"And someday maybe, our
paths would cross again. I
sit and stare at the night sky,
wondering would you
stop short and smile. Or
would you look straight
past me, like I don’t exist?
Like, never mind."

~~Nitya Prakash

****************

~Hatter~

Looking up from the paper in my hand, I was at a loss for words. The anguish in Nova's voice cut through me like the sharpest of blades, stirring the monster inside of me. My fingers clenched around the letter, crumpling the damning words in the palm of my hands as if I could crush his pain along with it.

No one had listened to me when I had pushed them to question Edith the moment we had returned, to make her talk and give reason to her actions. They had dismissed my suggestion as if I had never spoken because, in their eyes, I was nothing but a soldier meant to follow orders. I had been more than willing to get answers by any means necessary, but I had kept that desire to myself because I had been selfish. 

I hadn't wanted Nova to see that part of me, to know that it even  existed, and so I had kept my mouth shut. If I had just pushed a little harder, argued my stance a little more, maybe we could have avoided this altogether. No… there was no 'maybe' to it at all. 

Edith wouldn't have had the strength to do this, not after I had finished getting answers and making her pay for what she had done to Nova. He hadn't said it, and maybe he never would, but I knew there was more to their fucked up relationship than just abandonment. Something darker, more sinister than a mother's failed love for her child. 

It was good that she was gone, away from him and the rest of us. A good thing that she was probably headed knowingly to her own death, if that was even true. However, that wasn't what Nova needed to hear or wanted to hear. The problem was that I didn't want to be the one to comfort him with soft, reassuring lies.

Pulling my phone out, I remained silent as I sent August a text, keeping it short.

Me: Nova needs Nev. Now. His room

Pocketing the device, I fought the urge to pull Nova into my arms and crossed to the window instead. The paper crinkled in my hand, reminding me of the still damp tear tracks that dotted the paper. It could only mean that she hadn't been gone long, and how didn't even matter, at least not to me.

Anger boiled in my veins as I scanned the dark line of trees at the back of the property even though I knew I wouldn't see her. Whatever else Edith Dumont was, she wasn't stupid. She was cunning and could slip through the cracks and disappear like she had never existed. 

"Are you going to say anything or just stand there?" Nova's words were spoken through gritted teeth. "Because if you're just going to lurk in the corner you can get the fuck out."

He was feeling too much and all at once, lashing out at me because I was the easy target. I had given him plenty of reason to be angry with me and, even though I knew this wasn't my fault, I would take whatever punishing words he wished to throw at me. One way or another, I deserved his anger.

"There's nothing I can say to change this," I replied calmly, turning from the window to face him. Hurried steps sounded in the hallway, growing closer and closer. 

"Robbie, what am I supposed to do with this?" he sighed in defeat, the fight draining out of him. Nova's voice was tight with pain as his hands gestured around the room.

He looked so lost, so hopeless, that the monster inside twister and clawed, growling angrily in the back of my mind. I crossed the room in quick strides and gripped the back of his head, forcing him to look up at me.

"You keep going," I told him firmly, "one breath at a time and don't look back. Don't let her broken darkness swallow your light, because you burn so fucking bright, Nova. So bright that sometimes it hurts and I think I should hide or that I must be dead because something that goddamn beautiful couldn't possibly be real. Don't let her self destruction drag you with her. I will die a thousand deaths before I watch you flicker out."

Without hesitation, or time for thought, I crashed my mouth to his for a quick, bruising kiss that was over as quickly as it had happened. I traced his bottom lip with the pad of my thumb and whispered, "Because that would be a tragedy."

I released him and stepped away just as the bedroom door opened and Nevada spilled over the threshold looking panicked, August standing stoically behind her. 

"What's happened? What's wrong?" Her emerald eyes, bright with worry landed on Nova who sat frozen and slack jawed on the side of the bed. 

Part of that was my fault, but the smug feeling was immediately drowned by the lust for violence and blood. I thrust the damning piece of paper into Nevada's hands with a growl.

"This should explain." I attempted to push by August but he stepped in front of me as I went through the doorway. My eyes narrowed and I clenched my jaw. "Not this time, old man."

August yanked me by the arm out into the hallway, just out of earshot of the bedroom.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Handling shit that should have been dealt with the moment we got back," I replied, only keeping my voice down because of Nova. "If you hadn't had your head shoved up Dominic's ass maybe we wouldn't be dealing with a rogue fae on top of everything else."

"Watch your tone, kid," August growled, the nickname pissing me off even more. "Remember who you're talking to."

