Page 122 of Rose and Shadows
We’d just come back from a meeting with Jaxon Silver and Vorzyr Titanus where we’d been ironing out the relaunch of a revitalized version of my mom’s former wolf pack, Vyrn Hollow.
Not only was it going to be the first fully-inclusive pack ever, not just focused on the pureblood shifter concept, but it would also function as a haven and learning environment for shifter hybrids. They were going to incorporate my idea into the creation of it, and it had been locked down now that I’d be taking a position to oversee it, alongside some older experienced wolves who weren’t backward orold guardtypes.
It was going to change so much.
Right now, in fact, Jaxon Silver and Mia Snow were consecrating the former Silverwood Wolf Pack grounds to rid it of the tainted nature of the massacre that had taken place there a couple of decades ago when Draco had risen. It would become the new site of what was gonna be termed Vyrn Hollow Shifter Habitat.
Everything was in motion.
And that was what I was focusing on to tamper down the uneasy feeling I had about the Victor thing happening today—my dad and Sylas ending his life. I didn’t like things going that route, but I did understand it was necessary for a vicious beast like him. It was also bringing up some shit, though. I was working though it, but of course it still affected me. I was actually going to see the specialist Healer, Brandise Parker soon, so I figured that would help.
I was pulled back to the moment as my mom suddenly leapt right over me, her auburn fur flying by my vision.
I called my fangs as she spun on me in challenge and an excited howl sounded from her. Yeah, it was the first time she was seeing me bring my vampire side alongside the wolf. It had to be a major thing for her. Just like it had been for me when I’d first pulled it off.
I took it further, calling my claws and talons at once, which afforded me some major grip. Then I burst forward with my vampire speed, shot up the oak tree just behind her, my talonsand claws stabilizing me as I tore all the way up, leapt onto the highest branch, then somersaulted in full wolf form, before landing right in front of her in a deep crouch.
Her eyes shone at me.
Then she trotted forward and laid her paw on my head, patting and stroking.
“I’m so proud of you,”she told me in Wolf Tongue.
“Thank you, Mom.”
She bumped her snout gently against mine, then we bounded back toward the house in the distance, racing, then leaping at each other in good fun.
We reached the patio at the rear of her timber lodge.
I padded to where I’d left my clothes on the wall near the torches emitting multicolored light, heavy magic coming off them that warned of the presence of magical beings. The whole place had also been encompassed within a blood-magic ward by my dad’s magic-wielders as an extra precaution to protect us—especially withPuritasstill wanting to make an example out of me to further their twisted agenda against hybrids.
I blinked those disturbing thoughts away. At least for the time being.
And then I shifted back.
As I set to dressing myself, I heard my mom over on the other side of the patio doing the same.
“I’m sorry, Laz.”
I started as I finished up, pulling on each of my tactical gloves in turn. “Sorry for what?” I asked over my shoulder.
Her hand landed on it, and I turned to see her dressed in her jeans and dark blazer, her go-to look. Just like my tactical gear had been to me. Something I’d moved away from for a while, until things had come to a head. Hopefully, once this last leg was done, I could go back to moving beyond that state of constant battle readiness.
“Mom?” I urged, as she stood staring at me, emotion welling in her eyes.
While she’d never been cold with me or anything, she wasn’t particularly emotional, and she had a way of just swallowing things down.
But right here and now that wasn’t the case. It was all over her.
Pain.
“I’m sorry for what I did. For keeping you away from your father. For havingObliviscaperformed on you that erased that one day in your childhood that you actually spent with him.”
“Well, Dad really knows how to paint a vivid picture, so it was almost like I remembered when he told me about it.”
She shook her head sadly. “You don’t need to inject humor to absolve me. You don’t need to make me feel better. I know I failed you. Keeping you from him, you suffering from so much shame and identity confusion. It hurt you.Ihurt you through the decisions I made on your behalf.”
“There were issues, yeah. That’s undeniable. But it’s all over now. We’ve all moved beyond that. Things are becoming better.”
