Page 97 of Snows Sinful Seven

“Max, what are you—” my father starts, but he doesn’t get a chance to finish because one second, the syringe is in Max’s hand, and the next, it’s jabbed into the side of my father’s neck.

My father’s hand shoots to the injury, eyes going wide in fear as he looks up at Max in betrayal.

His lips part, but no sound comes out. The poison must be powerful because it’s working fast. He tumbles to the ground, and I sit there, watching as life drains from his eyes. No sadness, no fear, nothing but relief.

Max is behind me, undoing the ropes a moment later.

As soon as I’m free, I’m on my feet, backing away from Max. “Why did you do that?” I ask, eyes flicking over to my father.

“I couldn’t let him continue. If he killed you, if he stayed king, we were all dead,” he sighs. “I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to do a single thing he asked me to do.”

“Then why do it? Why play into his messed up mind?” I ask, rubbing at my wrists.

“Because he threatened to kill not only me but my wife and kids. I had to do what I had to do. I hated every moment of it because I liked your mother. She was a fantastic queen. The only reason he kept me as his second in command was because he wanted to keep me close to do his bidding.”

“But you tried to kill me,” I point out. “With the pie. That was you, wasn’t it? It didn’t look like you.”

“Glamour,” he answers. “And no, I didn’t try to kill you; I just made your father think that. I knew what I gave you would put you to sleep, and I knew Regina would be the one to save you.”

“How?” I narrow my eyes.

“The magic mirror. Before your mother died, she put some of her magic into the mirror, almost like a spell. It was meant to be a way for her to help you if you were ever in need. But your father found it and had it locked away. I knew where it was, and when I needed to seek some sort of help, I went to it. It showed me the future and what I needed to do.” He gives me a soft smile. “A part of me thinks it was your mother protecting you the only way she could. There’s a lot about your mother’s heritage that you don’t know. Like she’s part witch, and her great-grandmother was a lycan.”

No. That was definitely not something I knew about. And makes sense on the omega aspect.

“Snow!” My heart races as I hear Gabe’s booming voice.

“Go,” I tell Max. “Get out of here now, through the tunnels. I might believe in mercy, but my mates... I can’t promise anything.”

“Of course.” He nods. “Thank you, princess. Or, should I say, queen?” He turns around and rushes towards the tunnel entrance, seeming to know where it is all on his own. I guess there's a lot about Max I’ll need to find out. He had the power tohave my means of escape eliminated but never did. That had to count for something.

“Snow!” Regina’s voice has me spinning around.

“Regina!” I cry out in a rush before running over to her. She gathers me in her arms, holding me close.

“You're okay,” she breathes.

“I’m okay. Are you?”

“I’m fine.” She pulls back to get a better look at me, but then I’m being snatched up by Gabe.

“Snow. Fuck, we were so worried.” He holds me in a crushing grip.

“You're going to hurt her,” Dallas snarls, taking me from him. I get passed around from mate to mate, all of them needing to touch me and see that I’m okay for themselves.

When I get to Brady, I let out a broken sigh. “You're okay.”

“I’m okay, love.” He smiles before hugging me tightly to his chest.

After we’re all reunited, I take a step back to look at them all. “My father told me about Derek and my mother.”

Their faces drop.

“We were going to tell you. But with everything going on, we didn’t want to overwhelm you. It wasn't a big deal,” Gabe insists.

“Your pack mate was mates with my mother? Yeah, I think that's a pretty big deal.”

They all look at one another, and Dallas sighs. “We didn’t know for sure. We suspected, but it was never confirmed. Derek started spending more and more time away from the pack to the point he would be gone for days. He always came back smelling like peaches and cream. We all assumed he had a mate, but when we asked about it, he denied it. I guess he didn’t want to risk anyone knowing, even his pack. Being mated to the queen while she’s married and has a kid, it’s a pretty big deal.”

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