He gave me a brief, tight-lipped smile. “Well, I only knew her for a few hours, really.”
“A few … hours?” I echoed. My brows lifted, intrigued and confused.
His gaze darkened with shrewd intensity. “She never told you about us.”
“She never told me anything about my father,” I admitted, feeling a little like I was betraying her by divulging that. “I only recently figured out that you two were bonded.”
His gaze flicked away from me, his jaw tight. “We were for a few, fleeting moments.”
“What happened?” I needed answers. I craved them.
“A question I have often wondered myself,” he said grimly. “Perhaps one day we can both ask her.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means that when I last saw your mother, she was on her way home to pack her bags and come back here with me, her mate.” He leaned forward slightly. “Next thing I knew, she severed our bond. Why she changed her mind, I don’t know. I had resigned myself to never knowing.”
“You didn’t ask?” I pressed. I couldn’t imagine Remy ever giving up on me so easily.
“I knew her for barely a night. I knew she was engaged. I assumed she decided to uphold the engagement her parents arranged instead of following a relative stranger into the night.”
That made zero sense.
I knew my mom. Maybe I didn’t know what she was like before she was an omega, but sitting here, I can’t imagine her choosing a life as the pack plaything over anything else. Especially not with my life in the mix, too.
“There’s got to be more to it,” I muttered. “Did Mom tell you anything about her pack?”
“Not much,” he answered. “I got the impression she wasn’t overly fond of them or her parents.”
“Did Dimitri tell you anything about what happened to her? To me?” I swallowed. “He was there for the hearing when I testified against them at the Summit.”
“Dimitri was only able to give me a brief report of what happened.” His eyes went hard and flinty. “He wasn’t able to provide me with the details, but it was enough for me to request your uncle be brought here. I have a few questions about the treatment my daughter received while in his care.”
I gulped down a lungful of air as the room tilted slightly. “Treatment?”
He stared at me. “I assumed, by the fact that you were being called to give an account of your time spent there as you had escaped to your new pack.”
“Just me?” I asked, raising a brow. Relieved that he didn’t know all the dirty details Dimitri could have revealed. “Not Mom? I promise, she endured a hell of a lot more than I did, which makes me think there’s a lot more going on here than either of us know.”
“That may be, but she stopped being my concern when she renounced and decimated our bond. I made peace with your mother’s decision years ago,” he replied stiffly, twisting the silver ring on his thumb thoughtfully. “But I’m having a harder time forgiving that she kept my heir from me for eighteen years, especially if your life was in danger during that time.”
My head snapped up. “I’m not your heir.”
“You most certainly are,” he rebuffed easily.
“Dimitri is your heir; he’ll be Alpha after you.” My spine stiffened. I had no desire to be an Alpha or an heir or anywhere that wasn’t Blackwater.
“I suppose in your world it is that cut and dry,” he mused softly, rubbing his jaw. “Here we do things differently.”
“I don’t care how you do things here,” I snapped, my fight returning with a vengeance. “My home is in Washington with my mate and my family.”
“This isn’t a discussion that needs to be had tonight.” He waved a dismissive hand.
“This isn’t a conversation that needs to be had at all,” I countered. “I’m not staying here. I’m going home to Remy.”
He regarded me coolly. “And if he’s dead?”
I shot to my feet, rounding on him. “Don’t say that!”
“You care for him.” Nikolai frowned, his brows pulling together.
“He’s my mate,” I said again emphatically.
“And your mother was my mate, but she still didn’t seem to care about what happened to our bond or me,” he retorted.
“Remy and I aren’t you or my mom,” I said through clenched teeth. “I love him, and he loves me. The only reason I’m here and not with him is because your son dragged me across the world while I was unconscious and slapped a freaking magical bracelet on my