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But something bothers me and I shake my head.
“If that’s how you feel, why did you bring the hunters here to kill them all? Why inform my father of the hideout?” I ask, not understanding what made her do this.
She shrugs. “I don’t want to lust after a monster like Church; I mean, we’ve heard all the rumors about him, so I thought if I killed him, then I wouldn’t feel like this anymore. Out of sight, out of mind, right?” She sits forward and hangs her head in her hand, sighing in exasperation. “But I froze when I saw him and ran away; I’ve been hiding in here ever since.”
I watch as she stews in her self-pity, then I let out a sigh and take her hand in mine. She looks at me with a knitted brow, the unshed tears still in her eyes.
“Xen, you know how werewolves have mates, right?” She nods, but the look on her face tells me she doesn’t want to know what I’m about to tell her. “Vamps have them too, apparently, and they’re called a Fated. My mother…” I trail off and swallow hard.
“My mother was Valentine’s Fated and my father killed her because of it.”
The disbelief on her face mirrors mine when I think back to when Valentine told me about his history with my mother. There’s no way he should know certain things about her that only her family would know… intimate things.
“Kat, what the fuck are you saying?” she asks incredulously, her expression sliding into a frown.
I sigh. “That my father is not the man who he claims to be. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but when I heard the order to kill me…. let's just say that and a few other things started making a lot more sense.”
She shakes her head. “No… no, he said you would be confused and messed up like this–”
“Xen, he ordered a hit on a woman who did nothing wrong in her entire life, simply to send a message to the Vega Alpha. He had her brutally murdered and sexually assaulted, along with her daughter, because his sex trafficking ring was uncovered.” I say, feeling as if a band-aid was just ripped off again and salt rubbed in the wound.
I look at Xenia’s hand in mine and sigh. “My father is an evil man, Xen; he’s worse than any supernatural creature. You need to see what I’ve seen, then you will realize it too. St Bernadette's Children’s Home and St Claire’s Orphanage, they were all covers for traffickers.” I say with a quivering bottom lip.
When I glance up again, Xenia’s mouth is hanging open in shock, but I can see something click in place for her. “My… my parents worked at… they owned St Bernadette’s before their deaths….They uprooted us one night and told us we were moving back to Georgia when they were attacked by the vamps.”
I squeeze her hand as the ice-cold feeling of dread settles in my heart.
“Do you think they found something that they shouldn’t have?”
“The more I think about it… Vamps have to be invited in, right? I’m pretty sure my parents wouldn’t just allow anyone in the house, especially if they were running from your father.” She shakes her head, then sighs.
“Your mother found me the next day, curled up in my bed, and she was as pale as a sheet. She always visited us when she was in town; I heard her calling my parents’ names downstairs before I heard the scream and her rushing up to my bedroom. She didn’t know… She couldn’t have.”
“So it might not have been vamps who killed them…” I trail off, the gravity of everything hitting me all at once.
My father is worse than any supernatural creature; hell even the Wendigos live by a set of rules. But not Alexander Décès… he lives by his own rules.
Xenia looks like she’s having a mild panic attack, but I’m not done with the bombshells.
“Remember when I said that vamps have a Fated?” she peers up at me with narrowed eyes and nods. “Well, they only find out who that Fated is once they taste the other’s blood. Valentine did by accident when my mother got a paper cut at a gas station and… Church–”
“Kat, I hope you’re not fucking saying what I think you’re saying!” She hyperventilates and her hand flies to her chest to calm her heart. “Church… and… no!”
I nod. “You’re his Fated, just as I’m Gabriel’s.”
Her eyes pop wide when I finally tell her what I’d been too scared to admit out loud. I belong to a man who my father trained me to kill one day; my heart and soul have been linked to his since the day I was born.
Xenia looks like she’s about to pass out and I place a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “You… and Priest are…?”
“I ingested his blood by accident when I cleaned his wounds the other night, but he doesn’t know anything… He doesn’t know I’m his Fated.” I don’t know why I sound so fucking sad saying that. “Valentine doesn’t want me to tell him and said he would release me soon, so I won’t tell him. Just like you, I don’t want to feel this way about a vamp.”
Xenia sighs and rakes her hands through her hair. “This Valentine, if he knows so much about the Fated and whatever, do you think he’ll know of a spell or something that could stop it? You know, like a werewolf rejects their mates?”
“I was thinking the fucking same thing. He’s old and knows stuff, so surely he should know of a way for us to break whatever blood bond we have with Church and Gabriel.” I say with a grin, feeling relieved that I can be open with my best friend again.
I have to admit that it scared me shitless when she had that gun to my head, but now that I know the truth, I feel better.
After a few minutes, I tell Xenia to clean up and change into something more comfortable. We wear the same size, so whatever is in the walk-in closet should fit her too. While she’s in the shower, I look down at the shirt I’m wearing and bring it to my nose, inhaling the smokey whiskey scent that I’ve grown so familiar with.
