Enlightening Bloom(38)

She looked at the shirt in her arms and then me. Not missing a beat she carefully set the shirt on the bed like it was a great treasure. Then she removed the cross hanging around her neck. She'd seen the little white gold and diamond piece at the local jewelry store, and had wanted it so bad, but Mom and Dad couldn't afford it. So Lily saved money here and there, doing babysitting jobs and cleaning houses. It took her months but she finally saved up enough to buy it. She fastened it around my neck and I had to fight back tears.

"I can't."

"I want you to. It can remind you that there's someone in this world who loves and misses you."

"That someone being you?"

"Well, duh!" She responded throwing her arms around me for a hug that neither of us wanted to ever end.



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Present Day



"I left that night for Ohio. To this day I've never returned to my original pack. It was only supposed to be a mission, and then I was going to return to my family."

"But you fell in love with Dad." Bloom whispers through tears that are silently sliding down her cheeks. Her hands are clutched around her necklace. The very same one my sister put around my neck when I was leaving home. The reminder that someone loved and missed me. I wanted my daughter to have that too, even if she wouldn't know that’s what the meaning was. So I left it behind for Michael, asking him to give it to her when she was old enough.

"Deeply so." I confirm, softly. Once again trying to fight the tears that are brought on by a single piece of jewelry. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to turn my back on my true mate." I whisper as I turn my head and kiss Grady's hand on my shoulder.

"You left knowing the Wright Pack could come for her at any time?" Billy asks, breaking his silence on a yell.

"No! I killed Harper before she could report back that I had given birth. And I got Lily to lie to our parents and the pack by telling them the baby was still born." I explain. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, releasing it before I continue. "A couple months into the pregnancy the Wright's started taking an interest in me again. For years they'd left me alone to do my thing. It's funny that the task that I had forced upon me is the thing that brought me freedom, but it did. But then it was confirmed I was having a girl and their interest peaked again. Their plan was working out, and I knew I had to protect you. I wasn't sure what was making you valuable to them, but I figured it had to be your wolf side. Your dad was human, but I'd pieced together that your grandma had wolf blood in her lineage. So I decided I needed to block your wolf. That way if they ever came looking for you, all they'd find is a human girl."

Shocked gasps roll though the room. "How?" Was asked by several people at once.

"Right after I found out you were a girl I started taking small doses of Aconitum. Not enough to poison either of us. Just enough that it would affect my unborn baby. I didn't even know if it would work. It was a wives tale I'd remember hearing from some she-wolves as a child."

"Aconitum?" Bloom asks, looking around for anyone who can explain.

"Wolf's Bane." Her great-aunt Amelia answers. "In small doses it can suppress your change. In large doses it's lethal."

"She could've killed you and herself." Pike adds with a glare in my direction.

Meeting his glare as long as I can without it being a challenge I say. "It was a risk I had to take to keep her out of their hands."

A loud rumbling growl comes from Pike as his Alpha vibes overwhelm the room. Bloom abandons her seat to climb into her mate’s lap. She strokes his face as he grips her tightly to him. Slowly the vibes recede, and the growling stops.

"Sorry." Bloom offers the room at large. "He doesn't like hearing my name associated with dying, even if the possibility was past tense."

"No shit!" Bonnie snaps off on a laugh. "Big Bad will challenge God himself when he decides to take you away."

"Not helping, Bon!" Bloom warns as the growling starts again.

"Never claimed to be." She shoots back on a mischievous smile.

"Bonnie-bean." Tucker growls in warning.

She crosses her arms and pouts. "You plan on ruining all my fun."

He leans down to her ear and loud enough for everyone to hear asks. "Do I need to let you have fun, my mate?"

Her eyes get large, she growls (well, as much as a human can) and warns. "Stop embarrassing me. I will stab you with my dagger!"

"Ah, foreplay." He sighs with a smirk on his face.

"Jesus! You two need to get your heads out of the bedroom and focus." Pike stops growling long enough to snap.