“You won’t be the Alpha anymore if you marry him. He will crush that part of you.”
This made me laugh. “Callum, I know we’ve just met, but I’m going to be honest with you if I can.”
“Please.”
“You think you know me because of what the werewolf grapevine has told you. We’re family, and I respect you think that means you know what’s best for me. I can almost appreciate it. But you need to understand something about me. If I’m meant to be Alpha, if that’s the misguided destiny the Fates have chosen for me…” The lifelines on my palms felt like they were burning. “If it’s my path, then no man will set me off course. Not even a king. Only I decide.”
And I would have to decide. Calliope had told me there was no way around it, short life or long, I couldn’t escape the decision. I had thought choosing to marry Lucas had made the choice for me, but I was still deeply entrenched in my vampire half, and as long as I had a foot in each world, my choice would remain up in the air. My destiny was a coin tossed high, and eventually it would come back down and I would know—wolf or vampire. I couldn’t be both forever.
“I like you,” Callum said. “Things would have been very different for you if Vivienne hadn’t taken you from us.”
Sure. I’d be dead.
“Well, what’s past is past. But if you have a time machine, I’d be willing to give your version a go.”
“Do you know why she took you?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“She thought because Mercy had abandoned me the pack would shun me. She was afraid for me. Of what a young teenaged king might do to an unwanted baby.” I shot him a look.
“A baby who was a born wolf?”
Looks like my story for Magnolia had made it all the way to the top. “Yes.”
“No, my dear, we wouldn’t have shunned you for that.”
I shrugged. “I can’t know now if that was true then.”
“Well, why would you be any different?”
“Different?”
“We didn’t shun Mercy’s other children.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Inside my skull, behind the intense headache that had blossomed out of nowhere, a thousand different versions of what the fuck were bouncing against the sensitive tissue of my brain, bruising me with their sharp, jagged edges.
What came out when I opened my mouth was, “Wuhhhuuueeeezzzzeeee.”
“I guess she didn’t get around to telling you about them when she saw you in New York.”
“She was too busy trying to shred my face.”
“Yes, well. Not the best time for her to deliver such news.” He gave a half shrug.
“Them. You said plural. How many bastard pups has Mercy kicked to the curb?” My heart was hammering against my sternum. I often found that snark was a great way to mask other real emotions. I didn’t have a name for what I was feeling now. Terror… Excitement…
It was motherfucking hope.
“Three. You were first, of course. Then about four years after she abandoned you, she came back seeking refuge. She had the twins with her then, only a few weeks old. We took her in because she was a rightful member of the pack and she was afraid for the safety of her babies. By morning, Mercy was gone, and we raised her pups as part of the pack.”
“Twins.”
“Yes. You’ve met your brother.”
I choked when I tried to swallow.
“Ben,” Callum clarified. “I sent him with Amelia as one of my emissaries in February.”