AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take a deep breath, but before I can respond, Gabriel chimes in, calm as ever.
“I assure you, it’s for her safety as much as it is for yours and your wife’s.”
He scoffs. “Bullshit.”
Closing my eyes, I say, “Dad, please. Can we at least pretend to get along for a few minutes? Today has been really shitty, and I just need a break from the chaos. Please.”
His stoic demeanor cracks, and he frowns at me. “What’s going on?”
I nod toward the living room, and we all walk from the hallway and sit around the coffee table in the middle of the room. Gabriel sits in the armchair we inherited from Dad’s mom’s apartment when she passed away years ago. It’s incredibly ugly, but Dad refused to get rid of it because it was her favorite. My mom sits next to me on the love seat, while my dad remains standing, leaning in the doorway between the living room and dining room.
“You have a lovely home,” Gabriel says, leaning back and resting his ankle on top of the opposite knee.
Mom hesitates, looking toward me before turning her attention to him. “Thank you.”
“Where are the others?” Dad asks, his arms still crossed.
“They are arranging our travel to Chicago,” Gabriel offers, and just when I think he’s going to stop there, he continues, “The vampire who turned me is residing there, and we’ve been tracking her so we can move in and kill her.”
My eyes widen, hardly not expecting Gabriel to put all of that out there. I suppose he’s not concerned with sharing information with my parents at this point, but still.I’drather they didn’t know everything going on in the non-human part of my world. Which, regrettably, is becoming more and more by the day—especially after the visit with Atlas’s parents.
“Since when do vampires kill other vampires?” Mom asks, her brows scrunched together as if she’s trying to make it make sense.
“Since they abuse their power and hurt people who matter to me.”
I shoot him a look that saysenough. They don’t need to know about the time I spent with Selene. Of all the things that have happened since the guys came for me,thatI wouldn’t mind being wiped from my memories.
“I see,” Mom says, shifting her focus to me. “Do you need anything while you’re here? How long can you stay?”
I offer her a smile. “I’m okay. Really.”
“Coffee?” she offers. “I could make coffee.”
“Sure,” I answer. “I can help while Gabriel and Dad chat.”
Okay, so throwing Gabriel to the wolves—well,wolf—wasn’t the nicest thing I’ve ever done, but I need a minute to talk to my mom, and Gabriel seemed all too open to sharing things with my parents; I’m sure they’ll find something to talk about.
We get up, and I offer Gabriel a faint smile, hopefully conveying that I’ll make it up to him.
In the kitchen, Mom scoops coffee grounds from the tin into the machine while I pull down mugs from the cupboard above the dishwasher, setting them on the counter before leaning against it. “I have to ask you something,” I force out, unable to look at her face as the words leave my mouth.
She closes the lid and turns the machine on before giving her full attention to me. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“If I, um… I mean, I’m not sure yet, but…” I sigh, trying and struggling to find the right words. “There’s a lot you don’t know and a lot I hope you never have to know, but this—”
“Calla.” She moves in front of me and takes my hands in hers. “Take a breath.”
I finally look at her and immediately wish I hadn’t. The concern on her face makes my chest seize with pressure. “I’m not even sure where to start,” I whisper. “I have so much going on in my head, I can’t keep up with everything. I certainly don’t expect you to.”
She offers me a small smile. “Well, I can’t try until you tell me what’s going on.”
I take a deep breath and say, “The blood oath that tied me to the vampires is void, and now I have to choose to have them glamour away my memories and go back to my life before they came for me, or become one of them.”
My mom recoils, her grip on my hands tightening as her bottom lip starts to tremble. Her brows crease and her eyes water as she shakes her head adamantly. “How is that possible?”
I swallow the lump in my throat, unable to hold back my emotions at seeing my mom upset. “The oath would have applied to the baby girl you and Dad had before me and lost, so it never was mine to fulfill.”
Recognition flickers in her eyes and a pained expression fills her tired features. “Oh, Calla. Honey, I am so sorry. We should have—”
