16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Greg had explained to my parents about the existence of the Other realm whilst I was unconscious so they'd had a few hours to get their heads around it. Mum especially seemed eerily calm about the whole thing. ‘How are you okay with this?' I asked her.

‘When you love someone,' she started slowly, ‘you love all the parts of them. All their flaws and their foibles, as well as their virtues and strengths. I was scared when I first adopted you that my love for you might be less than my love for Ben because he is my son by blood. But it wasn't, Lucy, not once. So why should it start now?'

She took a deep breath. ‘Don't get me wrong, it'll take me a while to get my head around the fact that magic is real and my children are werewolves, but… I've seen a lot of things in my time as a nurse,' she admitted. ‘People with inexplicable injuries, people who lived who really should have died.'

She licked her lips as her frown deepened. ‘And once, when I was a little girl, I was convinced I saw a unicorn but my dad told me it was just my wild imagination.' She shook her head. ‘Maybe it was. I don't know.'

‘Did it have red eyes and clawed feet?' I asked. Her jaw dropped. ‘Yup, you saw a real unicorn,' I confirmed.

‘This is insane,' Dad said. ‘Should we be locked up? Is any of this real?' He pinched himself and winced.

‘Look at our son,' Mum said pointedly. ‘He's a wolf.'

He stared at Ben. ‘I think I need to go and do some baking,' he said faintly, then turned and went into the kitchen.

‘He'll come around,' Mum said. ‘He hasn't seen as many miracles as I have. It'll take a little longer to sink in.'

I gave her a small smile. ‘Where's Pollyanna?'

Mum's mouth tightened. ‘She said her role here was done. She walked out.'

‘She left Ben?' I gaped.

Mum nodded. ‘If she'd leave him like this then she's not good enough for him.' Her tone was bitter.

Confused, I shook my head. I'd seen her love for Ben and her desperation at his injuries. Pollyanna loved Ben, I was sure of it, so why the hell had she walked?

‘So you're a werewolf alpha?' Mum said, blatantly changing the subject. ‘Greg said you run the whole pack?'

‘Yes.' I paused. ‘I just helped break a huge curse on some former werewolves and the Werewolf Council have proclaimed me their Queen.'

She blinked and shot an accusing look at Greg. ‘You omitted that.'

‘She deserved to tell you some of her secrets herself.' His voice was unruffled.

A small frown creased her forehead. ‘You're Queen but someone attacked us, so clearly you've made a few enemies.'

I thought of Jimmy Rain and the Domini. ‘More than a few,' I admitted unhappily. A psychopathic prick and a whole shadowy organisation. At least Beckett Frost and Mrs Dawes were dead.

Her frown deepened. ‘Is the title of Queen a poisoned chalice?'

‘Oh undoubtedly,' I said, voicing the dark thoughts I'd had since the proclamation. ‘So far the title has done nothing except draw a bigger target on my back. I suspect my enemies are sniggering every time they use the honorific. They intend it to be a death sentence. Every wolf that fancies being King will see it as a challenge – and after all, I'm just a woman . In werewolf culture, you kill someone to take over their role.'

‘That's not good.' She looked worried .

‘Don't worry,' I said firmly. ‘I've always been excellent at being the popular girl. This will be no exception. I'll win them over.'

‘And the ones you can't win over?'

I braced myself as I met my mother's eyes. ‘Those ones we kill.'

I waited for her to recoil, but she did no such thing. ‘Good,' she said fiercely. Seeing my shocked expression, she smiled. ‘Lucy, darling, I want you to be standing at the end of this. Greg explained it is a dog-eat-dog world and, given the attack on Ben, I can well believe it. If you need a few heads to roll so people will take you seriously, I'll pass you the damned axe myself.'

Greg looked at her approvingly before turning his gaze to me. ‘We need to talk about your parents.'

Mum glared and tapped her foot. ‘I'm right here. What about us?'

‘Under the letter of the law, we should call the Connection—' Greg started.

‘—the magical police,' Mum interrupted.

‘That's right. We should call the Connection and we should get their minds cleared.'

‘Why do I get the impression we're not talking about some calming meditation?' Mum asked drily.

‘Clearing is when we remove any instances of magic from your mind,' Greg explained. ‘You lose that triangle on your forehead, and you go back to normal.'

‘But I don't want to go back to normal!'

‘You may be in the Other realm right now, but you have no magic of your own. You're vulnerable – weaker than a day-old kitten. As Lucy said, she has enemies. There is an unspoken rule in the Other that the Common realmers are left alone. Many of Lucy's enemies wouldn't touch you while you were Common because you were beneath their notice, but now you have those triangles…'

Mum snorted. ‘Triangles or not, some werewolf came here with death on his mind. At least if we know about magic, we can prepare for it. We can get some big shotguns or silver bullets or protective wards – are those a thing? – whatever we need. Remove that knowledge from us and you make us even more vulnerable, not less,' she argued.

‘I agree,' Greg said mildly. ‘But if we keep you in the Other, we could be thrown in the Connection's jail. That's something to consider.'

Mum chewed on her thumb; I'd inherited my habit from her. ‘I don't want you in jail,' she conceded.

‘We'll do a work around,' Bastion spoke up. He stood. ‘I'll see to it.'

‘One of the elders?' Greg suggested .

Bastion nodded. ‘Darius.'

Greg grimaced. ‘Recent reports suggest he's losing it a bit.'

‘Exactly,' Bastion rejoined mildly. ‘He'll sign something from someone he trusts.'

‘And who is that, exactly?'

The griffin looked faintly amused. ‘You're not the only one who is friends with Sam Albright. I'll get it done.' He walked out.

‘Erm, what? Explain,' I ordered.

Greg leaned forward. ‘The only way we can keep them here without us all getting in trouble is for them to become brethren because brethren are the only ones in the Other without overt magic. We'll fudge some papers and get them adopted by Darius. After that, your parents are part of a dragon family and so they become brethren. No one, not even the Connection, will be able to order them out of the Other.'

Relief swamped me so hard that it made me gasp. ‘Thank God.'

‘But until they're adopted, we need them somewhere safe,' Greg continued.

As much as it galled me to admit it, the mansion wasn't that place because it was crawling with people who may or may not want to kill me. ‘ Rosie's,' I said instead.

‘Rosie's,' Greg agreed.

I turned to Mum. ‘You know I found my birth family?'

‘Yes.'

‘How would you like to meet them?'