Chapter 47

(**Irina’s POV**)

As I stand in my father’s living room, I look at the walls and all the empty surfaces. The feeling of this place not being a home is staggering. Kat’s paintings and Oleg’s tapestries are not hanging on the walls. My mother’s pottery is missing from every available surface. All of that has long since been destroyed. My family’s creative nature was always on display in our home.

This house is an empty vessel waiting to be filled.

I came here after I left Jace with his teacher, Sarah Murphy. When he climbed into bed with us last night, my heart was trembling with apprehension. I feared he would see me and be scared. A fear that is understandable after what he went through. When he allowed me to touch his soft cheek, it thrilled me. When he cuddled against me as I told him a story, it filled my heart with happiness and sadness. I was happy that he accepted me, but sad that my child wasn’t with us too.

When he asked about Zasha, I wanted to cry, but I stayed strong for him. Then later, when he asked if we would give him another sibling, my heart jumped in my throat at the thought of having babies with Sebastion. What surprised me the most were the images that flashed simultaneously through my head and Sebastion’s. What our babies would like if we had them.

The feeling of joy that came from him when I told him I would love that was astounding. I now know without a doubt that he will cherish my daughter and any child we make together the same what he does his son. With unwavering devotion and unconditional love.

Opening my hand, I look down at the necklace in my palm. My mother’s beautiful turquoise necklace is the only item I have left to remind me of her. I will be forever grateful to Eric for not destroying it like he was told to. I miss her smile, the smell of her baking, and the joy on her face every time she showed one of her new creations.

“That is new,” my father’s voice has me turning to face him.

He is dressed for training with the rest of the pack in an hour. Both he and Natalia have agreed to join the pack, while Pavel has yet to decide. I would love for him to stay, but in my heart, I think he will decide to leave. Maybe if we find Oleg and Kat, he will stay.

“What is new?”

“Your scent and Sebastion’s mark on your neck.” He motions for me to join him in the kitchen. The smile on his face makes me happy since I thought it would upset him.

I follow him into the kitchen as he goes about his morning routine. As he goes to the cabinet to get his coffee, I sit at the small table. “I am happy but scared at the same time.”

“Why? You deserve to be happy, Rinny.”

Once the coffee pot starts, he goes to the refrigerator to grab eggs, bacon, and sausage for his breakfast. I stand up and walk to a cabinet to look for a bowl to put the eggs in. “Here let me help you cook. Scrambled eggs, right?”

My mother used to cook for him and have his coffee ready every morning until she made him learn to do it on his own. That was around the time they finished her studio and kiln behind our house, and she spent a lot of her mornings in there working. He grumbled about it at first, but when he knew it made her happy, he went along with it.

He nods his head as he reached into a large bowl on the counter to grab an onion and a red bell pepper.

“You cook the bacon and sausage and I will cut the onions and pepper,” I tell him as I take them from him.

We fall into a comfortable silence as he cooks and I chop the vegetables. When I finish chopping, I slid the contents of the cutting board into his pan and turn to crack the eggs in a bowl. The tantalizing aromas filling the kitchen finally start making this house feel like a home. I don’t realize I am crying until I feel the warm tears fall in the back of my hand as I add salt and pepper to the eggs.

Memories of my time with my mother as I learned to cook, all of our family dinners, and the laughter that always filled our home, flood through my mind.

“She wouldn’t want you to be sad, Rinny.”

“I know, but I can’t help it. I haven’t given myself the time to grieve. It was weakness that I couldn’t let Vicktor see in me. I had to be strong or he would punish me or taking it out on Zasha. I couldn’t let that happen to the only person I had left in my life.”

“You are no longer alone and we will get her back. Pavel and I are coming with you and Sebastion tonight.”

That surprised me. I was not aware that was part of the plan. Did Sebastion know, and he just didn’t tell me?

“He wanted it to be a surprise for you,” my father tells me when he sees my surprised look.

“When did he ask you?”

“Before you two left for Bodega Bay. He wanted to be prepared once you learned about where she could be.”

My mate’s thoughtfulness made me smile.

“He is a worthy male for you. Now stop stalling and tell me why you fear being mated.”

“That part is not what I am afraid of. It is what is to come that scares the hell out of me. What Vicktor will do when he realizes that his is being attacked on two fronts. His base in France has already been compromised, and now we know where his other collection is. He will know the moment we breach whatever defenses he has on the house. Time will them be against us.”

“Will he leave France to come back here while he is under attack there?”

I pour the eggs into his pan before I respond. “I am unsure. That scares me. There is still so much that we don’t know, but I can’t wait any longer to make a move to get my daughter back.”

“You will have your family and your mate with you tonight. We will get her and bring her to where she belongs. The rest is for tomorrow.” He stirs his eggs when he finishes speaking.

I know he is right, but the fear is still there. Tomorrow Sebastion, the vampires, and a large group of their allies will go into Vicktor’s den of nightmares. There are more people going to free those captives than I ever dreamed was possible. I am frightened for my mate and all those helping him. As soon as they reach their goal, they will be on The Collectors radar.

If they are not already.

After we finish cooking, I help my father clean up and stay with him until he leaves to go to the training ground. As I am leaving, I realize that the mate link has been very silent since I last saw Sebastion. Has he closed off his end because something is wrong? Or perhaps he sensed my sadness while I was with my father and closed the link to give me privacy?

