Chapter 99

Her fingers instinctively tighten around mine as if she were protecting me from the sharpness in her own child’s voice.  
Little Dove sighs, clearly trying to process Az’s sudden hostility. “Az, what are you talking about? Although it was an accident, Ethan did get hurt helping me.”  
The boy lets out a short scoff, incredulous. Then he turns to me, but I look at my precious mate. “Can you give us a moment?”
Little Dove’s gaze flickers between us, concern deepening. “Sure, I—” She glances at the ingredients she had set aside on the counter, but Lily steps forward and grabs her hand.
“Come on, Aunt Allie, I want to show you what I made at school today.”
Little Dove lets go of my hand, and I immediately miss her touch. She says to my niece, “Okay, sweetheart.” Then, she leans down and pats her son’s head. “Be good, Az.”
I exhale a breath, rubbing my temple as I watch them disappear down the hall.  
“Stop lying to my mom!” Az says from beside me, glaring up at me. “I’m not going to let you fool her!”
“Are you hungry, kid?”
He takes a step back as if he’s been caught off guard. “Uh? No!”
The rumblings of his stomach would beg him to differ. But I don’t say anything as I get up and start making him sandwiches. He hasn’t been eating much early, and he must be hungry now that he’s home from school.
“Hey! Stop ignoring me!” he says from behind me.
The corners of my mouth turn up. I start frying eggs and bacon while the air fryer fries some burgers. “How do you like your eggs, Az?”
Beside me now, he huffs, snatching his backpack off the floor. “Right that. It’s perfect the way it is,” he says.
I glance at him, and his cheeks are red. He heads to the sink to wash his hands, then steps over to help me assemble the sandwiches without a word.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” I head over to the fridge. “The special mustard you like,” I say, pulling it out before carrying it to the dining table along with two plates, each stacked with three sandwiches. Over by the stove, I’ve left a few extra sandwiches ready for Lily whenever she gets back.
Az sits in one of the chairs, but he doesn’t start eating. He peeks at me reluctantly. 
“Go ahead,” I encourage him.
I get the orange juice from the fridge and pour it into a glass for him. When I return to sit next to him, half of the sandwich in his hands has already been eaten.
“Is it good?”
He nods, blinking a few times as he chews.
When he’s satisfied, after eating four sandwiches, I start talking, sitting next to him. “Az, I didn’t mean to deceive your mother.”
He looks up, narrowing his green eyes at me as he drinks the rest of the orange juice from the glass.
I smile. Well, *not initially*, I think to myself. “She did let the knife slip, and it would have hit her foot if I hadn’t caught it first. So I had to pretend my hand was hurt, or else she wouldn’t find out about our world.”
He swallows loudly. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?” I ask, confused.
He looks away, cautiously placing the empty glass on the table. “I was angry that you deceived her... I wasn’t going to tell her about our world.”
“But she’ll find out about it, Az.”
“What do you mean?” His eyes meet mine. 
“Your mother is my fated mate.”
He’s already shaking his head before he even says, “No.”
I try hard not to frown. “Yes, she is.”
“What? Lily said you were cursed!”
“I was. A little over three months ago, I managed to break the curse, but I was unconscious for two months after that.”
His large eyes are fixed on me, his mouth hanging open.
“That’s the only reason I didn’t go after you two,” I say, placing my hand over his on the table.
“You mean *my mother*,” Az says, looking away from my eyes but not taking his hand out from under mine.
“No, Az. I mean that.” I squeeze his hand. “I went after you two as soon as I woke up. It was the first thing I did! But you two disappeared, and I didn’t know where to find both of you and when I finally found you, it was only because I smelled Alicent’s faint scent. However, when I got closer and saw how happy you were for having your father and mother together...” I clench my jaw, remembering his words. “I didn’t want to see you sad. Otherwise, I would have kidnapped you both immediately.” 
The little boy’s silent for a minute, looking at our hands, then his gaze shifts to me, tears in his eyes. “I wish you had done that.”
Understanding dawns on me. 
I blink hard. “That will never happen again, Az. You hear me?” I squeeze his hand, looking at him. “Never again.” 
With his free hand, he begins to wipe away his tears. “I... I was taking a shower when it all happened. But, I felt my mother’s distress even from afar... Something seemed wrong, and I was so worried that I didn’t even turn off the shower when I got out of there. I was more panicked about what Mom could be going through than she scolding me later for wetting the floor with water and soap from my body. When I reached the kitchen, I saw Dad on the floor. I asked Mom what she did to him, but then... I saw her face... Her face was different, with almost a black eye and blood on her lip. I froze. The pain and sadness in her face made my chest hurt.” 
I remain silent, not wanting to interrupt him, as I relive with him what I already know. His weak voice makes it hurt even more.
“I was going to shift. But Mom placed an arm around me and stopped me without her even knowing it. But the anger I felt... I hit and hit and hit my father for what he did to my mother. I had suspected something was wrong, but I didn’t know until then, I swear.” His eyes plead with me. “I never thought that Dad could do that to Mom. I hate him!” He squeezes his eyes shut, more tears coming out. “I hate him so much! I wanted to kill him.”
You and me both.
I stand up and pull him close to me, then I hug him. Az cries out even more while my hands run over his back. 
“Why did Dad do that? Why? I should have protected my mother! I should have killed him.”
I’m ready to hunt down and kill that fucker who has made my Az cry.
I can feel the raw hatred and truth in Az’s words. He means every single word he says. That poor child has lost all the illusions he once had about the good father he thought he knew.
His voice is shaking but soft. “The only thing I could do was beat him until he got unconscious. Then Mom reached out to me, and I ran over, wrapping my arms around her. She held me tightly... Mom always gave me good hugs, like she was trying to keep me safe from everything bad.” I bet she did and does. “I could see the pain in Mom’s eyes, the bruises on her face, but her touch was warm and made me feel a bit better... Mom always says she is the luckiest to have me, but it is the other way around.” 
