“And you come in here acting like you’re some angel sent to help inform me of this danger now? When I’ve already managed to remove myself from it, no thanks to you? Give me a break.”

  Behind me, the door opens. Tripp walks in and stops short when he sees our standoff. Down the hall, the shower cuts off. Great, everyone’s listening now.

  “Mac.” My mother tries to speak, but I’m done listening to her excuses.

  “You’re not my savior, Mom. I found out about the ritual and Jadick’s intentions all on my own. I uncovered what kind of mess you helped put me in. And I nearly got myself killed in the process. Did you even know Jadick shot me with a poisoned bullet for trying to escape? Did you even care?” I don’t wait for her answer before pressing on. “If anyone’s my savior, it’s Levi and Tripp. They got me out of that house. Not you. And they brought me here where I’d be safe—from everyone except for you, it seems.”

  “I told you. I didn’t come here to hurt you.”

  “Are you sure about that? Because you led a tracker right to our doorstep.”

  I don’t bother with the fact that she killed it while defenseless. As disturbing as it was to watch, I know she did it because nothing less would stop that thing. And we can’t exactly keep it contained in the house.

  “It’s obvious Jadick doesn’t trust you, anyway,” I say instead. “That he sent that tracker to follow you. To make sure you got the job done.”

  “Jadick doesn’t want a tracker to kill you,” she says. “He needs you for the ritual.”

  “I’m sure he’ll come up with another desperate female to manipulate.”

  “No one else will work,” she says. “It has to be you.”

  The way she says it speaks volumes, and I stare at her, unflinching. Now, my heart races. Because she knows something I don’t.

  “Why?” I demand.

  “Because,” she says, voice rising to match mine, “three branches. Three choices. Three bones of our blood. Reject, Accept, reject. Three times three, so mote it be. That’s what the spell calls for. Blood of three generations times three choices.”

  Her words ring out into the silence, and the potency in them, the certainty in her, stops me from calling bullshit.

  Her eyes are hard and knowing. More secrets, then.

  “What does it mean?” I ask.

  She sighs. “Before you lose your shit, you should know I didn’t learn this part until after you left.” She glances at Tripp and frowns. “Escaped,” she amends.

  “What exactly does it mean, Vicki?” my father’s voice is like steel; enough so that she flinches as she drags her gaze to his.

  “She and Levi are fated,” my mother tells him.

  He nods. “Yes, I can sense that. But they’re not mated yet. Not claimed.”

  “No. Jadick manipulated Mac into rejecting Levi. Again,” my mother adds and then gives him a pointed look that suggests he should know the significance of her explanation.

  “Reject, accept, reject,” he repeats.

  She nods, the hardness in her expression dissolving into what looks like sorrow.

  The bathroom door opens, and Levi emerges amid a cloud of steam that escapes with him. Dressed in only a pair of low-slung gym shorts, he runs a hand through his wet hair. My eyes dart to his bared chest. Even in a charged moment such as this one, I can’t ignore the attraction I feel.

  Reject, accept, reject.

  She’s right. That’s what I’ve done to him. My heart pangs as I realize it.

  When I look back at my father, his brows are knitted as he attempts to work through the layers of whatever my mother is trying to tell him. Finally, he says, “Does this have to do with my parents?”

  My mother nods. “And us, I’m afraid.”

  My father doesn’t say a word. Instead, he simply raises his glass and empties it. When he sets it down again, he says, “Shit, Vicki.”

  “What?” I ask. Something about his reaction has unsettled me. The anger I felt is gone, replaced by wariness. Whatever my mother’s claiming, it’s real; his stunned reaction leaves no doubt about that.

  My mom looks back at me again. “When I first met your father and realized we were fated, I tried to resist. I don’t need to explain to any of you how hard the pack would make our lives if we tried to be together. So, I rejected him. But he persisted.” Her lips twitched toward a fond smile. “He convinced me, and when I finally accepted him, we ran away together.”

