Dirty secrets
Dirty secrets
Flora's POV
He shrugged, “I figured waiting until daybreak wasn't necessary.”
I looked at Malcolm and then back at Maverick.
“How did you know about waiting until daybreak?” I was concerned because he wasn't there when Malcolm told me.
“I know my fatter, Flora.” He answered and he was right, they had lived together.
I looked back at Malcolm, He gave Maverick a look that was impossible to interpret.
Then I turned back to Lucy.
She stepped into the room.
“Flora.”
I ran to her.Lucy caught me in her arms, and I held her tightly. For the first time in what felt like forever, I allowed myself to cry.
“You're okay,” I whispered.
“I’m okay.”
“I was worried.”
“I know.”
I pulled away and held her face between my hands, examining her.
“Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Maverick.
“Where did you find her?”
“She's been safe.” He answered.
“That doesn't answer my question.”
He smiled faintly, “I found her where she was supposed to be.”
Lucy glanced at him fearfully, There was something in that look. Something I noticed that was wrong.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Lucy said too quickly.
I looked between them.
Maverick seemed completely calm while Lucy suddenly seemed nervous.
And Alpha Malcolm was watching both of them.
I felt the atmosphere change.
“What happened?” I asked.
Lucy shook her head.
“Nothing happened.”
“Lucy.”
She sighed.
“Flora, I'm fine.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“Please stop questioning her, Flora.” Maverick said.
Lucy waited until Maverick had finished speaking before she looked at me.
“I want to speak with Flora privately.”
Maverick immediately frowned.
“There is no need for that,” he said. “Flora needs to rest.”
I glanced at him. His concern was written all over his face, but there was something about the way Lucy had spoken that made my heart tighten.
“I want to talk to her,” I said.
Maverick looked at me as if he wanted to argue, but he eventually sighed.
“Fine. But don't tire yourself out.”
I gave him a small smile. “I won't.”
I reached for Lucy's hand and led her toward one of the empty rooms. The moment we stepped inside, I closed the door behind us and locked it.
The click of the lock sounded strangely loud.
Lucy turned toward me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me.
I stiffened in surprise before slowly returning the hug.
“How have you been?” she whispered.
I swallowed.
It was such a simple question, but after everything I had endured, I didn't know how to answer it.
“I've been surviving,” I finally said.
Lucy pulled away and studied my face. Her eyes looked tired, and there was something troubled hiding behind them.
I immediately became suspicious.
“Why did you want to speak to me privately?”
She looked toward the locked door.
“That serious?”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“Lucy, what happened?”
She took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed. I remained standing for a moment before sitting beside her.
“Before I tell you anything,” she said, “you need to promise me you won't tell anyone until you're ready.”
My heart began beating faster.
“Why?”
“Because what I'm about to tell you could change everything.”
I stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
Lucy lowered her voice.
“It was Alpha Malcolm.”
I frowned.
“What about him?”
“He was the reason I survived.”
My breath caught.
Lucy looked down at her hands.
“After everything that happened, after the war with Kael, I thought we were all going to die. I thought the pack had been destroyed completely.”
I remembered the chaos. The blood. The screams. The destruction.
My hands curled into fists.
“But you survived.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Because Alpha Malcolm saved me.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“Alpha Malcolm?”
She nodded.
“He found me when I was injured. He took me somewhere safe and made sure nobody could find me.”
A strange chill crawled down my spine.
“So he knew where you were all this time?”
“Yes.”
“And he kept you hidden?”
Lucy nodded again.
“Not just me. He made sure the others were safe too.”
I couldn't speak.
Everyone had believed the worst. We had believed that the pack members who disappeared during the war were dead or had been taken by Kael.
But Malcolm had saved them.
“Why didn't he tell anyone?” I asked.
“Because he believed it was safer that way.”
I stood and began pacing.
There was something unsettling about Alpha Malcolm. The more I learned about him, the more I realized how much he knew.
“How did Maverick know?”
Lucy hesitated.
“Maverick already knew.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“He knew his father had saved the pack members after the war with Kael.”
I stared at her.
“Maverick knew?”
“Yes.”
A dozen questions raced through my mind.
“You're telling me Maverick knew his father saved everyone, but he never told me?”
Lucy looked uncomfortable.
“He probably wanted to take the credit.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently he always does that.”
“Flora…”
She squeezed my fingers.
“There is something else.”
I immediately turned back.
“What?”
Lucy hesitated.
That hesitation terrified me more than anything she had said before.
“What is it?”
She took a deep breath.
“It's about Lyra.”
My chest tightened.
“My stepsister?”
Lucy nodded.
I waited.
“She's pregnant.”
For a moment, I couldn't process the words.
Then Lucy added quietly,
“With Maverick's child.”
Everything inside me went still.
I stared at her.
“What did you say?”
“Lyra is pregnant with Maverick's child.”
The room seemed to shrink around me.
My ears began ringing.
“No.”
Lucy reached for me.
“Flora—”
“No.”
I stood abruptly, nearly losing my balance.
“That can't be true.”
“It is.”
“When?”
Lucy looked down.
“I don't know exactly.”
I pressed a trembling hand against my stomach.
A sharp
pain twisted through me not physically, but something deeper. Something that reached into the part of me I had spent so long trying to bury.
My unborn child. The child I had lost.
The child whose absence still haunted me and now Lyra was carrying Maverick's baby.
I closed my eyes.
“Does Maverick know?”