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“We promise,” Elizabeth said quietly.
Shannon barely noticed. She was talking t
o her phantoms again, begging her mother to tell her this was all a nightmare, that she would wake up from this and nothing would hurt. She asked about a boy, a beautiful boy she had a crush on, and she giggled when she said it. “He’s so handsome.” Her voice had a dreamlike quality. “I know he’s older and he probably doesn’t even know I’m alive, but I can’t stop thinking about him. Can I tell you a secret?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth said, hand going to Shannon’s brow. “Of course you can.”
“He’s a human,” Shannon whispered. “He’s a human, but I don’t care about that.”
“Good,” Elizabeth said. “It doesn’t matter if he’s human or not.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I—” Her eyes were wide but unseeing, and her chest rose and fell rapidly. She reached up toward the ceiling, her hand shaking. She said, “Mother? There you are. Where have you been? I’ve looked for you for so long. You left me, and it was endless. The dark. But I’ve found you again, and I can see the stars. Do you… do you remember when we played in the snow? That was my favorite day.”
And then her hand dropped. Her eyes slid unfocused. There was another exhalation that sounded like wind over water. Her chest didn’t rise again.
Her heart, her Alpha heart, continued on for another beat, and then another, and then another.
And then it too fell silent.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Elizabeth broke the spell that had fallen over us. She pressed her fingers over Shannon’s eyes, sliding her eyelids shut. The wolf mother had a strange look on her face, and I felt a conflagration rising in her. She stood slowly, staring down at Shannon.
Joe started for her, but Ox held him back, shaking his head.
Elizabeth Bennett said, “All this pain. All this death. Everything that has been brought down upon us. For what? What is the reason? What is the purpose of all of this? To make us suffer? To make us break? And for what?”
No one answered her.
“I’m tired of all of this,” she said, and her voice was low and wolflike. “We give everything we have, but it’s never enough. It’s a curse. A curse upon us all.” Her eyes were wet as she lifted her head, looking at each of us in turn. “And I’ve had enough.”
She moved then, pushing past her Alphas. They didn’t try to stop her. They looked at each other before turning to follow Elizabeth out of her bedroom. Rico asked what was happening, what was going on, but she ignored him. I made it out of the room in time to see her vault over the landing above the first floor. She landed on her feet below us and turned to head deeper into the house.
“Holy shit,” Rico breathed.
“Go,” Jessie said from the doorway. “See what she’s doing. I’ll stay with Shannon.”
The Alphas were already down the stairs, Joe calling after his mother. We hurried after them, Chris and Tanner nearly tripping over each other and falling down the stairs. Rico caught them by the backs of their shirts.
I heard the sound of a door flying open and crashing into a wall, the wood cracking.
Elizabeth was in the main office. She stood in front of her husband’s old desk. Her hands were pressed down on it, claws digging into it, leaving divots in the surface. “No more,” she muttered. “No more. No more. This ends. This ends now.”
“Mom,” Kelly said. “What are you doing?”
She looked at him, eyes blazing. “What should have been done a long time ago. We let ourselves become complacent. We told ourselves that since there were thousands of miles between us, there were bigger things to worry about. That others needed us more. First the Omegas. Then Robbie. We give and we give and we give, and for what? To be repaid in blood and death? I’m sick of it. I have had my pack taken from me. I have had my sons taken from me. I have had my husband taken from me. And all because of a name. Because of who we are. Because of where we come from. All we have ever wanted was peace, to exist and live and love like everyone else, but we can’t because of who we are.”
Joe looked uncomfortable. “We have a duty. We’re Bennetts—”
Her eyes flashed, and Joe closed his mouth. “Don’t you think I know that?” she demanded. “Don’t you think I understand? Because I do. More than you could possibly know. And it’s time we accept our place. It’s time we finish this once and for all. Because we will never know peace unless we take it for ourselves. Unless we fight for it. For too long we’ve stood idly by. No more. I’m done.” She rounded the desk until she stood in front of the computer.
“What are you doing?” Carter asked.
