Page 211 of Gift from the Wing

I startle at her words. That’s not what I thought she was going to say. I don’t know what I thought, really, but it sure as shit wasn’t that.

“I’m sorry?” I ask, maybe say, I don’t know.

“So…”

I listen as the story starts to unfold with her appearing in the forest on her little wander to the past and my heart feels like it’s going to explode the more she talks.

The phantom feeling of that cold-ass forest causes chill bumps to break out across my arms, and a shiver races down my spine at her words. Hell, even my dragon ruffles himself out as her dark description of what she witnessed grows even darker.

“What do you mean a burlap sack?” I growl.

“All the women had sacks over their heads. He couldn’t see the faces of any of them, but she stayed strong, and he picked her,” she says softly, running her hand down my chest to settle my rumbling.

At my nod, she carries on. This is hard to hear, but I need to know now.

The soft smile that she has as she describes how my mom’s voice was so gentle yet sassy when she smarted off to Keeper that first night pulls a watery laugh from me. I hear in my mind the exact tone she’s talking about. She never spoke to me like that, but the ladies at the brothel got it, especially in the morning at the breakfast table.

I chuckle a little harder at the fact that they apparently argued quite a bit over food. Mom wasn’t Chef by no means, but she kept me fed, every meal. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Even so high she didn’t know her own name, she always kept me fed.

Willow’s eyes begin to water when she talks about their fight and how my mom ran. A mixture of fear and anger swells within me at the picture I paint in my mind. I’ve seen my little wanderer get bit by a vampire, so it’s easy for me to just see the same thing happening, but to my mom. It’s petrifying, heartbreaking, and makes me want to burn down the whole fucking forest.

There’s a smidge of satisfaction in me knowing Keeper tore them all apart, but it doesn’t come as a surprise to me. He’s proven to be the type who when someone he cares about is hurt or in danger, he acts first.

It’s something I’ve found I like the most about him.

I may not have accepted our relationship fully yet, but I know without a doubt that he’d protect me, her, my brothers, any of us if need be. I trust that completely.

“The Summum-Master said he’d heard, like the vampires were just strolling around the fucking forest gossiping?” I ask skeptically as she gets to the part about Keeper being summoned.

Gossiping seems like a pathetic fucking pastime for hundreds of years old vampires.

“I’ve assumed that up to this point, well, up to Renic,” she says.

“The vampire we just captured?” I ask, but then it all clicks together for me. “He’s the one who told the Summum-Master about their relationship.”

“Yeah. The only other part I don’t know the truth about is the comment about her scent changing. I don’t know if that’s a vampire bonding thing, or…they could smell that she was pregnant.”

“But if they could smell that, he would’ve been able to, right?” My eyes widen with that thought. That answer will change it all.

I mean, I don’t necessarily know how because it doesn’t sound like he had much of a choice but to let her go or she’d get brought into the Mastery. But if he knew, he’s done a hell of a job acting like he didn’t.

“I don’t know. He’s going to have to answer that for you,” she says gently, lacing her fingers through mine.

Yeah, I’ll need that explained to me.

“I know what you’ve been fearing, and I understand. I’m not hurt, upset, or anything of the sort, Draken. It’s a fear anyone who has experienced what we have would naturally fear, but I want to reassure you, you don’t need to be afraid of that. I can prove it, if…you want to see this next part,” she says, looking down at her thumb running circles on my hand.

Fuck, she always sees right through me. And calls me out just at the right time.

When her shattering eyes meet mine, a lump forms in my throat. Her showing me whatever comes next, I know I’m going to have to face two things that I really want to, but at the same time, as she said, I’m petrified too.

One, I’m going to have to see my mom. For years, I’ve painted the prettiest picture of her in my head. I don’t want to sully it. I want to hold onto the childlike wonder I had of her.

Two…I’m going to have to see how Keeper truly felt about her.

I need the truth, but I don’t. I do.

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