Vengeance Reborn

Chapter 3.2 ~ First Rebirth, Pt. 2

Leona's POV

A cold sensation crawls across my skin.

“And without you,” Mom whispers, “something far worse eventually happened.”

“What?”

“We weren't shown everything,” Dad admits. “Only enough to understand that supernatural civilization fractured.”

Mom's expression turns distant.

“Wars.”

Dad nods. “Species turning against one another.”

“Territories falling.”

“Entire bloodlines disappearing.”

Mom closes her eyes. “And something ancient waking before anyone existed who could stop it.”

Great. That's comforting.

“So the Goddess reset you?”

“Yes.”

“How far?”

“Three years before we were supposed to meet.”

My eyebrows shoot upward. “Three years?”

Dad nods.

“We woke with every memory intact.”

“The rejection?”

“Yes.”

“The people who manipulated you?”

“Yes.”

“Your deaths?”

His jaw tightens. “Yes.”

I stare. Suddenly, what happened to me feels even less impossible. My parents have already lived through their own version of this nightmare.

“We had three years to prepare,” Mom says. “Three years to discover who had interfered, who could be trusted, and why anyone wanted desperately enough to destroy our bond that they were willing to manipulate both of us into killing ourselves.”

“Did you find them?”

“Yes,” Dad answers.

The single word is ice-cold. Something tells me I don't want details. At least not yet.

“We also knew we had to behave naturally,” he continues. “Anyone watching us could never realize we remembered.”

Mom smiles faintly. “We'd both kept the same phone numbers from the first phones we'd received as teenagers.”

I blink. “What?”

“The first time I called your father after waking again,” Mom explains, “I nearly threw up.”

Dad looks offended. “I'm choosing not to take that personally.”

She rolls her eyes. “Sebastian, I remembered watching you die.”

His expression softens immediately. “Oh.”

“Exactly.” She looks back at me. “We couldn't simply run toward one another. In that life, we technically hadn't met yet. If two teenagers from powerful supernatural families suddenly began acting like devoted mates three years before fate was supposed to bring them together, people would ask questions.”

“So you met secretly.”

“Yes.”

Dad smirks. “Your mother thought she was incredibly stealthy.”

Mom's head whips toward him. “I was incredibly stealthy.”

“You wore perfume.”

“It was one spray!”

“You're a wolf-vampire hybrid.”

“And?”

“I could smell you halfway across the parking lot.”

Mom's mouth drops open.

“You told me nobody noticed!”

“Nobody else noticed.”

“Sebastian Knight—”

I stare at them. They stare at each other.

And for one second, I can actually picture them as teenagers. Sneaking around, arguing, terrified and completely in love before they were technically supposed to know why. A reluctant smile touches my mouth. Then another memory rises. A memory I haven't thought about in years. My smile disappears. “Wait.”

Mom looks at me. “What is it?”

“There was another time.”

Dad frowns. “What time?”

“I was sixteen.” Their expressions change.

Interesting...

“You were fighting.”

Dead silence.

I narrow my eyes. “You remember.”

Dad rubs a hand over his face. Mom suddenly becomes fascinated with imaginary lint on her dress.

“Oh, hell no.” I point at them. “You absolutely remember.”

Dad sighs. “Yes.”

My heart begins pounding.

“I thought I imagined how strange that whole thing was.”

Mom looks toward me. “You weren't supposed to hear that argument.”

“Well, you left the door cracked.”

Dad turns to her.

“I told you I closed it.”

“You were the last one through it.”

“No, I wasn't.”

“Yes, you were.”

“Can we please focus?”

Both look at me.

“Thank you.”

The memory crashes over me.

And suddenly I'm sixteen again.

---

FLASHBACK

I just got off the phone with Gabrielle. There's going to be a bonfire tomorrow night out in the woods at Ten o'clock. Music,

food, probably several idiots attempting to impress girls by jumping over the fire. You know... Normal teenage shifter behavior and I DESPERATELY want to go! My grades are good and I've stayed mostly out of trouble.

Mostly... Sometimes trouble finds me. Especially when trouble has fake platinum-blonde hair, green contacts, and answers to the name Ingrid. I roll my eyes remembering her trying her absolute best to piss me off all day. Gabrielle and Dominick deserve awards for keeping me sane. I'm not entirely sure how they managed it, but I made it through the day without knocking Ingrid's teeth out.

Growth.

As I approach my parents' office, however, thoughts of tomorrow's bonfire disappear.

Voices... Really LOUD voices. My parents' voices. I stop.

They don't yell. Ever. They may disagree, obviously. Mom gives Dad the look. Dad does that annoying thing where he becomes so calm that you know he's actually furious.