That makes me smile because *I* can say I’m the luckiest to have them both here with me. 
I hug him tighter, and when I let him go, he sits back down in his chair, wiping away the tears on his face. My eyes sting from the tears I refuse to shed.
As soon as I sit down in the chair next to him, Az says, “I know you don’t care about me, especially after everything I’ve said and done...”
“Azrael, that’s not true! Of course, I care about you.”
“Mom is your fated mate, Ethan,” he says, wiping away more tears with the back of his hands. “I won’t stand in your way if you promise to protect her and not make her suffer. I don’t want to see my mom like *that* ever again.”
“Az, listen to me. Of course, I’ll protect your mom. She’ll never go through that again. Az, look at me.” As he does so, with tears in his green eyes, I go on, “I’m not upset about anything you said, okay?”
“Really?”
“Of course not. You were protecting your mother. You did a good job. I’m very proud of you.”
His small face lit up for a second. He sniffs. Then he says, after taking a deep breath, “When are you going to tell Mom about all of this?”
“I was going to tell her right away, weeks ago, when you got here, but with everything that happened, I’ve been waiting until she got better. Now that she’s feeling better, I think it’s time. Don’t tell anyone because only a few people know, though.”
“I don’t want to lie to her anymore.”
“I know, me neither. That’s why I decided to have a picnic tomorrow to tell her. It’s time for her to know.” He gives me a nod too fierce for someone so young. “I’ve been waiting for her my whole life. I wasn’t as lucky as you were to find Lily so quickly.”
“I wish you had found Mom before she met my father...”
“But then you wouldn’t have been born. Don’t think like that, Az. You’re very important to all of us.”
“It doesn’t matter if I hadn’t been born or not because Dad said he had no son after what I did.” 
I say firmly, “Good. Because you’ll have another father from now on.” 
His eyes go wide, and he looks up at me, his chin quivering. Then, without warning, the boy jumps to his feet and flings himself into my arms, hugging me tightly. 
“It’s okay, Az. Everything is going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll take care of you two. You and your mom are my family now, and I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” 
Az breaks down, crying uncontrollably. He doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t have to because after that hug, I can feel it deep in my bones that not only our relationship but our destiny has shifted forever.
🐺 🐺 🐺
***Violet***

I still can’t believe my idiot brother deceived poor Allie. Maybe it’s our genetics talking, but I get why he did it. 
I even find it romantic. 
I wish Jordan would make some kind of effort to touch me like that instead of it always being the other way around.  
“Don’t worry about Lily,” Allie says, settling beside me on the couch.  
Lily had been showing her something from school, but the second she saw me coming, she packed everything up and went straight to her room.  
“She’ll come around,” Allie insists. “She’s a good kid, Vi.”  
I force a tight smile. Lily’s at that stage where she blames her parents for everything. The problem is—she’s not wrong.  
The sharp click of high heels against the floor reaches me before I even see her. Kelly is on her way. I don’t hear her brother with her... My husband hasn’t mentioned coming here or anything, but then again, he’s barely spoken to me at all lately.  
Kelly appears in the doorway, draped in a long black dress that’s a little too dramatic for this hour. Her gaze sweeps over us before she plasters on a tight smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. I know she doesn’t like Alicent much. 
“Vi! I’ve missed you.”  
Beside me, Allie stiffens, quickly pulling her feet off the couch and sitting upright.  
“Hey, Kelly!” I stand up as she approaches. “How are you? Feeling better?”  
“What? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’m fine,” she says, already dismissing the question. Then, with barely concealed impatience, she flicks a glance at Allie. “Sweetheart, I need a moment with Vi. Privately.”  
“I’m getting kicked out of every room in this house today,” Allie jokes, but standing up far too fast, as if she’s eager to leave. “Talk to you later, Vi!”  
As soon as she’s out of earshot, I turn to Kelly. “Your brother didn’t decide to come with you?” I ask with futile hope.
Kelly sighs dramatically. “Oh, honey, you know how it is. He had to stay behind to handle so much paperwork. Hm, for my career.” Her smile is all teeth. “Why is *she* here? I thought you said she finally got a grip and got the hell out of this pack!”  
I let out a low growl. “Kelly, don’t talk about Allie like that.”  
She lifts her perfectly manicured hands in mock surrender. “What was that? Calm down.”  
I advise, for my sister-in-law’s own good, “I wouldn’t say things like that around Ian if I were you.”  
Her perfect eyebrows furrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“Never mind. It’s a secret, K.” I press my lips together, trying to hold it in. I glance toward where Allie just left. Tomorrow, Ian’s going to tell her, and then everyone is going to know about our Luna. I can’t wait!
Kelly leans in, pressing her hands against her chest. “Vi, come on. You know you can tell me anything.” Her voice is warm, syrupy, sweet, fake as hell, making me roll my eyes. But then her tone is firm when she sees me doing it. “Don’t you trust me?”  
I hesitate. Then, against my better judgment—  
“Okay, but *don’t* tell anyone, okay? No one knows yet.”  
Kelly’s eyes gleam. “Now that sounds interesting. Spill.”  
“Ethan finally found his fated mate! It’s Allie!”  
Kelly’s lips part in surprise, her brows lifting. For the briefest moment, something flickers in her eyes—something sharp—before she quickly smooths it over. She gracefully lowers herself onto the couch beside us. She crosses her legs, her manicured fingers resting delicately on her knee. Then, with an arched brow and a perfectly measured smile like she’s posing for a photo, she tilts her head up toward me.  
With a perfectly arched brow lifted, Kelly says, “Oh? *Really?*”