding me. At least I know where she is. While my heart hurts, it also feels warm and light. My mother tried to protect me. She tried to get me away from the abuse we both suffered. She put me first.

Then my heart sinks. If she didn’t try to get me away from the shitty life we had, she would be alive. She stood up to Jack for the both of us, and it cost her her life. I wish I could go back and tell her we needed a concrete plan to get away from Jack. Knowing what I do now, that would have been the only way to escape his clutches. She paid for that mistake with her life.

“Do not blame yourself, Everest,” Raven says, almost reading my mind. Before I can ask if he’s sure he can’t, he says, “Your emotions are clouded with guilt. She was your mother and she loved you. She would not want you blaming yourself for the actions of your father.”

“I remember the night she was killed,” I tell him, staring out the window, watching the smoke billow in the distance. The fire trucks still haven’t arrived. We lived a few miles from the city proper, so it’ll take a while for them to locate the fire and extinguish it.

“What do you mean?”

Sighing, I close my eyes and let my mind drift back to unhappier times. “The last night I saw my mother. I remember it. She put me to bed, looking more serious than I’d seen her. My father had beaten her up that night. Her right eyes was black and swollen, her lip split. I asked her if she needed a doctor and she smiled at me. She said no. She told me she loved me and kissed my forehead.” I hate that the last image of my mother was her beat to shit like that. Jack fucking ruined everything.

Raven is silent beside me, and I appreciate him just listening. Right now, I don’t need comfort—I simply need a listening ear.

“I went to sleep like it was a normal night. But a few hours later, I heard banging around in the living room. I sat up quickly, one foot on the floor with the intention of going to see what was going on. Then I remembered the last time I went to check on my mother when her and Jack were in a fight. I tried to stop him from hurting her. He pushed me away hard enough that I hit my head on the wall, and I was out of it for a minute or so. That didn’t stop him from wailing on me, kicking and slapping me around. After he beat me, he started in on her some more. It was one of the only times she went to the hospital from a beating. Her arm was in a cast for a few weeks.”

My chest hurts as I think about that night. It was one of the worst beatings my mother ever got. When Jack walked away, she wasn’t moving and I thought she was dead. Apparently, Jack did too because he called her an ambulance.

“When she came home a few days later, she told me that I had to stay away from my dad when he was like that. She said it wasn’t safe, and she didn’t want me to get hurt trying to protect her. When I started to get out of bed to help, I remembered that beating and what she said to me about staying out of it. I laid back down. I should have helped her.” Tears drip down my face as I think about that night. Would I have been killed as well if I had tried to stop Jack, or would he have stopped beating on her because it would have been hard to explain away why his wife and son were suddenly gone?

“If you had,” Raven explains gently, “he could have killed you too. You were ten, baby. You did what you thought was right. What your mother wanted you to do so you could stay as safe as possible.”

Raven holds his hand palm up, and I slide my fingers through his. The warm weight of his hand settles me, just as my mother’s urn does. “Maybe. The next morning, I asked Jack where my mother was, as she didn’t wake me for school and I didn’t see any of her things. He laughed in my face, saying she ran off and left me behind. Then he joked about me being the woman of the house and tasked me with keeping everything clean and cooking. At ten, he put me in charge of running a household while he got drunk off his ass every day. I thought my mother left me with him to suffer.”

Guilt assails me. It’s a useless emotion, since I can’t go back in the past and change anything, but it settles on my shoulders nonetheless. I let it overtake me for a minute or two, my heart clenching in despair as I contemplate the what ifs.

Finally—and with great effort—I push the feeling away. Raven is right—my mother wouldn’t want me to blame myself. She did what she could to protect me. It was my father that did this to our family. He killed her for trying to escape his abuse and tried to beat me down until I was close to giving up hope myself.

He can’t do that anymore. He’s dead and can’t hurt anyone else.

My grip on his hand tightens, and I smile for the first time since we left to collect my things.

“Raven … he’s gone.” My eyes well with tears of happiness this time. My biggest tormentor, my very first bully, is dead! “You did it!”

Putting the urn on the floor by my feet, I throw my arms around his shoulders, hugging him hard. If Raven were human, I wouldn’t have tried that, but he told me his reflexes as a demon are better than any humans.

His deep chuckle sends a shiver down my spine. He pats my arm that’s locked around his chest. “We did it. If it were not for your command, it would not have happened. I am glad I could do that for you, baby.”

I press a kiss to his cheek, breathing in his spicy scent. The smell of fire and gasoline linger on him, but that only adds to the appeal of his aroma. “I couldn’t have if it weren’t for you. You make me stronger, Raven. Thank you.”

“You are welcome, sweet baby.”

Kissing his cheek on more time, I pick up my mother’s urn and sit back in my seat.

We pull up at our townhouse and head inside to pack a bag. I feel lighter and happier than I have in a long time. Even though I just found out my mother is dead, I avenged her—with Raven’s help. My father is dead. Slowly but surely, the people who made my life hell are being put in the ground.

Two down, two to go.

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