  I take a step toward the table. “And you had me.”

  Her honesty is enough to bring me back to the table, but it’s my father’s face as he watches her tell it that has me taking my seat again. This is the most vulnerable moment I’ve ever shared with either of them. If they care about the fact that Tripp and Levi are witnessing it, they don’t show it.

  Neither of the guys say a word, though.

  “And then Crigger sent people to hunt us,” my mom says. “To find me and bring me back so I could hunt down all his enemies. Just like my father did before me. Apparently, the price of being the best is job security—whether you want it or not.”

  Her attempt at humor is too dark and horrible to be funny.

  She goes on, “When they found us, your father and I did what we had to do to protect you. I considered leaving you here with him, but by then, Crigger knew you existed.”

  “Why does that matter?” I ask. “I was a baby. Nothing to him.”

  “You were mine,” she says. “And I knew he’d use you to control me if he could.”

  “You were safer with her,” my father says.

  “Safer among the violence and abuse of our pack?” I ask, unconvinced.

  “Safer where Crigger could see Vicki’s loyalty to him went deeper than her devotion to you,” Levi says quietly.

  I turn to look at him, surprised. And more surprised when my mother doesn’t disagree.

  “My parents did the same to me,” he says. “It was their way of keeping me safe from Crigger’s wrath. If they didn’t care about me, why should he?”

  Tripp huffs. “It’s fucked up.”

  “It is,” Levi says, casting a hard look toward Vicki and even my father. “But it worked.”

  “Yes,” my mother says sadly. “It did.”

  “So, what does that have to do with this ritual?” I ask.

  “When I left your father, I did the thing I knew would keep us all safest,” my mother says. “I rejected him. Again.”

  “Three generations times three choices,” Levi repeats.

  I look from him to my mother. “And your parents?” I ask. “They did the same?”

  She nods. “It has to be you. Jadick knows it, and he’ll stop at nothing until he has you back so he can use your blood to end fated mates forever. I didn’t know the ritual demanded these specifics until two days ago.

  “I was furious, of course. Jadick used me. Pretended his marriage would save you—that it would end the curse. That’s what he told me. He manipulated me into helping him arrange it under the guise of protecting you. Anyway, by the time I learned the truth, you were gone, Mac. I wanted to leave, too, but I couldn’t. Not without raising suspicion. So, when Jadick ordered me to find you, I saw my chance, and I took it.”

  She glances at Levi.

  “I hoped you would remember the coordinates I gave you,” she tells him. “And I came here to tell you…” She looks back at me again, raw vulnerability shining in her normally proud eyes. “I’m sorry, Mac. For everything.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Three generations of rejecting and accepting a mate and then rejecting them all over again. That’s the legacy I’m part of. Second chance romances. Or, basically, just getting back together with our exes. That’s what the women in my family are about, apparently. And now, I’m being hunted down for my blood because of these choices by men who think we don’t deserve to live. Would the world ever change?

  I was really doubting it right up until the moment my mother apologized. Now, the world feels tipped on its axis. I stare back at her, completely at a loss. Showing up on my father’s doorstep shocks me less than her apology, along with the heartfelt—no, heart-wrenched—look she wears as she waits for my response.

  A response that sticks in my throat and aches in my chest.

  “I…”

  My words are lost to the ringing of a phone.

  We all look to my mother, who pulls a cell from her shorts pocket. She clutches it tightly and says, “It’s Jadick.”

  “The GPS—” Levi begins as she starts to answer.

  “It’s untraceable,” she adds and then hits the button to connect the call.

  I hold my breath as she puts it on speaker and says, “Yeah?”

  “Did you find her?” Jadick’s impatience is edged with irritation.

  “Not yet.”

  He’s silent except for his breathing, which is heavy and laced with fury.

  “I’m warning you, Vicki,” he says finally, his voice deadly calm. “Do not even think about trying to play me. She’s mine now, and there’s nothing you can do to stop this.”

