Bonus Chapter 6

Smirking, I look back, and Lily is staring at our little mate laying down like she’s a gift unwrapped just for her.
I stand up and claim her mouth savagely; at the same time, my hurricane jumps and wraps her legs around me. I hear Poppy gasping behind me, and Lily and I laugh against each other’s mouths.
“That’s the best sight I’ve ever seen in my life,” Lil says. “No, wait. If you were naked, it would have been even better.”
I slap her ass hard. “Stop complaining.” I bite her plump bottom lip. “Fuck. I miss you so fucking much, my hurricane.”
I can feel the relief in Poppy’s aura from Lily’s reaction without even glancing her way. She expected Lil to be angry. But that’s not how mate bond works.
I sit on the bed with Lily straddling me, and Poppy immediately comes over and hugs Lily and me at the same time. Then she pouts for Lily to kiss her, too. “Did you miss me, Li?” she asks with an adorable voice.
Lily blushes with a cute smile before kissing her. “Every.” She kisses her again. “Single.” And again. “Minute.”
“We need to talk,” I say, staring at Poppy’s wrists. Two pairs of eyes meet mine. I look at Poppy’s first before turning my gaze to Lil. “We’re going to Blackmoon.”
Lily wides her eyes. “What?” She tries to stand up. “No!”
“Yes,” I bark. “We are going!”
She tries again, and this time, I let her. Then she jumps off me like I just told her I was taking us to hell. Poppy winces and moves away.
“We are not going!”
I rise to my feet, letting her storm a few paces across the room. The floor creaks under her steps, the way it always does in this crappy, too-small house. I glance around. One broken heater. One leaky roof. One rotting window frame. Everything smells faintly of mildew. 
Even the thin mattress behind me groans from the movement like it’s begging to die already.
I clench my jaw. “This place is falling apart, Lil.”
“So? We’re alive, aren’t we?”
“Barely. You’ve lost weight.”
She spins around, her sharp eyes flashing. “Oh, so now I’m too skinny for you?”
“That’s not what I said. Don’t twist my words. I’m saying you’re working yourself to the bone and barely affording food. Poppy looks like she hasn’t had a full meal in days.”
Lily’s lip curls, and she steps forward like she might throw a punch. I don’t move. She’s a she-wolf. She’s strong. But I’m an Alpha. I don’t flinch. I just catch her wrists before she gets close to my body. My hand is gentle, but firm.
She fights it. Goddess, she’s fire and venom when she’s angry. I let her push, scratch, grunt, but I don’t let her go. Her pulse is racing beneath my fingers. I don’t care if she hurts me, but I’m not letting her spiral. Not now.
“Let go of me, Azrael!”
“Not until you listen.”
She growls, eyes blazing with betrayal. But it’s not real hate. 
It’s fear. 
It’s panic. 
I see it in the way her chin trembles, in the way she’s blinking too fast.
Poppy’s soft whimper cuts through the air. “Please, don’t fight,” she says, her voice like a cracked bell. She’s crouched on the bed, curled in on herself, arms wrapped around her knees. She’s wearing now that oversized hoodie Lily was wearing yesterday.
Lily pulls back, breathing hard. Her fists unclench. Then I release her gently. She stalks to Poppy like the hurricane she is and kneels down to wrap her up in a fierce hug.
Poppy buries her face in Lily’s neck. “I don’t want to go back. Not there. Not where he is, Li.”
Deep inside, I feel this thing eating me just because my mate is scared. 
I need to protect her.
I need to protect her.
Lily strokes her hair protectively, fiercely, and glares at me. “You’re asking her to walk into the same pack where Uncle Ethan—”
“I know what Pops did!”
“Do you? Because it sure as hell doesn’t sound like it!”
I bite the inside of my cheek. Rage is coiling in my gut, but not at them. At Poppy’s mother. At the fact that even after all this time, that fucking witch still controls our lives.
“He won’t touch her. And you know it, Lily!” I bark. “But that’s not why you’re running, why you don’t want to go back, is it, Lily?”
Her whole body goes still.
I step forward, trying to control my temper and failing. “You already know he won’t hurt her again. You’ve always known it. You’re not afraid of that. You’re afraid of coming back.”
Lily’s nostrils flare. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
She knows what I mean.
I stare her down, not backing off. “Your mother. You left because of her, and you’re using my father as the excuse.”
“No, I’m—shut the hell up, Azrael!”
But her voice cracks, her hands shaking now as she clutches Poppy tighter.
“Don’t lie to me,” I snarl. “You know I can feel you. Your fear.”
She bares her teeth. “I’m not afraid of anyone. Least of all her.”
But her voice isn’t sharp anymore. It’s hollow. Defensive.
Poppy looks between us, her delicate chin trembling.
Lily turns away, jaw clenched, but I catch the shimmer in her eyes. She’s unraveling, and I hate it—but I also need it. Because the truth is the only thing that’ll save her now.
Lily glares at me but doesn’t deny it. Her silence is confirmation.
