When You Were My Mate (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 101

101

“We have a cousin?” Silver’s voice cracks. I’ve never heard my brother sound like that.

“Yes.”

“The Deltas who left with Jacob were the most exclusive of them all. Strong. Built for war. Kael let them go because he felt guilty for what had happened…they saw him as an enemy anyway. Especially to Jacob’s son that was born.”

“Why would he be an enemy to a little kid?” I ask.

Ronin’s expression hardens.

“I don’t know.” Ronin shrugs one shoulder. “You can’t blame them for believing anything, especially after Jacob just died. Fast forward. You three were born and Kael learned that someone had been hunting Jacob’s mate and her son. Vigorously. Across all states-”

Ronin isn’t even done speaking when mom yells

“My father did that!”

She looks at me as if I deserve an apology for something I don’t even understand yet. Her eyes are wet and begging.

“You hunted them… why?” I rasp.

Her mouth tightens.

“Because rumors spread that Flora’s son would one day come back to the Black Covenant Pack to claim his rightful position!” she tumbles fast. “My father was head of the pack’s military, and against Kael’s instructions, he sent private gammas to kill the boy.”

“What sort of evil is that!?” Silver yells at her, his fists slamming against the table.

“He is our cousin-”

“I… I… I was young then. I was not the one making the decisions. My father believed that the exclusive Deltas would all come back and kill my own sons for revenge.”

“Oh please,” Allison coos. “Don’t lie, Derisha. Are you sure you were just young? A damsel in distress? You, Flora, and I were friends. And you were always very jealous of her.”

What?

I look at Allison, Now I realize why Ronin brought her here.

Allison and my mother know each other that well!?

How many fucking secrets am I sitting on in this pack house? How many lies have been baked into the walls, the floors, the very air I breathe?

“You hated Flora because she dated Kael in the past. And if not for the fact that she

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was mated to Jacob, Kael and her just might still be together today.”

“That is a fucking lie!”.

Allison just tilts her head toward the monitors.

“Look at the monitor. Do they lie?”

I lean back in my chair, and it feels like the whole room is collapsing inward.

All these years, I thought the rot came from somewhere else.

I thought it was the Lion Pride Pack that was diseased.

I thought they were the ones with bloody secrets hidden in every crevice of their pack. I didn’t think my own family lore was the rot. That we were all confused all these years. And there was my mother…the one who had most of the answers watched me and my brothers hate, detest, and speak about the abolishment of others who played no part in any of this.

“Emris…” My mother looks at me with tears in her eyes. Or maybe that’s just the performance of them. I can’t tell anymore.

“Maybe I did not like Flora. But I never wanted to kill her son-”

“Put the ropes on her.” I murmur and the specialists move immediately. They bring out a different chair for her.

“Emris, I am your mother!” She shrieks as they guide her toward it.

“You are a fucking liar,” I growl, rising halfway from my seat. “Now sit down in the chair and answer my question!”

–

She turns to all of us me, Silver, Regan…searching for the one son who will save her, who will step forward and stop this madness but none of it changes anything.

They seat her and begin to strap the equipment.

And for the first time since this interview began, I look at my mother like she’s not family but evidence.

“No wonder Demetra doesn’t feel safe enough to want Amira near this family.”

I murmur the words more to myself but Ronin hears them. My heart is racing so much I can hardly breathe.

I feel tears at the corners of my eyes. But I never cry. When they are done strapping mom, I ask the question.

“Did you like Flora?”

My mother says nothing at first. Her mouth opens. Closes. Opens again at the three of us.

“Answer.” Silver grits.

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“No.”

I look at the monitor and it’s readout is green.

“Emris, please… don’t do this-”

“Did you want her kid to die?”

“No!”

I look straight at the monitor again and it flashes false.

She screams and yanks the rope from her hand at the pain-

“No, no, you don’t understand! I didn’t want her kid to die, but my father said… he said the boy would grow up to kill my own kids if he didn’t die. I was… my father painted a bad image of what Flora’s son would grow up to be. So… maybe that’s why it’s reading that way. But I would never want an innocent baby to die. I wanted the person who would cause harm to my kids in the future to die instead. So I didn’t tell your father that our gammas were hunting them secretly.”

My mother starts crying and the monitor reads true.

“Well, can I continue-”

“NO.” Mom doesn’t let Alpha Ronin finish. Her body is straining against the ropes with loud tears. “I know what you want to say. Please allow me to say it to my son by myself.”

“And that will be?” I bring myself closer to the table.

“That’s…that’s…the reason you were kidnapped as a boy.”

I rise to my feet.

“The people who took you must have been Flora’s Deltas. As a way to warn us to stop hunting them. Now I see it. That must have been it-

Wicked little flashes tearing through my head.

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