  “I just need a bit more time,” my mother replies, her voice hardening with all the certainty of the bounty hunter I’ve watched hunt countless times over. “There are a few other places I think she’ll try to go.”

  “So you say,” he says.

  “I’ll check in again soon,” my mother says, unaffected by his threatening tone.

  “Make sure you have what I want when you do.”

  The call ends, and my mother picks up the phone, disconnecting the battery and SIM card before setting the pieces on the table. Then she looks up, glancing past the others to me. My hands are balled into fists at my sides. When I realize it, I relax them and exhale, concentrating on my breathing and cooling the tension and rage in my body.

  The sound of Jadick’s voice in this room is a reminder that I’m not free yet. Not really. But I will be.

  “I accept your apology,” I tell my mom. “But it doesn’t make up for the past or for helping Jadick trap me in all this. The only thing that will do that is helping me—” Tripp elbows me “—helping us put him down.”

  “You have my word, Mac.” My mother’s expression is solemn. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I only ever wanted to protect you.”

  “I know you believe that,” I say carefully. “But your methods are not welcome here. You do it our way from now on or leave.”

  “You’ll need me if you’re going to fight him—”

  “Our way or leave,” I repeat. “Those are your only choices.”

  “Don’t you mean ‘our way or the highway’?” Tripp whispers. “I kind of always wanted to say that.”

  I give him a look, but he just grins, impervious to my glare.

  My mother looks at the others, one by one, and whatever she sees in their gazes must echo my words because she finally looks back at me, nodding. “Deal. What would you like to do now?”

  Instead of answering her question, I look at my father. “You didn’t ask for this,” I tell him. “I understand if you don’t want to be involved. We can find somewhere else to—”

  “I’m in.” He doesn’t look at my mother as he says, “I let you go once because I thought it best for you. But I don’t intend to ever do it again. I’ll fight with you—and for you. Whatever it takes to make you safe.”

  I shove aside the warmth his words bring. There will be time later to examine how I feel about the man who’s just professed blind loyalty and the woman who’s finally promised to stop meddling in my life and instead let me be in charge of my own choices. The stirring of emotions is an intense storm I don’t have time for right now.

  Levi catches my eye, and I see understanding in his gaze. But, as if he knows what I need, he puts it all aside too. “Tripp and I will follow you wherever you go,” he says like that answer should be obvious.

  “Hell yeah,” Tripp echoes.

  My lips curve as I glance at my former bestie. Maybe not so “former” anymore. “You want to kick ass together?” I ask because bantering with Tripp is safer. It makes this whole thing less crazy.

  “I got your back, Mac and cheese,” he says, and I punch him in the arm.

  We take a break from our strategy meeting to allow Tripp and my dad to get cleaned up. While my mom eats leftover stew, Levi asks her for updates on Frankie and Grey and a few other Jades. She offers what little information she has, but it’s clear she’s not privy to their lives. They don’t trust her. I can’t blame them.

  “What about Nely?” I ask, thinking of the girl who became my almost-friend back at the mall before everything went to hell and I became the enemy’s betrothed.

  “Gone,” my mother says.

  “Gone where?”

  “No idea.”

  “And her mate? Lorenz?” I ask.

  “Both of them left. Along with most other Jades,” she tells us. “Especially those without rank or position in the alpha house.”

  “They would have defected,” Levi murmurs. “This is why we left in the first place.”

  “Do you know where they might have gone?” I ask Levi.

  “There are a couple of safe houses in Rose Hill, right outside Blackstone,” he says. “We used them to check in with our spies in town—”

  I shake my head, cutting him off. “Those houses were burned while Kari was alpha.”

  His gaze darkens at that, but after a few blinks, his shoulders sag, and the light goes out. “Then, no. Everything else is compromised. Jadick…”

  He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to.

  “We need to find them,” I say. “If we’re going to do this, we need reinforcements.”