"How could I forget when your lording that fucking power over my head every time I turn around?" I snarled, my canines pressing into my lip as my anger began seeping through the cracks in the precarious damn that held it in check. "You forget that while you may be my maker, I was the alpha of my pack in every way but title. While you were playing silent bodyguard to a would-be king in hiding, I was a fucking king. I didn't get that way by letting my enemies take a nap to feel better before I ripped them apart."

"No, you let them break bread with you while they plotted your demise in your own fucking house," August shot back, his eyes blazing.

I went deathly still and held his gaze, unwavering. "Is that what's happening now?"

"You're twisting my words, Robbie," August growled, his face hardening.

"Am I?" I replied coolly, stepping back. "Maybe next time you'll listen when I say shit is a bad idea otherwise we may all end up dead, or worse."

I turned on my heel and stomped down the stairs, only stopping long enough to grab my discarded shirt from the workbench in the garage. Stepping out into the night, the sky still clear and stars burning bright, I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath in through my nose. A multitude of scents registered, the flowers in the garden, the soil beneath my feet, along with others I didn't bother to identify, but I was only searching for one.

She couldn't have gotten far. All I needed was one small, even fleeting, scent and I would be able to track her. After a moment longer of no luck, I began to slowly circle the house, my eyes trained on the ground looking for disturbed earth, prints, or any other visual sign of someone moving through recently. As I did this, I was careful to pay attention to every sound that met my ears, each new aroma that greeted me. 

The back garden afforded more cover, places to hide from anyone that could have been watching from the tower, or some of the rooms higher up in the house. Edith was smart and would most likely make note of the deep shadows it offered, so I slowly made my way towards it. The closer I got, the more I began to notice a faint yet familiar fragrance and I latched onto it. Just as I had assumed, it led me through the darker areas of the lavish garden, and grew in strength as I neared the treeline into the forest.

I paused just inside the trees, taking a moment to trace the directions the delicate scent took, silently mapping out the possibilities in my mind. August had made sure that I knew every inch of his property after he had finally trusted me away from Ashira's powerful safety net. I resented him for a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them. Trusting myself and my instincts, I took off through the woods. 

The wind whistled loud in my ears and branches tugged at my clothes as I pushed through the darkness. I ignored it all, my sole focus on finding her, anger fueling my muscles as my legs pumped faster and faster. I hadn't decided what I would do when I finally found her, however, but she would be lucky if I didn't tear her limb from limb.

A branch snapped somewhere ahead of me and I slowed my pace, scanning the darkness. Movement several yards ahead, drifting through the shadows, caught my eye as the figure passed under a brief patch of moonlight. My muscles tensed and I was in front of her in the blink of an eye, towering over Edith just as she rounded the trunk of a tree. A shocked yelp burst from her lips and she clutched her chest as her eyes focused on me.

"You shouldn't have come after me," she hissed, the stench of fear giving away her true reaction to my presence. 

A feral smile stretched across my face, exposing the dual canines as the glow of my eyes reflected like a mirror in hers. "You shouldn't have run, Edith. Another mistake of many you've made."

She visibly flinched and crossed her arms as if to protect herself. "I didn't have a choice. You don't understand or know everything. I couldn't stay."

I slowly began to circle her, like a predator circling its prey. It would have been easy to snap her neck right then and there, or drain the life from her veins. The monster snarled, pacing in my mind and anxious for the opportunity to inflict pain, salivating as her fear grew stronger through my silence and surrounded me.

"There's always a choice and it's not like you volunteered anything," I finally replied lazily, continuing my slow circle. "No, you ripped him away from safety, tore open still healing wounds, and left him to fend for himself...again."

"I didn't want -," Edith began pleadingly but I cut her off as if she hadn't spoken at all.

"How many times have you lied to him, hurt him?" I asked rhetorically. "How many promises have you made and then broke? How many lives have been lost on this destructive path you've carved yourself? I bet you can't answer any of those questions because to you, it doesn't matter does it?"

Her eyes glistened in the weak moonlight that streamed through the branches overhead as I stopped in front of her. 

"Do you get off on it, is that it? When people die because of you, does it make your blood heat up like a fire had been kindled in your very cells, especially since you get off Scot Free?" I hummed in faux approval, twining a lock of her blonde hair around my finger. "Yes, that must be it. The power, the rush you feel, gets under your skin like an itch you can't scratch and you have to do it again… and again… and again."

"I never wanted to hurt Nova," Edith choked out on a sob, but she hadn't denied any of my harsh words. When she spoke again, her words were barely a whisper, "I didn't want him to suffer."

