Lilith
After dropping off a very drunk Yvonne at her home, I head back to the safehouse.
I was tempted to stay with Yvonne because the house feels too big and too quiet with Kael gone.
But something pulls me back to the house, even though I know it is empty; it’s like I hope he will come home early to be with me.
As soon as I step foot in the front door, my phone rings, and I cringe when I see Kael’s face flash on the screen.
There is only one reason he would be calling me this late, and that is because he knows what I have been up to.
I answer the phone without turning on my camera, and he doesn’t like that.
I avoid his questions, and he doesn’t like that either.
Eventually, I relent and turn on my camera, which is a mistake.
He goes deadly silent, and nerves bubble in my stomach.
“Say something.”
His jaw clenches in anger.
“That spot above your eye looks like it needs stitches.
I am going to send Ian to the house.”
”Please,” I beg.
“It’s not that bad.”
”This isn’t a debate, Lilith.
He will be there shortly.”
I cringe when he uses my full name.
He hasn’t called me Lilith since our first week together.
“Fine,” I reply before hanging up the call.
It isn’t even ten minutes before Ian is knocking on the door.
When I open it he sucks air through his teeth.
“You look like shit.”
”It is good to see you too.” I roll my eyes.
I sit on the kitchen counter while Ian pulls out the supplies.
“This might sting.”
I flinch when he sprays the antiseptic on my skin and begins to stitch the wound.
He works in silence, and I watch the way his nose wrinkles as he weaves the needle in and out of the skin above my brow.
“The future King likes you,” he finally says.
His admission takes me off guard, and I don’t know how to respond, but he seems satisfied with my silence.
While he is cleaning up my blood from his hands, my phone rings.
Ian glances at the screen and sucks in a sharp breath.
“You probably should answer that.”
I look down, expecting it to be Kael, but it isn’t.
My father’s name scrolls across the screen, and I press ignore.
Ian raises an eyebrow at me and continues to pack up his things.
Then, my phone rings again.
Hopping off the counter, I take my phone into the other room before I answer it.
“Hello.”
”What the fuck were you thinking?”
I sigh loudly.
“Hello, father.”
”Is there any reason you beat up your childhood best friend?”
I glance over my shoulder to make sure that Ian isn’t listening.
“Zachary hasn’t been my friend for a long time.”
”Only because you have let your pride get in the way.”
”Do you not care why I needed to defend myself?” My voice raises a little higher than I intend it to.
“It doesn’t matter,” my father groans.
“It does matter,” I shout.
“He was trying to force me to drink.
He wanted to hurt me.
I could see it in his eyes, Father.
For once, believe me.”
My father goes quiet for a long moment.
So quiet that I think the call must have dropped, but finally he speaks.
“I see.”
It isn’t an apology but it is probably the closest thing that I will get coming from him.
“Goodnight,” I whisper, prepared to end the call, but he stops me.
“Wait,” he mutters.
“There was another reason I called.”
”Which is?”
He draws in a breath.
“It has been too long since we have celebrated your birthday.
This year, I have planned a party for you.
One that the whole pack will attend.”
My eyes flicker to the kitchen, and I see that Ian is watching me carefully.
He will relay all of this information to Kael, I am sure.
I turn my back to him and lower my voice.
“Why now?”
”It is time to let the past die,” he continues. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Please, Flower, come home.
Even if it is just for one day.”
My throat thickens at the nickname he uses.
It is one that he gave me at birth.
The story is that he hated the name Lilith, but my mother refused to budge, insisting that was my name.
So, he started calling me Flower.
The day my mother died, he stopped.
My eighteenth birthday.
“I don’t know,” I whisper, trying not to let my guilt consume me.
“Think about it,” he says.
“I miss my daughter.”
He ends the call, and I am left standing in the living room with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Ian steps into the doorway and looks me up and down.
“What was that about?”
Quickly, I whip the tears away.
“My father was trying to bait me to come home on my birthday.
He said he is throwing me a party.”
Ian cocks his head to the side in confusion.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
I laugh, but the sound comes out too bitter.
“My birthdays were erased the moment my mother died.”
”I can’t pretend like I understand what is going on,” he tries to joke.
“It’s not complicated.
My mother died on my birthday.
The day became too painful to remember, so my father poured all of his time and devotion into my step-sister, and I was pushed to the side.”
”So,” Ian draws out the word.
“Why is he throwing you a party now?”
The truth slams into my chest so hard that I have to choke back a sob.
“There is something that he wants from me, that is the only reason he would throw me a party.”
Ian steps farther into the room.
“What are you going to do?”
I shrug my shoulders.
“I don’t care about any party that my father throws for me, but,” I pause.
“I do care about my mother’s memory.”
”So, you are going to go?”
I straighten my shoulders.
“I think I should.”