Did he think my sadness is related to Gustav? Thinking that is the case, I make my way back to the mansion to seek my moody mate. One day I wish he would stop being moody about Gustav.

**Like you were moody about Rayne?** Anya pipes in as I am walking back.

*Alright, I see your point.*

I haven’t really given him many reasons to not be moody when it comes to Gustav. Telling Sebastion from the beginning that my heart still belongs to my dead mate was kind of bad now that I think about it. I just wanted honestly between us and at the time what I said was true. In a way, Gustav will always be in my heart.

The love I feel for him now differs from what it used to be. I will always love the boy I grew up with and the man he became. My love for him as my mate will always be precious to me. Knowing there was a time when he loved me the same way I loved him will stay with me forever. However, I no longer love him the way I did back then.

That love is gone, and I think it has been since before Vicktor tore my family apart. Gustav made his choice the night before. Knowing that now hurts, but what surprises me the most is that it doesn’t hurt as much as it should. He and my brother betrayed me, but I think it is past the time to let that all go.

I forgive you both.

(**Sebastion’s POV**)

After making all the calls I needed to this morning, I go to the library to check in on Jace and Sarah. Opening the door, a crack, I peek my head in a little so I don’t disturb them. Jace’s is focused on the flash cards that Sarah is showing him. On the cards are basic shapes and colors. Each card she shows he calls out the correct answers by shape and then color.

He sounds so confident, and the smile he gives her when she nods it at him makes me happy. He seems to be coming back out of his shell.

As I am getting ready to close the door, Sarah looks up at me. I nod at her and she holds her hand up for me to wait a moment. Acknowledging her, I back out of the room to wait in the hallway. I am hoping she is going to tell me he is ready to go back to the pack school. The door creaking open behind me makes me look up at her.

“Good morning, Sarah, how are things going?”

“It is going very well today. He was in such a good mood when I got here. I want to try something tomorrow if that is ok with you.”

“What is that? Do you want to move him back into the pack school?”

“Not yet. I do want to add Callie and a few other students to the daily lessons. A different location would also be good. I want to have the lessons outside the mansion.”

“Where is your suggestion? Do you think he is ready to go further than the pack house?”

“That is where I would like to have the lessons. There is a room that is perfect for it in the attic.”

“The attic is a mess, Sarah. It would need some major cleaning before it would be a suitable location for small classes.”

“I know, and that is why I talked to a few of the parents. There are three students Jace’s age that are struggling in the larger classroom. I thought it would be great to have somewhere where they can get more one-on-one attention.”

This right here is why I agreed to have Sarah teach my son. She is smart, intuitive, and eager. “If you can have the attic cleared out and cleaned by tomorrow, then you have my permission to give your small classroom a shot. Callie, however, can’t join you. She left Redwood with my sister and Flynn a few hours ago.”

“Oh, are they going on a vacation?”

“Something like that. They are visiting Flynn’s pack for a while and I am not sure when they will be back.” That is all I am going to share with Sarah.

I turn away from her as I catch Irina’s scent coming down the hallway.

“I am going to go back to Jace now. When I get the attic clean, I will let you know.”

“Please don’t do it alone. If you need help, let me know and I will send some men to help you carry the heavy stuff away.”

“Thank you, sir, I will do that.” She turns around and darts back into the library.

I spin around just as Irina reaches me. Before she can say a word, I pull her into my arms and claim her lips for a kiss. A kiss that quickly spins out into something more than I intended as I pin her to the wall across from the door. My hands dive into her silky hair as I slip my tongue into her mouth. A moan escapes her throat as I move to her neck.

When I smell her arousal, I remember where we are and break away from her. “Woman, you will tempt me to take you right here on the spot, and I would if my son and his teacher weren’t right across the hall.”

A blush stains her beautiful face as she looks away from me. I find that adorable and pull her in for a hug.

“Why did you close our link today?” She asks me when I move to walk away.

“Come to my office with me, I have some news for you about your siblings.”

That gets her attention immediately. We walk to my office in silence, but her hand slips into mine along the way. Her grip tightening as we get to my office door. I can feel her hopefulness and her fear. I know the latter will be the more prominent emotion when I tell her what the news that Monroe told me.

“Did you find them?” She walks directly to the sofa and sits down. Her hands tremble and her eyes look up at me with anticipation of what I am going to tell her.

“My friend Monroe sent the images of Kat and Oleg to some of his contacts in Europe. There have been no results for Oleg, but there was for your sister.” I sit next to her as I tell her what Monroe told me about the werewolf labor camp.

Irina jumps up in surprise. “She is still in Russia? How the hell did she get involved with the mob?”

“I asked what it would take to get her out of there and Monroe told me it wouldn’t be cheap, but he knows people that can help. I told him that no matter the cost I will pay it.”

“Oh, Sebastion, I can’t ask you to do that. You have already done so much for me just by looking for her.”

“You are my mate, Irina, I will do anything I can to help right the wrong that was done to your family. It broke your heart the day Treadstone walked into your life. He tore your family apart for his love of money and his sick life style. I want to help bring your family back together.”

She threw herself into my arms and broke down into tears. I will keep my word to her or die trying.