Page 85 of Kentucky Nights
“Shut up. No one is talking to you. Be a good woman and keep your fucking mouth shut.”
“Don’t talk to her like that!” I snarl, the bull slinging me to the left for punishment.
“Don’t talk to me like that, and maybe your death won’t be so painful.”
Dru covers her mouth to catch a loud sob.
“Get me free from this bull, and we can talk, okay? I don’t have much time left. You obviously want answers, and I want to give them to you—” I try to stay as still as possible, the agony becoming more unbearable. “Son.”
I add the term of endearment in hopes it will ease his vendetta against me.
“You don’t have the fucking right.” He shoves Dru across the arena, and she slams against the railing, falling unconscious.
“Dru!”
Louisville stands in front of me, clutching the bull’s other horn to have more control. “You killed my mother.” He leans in, swiping blood off the horn. “You killed her before I knew her. Do you know my grandfather lost Reese Railroads? He went bankrupt trying to figure out what happened to Audrey. No one knew until I ran across a demon and a warlock who had a fortune teller in their custody. She painted a pretty picture of you staking my mother through the heart. She hadn’t turned more vampires or brought more kids to him to raise as bloodborns. Do you know how much more powerful bloodborns are than someone like me? Because she had to settle for a pathetic humanlike you, and you turned her down! You turned down the chance for us to be a family!”
Spit flies from his mouth with every hatred-filled word twisted from his tongue.
“I didn’t know about you. I had no idea she was pregnant. She must have kept it from me. She—” It dawns on me, a memory reawakening in the forefront of my mind when I asked her if she ever mystified me.
She had.
She had altered my memories.
The hit to the soul has me coughing up my blood.
“I didn’t know,” I wheeze. “She manipulated me. She used the ability to mystify. Audrey altered my mind so I wouldn’t know she was pregnant. She hid that from me.”
“Liar!” Louisville wraps a hand around my throat. “She wouldn’t do that. She was a good person. She would have been a good mom.”
The agony of missing what he never could have fills his eyes as he stares me with daggers. Tears race down his face.
He’s just a boy missing his mom.
“I wish I could tell you she was a good person, Louisville. I really do. I want to be able to say that.”
“You should, since you’re on your dying breath. Why aren’t you lying? Why aren’t you trying to save yourself? Are you so self-righteous that you can’t even do that?” he yells so loud his voice breaks.
“I killed her because she turned me into something I never wanted. I never wanted to be this creature. I longed for death.” My eyes dart to Dru, who is pushing herself up into a seated position, leaning against the rails that surround the arena.
Blood drips down her temple, face, and neck, gathering at the collar of her shirt.
“Until now,” I add, longing for my fated mate. “I don’t want to die now. I want to spend eternity with my mate.”
He steps back, looking me up and down. “The audacity you have to ask me to save you for another woman. You hated my mother so much for the gift she gave you, killed her, and now you appreciate what she did? So you can live happily ever after? Something you took away from my mother?”
“I didn’t know how to appreciate it then, but I do now.” I tilt my head back, needing one deep breath.
The night is painted in a billion constellations, giving me what I’ve always wanted—to die under the star-filled sky.
I’m not dying without a fight.
“You could have been my father, and I’m so happy you’re not.” He stares at the bull; the poor animal has my blood dripping down his chest from being forced to carry the weight of me. “Kill them,” he orders.
Gunpowder paws the ground, snorting a fuming breath, and charges at Dru. Time slows when the bull gains speed. Every thunderous step brings more pain, but I don’t care about that. Dru is seconds away from dying.
The bull tilts his head to plow into her, and it’s enough for me to use his momentum and the rest of my strength to become freed. Nothing else matters except getting to Dru.
