The hospital was quiet when they arrived, the supernatural ward on the third floor even more so. Finn walked Lilith to the elevator and then stopped.
"I’ll be in the car," he said. "Call me when you’re ready to leave. And Luna?" He hesitated. "Be careful."
"Careful of what?"
But Finn just shook his head. "Just be careful."
He left before she could ask what he meant.
Lilith took the elevator up to the third floor and walked the familiar path to her mother’s room, her footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. The nurses recognized her now, nodded in greeting but did not stop her.
Her mother’s room was at the end of the hall, the door partially open. Lilith pushed it wider and stepped inside, and the familiar sight of her mother lying motionless in the hospital bed made her chest ache the way it always did.
"Hey, Mom," Lilith said softly, closing the door behind her and moving to the chair beside the bed. "I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. Things have been... complicated."
Complicated did not even begin to cover it.
She sat down and took her mother’s hand, the skin cool and dry beneath her fingers. The machines beeped steadily in the background.....heartbeat, breathing, all the mechanical things keeping her alive while her mind stayed locked away somewhere Lilith couldn’t reach.
"I don’t know what I’m doing," Lilith admitted to her mother’s sleeping form. "I don’t know if I’m making a terrible mistake or if this is somehow right. The bonds....they feel right. The Alphas....they terrify me and make me feel safe at the same time. How is that possible?"
Her mother did not answer. Never answered. Lilith wasn’t even sure she could hear.
"There was a pack meeting," Lilith continued, her voice breaking slightly. "They’re scared of me. Of what I am. Of this power I don’t understand." She touched the marks on her throat. "Two bonds complete now. Sebastian marked me a week ago and the power that came with it....Mom, I shattered every window in his room. I felt like I was going to explode from the inside out."
She wiped at her eyes, frustrated with the tears that kept coming.
"And now there’s one bond left. Lucian. And I don’t know if I can survive a third marking. I don’t know if my body can handle it. But the curse.....they need all three bonds complete or they’ll go feral and...."
"Lilith."
The voice came from behind her, soft and familiar and impossible.
Lilith’s heart stopped.
She turned slowly in her chair, hardly daring to breathe, and found a woman standing in the doorway.
Tall. Elegant. Dark hair pulled back from a face that was beautiful and severe in equal measure. Eyes the same shade as Lilith’s own staring at her with an expression of profound relief mixed with absolute horror.
Expensive clothes. Confident posture. Power radiating from her like heat.
And Lilith knew her. Knew her from old photographs, from childhood memories that felt like dreams, from a memory that felt blur.
"Aunt Victoria?"
Victoria stepped into the room and closed the door behind her with a soft click that sounded final in the quiet space. Her eyes never left Lilith’s face, and up close Lilith could see the lines of exhaustion around her eyes, the tension in her shoulders, the way her hands trembled slightly before she clasped them together.
"Lilith," Victoria breathed, and her voice cracked on the name. "Oh, sweetheart. Look at you. You’re all grown up."
Lilith stood on shaking legs, her mind struggling to process what she was seeing. "You’re alive. I thought....everyone said you were dead. Or missing. Or...."
"I’ve been in hiding," Victoria said, moving closer. Her gaze swept over Lilith from head to toe, assessing, and when her eyes landed on Lilith’s throat her entire body went rigid. "No. No no no. Please tell me you didn’t."
Lilith’s hand flew to her neck instinctively, covering the marks even though it was too late. Victoria had already seen them.
"Didn’t what?" Lilith asked, but her voice was small, uncertain.
Victoria crossed the distance between them in three strides and grabbed Lilith’s shoulders, her grip tight enough to hurt. She tilted Lilith’s head to the side, exposing her throat fully, and the sound she made was somewhere between a sob and a growl.
"The marks," Victoria whispered, her fingers hovering over the bond marks without touching them. "Two of them. Two complete bonds. Oh, Lilith. What have you done?"
"I don’t understand..." Lilith stuttered.
"The Cursed Alphas." Victoria spat the words like a curse, releasing Lilith and stepping back. "Nicholas, Sebastian, and Lucian Blackwood. I can smell them all over you. See their marks on your skin. Feel their bonds wrapped around you like chains."
Lilith felt her blood run cold. "How do you know..."
"Because I’ve been keeping records on them for years," Victoria said, her voice shaking with rage and grief. "Because I’ve been trying to find a way to reach you without putting you in danger. Because I’ve been watching and waiting and praying I would get to you before they did." She laughed bitterly, tears streaming down her face. "But I’m too late. You’ve already been claimed by them."
"They’re my mates," Lilith said, defensive despite the fear clawing at her chest. "The bonds...."
"Are a trap," Victoria interrupted. "A beautiful, terrible trap that’s going to destroy you just like they destroyed your father. Just like they’ve destroyed everything they’ve ever touched."
The room tilted. "What are you talking about? My father died during the alliance meeting....."
"Is that what they told you?" Victoria’s eyes blazed with fury. "Is that the lie they fed you while they were marking you, claiming you, binding you to them?"
"My father...."
"Was murdered, Lilith." Victoria grabbed her shoulders again, forcing Lilith to look at her. "Your father didn’t die during the hunters attack. He was killed. Murdered. And the Blackwood family is responsible."
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