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“Yes, you have! You knew her mother was alive this whole fucking time and did nothing. You knew my best friend was packless and being hunted by the council and still you did fucking nothing. I begged you to help Cairo, all you could fucking say was it wasn’t our business because he isn’t pack.” I move around the cracked table and don’t stop until I am toe to toe with my father. “News flash old man, he is my fucking pack, but you aren’t any longer, I Credence––“
“Son, please stop don’t––“I ignore my mother and continue.
“Reeves hereby banish you Kane Reeves from my pack.” My dad stumbles back a step and his hand whips up to cover his heart, I feel the link that binds him to my pack evaporate inside me. He will no longer be able to mind link the pack or be welcomed on our pack lands again. I hear my mom sob behind me, and spin around dropping to my knees in front of her. Tears flow down her cheeks as she looks down at me while she clutches my son to her chest. I place my hands on the tops of her knees. “He may be banished but you aren’t, Meg Reeves you are now and forever will be our mother with or without him. You don’t need him to be our mom, given a choice we would always choose you, mom. He doesn’t deserve you after what he has done.” Sobs wrack my mom’s body, Sky moves over and gently peels Harlem from her arms, I feel my brother and sister at my back, mom looks to each of them, and the tears flow faster.
“You may not have given birth to us, but you are our mom in every sense of the word. We need you mom.” Mom smiles up at Callie.
“Fuck Kane, fuck Davina. All we need is you, they never raised us, you did. We are who we are today because of you.” I stand and help her to her feet, the four of us stand there in a circle and hold each other, everyone is silent. We pull apart and mom pats each of us on the cheek and smiles lovingly.
“I love the three of you more than anything, there has never been a day where I don’t consider you, my children. Thank you for loving me and making me a mom and now a grandma.” I chuckle and wrap her in a hug, I know shit has been hard for her as well. I only banished my dad because I overheard them arguing the other night. Mom caught him kissing Davina, but the worst part was hearing her agree to stay with him because she was scared to lose us.
“You know I used to envy Creed.” I spin around and watch as Cairo moves toward my dad. “I thought he was so lucky to have a cool dad, I always wondered why Creed never invited me inside. I thought it was because I was the homeless packless rat that you didn’t like, but I was wrong. You never wanted me near your son because you knew my mother was alive and she would have told you that the council was after me because I can’t be led.” Ro looks my dad up and down in disgust. “You’re a pathetic excuse for an alpha, and most of all, a father. Oh, in case Creed wasn’t clear, you are banished from ever being near my sister or my nephew.” Davina motions for two of her men to come forward, they each grab an arm, as he struggles and turns pleading eyes to my mom.
“Meggy, please don’t do this.” Mom scoffs.
“You made your choice Kane, you’re only sorry because Davina didn’t want you back.” Davina nods again, and the two guys drag him out of the hall kicking and screaming. Davina moves toward us, and I see Cole and Callie stiffen as she approaches, we move in unison, to block our mom from her view. Davina stops and sighs as she looks to each of us.
“I would like to speak to Meg, please.” Mom pushes between me and Cole and steps out much to our dismay. Davina doesn’t look smug or even gleeful, she looks at mom with… sadness. “I hope you know that when Kane attempted to kiss me, I didn’t allow it. I may be a lot of things, but I will never tear your family apart Meg. Kane is an idiot for how he has treated you, he was a very lucky man to find someone like you. Not many women would have stepped up and raised three kids that weren’t hers. I apologize for any part I may have played in you and your mate… Parting.” I stand here stunned and stare at Davina, I never expected that to come from her.
“I have always known Kane was still in love with you, but I thought over time it would lessen, it never did. I couldn’t compete with a ghost, so to speak. I only stayed because I was afraid, he wouldn’t allow me to be a part of the kids’ lives.” Mom moves toward Davina and surprises the fuck out of everyone, even Davina when she clasps both her hands in her own. “Thank you.” Davina reels back slightly in shock.
“Uh, for what?”
“For giving me the three greatest gifts in the world. You may have carried them, but I have loved them their whole lives. I can’t promise you that they will forgive you Davina but over time the anger will lessen, if you try to mend the bridges you broke and be honest with them.” For the first time since meeting Davina, she finally drops her mask and I see the longing and regret in her eyes. “They are great kids, they love hard and fight even harder for what they cherish most. You may have made wrong choices, but you can try to make things right by being the best freaking grandmother toourgrandson.” Hearing mom refer to Davina like that has me fighting back my emotions, I may not like it, but my mom wouldn’t be extending this honor to Davina if she didn’t think she was worthy of being in Harlem’s life.
“I-I would like that very much.” Mom shocks us again when she drops Davina’s hands and pulls her into a hug. Davina’s shocked eyes dart to the three of us, it takes a lot of my control not to laugh at the horrified expression on her face, after a moment she reaches up and pats mom on the back like one would pat a dog. Cole and Callie don’t even attempt to hide their laughter, I spy Vince out of the corner of my eye concealing his laughter behind his hand.
“As touching as all of this is, I think we need to formulate a plan and work out numbers of who is staying here and who is going.” Dela is right, I move toward him and notice Shelley is staring directly at me. I search her gaze for a challenge but there isn’t one, I can see she wants to say something.
“Whatever it is, just say it because I don’t have time for your bullshit.” She takes a deep breath and nods.
“The night Austin was killed he told me that the council was after him because they knew he was in touch with the first family.”
“As in the first family if vampires?”
“Yes Colton, Austin had stumbled upon the vampires when he was out hunting. He formed a friendship with Alexander, the leader of the family. Austin found Alex when he was traveling abroad after college––“
“Wait, so this was before you and him were even together?”
“Yes Creed. I only found out about Alex the night Austin died, I had never met him. Austin would talk to him all the time on the phone, and I never had a reason to question it, I thought at least if he’s here on the phone he’s not––.”
“With me?” Davina finishes for Shelley and she nods.
“So why were they after Austin?” I ask.
“Jacob followed Austin when he went out of town and saw him with Alex. I don’t know how he knew what Alex was, all I know is that Jacob told the council in a bid to get rid of Austin so they would name him alpha of the Cruz pack. Austin knew Jacob was trying to overthrow him, Dela was the one who warned Austin that Jacob was coming for him, the kids and me as well. He met with Jacob that night knowing that he would try to kill him, but he told me he had a way to make sure that never happened.”
“He gave the blood to me instead of taking it himself.” Shelley nods sadly.
“Yes Davina, Alex had given Austin a vile of his blood. Austin and Alex were trying to broker a truce so vampires could come out of hiding, but the council didn’t want that. They didn’t like the idea of another race being out in the world that they couldn’t control. So, they set Austin up, he left to meet Jacob and the council came for me and the kids, except Cairo had escaped. Jess was just a baby, Dela told me if I went willingly, he would make sure the kids weren’t harmed, so I did. Except Dela couldn’t find Cairo. The only way to ensure the kids safety and even know if they were alive was to play dumb and eventually join them. Dela helped me get Zeke to Ro and he kept tabs on Kat and Jess. Eventually I managed to find both my kids and make sure they were kept off the radar and that the council still believed they both died the same night Austin did, but that changed––“
“When I brought Jess back to Rosewood.”
“Yes Creed.”
“Where is this Alex now?” Cairo asks.
“I-I don’t know, like I said I’ve never met the man only your father did. Cairo I am so––“
