SUNDAY
Everything seemed to stop as the monster disappeared from view.
“Is that it?” Kingston asked, dropping his wolf form as he reached my side. “Did we do it?”
Some innate sixth sense had me shaking my head. “There’s no way it was that easy.”
“I don’t know if I’d say it was easy,” Noah said, gesturing to the demon horde still running rampant.
“Thorne’s right. We’re not even close to done,” Caleb murmured.
I couldn’t look away from the crater, an almost magnetic pull keeping my gaze there.
“What do you see, Sunny?” Alek’s large palm settled at the base of my spine.
“I’m not?—”
Before I could finish, I was suddenlyverysure what I saw.
I opened my mouth, prepared to shout a warning, but between one breath and the next, I was ripped out of the jungle and pulled into a completely different reality. One I remembered from my dreams.
No.
No. No. No.
Not again.
“Hello, daughter. Have you missed me?” my mother crooned, her voice like nails down a chalkboard as she stepped out of the mist and into view. Her smile was like the cat who caught the fucking canary.
But I wasn’t some small wounded bird anymore. And I refused to play into her mind games.
“Like a hole in the head,” I deadpanned.
She faked a wounded frown. “Is that any way to speak to me? I did give you life, after all. You wouldn’t have any of this without me. Not your mates, your beautiful daughter...” She paused and looked around. “Where is little Eden?”
My gut twisted, but I kept myself calm in the face of absolute terror. “Somewhere far from your reach.”
“Are you so sure about that?”
My sweet little girl appeared at my mother’s feet, her curls in cute little pigtails, mismatched eyes shining with joy as she played with the wolf stuffy Kingston had given her for Christmas.
“Mama! Wolf go awooooo. I go awooooo!” she crowed.
No. This couldn’t be real.
Eden was in Novasgard with her grandmother. There was no way my mother could have reached her there.
Logic was a poor friend in the wake of my maternal fear. I couldn’t seem to shake myself out of its clutches.
“Eden, come here. Come to Mommy.”
My child looked at me, then looked up at my mother and clutched at the vile woman’s leg.
“Mama?” she asked, her gaze still on the horsewoman.
Eyes locked on mine, Minerva stroked Eden’s head. “That’s right, dearest. Mama’s right here.”
Oh, hell fucking no.