Chapter 77 The Cost Of A Mother’s Love
Ginnie
“I came to remind you of your place, human.” Her voice echoes with a sharp edge as she steps closer, the sound of her heels clicking softly against the worn floorboards. “You see, I’ve been patient... I’ve watched you slink around this villa as if you belong here. I stood at that altar in white while you stole what was mine. And now?”
Her eyes rake over me in a disgusted, yet triumphant manner. “Now Varkos has killed two of his own enforcers just to keep you warm in his bed. You really are the reason he left me standing there alone, aren’t you? The reason he threw away everything decent he ever had.”
Now, I could feel my nails biting into my palms as I clench my fists hard. “You don’t get to talk about him like you ever owned him.”
“Oh, but I did.” A low, brittle laugh escapes her, the sound scraping like nails on stone. “Until you spread your legs and bewitched him.” Her expression sharpens.
“A filthy little human slave who thinks she can play queen…I promise you, Ginnie!… I will make you pay for every second of humiliation you’ve cost me.”
“You think you’re the victim here? You stood at that altar like a trophy Varkos never wanted. He chose me because I’m real…not some cold, calculating bitch who’d sell her soul for a crown.” My voice shakes as each word escapes with fury.
The expression in Kenna’s eyes narrowed to slits and her smile vanished. “Real? You’re nothing but a warm hole he will eventually get bored with using! You think love makes you special? Huh?”
“You’ve already lost him, Kenna.” I snapped back, “You lost Varkos the second he looked at me like I mattered. Keep talking…because it proves just how pathetic you are without him.”
She leans in, voice dropping to a low, venomous whisper. “Pathetic? I’m the one still standing in this villa while you hide in staff quarters like the servant you are…I’m the one who knows exactly how to take everything from you.”
“Then do it,” I shot back, “Stop hiding behind silly threats and say what you really came here for."
Kenna does not move an inch; instead, she reaches into the folds of her dress and pulls out a small, delicate silver pocket watch. She flips it open, glances at the face, then snaps it shut again.
“You have until the end of the night,” she says, her tone calm, laced with warning. “To bring me the Alpha’s seal…and I decide to spare your pathetic life. Refuse…”
A sly smirk curves at her lips, showing perfect white teeth. “...And you’ll receive Lily’s dead body as a gift wrapped in white ribbon, perhaps. I think it would suit her.”
The words slam hard, landing like ice water seething down my spine and for one long second, I don’t seem to move or breathe.
Then a sudden white-hot rage feels blinding as it explodes through me.
I lunge.
CRACK!
My hand slams across Kenna’s cheeks so hard that it makes her head snap to the side. The sound of it thundering through the tiny room like a gunshot.
Kenna staggers, her hand flying to her face with impulse. Instantly revealing a red imprint blooming across her pale skin
Before she can recover from the pain, I grab the front of her silk dress, the fabric bunching in my fist as I yank her forward until our faces are inches apart.
“Where is she?” I snarl. “Where the hell is my daughter!”
I catch a dark and pleased expression glimmer in Kenna’s eyes. But she doesn’t flinch; instead, her smile widens, mixed with the blood trickling from the corner of her lip where my slap had split the skin.
“You think slapping me will help?” she whispers. “Lily is safe…for now. But she won’t be if you keep wasting time.”
“Where the hell is my daughter!” I tighten my grip on her silk dress until it strains against her throat.
Slowly, in deliberate motion, Kenna’s hand comes up, shoving my fingers off her dress one by one. Then she steps back and smoothens the wrinkled fabric, unbothered.
“You’ll see her again when I have the seal in my hand,” she says. “Or you’ll see her corpse, those are your only two choices tonight.”
“You’re insane,” the words roll out of me.
“No.” She straightens up, drawing out a dangling earring. “I’m practical. Varkos made his choice when he chose you over me… Over tradition and over the pack. Now I’m making mine.”
Then, a thin, bitter smile touches her lips. Her expression settles into something cold and final as she turns toward the door.
She pauses mid-way at the door, throwing a glance back over her shoulder with one hand leaning onto the frame.
“Tick tock, Ginnie.” The words seep out of her lips with a sweet rhythm. “Time is going. So you better make your choice before the night ends... I’ll be waiting.”
She taps the doorframe lightly with her knuckle, throws one last knowing look over her shoulder before slipping through the door, lifting two fingers in a small mock salute as she strides further away.
The door clicks shut behind her, leaving only a soft, final sound. I stand frozen at a spot, right in the center of the room.
Lily!
My baby!
I quickly turn, tearing through the tiny room, searching under the bed, behind the wardrobe, in the narrow closet that barely holds a few dresses.
But there’s nothing. Not a sign of her…Not even a single trace.
She’s not here. My mind snaps.
She’s definitely at some cold, dark place with Kenna’s people…somewhere I can’t figure out yet.
“Oh…God!”
I clamp a hand over my mouth, muffling the sound, struggling to smother it before it escapes, breaking out of me uncontrollably.
An image cuts through the haze in my mind.
The Alpha’s seal.
I’ve seen it—once, locked behind that false panel in his study. It’d appear with a heavy gold disc etched with the Bleeding Rose crest. It wasn’t just a symbol, but also proof of his legitimate rule.
Without it, the Council could declare him unfit, strip his title, hand the throne to someone else…someone like Kenna, or one of her allies.
If I steal it…
If I give it to her…
Varkos loses everything.
The pack will be destroyed. A fast, bloodier war could erupt among the packs.
But that would mean that Lily would live.
Fuck!
Fuck!!
I press my forehead against the floor, inhaling the air from it. I can’t do this.
I can’t betray him.
But I can’t lose Lily either.
I force myself to upright my feet, my legs shaking as the tears I’d been trying to force back begin to sting in my eyes, blurring my entire vision but refusing to spill.
But, there is no time, I have to decide.
Whatever choice I make tonight… Someone I love will have to pay the price.