By the time I heard the faint click of the door opening and my eyes shot up to meet Keri’s, I was ready to find out everything. There was no more hiding and it was time to talk.
I pushed off the wall and walked up to her.
“We need to talk,” I stated. I don’t know if I expected her to fight me on it or not.
She nodded and I followed her quietly out of the medical center back to her room. Once inside her room, she turned to face me. She seemed agitated and nervous. I was feeling confused and frustrated but I remained quiet, waiting for her to start talking.
“There is a reason I did what I did,” she said while holding my gaze.
She had my undivided attention.
“Victor made sure I had no choice.”
The puzzle pieces inside my mind began to knit together and the picture started to become clearer.
Fuck!I thought when the picture that I had was different from what I’d been thinking all along.
I felt a wave of remorse and self-disgust crash over me. At the moment, I felt I was no better than the monster who had fathered her. Her eyes dropped to the floor for a moment as she bit down on her lip.
“He kept her prisoner,” she said softly, and I felt the ground move from under my feet. “He knew that I would do anything to keep her safe.”
Keep her safe, echoed through my mind as I tried to comprehend the full impact of what she was telling me. She looked so vulnerable, I wanted to reach out to her to console her but I stopped myself. The revelation left me standing speechless.
I knew Victor well enough to know he was capable of what Keri was telling me. She hadn’t deceived us and betrayed us because she was like her father. I rubbed my hands over my face. She’d done it to keep her mom safe. Even with the revelations, I was still left with questions.
“After he died, why didn’t you tell anyone?” I asked softly, sounding a little hoarse.
She studied me for a moment.
“I was scared that you guys would use her against me, too, if you found out about her,” she admitted softly, and I felt the pain of a knife turning in my chest.
I wanted to tell her that we wouldn’t have but I stopped myself. The truth was I’d been prepared to lie to her to get her to mate with me to keep my loved ones safe. It made me no better than Victor.
I thought about Kyle and Curtis’ warning. They were right. I felt like an ass. It also explained Kyle’s protective nature toward her because I felt the same. He hadn’t been trying to put the moves on her; he’d been trying to be her friend—something she didn’t have a lot of.
Saying sorry wasn’t going to ease the guilt that I felt. No words would be able to rectify my behavior. I felt a physical pain when I thought of how I’d first reacted when I’d found out she was my mate. This time when I looked at her I didn’t see a cold-hearted bitch that was like Victor. I saw a girl that most of us had judged without giving her a chance to explain. We’d failed her.
“What changed?” I asked softly. There had to be a reason why she’d decided to tell me about her mother now.
“She’s dying,” she revealed, and I saw her eyes glisten.
Just when I didn’t think I could feel any worse, I did. Instinct pushed for me to touch her. I wanted to hold and protect her so no one would ever hurt her again, but after everything I’d done, I had no right to.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. Words wouldn’t make it better but it was all I had.
Keri
Blake rubbed his hands over his face and let out a heavy breath. It was good to see his reaction to the truth.
I could see the guilt and the sympathy in his eyes and it pulled at my heart. I hadn’t told him about my mom to get his sympathy or to make him feel bad. I’d told him the truth so he would be able to understand why I’d done what I had. It was the first step in being honest with each other so we would be able to put the past behind us and be able to mate with consciences that were clear.
I bit down on my lip to keep my tears from spilling out and sliding down my face. Saying the words aloud about my mom dying had made it more real than before, which made it a little more difficult to deal with.
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath to keep myself together. I still didn’t trust Blake even though I’d told him the truth, and I didn’t want to cry in front of him. Feeling vulnerable around him wasn’t a good thing. My mind couldn’t be distracted around him, it would be too easy to depend on him and I wasn’t ready to do that yet. He needed to earn my trust first.
“You need to tell me everything,” he said as he walked over to the bed and sat down.
I studied him for a moment. Telling him about my mom was one thing but opening up about everything was totally different, and I wasn’t sure I could.
