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She squeezed my hand as she cut me off with a firm voice.
“No. You shouldn’t have. Your father made a hard choice, but the right one.”
Confusion swept over me as I searched her face for answers. “What do you mean?”
She took the steadily cooling cup from my hands and placed it on the forest floor with her own, turning to face me fully.
“Your father is, was, the Alpha,” she said in a small but firm voice. “He had to put the pack first. Before anything.”
“But you’re his mate, he needed you. We needed you.”
She smiled sadly. “Yes, but he wasn’t certain what had happened. He had no evidence or reason to accuse the Queen. He couldn’t risk a war, not when he was working so hard for peace.”
“Darling,” she continued, squeezing my hands as she saw the disbelief in my eyes. “If the people who protect the pack start putting their own needs first, the pack dies.”
“Mom, you spent twenty years in the hands of that evil bitch. No reason can justify that.”
She sighed, flicking her gaze up to the lightening sky. “The pack needs a strong Alpha more than anything. And a strong Alpha understands that sometimes things need to be sacrificed for the good of the pack. A strong Alpha sacrifices everything for their people.”
My gut twisted at her words, already sure what she was about to say.
“Zeke. That witch of yours is a threat.”
I stood, shaking off her hands and stepping away. “No, Mom, she isn’t.”
She sighed. “I admit, I am struggling to trust her. I think you can understand why I have trust issues with witches.”
I winced, turning back to her with an apology on my lips, but she carried on before I could speak.
“But even without that issue, even if I were to agree that she isn’t part of whatever her mother has planned, which I doubt very much by the way…”
“Mom,” I cautioned, knowing there was no chance of her giving me even the tiniest sliver of doubt about Cordy’s intentions.
She waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, I know. My point is, that girl is dangerous. Her link to Liam gives the Queen a way to attack us that we cannot defend ourselves from.”
“That isn’t her fault though,” I reasoned, running a frustrated hand through my long hair.
Mom nodded in agreement. “True. In the same way that my capture was not mine.”
A deep frown pulled down my brow. “What the hell are you saying, Mom?”
She held up a placating hand. “I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t have to say this to you, but youneedto see the truth here. She has to go.”
“The truth is that Cordelia has proven her loyalty, and that she is our Alpha female. That is all I need to know,” I snapped.
Fire flashed in her eyes. “No. It is not. You need to act on this before it’s too late. You need to put the pack first!”
“And why aren’t you saying this to Liam? He’s Alpha,” I growled, frustration bubbling inside me.
She scoffed. “He’s newly mated and doesn’t trust me yet. And I’ve run out of time. One of you needed to understand the reality of this situation before you left.”
I held her gaze for a long moment before shaking my head. “You’re wrong. She’s here for a reason. The prophecy…”
“That prophecy will only get you killed,” she snapped, her voice bitter now. “And has nothing to do with us. If you really care about your pack the way you claim to, you have to see that that girl can easily fall into enemy hands again. And that will doom us all.”
I turned away, heading back towards the cabin with a firm shake of my head. “No, not happening. We will keep her safe, she has us to protect her. The pack is safe because none of us will ever stop fighting.”
“You would risk the lives of every shifter in the pack on the belief that you can protect one witch?” she called after me as I walked away. “I don’t believe you’re that naïve, Zeke. Cut your losses now, before your heart gets too involved.”