“You’re not alone anymore, Lil. And you’re not responsible for shielding her from everything. I’m here. I’m staying. I’m yours, remember?” She sniffs. “But I’m not letting the two of you rot in this shithole because you’re too scared to let yourselves be safe.”
Lily’s jaw twitches. Poppy pulls back to look at her with wet eyes.
I step closer. Lower my voice. “This isn’t a life. You’re hiding. And yeah, maybe it worked for a while. But Poppy got cornered by some asshole at work—”
Lily’s head snaps up. Poppy flinches.
“What?”
“He had her wrist.” The words barely escape my gritted teeth.
Lily’s expression darkens into something lethal. She turns to Poppy, gently cups her face. “Why didn’t you call me, angel?”
“I didn’t want you to be angry, Li. I didn’t want either of you to get hurt.”
“Sunshine,” I say, moving closer. “You shouldn’t have to protect us. That’s not your job. That’s ours. Okay?”
Lily kisses her forehead, then glares at me. “You hurt him?”
But it’s Poppy who says in an awed tone, “Azzy knocked him out with one punch!”
*Azzy*!
Goddessdamn it.
She’s so sweet!
Lily doesn’t smile, but there’s something like satisfaction in her eyes. She brushes her lips to Poppy’s temple. “You’re never going back there.”
“Exactly,” I bite. “Which means we leave. Blackmoon has protection. It has people who won’t let anything happen to you. To either of you.”
Lily’s brows knit. She’s calculating. I know she’s hurt, and it hurts my heart that she has to deal with all these traumas with her mother. I love Auntie Vi, and I feel terrible about their relationship. From the outside where I stand, I know that half of what prevents the two of them from getting along is a lack of communication. Just it. Auntie Vi never wanted to hurt her daughter or treat her badly, but we cannot invalidate Lily’s feelings just because her mother’s intentions were good. 
I also know deep down, she wants to come back. She’s a wolf. She’s mine. And Poppy’s. 
I glare back at her because I’m not having any other way. 
I’ll be damned if I let them keep living here.
“If I agree,” my little hurricane says slowly through gritted teeth, “if I say yes... it’s not permanent!”
“No. We go. We see. If it’s not still home for you or a good place for my sunshine, we leave together. All of us. Somewhere else. Somewhere better than this.”
Poppy blinks at me, wide-eyed. “But you’re an Alpha, Azzy... You’d do that? Leave your pack?”
“You are my pack.”
Lily’s expression cracks. Her tough girl mask slides just a little to the side. Then she growls and punches my shoulder. “Fine. But if anyone breathes wrong in Poppy’s direction—”
“Or yours, I’ll rip their throat out myself.”
Poppy gasps. “Don’t say that.”
Lily laughs dryly. “He means it. And so do I, angel.”
I lean in and kiss Poppy’s forehead. Then I look at Lily and say, “Good girl.”
Lily narrows her eyes but there’s a smile tugging at her mouth. Poppy’s fingers tremble as they lace with mine. I squeeze back as she places her head on my arm.
I didn’t protect my mother from my biological father. That piece of shit. But I promised that I would never let what he did happen to anyone in my pack, especially my mate. I will always protect everyone around me.
Mom still has small scars from what he did to her, a big one on her ribs. I wish I could go back in time and let my wolf attack him when he tried to kill me with a gun the first time he saw me in my wolf form. Unlike his reaction, my mother stepped in front of me to defend my wolf without even knowing that it was her own son.
I wish I could have killed that fucker when I found him in the kitchen after he hit Mom. I regret so much that I didn’t. Every day. 
Fuck.
The memory of my mother prompts me to say as I stroke Poppy’s damp hair, “Mom will love to meet you.”
Her face lights up at me. “Yeah? You think so?”
“Of course she will,” Lily says, frowning as she looks at the other girl. “You’re the sweetest person in the world, and Auntie Allie is the best person in the world. You’ll see. You guys will bond fast.”
“She’s also a witch,” I add. “Well, part witch.”
“Really?” she asks me in a hopeful tone before looking at Lily, confusion adorning her face. “Li, you never told me that.”
Lily shrugs nonchalantly like it’s nothing, but I know she didn’t say anything to not give Poppy any reason to go to Blackmoon.
“But don’t expect too much from my mom. She doesn’t know how to handle her powers.”
“I can help her!” she offers, sitting up straighter with a beaming smile, but then she blinks several times. “Well, I have the knowledge, and if she wants to, of course, I mean—”
Lily interrupts her with a kiss on the lips, and I groan with the sight. 
“You’ll win everyone over in less than a second. You’re so precious, Angel!” Lily says before mindlinking me, ‘I love you, Az. I’m sorry for what I said. Please. Don’t lea—’
I lean in and kiss the top of her head before wrapping my arms around both of them. ‘I know, Lil. I got you. I’m here.’
Then I look at Lily’s eyes and say, “Now, pack your shit, my little hurricane. We’re going home.”