I rested my chin on my knees as I watched him. “I told you. Where we lived … Where they kept us, we didn’t have access to things like phones or the internet.”
Or food or clean drinking water on a regular basis.
“I spent years being hurt by her refusing our bond,” he said, his voice almost detached of emotion. “I thought her the villain.”
“She’s not,” I whispered back, my voice cracking. “She protected me as much as she could. The things they did to her …” I shuddered hard enough to rattle my teeth. Those memories were lead weights tied to my ankles. I dragged them along with me no matter where I was.
I sniffled against the back of my hand. “She did what she had to so that we could survive.”
He rubbed his jaw absently, his gaze moving to the fire. “I see that now. Perhaps one day you will tell me about it.”
I hesitated. “Honestly? There’s a lot I don’t know, and what I do know? That’s Mom’s story. I won’t betray her by telling you what happened to her.”
His lips thinned. “Very well. I shall wait then until I talk to her.”
“You’re planning to talk to her?” I asked slowly.
“We share a child,” he reminded me with a chuckle. “We will always be connected by you, Skye.”
Silence blanketed the air between us for several minutes.
“Those things they did to her,” he finally asked quietly, “did they do those things to you?”
“They would have,” I said quietly, looking down at my lap. “But she got me out in time. She saved my life.”
“Then it would seem I owe her a great debt,” he replied gently.
That makes two of us, I thought. I had spent the last few days missing my mom, but also furious at her for all the truths she had kept from me.
It was getting harder and harder to feel that anger now. Not when I weighed it against everything she had been through. Especially now.
Allan had always been exceptionally, disgustingly, fond of my mother. It was her room he visited the most. The fact that he was the reason the bond was broken between my parents was a bitter pill to swallow.
I couldn’t imagine that pain. Imagine after being with Remy, having someone shatter our bond by force. Having Remy thinking I betrayed him while the pack I loved turned their backs on me. While my parents literally sold me out.
“Who is Allan?”
I startled at the question. I’d forgotten where I was for a moment and that I wasn’t alone. My head swung to look at the man across from me.
“He was Linden’s beta,” I replied, pushing away the cringe-worthy thoughts his name evoked. “He’s a monster.”
“There are many monsters in this world,” Nikolai muttered.
“Yeah, well, he’s definitely earned a spot in the seventh circle,” I replied bitterly.
“The circle reserved for those who commit acts of brutality against others,” he said slowly.
I blinked in surprise. “You’ve read Dante’s Inferno?”
“Literature is one of my favorite pastimes,” he answered honestly.
“Mine, too,” I admitted.
He grinned. “We’re more alike than we even knew.”
“I killed his son,” I blurted out, not sure why I felt the need to share that.
Maybe because I had walked in on this man, my father, casually ripping Linden apart like it was his favorite weekend hobby.
He arched a brow.
“Allan, I mean,” I clarified, clearing my throat. “I killed his son. He was … he raped another pack member. And I killed him. It’s why Mom and I had to leave, among other things.”
Nikolai smiled softly at me, something eerily like pride lighting his eyes. “And the similarities continue as I plan to kill his father.”
20
Skye
Tate was sitting cross-legged on my bed when I came back into my room. Nikolai had escorted me back, and I had taken him up on his offer to eat breakfast in my room before he started questioning Elias.
I was hoping there would be less blood involved in that meeting.
Tate slid off the bed as I closed the door, her hazel eyes wide. “Are you okay?”
“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” I joked weakly, heading into the closet. I stripped out of my clothes, leaving them in the middle of the floor. I grabbed a new pair of jeans and a shirt before coming out of the closet, phone in hand. I only had a couple minutes before Remy’s one hour time allowance was up.
“How are you?” I inquired softly, watching as she moved to the sitting