I’d finally let my monster out to play, and she was not going into the box anytime soon. Done were the days of being abused or held hostage. I wasn’t some weakling that could be held down by my mother—or Rhys Van Helsing.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I turned slowly, staring at the Silversmiths who watched me wordlessly. Standing, I dropped from the car as it started to compact under the heat of the fire burning through it. Smiling, I walked toward the crowd that had come to save me.
“The House of Silversmith will rise,” I stated, turning glowing eyes on the alphas. “Under a few conditions, of course,” I corrected, bowing my head to hide the smile.
“Remington,” Winchester whispered, and when I leveled a cold, unemotional gaze in her direction, she closed her eyes. “We kneel,” she agreed, dropping to her knees before me.
I watched the Silversmith bloodline dropping before me. I didn’t want submission. I wanted to live without being told I was nothing. My father did not create me to become an alpha, of that I was certain. I was the enforcer, designed to protect the bloodline from the alphas. What my mother hadn’t realized, was that my father wasn’t a shifter, or a shape changer. He was the phoenix. An undiscovered breed that had remained in the shadows forged in the fires and grew stronger from them. I’d never known they existed, and yet all signs had pointed to it. It wasn’t until Rhys had forced me to remember my father leaving, and Cole’s words outside the forgery had played in my head.
My father had called me his little bird, and he’d taken me to play within the fires without the others knowing. Winchester had removed him from my memories, locking away my childhood to protect me from the pain of my mother and her endless hatred toward me. Rhys had opened the doors to those memories, as I had rested in the forge last week, I’d remembered them all.
I couldn’t be an alpha, not with the other issue I’d discovered today. I wasn’t going to rise because it wasn’t my house anymore. I was House of Phoenix, which, as far as I knew, was just me. Soon, there would be another, though.
“Who here challenges me for alpha?” I asked, turning to stare at the men who hadn’t fully bowed. One rose, stepping forward. “Do you plan to raise the house without prejudice or malice of the past?”
“I will crush them all for what they did to us,” he smiled coldly.
Slowly, I stepped toward him, striking before he could say more, watching his head bounce across the ground until it came to a rest at Rhys’s feet.
“Anyone else?” I asked softly. “No? Rise, Winchester, Head of Silversmith House.”
“Remington?” she whispered.
“I cannot be an alpha. I am not a full-blooded Silversmith. My father created me to ensure that history never repeated itself. My father is the last phoenix. Therefore, I will become his heir. His house needs me, and yours has you, sister. You have always done the right thing. I expect that to continue. If any Silversmith wishes to fight my sister, they will fight me as her second before reaching her. That goes for you as well.” I turned, staring at Cole and Rhys, who watched me with narrowed stares of condemnation. “Now go, because you’re not welcome here.”
I stepped back, watching my family pile into the cars, leaving as quickly as they’d shown up. I started toward Rhys, but he stepped back, glaring at me with loathing in his eyes. I stalled before him, frowning.
“Don’t be mad. You’re the one who opened the gate to those memories,” I stated, watching the tick hammering in his jaw. “I’m leaving. Nyx secured a house for us in town. I thought I’d give you the courtesy of the truth.” I watched as he turned, and Ian dropped his gaze to my stomach before his eyes rounded.
Rhys swung back, his eyes filled with hatred that was deeply embedded from years of guilt. “The truth? Roslyn was your mother, and you expect me to believe that you had no idea? You came here out of the blue, fell into my fucking lap, and yeah, I questioned it. I never for one second thought you’d be the daughter to the murderous whore who ruined the lives of everyone she touched. So, what the fuck do you have to say to me that could fucking matter now?”
“I’m pregnant,” I swallowed, watching his eyes narrowing