“How dare you try to protect us against our will,” Val screamed.
“We’re your big sisters! We should be protecting you!”
“But I was the one who brought Victor around. I never should’ve done that. I knew he was a vampire, and I knew how dangerous they are. But I was careless. I put you in danger, and…”
“So that means you need to suffer all alone forever?”
“That’s crazy, Lil. You should’ve told us.”
Lilliane shook her head. “But you had new loves in your lives. I just… Dad was causing trouble, and there were the murders. I really didn’t want to add to all the problems. I thought I could handle it.”
“Oh, Lil,” Val gasped.
“Seriously, Lil, you’re kinda breaking my heart. I thought you were being really selfish, but you weren’t.” Celestine wiped a few tears from her eyes.
“I do feel a bit vindicated. I did say that something fishy was happening, but I won’t sayI told you so.Because I love you, Lil, but fuck! I told you so!”
“Nice, Val,” Lilliane grumbled.
“You don’t get to keep secrets like that from us. Do you understand me?” Celestine insisted.
“Exactly! You need to tell us if Atlas is your mate,” Val added.
“Is he?” Celestine squeaked.
“No. I’m not his mate. It’s some girl. He’s really into her, but for some misguided reason, he won’t tell her. I’d told him that I would never want to be mated … no offense.”
“Totally offense taken,” Val laughed. “Besides, being mated to Nero is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t have a man in my life; I have my soul mate and a whole town to take care of. It’s amazing. I love this town.”
“Yeah, what Val said,” Celestine nodded. “Don’t knock it till you try it.”
“No, thanks. Not after everything with Victor.”
“Well, I’m sure Atlas will come to his senses eventually,” Val shrugged. “Just keep bugging him about the mate thing. You know, remind him how much he likes this girl and how lucky she would be to be his mate.”
“I guess I can do that. To thank him for taking care of me and all this vamp mess.”
Celestine laughed. “Yeah. I’m sure that’s what you’ll do to thank him.”
“Celestine,” Val cried. “Enough. Let’s talk later.”
The call was ended, and Lilliane had the weird feeling her sisters were going to call each other and gossip without her.
Probably about her and Atlas.
Her sisters had brought up an interesting point. Two out of three sisters were an alpha mate’s lady.
So why wasn’t she?
She wouldn’t mind being with Atlas.
The thought snuck in, and it terrified her more than any nightmare.
* * *
Lilliane stood at the stove,stirring one pot while another nearly boiled over. There were too many things happening at once, but that was her fault.
She didn’t exactly have the best kitchen … and cooking … skills out there. It was a little harder than she had thought. She felt silly, and hopefully, she would be done before Atlas came home. Really, she should clean up everything before he showed up.