But screaming?... No.

I move closer. Their office door is slightly ajar. I know I shouldn't... I know. But I'm sixteen. Curiosity is basically a medical condition. I peek through the c***k.

Mom slams both palms against Dad's desk.

BANG!

My eyes widen.

“Who told you that?!”

Dad is standing behind his desk, several photographs scattered across the dark wood.

Mom's ocean-blue eyes flash.

“Who told you Greg and I are sneaking around behind your back?”

“Does it matter?” Dad snaps. “These pictures say everything, Sophia!”

My mouth drops open.

Greg? Cheating? Mom?

No. Absolutely not. My mother would never cheat on Dad. Especially not on her true mate.

“He was helping me with a special project!” Mom shouts. “But apparently the same can't be said for you!” She grabs another set of photographs and throws them toward him. “What are these pictures Rebecca sent me of you shopping with her and her son Adam?”

Dad's jaw tightens.

Mom presses forward. “What Alpha—let alone one responsible for an entire realm—has time to spend the afternoon shopping with a woman who isn't his true mate or his daughter?”

I silently gasp.

Rebecca Anders.

Of course. Mom has never liked her. And now I'm beginning to understand why.

Dad gives a short laugh. Not a happy one.

Mom stares. “What exactly is funny?”

“You, for starters.”

Oh. Wrong answer. Very wrong answer.

Mom's eyes narrow into slits.

Dad gestures toward the pictures. “Why should it matter what I do when you clearly have someone else on the side? How long has this been going on, my love?”

Mom looks like smoke is about to pour out of her ears.

“I have given you the world,” Dad continues, voice cracking beneath his anger. “But apparently it isn't enough. Should we both have harems now?”

My stomach rolls. This isn't teasing. They're hurting. Badly.

Mom's aura spikes. “I am NOT sleeping with Greg!”

Dad says nothing.

“Have you felt betrayal pains?” she demands. “No? Exactly! As I already told you, he is helping me with a project that requires his expertise.”

“Then tell me what the project is.”

“I can't!”

Dad throws his hands up.

“There it is!”

“But by all means, ask Greg yourself since apparently you trust photographs more than your own mate!” Her voice cracks.

“I love you with my entire soul, Sebastian. I would never betray you. I would die without you and our precious daughter.”

My chest tightens. Mom's face suddenly changes. Anger becomes hurt.

“But that's it, isn't it?”

Dad frowns. “What?”

“Rebecca.”

He goes still.

“Ever since she lost her mate last year and was left raising her three-year-old son, she's attached herself to you more and more.”

“Sophia—”

“She wanted you before we ever found each other!” Mom's voice rises. “She wanted to be your mate. She wanted my title. My life. And now she's a widow with a son you could raise as your own.”

My stomach drops.

“Soon Leona and I will simply be pushed aside while you play happy family with Rebecca and raise Adam to inherit everything that belongs to our daughter!”

Dad explodes out of his chair. Both hands slam onto the desk. “DON'T YOU DARE BRING LEONA INTO THIS!” The castle walls practically shake.

I jump.

“This has nothing to do with our daughter and everything to do with you!” Dad roars. “You are the one I believe cheated, and I am the one standing here wondering how I failed as your husband, your mate, and as the man who was supposed to be enough for you!”

Mom recoils. Her expression breaks my heart. Then hardens again.

“But it's apparently acceptable when it's you?”

She snatches one photograph from the desk. “This picture shows you holding Rebecca's hand while she's wearing an exquisite ring I've never seen before. You're both staring at one another like the rest of the world doesn't exist.”

Dad looks at the photograph. Then scoffs.

He drops into his chair. “You are unbelievable.”

“Excuse me?”

“You're seeing whatever your anger wants you to see.”

Mom folds her arms.

Dad exhales. “Rebecca and Adam happened to be at the mall while I was shopping for special gifts for the two girls who own my heart.”

Mom's glare falters.

Dad looks directly into her eyes. “And for the woman who holds the other half of my soul.”

Mom blushes. Actually blushes, while furious... Impressive.

Dad continues. “I passed the photography store and nearly collided with Rebecca. She was holding Adam on her left hip and looking at a picture frame in her other hand.”

Mom says nothing.

“They almost fell. I caught both of them, but the frame hit the floor and shattered.”

“Of course you caught them,” Mom mutters.

“Sophia.”

“What?”

Dad closes his eyes for a second. “The store replaced the frame. No charge. Adam was upset, so I held him while she handled everything.”

Something softens in Dad's expression. “He fell asleep against my chest.”

Mom's shoulders lower slightly.

“It reminded me of Leona when she was that small. She always loved listening to my heartbeat.”

