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“Who are you going to trust?” she chokes out. “I’m your mother.”
I take a step forward. Fearghas has never lied to me—that I know of—but this woman, she is my mother—isn’t she? As much as I want to believe it, I also know that coincidences are rarely just that, and my father coming back into my life is already a pretty damn big one. “What do you mean?” I ask him.
“Show her your true form,” he demands.
The woman sneers, her face turning up in a twisted grin as her eyes change, the color shifting from green to obsidian. “How would you have me look?” Her hair lengthens and turns stark-white as those obsidian eyes shift to violet. Soon, we’re staring at Eira. “Is this how you like them?” she purrs.
“Fearghas, what the hell is going on?” Rainey, recovered, moves closer to the fae.
“You damn well better rid yourself of her form, abomination!” his voice booms, a deep echoing like thunder around us.
She grins and shifts again, turning into a dark-haired woman with dark eyes. “Release me, fae,” she demands, still clinging to Fearghas’s arm.
“How did you get here? Are there more of you?”
“Care to elaborate?” Delaney moves even closer, and Cole shadows her.
“This is a dark fae,” he explains. “They just love feeding on anger, don’t they?” he asks.
Explains my sudden rage toward Rainey.
“Release me, and I’m happy to help you free her lover.” She pops the ‘r’ like this is all a big fucking game.
“You pretended to be my mother? Why? How? They all saw you!” I turn to Bella for confirmation. She nods.
“I saw a blonde.”
Fearghas drops her and takes a step back toward us.
The dark fae grins and runs a hand down her blood-red dress. “Your kind is pathetic,” she spits out. “Always wanting to see what you desire. Never wanting to see the truth.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” I close the distance between us, crushing anger suffocating me. This bitch pretended to be my mother, she manipulated me and, worst of all, caused a distraction when we should have been burning this fucking hive to the ground.
“It means that all your little anti-council pals bolted the moment the councils put hits out on all of you. Cowards.”
I snarl at her, clenching both hands into fists and readying myself to pummel her back to whatever hole it is she crawled out of.
“You had better leash your dog, fae,” she tells Fearghas. “Otherwise, I won’t be able to help you.”
“Why the hell would we want your help?” I demand.
She leans in closer, giving me an up-close and personal look with her nearly obsidian irises, the only color being the ring of gold around them. “Because if you are to take on a hive queen, you need a lot more firepower than is currently in your arsenal. And, because, believe it or not, I am not looking to cause any more trouble for you and your pals.”
I don’t believe her for a second.
Not a single breath.
But I do realize I may need to set my pride aside and accept her help. If Rainey and the others couldn’t defeat the succubus waiting for us, I can’t imagine I add much to the equation. Especially not when a shape-shifting fae is here and willing to assist. “Fine. But you follow my lead.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She grins. “What would you have me do?”
* * *
Less than ten minutes later,we’re pushing through the front door. Rainey to my left, Delaney to my right, Bellamy directly behind us. Cole, Elijah, and Fearghas all move in behind us, though they stay back a few feet since, from what I understand, she has special control over mated males.
Bitch.
“Well, well, well, I have to say this is quite a homecoming, Bellamy.” The woman’s voice drifts over to us moments before she comes into view at the end of the foyer. Wearing a skin-tight, red leather dress, she looks every bit the sadistic dominatrix her kind is known to be. Honestly, she looks like every single succubus in every single bad Hollywood movie about supernaturals.