The implications of her statement mixed with the words, 'I couldn't do what I was supposed to do', from her letter clicked together and rage bubbled up under my skin like acid. I wrapped on hand around the front of her throat and slammed her back against the tree.

"What did you do?!" I roared, my control weakening. "Explain yourself. Now!"

Edith clawed at my wrist, her mouth working soundless and her eyes were wide with uncontained terror. I loosened my grip just enough to allow her to speak and she gasped in a lung full of air. Warm tears streamed down her face and dropped onto my hand while I held her pinned. 

"Speak or whatever death you imagined awaited you elsewhere will be a cake walk compared to the suffering you'll endure," I growled inches from her face, my tone deadly. "I will happily end you and Nova would never know the difference."

"Ja-Jackal," she spluttered brokenly.

I frowned. "What about him?"

Edith closed her eyes tight, her lips pressed together as if that would convince me to let it go. I tightened my fingers, my extended claws piercing slightly into her neck and she cried out in pain.

"Answer me."

"He's my mate." Her declaration was a mix of so many emotions, disgust and adoration all at once. 

Keeping my surprise in check, I narrowed my eyes. "What does that have to do with Nova? Or any of us for that matter?"

"He-he's in T-Torch's pocket," she sobbed, no longer trying to free herself from my grasp. "And T-Torch wants the-them on his s-side as he goes to w-war."

I stared at her for a moment, gauging the truth in the things she said, before I released her and stepped away. Nearly everything in me screamed to end her where she stood, but something nagged at my brain that held me back. She slumped to the ground, leaning against the tree as she coughed and gasped in oxygen.

"No, he doesn't. If that's what he wanted, why has he been hell bent on killing them since they were born?" I crouched in front of her and roughly grabbed her face, forcing her to look at me. "You're leaving shit out again. What aren't you telling me?"

Edith's eyes blazed momentarily with defiance, a look that reminded me so much of Nova and only served to feed the fury inside. She didn't deserve to have any piece of Nova. She quickly smothered the look but wouldn't meet my eyes and her jaw clenched under my hand.

"If they aren't with him, they're against him." She finally met his glare with one of her own. "Don't you get it? As long as they're with Dominic and August, they're against him and Torch will stop at nothing to take that much power out of the game."

"This is not a goddamn game!" I roared, shoving her head back into the tree before releasing her and shooting to my feet. "You're talking about Nova and Nevada like they're just fucking chess pieces!"

"It is a game! A game of power and that's all it will ever be! It doesn't matter who the players are today because there will always be more players." Edith struggled to her feet, her eyes bloodshot and face streaked with dirt and tears, but determined etched her features. "Those kids, whether they want to be or not, are major players and if they end up on the wrong side they will die!"

"And you think they're better off with Torch?!" I asked incredulously. "You really are a stupid bitch."

Her bottom lip quivered but she didn't look away. "No, I don't think so, not after I've seen it for myself."

"What are you talking about?"

Edith sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair. "I was supposed to cause a breakdown in the small circle around the kids and Dominic. Break they're layers of protection with discord and questioned loyalty. It's what I'm good at."

"No shit," I muttered.

"And then I was supposed to bring Nova back with me, convince him to leave with me, that I was the better choice. Nevada would instinctively follow him and then Torch would have his prize." She wrapped her arms around herself again, fresh tears filling her eyes. "If I couldn't do that, he promised to kill me."

"So, let me get this straight, you agreed to destroy your son's life and turn him to Torch for the sake of your own life?" I shook my head in disgust. "You're fucking pathetic. Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you myself."

I yanked her head back by her hair and bared her throat, grazing my fangs over her pulse as it raced just beneath her skin. 

"Be-because I can give him more time!" Edith stammered out, her erratically beating heart like a song in my ears and her fear like the sweetest of aromas. "I love my son and I know you do too, I can see it even if you can't. He needs that more than he needs me and for once in his life I want to do right by him."

I shoved her away from me and she fell into the dirt, scrambling to her feet with a pleading look as she faced me. 

"I can buy time, stall Torch long enough for the kids to get stronger. Dominic will help them, I know it." She shook her head sadly. "I have failed him for twenty-two years and I will give my life if it means he will have what he deserves."

I studied her face, trying to detect some level of deceit but all I saw was a broken desperation and a flicker of hope. The question was, what was I willing to risk if she was lying… or wrong?

********************

A/N: Woooh... that was intense!

Definitely one of the longer chapters. What did you think?

Thanks for reading!❣

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XOXO🖤❤🖤❤

~SM~