My own chest warms. I vaguely remember Dad telling me that before.

“Once we collected the replacement,” he continues, “I handed Adam back and told Rebecca I needed to finish my errands.”

“And?”

“And I went to the jewelry boutique.”

Mom's gaze flickers.

“I spent nearly thirty minutes looking and couldn't find what I wanted.”

Dad leans back. “Then Rebecca appeared.”

Mom's eyes narrow again.

“She said she had more shopping to do and offered to give me a woman's perspective.”

“Of course she did.”

“I nearly declined.”

“Nearly?”

“Sophia.”

Mom huffs and drops into the chair in front of his desk.

Dad continues. “I thought perhaps allowing her to help could ease some of the tension between you two.”

Mom snorts.

“I also wanted to finish shopping and return home to my girls.”

There it is again... My girls... Mom looks toward the window. But I see the little smile.

So does Dad.

“I asked the clerk to bring out their special collection.”

Mom and I roll our eyes at the same time.

Of course Dad shops from a secret rich-people jewelry vault.

“The clerk returned with a locked case containing rare gemstones extracted from protected caverns deep within the mountains.”

Mom tilts her head.

“Rebecca immediately found something she believed would be perfect for you both.”

Dad's mouth twists. “It was enormous.”

Mom groans.

“A ruby the size of a damn quail egg set inside black quartz, surrounded by three black diamonds on either side with a platinum band.”

Oh. That sounds—

“Hideous,” Mom says.

“HIDEOUS,” Dad agrees immediately. “It looked like something they'd bury a dead vampire wearing.”

I bite my lip so hard I nearly draw blood trying not to laugh. Mom doesn't even try.

A giggle escapes her. Dad's shoulders finally relax. “She slipped it onto her ring finger and insisted you and Leona would love matching ones.”

Mom's laughter stops. “There is no way in hell I would wear that.”

“I know.”

“Or allow our daughter to wear one.”

“I know.”

“You know me better than that.”

“I know.”

Mom's eyes soften.

Dad reaches toward one of his desk drawers. He pulls out two identical long boxes.

Mom freezes. “What are those?”

Dad opens them. Her loud gasp nearly gives away my hiding place as I push closer toward the c***k. I can't see perfectly. But I can see enough. Gold, diamonds and moonlight somehow captured inside gemstones.

Dad carefully lifts the first necklace. “They're destiny necklaces.”

Mom covers her mouth.

“The chains are pure gold. Five five-carat diamonds sit along either side of the centerpiece.”

He raises the first. “This one belongs to Leona.”

My heart stops. At its center is a rose-shaped butterfly attached to a gold-lined crescent moon covered in tiny diamonds. It's beautiful. No, beautiful isn't enough. It's magical.

Dad reaches for the second. “And this one belongs to the woman who holds my life in her hands.”

Tears immediately appear in Mom's eyes.

The second necklace carries a rose crown encrusted with diamonds attached to a rose-gold heart, which connects to another diamond-lined golden crescent moon. Mom stands and takes it with trembling fingers.

She holds it toward the light. Tears slide down her face.

Dad watches her like nothing else exists.

“Rebecca hated them,” he says.

Mom blinks.“What?”

“She said her choice was better.”

Mom's expression goes flat. “Of course she did.”

“She actually tried to put your necklace on.”

The temperature in the room seems to drop.

“She did what?”

“I removed it.”

“Gently?”

Dad hesitates.

“Sebastian.”

“Yes.”

Mom closes her eyes. “Too gentle.”

Despite everything, Dad smiles. “I gave both necklaces to the clerk to wrap. Once they were ready, Rebecca said she still needed to shop. I told her I had a meeting and left.”

His smile disappears.

Then his eyes move toward the photographs again. “But maybe I should have stayed.”

Mom frowns.

Dad's voice lowers. “Because I came home to discover my heart had apparently been ripped from my chest and thrown back in my face.”

Mom goes completely still. For a moment, neither speaks. Then both their eyes glaze over.

Mindlinks.

Dad immediately retrieves the necklace from Mom, repacks both boxes, and locks them inside his desk. He heads for the door.

“Seb?”

He stops.

Mom's voice is softer now. “Where are you going?”

“South and East borders. Multiple rogues were spotted too close to the perimeter.”

His entire demeanor changes. Gone is the mate, husband, father and best friend. The Alpha, leader and warrior stand in its place. Ready to battle and protect the pack.

“Liam and Charles will take warriors east. I'll take another unit south.”

“But we're not finished.”

Dad's jaw tightens.

“This needs to be handled before—”

“Before what, Sop?”

Mom freezes.

