A sob burst from me because this woman wasn’t going to reject me. I don’t know why I was sure in that moment, but I knew I could tell this woman anything and she would still love me.
She was my mother.
“Momma. Momma, I missed you.” There had been a hole inside me I hadn’t realized was there, and now it filled.
“Oh, I can’t tell you how much I missed you, my baby,” she said. “We’ve looked for you for years. I’d almost given up hope.”
Marcus and Dev had both told me that my parents had searched for me, but I hadn’t truly believed it until I heard my mother’s wrecked words.
“Summer?”
I looked up and my father stood beside Dev Quinn, his face so pale. His jaw was tight as he looked at me, and I remembered how scared he’d been when he’d realized that it had been his will, his love and longing, that had created me. He hadn’t felt worthy to be a father.
But he was a dad now. Did he still feel that way?
My mom pulled away slightly and looked toward him. “Daniel? It’s her. It’s our baby.”
My father’s lips tugged up slightly. “Hello, Summer.”
“Sweetie, he’s scared. He’s always been afraid of this moment,” my mother whispered. “He was scared then and he’s scared now. Not of you, but of what he’s done and that he doesn’t deserve you.”
I gave my mother a squeeze and then let her go. My father needed me to make the first move. I understood him. I’d felt his guilt, his worry that he wasn’t enough and never would be. He’d been the man who was so afraid he was a monster.
I rushed to him like my mother had done for me and held my arms open. I felt my father shudder as he wrapped me up in a bear hug.
I felt my mom on the other side of me and I was wrapped up in them.
“Papa?” I didn’t want to leave my Fae father out, and I remembered that was what my brothers had called him. My vampire father was daddy and the Green Man papa.
He immediately joined us and I was held so tight I could barely breathe. I didn’t want to breathe. I wanted to revel in this moment, in the moment when I got my family back.
I shoved out everything but the love I felt.
You are happy, bella. That makes me so happy.
Marcus was here with me and I opened myself up to him, letting him feel my every emotion.
* * * *
Kelsey
While I love a good family reunion, and the one playing out in front of me was a long time coming, I had a job to do and there were new people I needed to figure out if I should kill.
“When you said Summer looked like her mom, I thought you meant resembled her,” Dean said. “They’re like twins. I mean I guess Summer looks a little younger and her mom’s hair is shorter, but wow.”
Well, there had been a reason I’d been confused when I first saw her. I noticed our pixie friend wasn’t in on the reunion either. Arwyna had come with us, flying alongside or content to sit on one of our shoulders. She was on mine now, and I got the feeling she was also trying to play the guardian.
“Yeah, yeah, they’re double trouble. Now do you know who any of these guys are?” I needed Dean focused.
“That’s Taggart.” Dean stood beside me, his eyes on the newcomers. “I think the other guy is one of his employees.”
He’d indicated the big blond guy and the slightly smaller dark-haired dude who was pointing out something on his tablet. There was another person on the bike Taggart had gotten off of, but whoever it was they weren’t moving. And then there was the fourth bike. A petite figure slid off the seat and out of her helmet, and her eyes flashed for the merest second, the sunlight catching them in just the right way. Something inside me recognized her.
“She’s a werewolf,” I said to Dean under my breath as we approached the group.
Dean stopped. “Is that Kaja Dellacourt?”
I was interested in the wolf among us, but I’d caught sight of a friendlier face. “Marcus!”
I jogged over to join him, and my first instinct was to launch myself his way. Then I realized he barely noticed me because he was watching her.