Chapter 144 Grandmother

Chapter 144 Grandmother
LYRIANNE

Being in my biological father's arms is so strange. 

I wouldn't go as far as saying that it feels wrong or something like that, but it's definitely a new feeling, because deep inside of me, there's a part of me that kind of accepts him. Even his scent is familiar to me for reasons I can't understand. 

And yeah, though he's human, he does have a scent. It's not like a wolf's scent, but it's a smell that I don't think I'd ever be able to forget if we never saw each other again. 

"Daughter," he says again. I don't know what I was expecting, but he definitely sounds genuine and that catches me off guard completely. "You look so much like your mother. So much."

He pulls away after a few seconds and looks me in the eyes, searching and studying. Maybe even memorizing my features. I'm pretty sure I'm doing the same thing.

"I was hoping we could have a word in private," he says after several beats of silence. "I think there's a lot we need to catch up on. Don't you?"

"Where will they go?" I ask suspiciously. 

"Don't worry. They'll be taken to their rooms, where they'll be able to rest from what I remember being a long journey. You'll be able to talk to them afterward. Unless you want to rest first, that is."

I don't think I'd be able to fall asleep, so I just nod and look back at Lorcan, who nods at me. Though I am a little worried about him and Finn being in the same room, I just have to trust that everything will be alright. 

I worry too much. 

So, I follow my father all the way inside the house, where the others are right behind us. But then we walk down a long corridor and they continue onward. My father takes me to his office. It's massive and luxurious. 

"I hope you'll excuse me for pouring myself a drink," he claims as he moves to one corner of the room. "I didn't know that seeing you would hit me this hard. I never thought that this day would come."

I say nothing as he pours himself a small glass of liquor before gulping it down. When he turns to look at me, he has the same soft expression that he had just moments ago. 

"Seeing you... it brings back all these memories I thought I could forget at some point," he claims before shaking his head. "I was wrong. About everything in my life. Everything. I should never have let Marianne go back. Never."

I suck in a breath. "Why did she?"

"Well, she wanted to get her mother's forgiveness. Let's start there," he explains as he slowly makes his way toward me again while shoving his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. "You have to understand one thing, Lyrianne. Your mother and I were never supposed to meet, and there are times when I curse my stubbornness and this sense of adventure I've had since I was a boy. The real world bored me. I was always looking for more. Chasing highs and thrills that brought me a world of pain. 

“My father told me a story once of a hunter coming across all these mythical creatures, and of course, to us humans, they're just stories. Only a few people know the truth about the supernatural—that’s what we call your world here. So, we ventured into Eron one day, and you have to understand that for us, we were just discovering another island that was never on any of our maps, and that was when I met your mother. Deep in the woods.”

His eyes glaze over and he suddenly looks like he’s being transported into another time. 

A few beats of silence pass before he says, “She was beautiful and from the moment I saw her I knew that I would move mountains for her. At the time, I wasn’t aware of the strict rules that werewolves had against human and werewolf interactions, but I’m regretful to admit that even if I did, nothing would have stopped me from being with your mother. I loved her. But of course, it didn’t take us too long to figure out that we’d made a mistake.”

Sighing, he turns away from me and inches closer to the window. I only have a view of his back right now, not his face. 

“She spent some time here with me, and it was the best of our lives. You see, humans don’t know about werewolves, so there were no complications. We could’ve lived our lives freely. Marianne wasn’t like other werewolves, who hated humans and wanted them all dead because of a war nobody but them remembers. They talk about it like it happened in the past hundred years, but it has been close to a millennium, Lyrianne. Time moves differently for werewolves than for us.”

I suck in a breath. I definitely didn’t know that it had been so long. The way everyone talks about it makes it seem so recent. 

“But Marianne was happy because of her mother,” he claims. “She wanted to see her. She’d been having dreams of the woman and decided that if she didn’t go, she would never forgive myself. I knew it was a terrible idea, but she didn’t listen to me. Marianne never listened.”

“I had a grandmother living in Eron?” I ask, surprised. I never heard about it, and it also never crossed my mind that I had family back in Eron, especially since I was living with Morian my whole life. 

“As far as I know, she’s still alive,” he claims before glancing at me. “I can tell you’re surprised to hear about this and I’m sorry, Lyrianne. I really am. I wish I could shield you from the harsh realities of your world, but it’s simply not possible.”

I suck in a breath. This is all so nerve-wracking. “But what was her name? Do you remember?”

“No,” he admits before something crosses his face. “But your mother’s maiden name was Marianne Osmond.”

I gasp, horrified, and sit with my hand on my chest while sucking in shallow breath. He makes his way to my side and asks me what’s wrong, but I can’t answer him. 

All I can think about is how Mrs. Osmond, who was my lecturer for so many weeks and treated me better than anyone in Crescent Hollow, was my grandmother and never told me anything about it. 

And she knew. Of course, she knew.