“Before the pack finds out?” he demands. “Before your boy toy gets tired of waiting? Before I command him to stay away from you?” A growl builds inside his chest.

“Before I kill him for touching what is MINE?” His roar shakes the damn walls.

I nearly leap out of my skin.

Mom's eyes shine with tears. “I swear to you, I am not cheating.”

Dad's breathing is heavy.

“These pictures are fake,” she insists. “You would have felt the betrayal pains.”

He looks away.

“I love you more than my next breath, Seb.”

My heart aches.

“We have to work this out,” Mom whispers. “Because if we don't...” Her voice breaks.

“We might not come back from it.”

Dad's face changes. For one second, pure terror flashes in his golden eyes. Then it's gone.

“Then tell me what the project is.”

“I can't yet.”

Dad closes his eyes. “That is the problem.”

“Seb—”

“I did feel pain, Sophia.”

She goes silent.

“Not betrayal pain,” he continues. “Pain in my heart every time you refuse to explain this man.”

He reaches for the door. “You have twenty-four hours to end whatever this is.”

Mom pales.

“Or I will end it for you.”

He leaves.

I scramble backward. Oh s**t! I dive into the hallway closet opposite the back exit seconds before Dad passes. His furious footsteps disappear toward the South entrance.

I wait.

And wait.

Then slowly peek out.

Clear.

I creep back toward the office. The door remains open. Mom's back is to the door but I can hear her crying.

Not loudly.

That's somehow worse.

Her heart sounds like it's breaking.

I quietly walk behind her and wrap my arms around her waist.

She jumps. “Leona!”

I kiss the back of her shoulder. “Mother, are you all right?”

Liar. I know damn well she isn't.

“I saw Father leave through the back doors. Is everything okay?” Also a lie. A smooth one.

Mom quickly wipes her face. “I'm fine, sweetheart.”

Lie.

“There was dust in my eyes.”

Massive lie.

“We received mindlinks about rogues approaching the South and East borders. Your father, Liam, Charles, and several warriors are handling it.”

I keep my face neutral. I desperately want to call bullshit. But she suddenly looks thirty years older. So I don't.

“You should be in bed,” she says. “You have school tomorrow.”

“I actually came to ask you and Dad about a party tomorrow night.”

Mom raises an eyebrow.

“But I changed my mind.”

That gets her attention.

“Maybe we could have a girls' night instead? In my room? Like when I was little?”

Her expression softens. Before she can answer—

Knock. Knock.

We turn.

And because apparently speaking the devil's name summons her... Rebecca Anders stands in the doorway.

“Excuse me, Luna,” she says sweetly. “Have you seen Seb?”

My eye twitches. Seb? Excuse the f**k out of me? Only Mom calls Dad that. If I had my wolf already, I'd chew the nickname right off Rebecca's tongue. Mom goes terrifyingly still.

Then her aura erupts.

It isn't even directed at me and my knees weaken. She walks toward Rebecca with the slow precision of a bear stalking prey.

Rebecca's smile vanishes.

“You would do well to remember,” Mom says quietly, “that he is Alpha Sebastian to you.”

Rebecca swallows.

Mom steps closer.

“He is my mate.”

Another step.

“My husband.”

Another.

“And the father of my child, who will one day inherit the responsibilities of OUR bloodline... OUR pack.”

Her eyes blaze. “You will never refer to him with an intimate nickname again.”

Rebecca trembles.

Then Mom's command crashes through the office.

“DO I MAKE MYSELF PERFECTLY f*****g CLEAR?!”

Rebecca immediately bares her neck.

Submission.

“Yes, Luna Sophia.”

Mom doesn't blink.

“I apologize for my inappropriate behavior. It won't happen again.”

The words are correct. Her scent isn't.

Anger, humiliation and jealousy.

Mom smells it too. “Perfect.”

She points toward the hallway.

“Now get out.”

Rebecca practically scrambles through the doorway. But before disappearing, she looks back.

Just once. At Mom, then me. Then, she's gone... The hatred inside her eyes made something cold crawl down my spine.

Mom turns toward me. “Come on, sweet girl.” She closes and locks the office. We go upstairs. She helps me into bed like I'm six instead of sixteen, pulling the blankets up around me.

“Unfortunately, I have some things to handle tomorrow.”

I nod.

“But if that changes, we'll have our girls' night.”

“Okay.”

Mom brushes my hair away from my forehead. “I love you, my sweet girl.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

She kisses my forehead. “Rest well.”

“Goodnight.”

She turns off the light. The door closes.

And I lie awake staring into the darkness.

Wondering for the first time in my life whether true mates could actually stop loving each other.

---

END FLASHBACK