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I suck in a breath. It makes sense that my mother would want to fight for her surrogate daughter, but it is also troubling. She is much older and frailer than she was when I was a child. I would not like to think of her involving herself in a physical altercation.
“At least, they had to stop me until Apollo’s mother decided to add a warning to everyone. She told us the forest perimeter was going to be monitored from that moment on, and that anyone who chose to go near the woods tonight would be imprisoned with their fate determined by their new Alphas later. Considering their new Alphas just made it clear that they were about to …” She shakes her head, tearing up just thinking about it. “Everyone knows she meant it as a threat of death.”
“She wanted to stop you from helping Lita. She must have known where they would chase her, or where she would run to.” I let that information sink in, and it starts to make sense.
They planned to kill our mate because we killed their father.
Apollo knew where I’d come from, even if he didn’t know about his father’s true form, or the truth of his lineage. Someone must have known that Lita was our mate. Otherwise, they wouldn’t know she would run toward the portal.
And they knew she would.
They chased her as wolves, but they also had a tranquillizer gun and rope, even clothes, stashed out in the woods close to where the portal was going to open. They planned to trap her there.
“I think Maria realized that more people might be willing to help Lita than the Alphas expected,” my mother says, smiling. “The women I work with, and some others … They were horrified when it happened. I think they would have come with me if Maria hadn’t stopped us.”
“I am glad she did,” I admit. “Maria is a chimera. If she had come after you …”
“Believe me, I know,” she says. “The threat she made would never have been enough to stop me. But knowing what she is, I couldn’t risk the lives of my friends on the chance that we’d somehow find a way to overpower a chimera. I had faith that Lita would find a way to survive, like you did all those years ago. I had to trust in that feeling.”
“And you knew we would save her,” I add, certain that wouldn’t have slipped her mind.
“I did think of you, but they tricked us, Sol.” She frowns at me. “The announcement happened about an hour before the portal was due to open. The sky was darker than it should have been, but I realized the clouds were just dark after we were sent back to work, and I saw what time it was. I think Maria can control the weather.”
“Just like my father,” I murmur. I am disturbed to think of Lita running scared from those wolves an hour before the portal opened. She must have had to give them the run around for a while before they were able to sedate her. We are lucky our mate is so smart and determined.
“I didn’t see either of the other chimera there. I looked after I realized I couldn’t run. I’m not sure where they would have been. The whole town is supposed to come out when there’s an announcement.”
“That is a little strange.”
“It is,” my mother says. “Where are your brothers?”
“They are checking where the chimera are now so that we can prepare our attacks and finish this tonight. Do you think any of them will be expecting to see their sons tonight?”
She shakes her head after a moment of thought. “Those four have never spent much time around their mothers. They probably had to involve Apollo’s mother before the announcement. She was the closest thing to a Luna while his father was alive. It’s possible the other two didn’t show because they weren’t happy about that.”
She pulls back her sheets and gets out of bed.
“You should rest,” I tell her. “I did not mean to wake you. I was worried that you might be sick.”
She smiles wryly at me. “I am well, and I will feel even better once you’ve defeated the chimera. It’s time the people of this town knew what it was really built for. Are those for Lita?”
I look at the blankets in my hand. “Yes …”
“Then you’d best take them to her while I make some tea. I get the feeling it’s going to be a long night, and I won’t get through it very well without something to keep me alert.”
I get to my feet, and move out of the room, allowing her to exit, too.
She waits for me to disappear into Lita’s room before she moves into the kitchen.
I take the blankets to the side of my mate’s bed and place them on top of the covers she’s already under. Her arm is out of the sheets, and it does not feel very warm. I start to lift it, to rearrange the sheets and cover her fully once more, when she lets out a soft moan.
I lift my gaze to her face as her eyelids flicker open.
She blinks up at me.
I smile back at her.
My mate is awake.