  We need numbers we don’t have, but I don’t bother to point that out. The fact is we’re doing this either way. Saying out loud how horrible our odds are won’t help.

  “What about outside help?” my mom asks.

  “What kind of help?” Levi asks warily.

  “Lone Wolf pack. Mafia pack—”

  “Absolutely not,” Levi says.

  My mom is quick to rebut, and by the time Tripp and my father rejoin us, Levi and my mom are embroiled in an argument over whether or not going to other packs for help is wise.

  “We asked them to fight Kari for us, and they all said no,” Levi says. “What makes you think they’d change their minds now?”

  “The fact that magic can remove fate’s hand from our lives?” my mom scoffs. “I would think even they would understand a threat like that. Who’s to say someone wouldn’t try it on their packs next?”

  “I’m not going to beg,” Levi says, eyes flashing as his temper rises.

  “Who said anything about begging?” My mom glances at me, but I don’t say a word. I’ve already told her she has no say in our plans, but I also know we can’t beat Jadick alone.

  “Have they been like this the whole time?” Tripp asks quietly, coming to stand beside me again.

  “Pretty much.”

  “They’re kind of an even match,” he says after a moment. We share a look, and he grins. “They’re both stubborn as mules.”

  The conversation at the table cuts off, and both my mother and Levi turn to glare at us.

  “Whoops,” Tripp says and slides past me into the kitchen for a glass of water.

  My father steps into his place, standing close enough for me to feel awkward.

  “My money’s on Vick,” he announces, and something strange flickers in my mom’s expression at the nickname.

  My father watches her carefully, and suddenly the awkwardness I feel has more to do with the undercurrent of emotions passing between them.

  Two decades apart have only seemed to stoke their connection.

  Gross.

  I take a step away, and my father chuckles.

  “So,” he says, crossing his arms over his fresh shirt. “You two decide how we’re going to fight this war yet?”

  “No one’s decided anything,” Levi says.

  My mother scowls and looks away.

  “But now that we’re all here,” Levi continues, casting me a look that has me tensing. “I think we can all agree that, at the end of the day, the only way to remove an alpha is to challenge him.”

  “And you want to be the one to do that,” my father says.

  “No way,” I say, stepping forward to cut this off. “You’re not endangering yourself like that. Not after… Just, no.”

  “Mac,” he says, and it’s the softening in his tone that pisses me off more than his argument. “I’ll be fine.”

  I scowl at him. “You sound like an idiot.”

  His brows go up at my outburst. I’m aware I sound like the worrying girlfriend, but I don’t care.

  “You’ve already been held prisoner, tortured, and effectively cut out of your own pack.” He winces, but I’m willing to say anything to keep him from putting himself in danger this way. “Besides, we all know Jadick’s not going to fight fair. He didn’t with Kari, and he won’t with you. All that matters to him is winning.”

  “I know, but that’s my point—”

  “He’s going to cheat and fight dirty, and he won’t stop until he’s gotten what he wants,” I say.

  “Right, but he’s already overplayed his hand—”

  “Jadick only cares about himself, and his ego is bigger than anyone I’ve ever met.”

  “Which is what I plan to use against him.”

  Levi’s words are drowned out as I continue to argue. “He’s sure of himself, and even worse, he has already beaten us at every turn—”

  “Mac.”

  He nearly shouts my name, and I fall abruptly silent, still glaring at him.

  “It has to be me, and you know it,” he says.

  “I don’t know anything of the sort,” I say.

  He looks at my mother. “Did Jadick hold a bonding ceremony to link him to the Jades? Did he claim them as alpha?”

  My mother blinks. “No.” She frowns. “He asked for sworn loyalty, but that was it. I guess he didn’t think it was necessary.”

  “Because the asshole thinks he already won,” Tripp puts in, but there’s excitement in his eyes as he sets his water aside and comes forward.

  “He probably thinks Levi isn’t a threat anymore,” my mother adds.