Page 15 of Fur Ever Wicked
Chapter Seven
Adalyn’s heart broke as a round of fresh tears streaked down Grace’s face. She may not have known the woman who should have been her biggest enemy, but her love for Bjorn was crystal clear.
“Such sadness and despair when a wolf suffers the loss of her mate.”Her wolf felt Grace’s sorrow as if it were her own.
Adalyn tried to wrap her mind around the devastating story Grace told, but the guilt she’d felt for her father’s true mate ate her alive. Her wolf told her that every word Grace had spoken had been the absolute truth.
Fuck!she shouted in her mind—her wolf quickly agreed.
How could her mother have interfered with Bjorn and Grace’s love? Would it have killed her mother to walk away—allowed them to live their lives in peace? She may not have known her father, but she still felt a love for him that she’d never be able to explain. The pang in her heart seemed to grow with each word his mate had spoken.
“I should have known my mother lied to me about her involvement with the pack, but I stupidly trusted what she had told me. I didn’t know. I am sorry for everything she has put you through,” Adalyn apologized—for what? She wasn’t certain, but she couldn’t keep the words from tumbling from her mouth.
Maybe it was because she felt like an ass for making these people relive obviously painful memories that involved her mother finding new and tortuous ways to hurt others. Maybe it was because deep in her heart she’d come to Black Paw hoping to fit in and instead finding her mother to be at the root of the pack’s problems.
Grace turned once again to face Adalyn. “As of now, you are innocent in this. I will not hold your mother’s crimes against you, child. I loved my mate enough to love every piece of him, including the pieces of him that I so easily see in you.”
“Mom!”
“Rafe, the girl is innocent—period. She has done nothing to me, you, or this pack. I’m sorry if you don’t like the idea of her being here, but it is not our way to turn those away in need of help. Besides, she’s family. Would you put her out on the street—or make her go back to a coven who wants nothing to do with her because of our majik running through her veins?”
“I—” Rafe stammered.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have come here.” Adalyn kept her eyes to the ground, mortified by what her mother had done to these people. “I don’t know why I let my mother talk me into coming here. It’s true, she had her own hopes that I would become the leader of the pack, but those were never my hopes. I swear to Freyja. I simply wanted to fit in somewhere. To find a place where I could finally be me. I had no idea what my mother did to this pack. I may have an idea about the why.”
Brenna stepped forward once again, this time with Erin by her side. “I wish I could say that I’d had a good relationship with your mother—my sister, but I didn’t. Our relationship was doomed from the day we were born. I was convinced Mariska came here searching for me and Reider, but now, I’m not so convinced. Had she found us that night—” Brenna shuddered at the thought. “A two for one, if you will. She would have killed me, along with Bjorn.”
“I agree,” Grace said. “Bjorn was her primary target. If she could have found you and taken you out as well, it would have been an added bonus, but I don’t think she was actively searching for you.”
“But why. What is her reasoning behind the attack here?” Erin asked.
“The prophecy. I don’t know anything about it, my mother refused to tell me what it was—only that my coming here has something to do with it.”
Brenna sucked in a deep breath. “Adalyn, how did you know you would find me at this pack?”
How to answer the question? Should she be honest and tell her aunt that her long deceased grandmother used to visit her on a regular basis?
Sensing her apprehension, Brenna said, “Honesty is always the best policy here.”
Her aunt was right. She might as well just throw it on out there. “Grandmother told me where to find you.”
Adalyn watched as Brenna’s eyes widened, her eyebrows arched.
“I know how it sounds, and yes, I know she’s long dead—but it’s true nonetheless.”
“How?” Brenna asked.
“She started visiting me when I was young.”
Brenna stared wide-eyed at Adalyn. “How is this possible?”
Adalyn twisted a strand of her fiery hair between her fingers, trying to find a way to explain the impossible. “I’m not really sure, but I do have a couple of theories.”
Suddenly, she felt like an idiot for even bringing it up as every head in the room swiveled in her direction. Adalyn chewed on her bottom lip, figuring out where to start.
“When Grandmother first came to me, I was very young. I was terrified by the ghost in my room, until one night, I’d noticed her crying. Even then, my young mind was able to conclude the ghost wasn’t there to hurt me—so I started talking to her. She explained who she was, and came to visit me every night thereafter for years. She told me all about the powers she’d been born with, that everyone in her bloodline had been born with. It was a lot to take in—especially for a child, but even then, I got the sense that her time with me was somehow limited. As it was, I turned out to be right about that. I’m thankful for the time we had together, and I’m very thankful for the fact that Grandmother clued me in about what type of person my mother really was. Had it not been for Grandmother’s visits, I’m sure I would have fallen in line with Mother’s plans for my life.”
Brenna seemed to cling to each of Adalyn’s words.
