"Levi's here," Ethan said, breaking up the tension from the conversation in the room.
My heart fluttered as Ethan dipped down to kiss my crown. Barrett stood up and held a hand out to Evie. "Come on love, let's go see if we can find some coffee."
She sighed then nodded with a bit or hesitation. "Alright Queen B, Helen?"
Helen stood and followed them as Derek and Elliot both kissed me on the cheek. Derek let out another wavering breath and wiped his eyes. "Let me know when you're done. Elliot and I made cookies, well I did–"
"Ok," I replied softly with a little smile.
Derek looked over at Dominic, who just sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. "Dom?"
Dominic shook his head. "I don't plan on leaving. Levi can throw a fit if he wants."
"Your funeral," Derek grumbled out before Elliot pulled him out of the door.
Lucas got up and walked around to a chair next to Dominic and sat down. He looked over at Dominic, his wolf assessing him thoroughly before he looked back at me. "I like him, Char, he can stay."
Ethan muttered a string of curses under his breath and pulled me closer to him. I just rolled my eyes and looked back at Lucas. "Make sense, you're both royal assholes when you want to be."
"I take that as a compliment," Dominic said with a smirk.
"Me too," Lucas nodded in agreement, causing Dominic to chuckle as the door opened.
Levi stopped in his tracks, his eyes looking over to Lucas before they landed on me. He sighed as Ethan scooted out of the way and walked over to me; he felt so tired–his beast looked tired.
I thought I was done crying but I found tears leaking out of my eyes as Levi gently pulled me to him. He nuzzled my hair then kissed my crown, holding me like he thought I would vanish. "Gave us a good scare there for a while girl."
"I know," I breathed out against his shoulder.
Levi pulled away; his eyes were soft as they looked me over before they found my gaze again. "You are something else Charlie girl–you're something else, but you are still one of mine. Do you understand?"
I nodded. "I know," I replied honestly. I knew who my father was. I knew that Hadrian was my dad–but Levi was too. I was lucky. Not many people–if any, got to say they had two father's in their life that loved them like mine loved me.
I had Hadrian. Hadrian who saved me in ways that I still couldn't comprehend. Hadrian who walked out of the portal to save me again. Saved me with his blood. Our blood. Hague's blood.
I had my human father who did his best to love me even after my human mother died–my adoptive parents that Dominic compelled so I would be safe. I loved them. I would always love them and keep the memories of them close.
But then I had Levi.
Levi who saved me, who pissed me the hell off at times, but who loved me as his own. I saw it in his eyes when I touched the rock–I saw the same love that I see now when he looked at me as just a babe. I was always meant to be one of his and he was always meant to be a father to me.
Levi looked up at Dominic as he sat back on the edge of the bed by my legs with a raised brow. "Dominic?"
"You're stuck with me now Levi," Dominic said with a smirk. "I guess we are all one big happy family."
"Shit," Levi muttered out before he muttered out another string of curses that tugged my lips into a little smile.
"I mean he's not so bad dad," Lucas added. "He did help me sneak you the extra Ben & Jerry's from the pack house."
"Dominic!" I hissed out.
Dominic waved me off. "Really Charlotte, it was for a good cause."
Levi looked at him for a moment then nodded. "Can't disagree with you there. Still pretty pissed that we agreed to let you and Leo scramble our damn brains up, but I guess it was for the best."
"It was," Dominic said with a softness in his voice. "Fate has her reasons."
"How is Lander?"
Levi stiffened as his beast stirred. He shook his head–his hands rubbing his tired face. " As good as I could expect–he has good and bad moments. Claire has been more or less locked up in their room, David's been a big help with Lyle, and Evangeline–" Levi paused and looked over at Ethan. "You need to see your sister. Lyanna needs Evan right now and Evangeline is, well she's going through a hell that believe me–you don't want to experience."
Lucas winced a little as Levi finished. Ethan sighed and looked over at me then back at Levi, his beast conflicted on what to do.
"Ethan go," Dominic said. "I am here and is Lucas. We can all come tomorrow and meet you, Charlotte said she wanted to go anyways."
"Can I?" I asked Levi.
He nodded. "I think both Lander and Claire would like that, as would Evangeline." He looked over at Lucas who was scratching his head awkwardly at the mention of Lander's name. "You too son. It wasn't your fault Lucas. Nothing can fix silver."
"I should have just stayed where I was, it wasn't supposed to be this way–"
"You don't know that," Levi rushed out. "It happened and we can't change it."
"We could open the portal back up dad?" Lucas offered. "We could open it up, I could go–"
"No!" I bit out, my beast barking out wildly at the thought. "You're not going anywhere."
"And we sure as hell are not opening the damn portal up," Levi added with hard eyes. "We don't know what will come out of it son. We were lucky that there were others on the other side protecting it, but we may not get so lucky next time."
"Levi's right," Ethan sighed out. "As soon as Bernard gets back, we're burning that damn tree down."
"You say that like you've tried?" I asked, my eyes flickering to Ethan's.
Ethan shook his head and pushed some of my hair back. "Not without you, I've been here with you sunshine. Besides, we don't know how that tree will react with all that blood on it. I would feel better about doing it if the witches are here."
"Probably smart," Dominic said. "When will they be back?"
"I think in a few days," Ethan replied. "It should be alright. I doubt they will try anything right now. Aurelia was hurt, they used up a ton of bloodstones–I don't even know if they have more to do it again with, and all those texts she was using are here."
Levi nodded in agreement. "We need to see if there are any more doors left, but for now you need to have that tree crawling with warriors."
"We do," Ethan quickly replied. "Jake has been on it."
"The rock?" Lucas asked.
Dominic leaned back in his chair. "Split in half. Before the witches left, they said it was useless now."
"Good," I said with a nod.
Ethan was staring at the end of the bed, his brows furrowing contorting his face in pain before he looked up. "Evan," he said quietly. "He–I need to go see her. She's not good."
"Go," I told him. He looked at me, pain in his eyes but I just pushed him towards the edge of the bed with a gentle assuring smile. "Ethan, she's your sister and she needs you. Go."
"What about you baby? If you don't want me to go I won't."
"Ethan," I sighed out. "It will be fine. I'll come in the morning. She needs you. baby, she's breaking right now."
"Ethan go," Levi said with a tired smile tugged at half of his mouth. "I'll stay with Charlie girl. We'll come by in the morning."
He nodded then scooted off the bed; I had to keep my beast from whining at the feeling of him not being next to me. Quickly, he dipped down and kissed me, his lips slightly lingering. "I'll link you, ok?"
"Ok," I replied before I quickly kissed him again.
I let out a sad sigh as Ethan disappeared out the door. Levi scratched at his scruff and looked back at Dominic. "You got any more of that ice cream?"
Dominic's lips twitched into an amused smirk. "No, but that can be fixed," he said before he zipped out of the door.
Levi looked over at the door then back at Lucas. "Lucas, give us a minute son."
Lucas nodded then quickly padded his way out of the room, gently shutting the door behind him on his way out. Levi sighed and looked back at me, tired and drained with a range of emotions that made my heart feel heavy for him. He shook his head then smirked a little. "When you were little you used to climb all over Lander and I. I would take you outside on a nice day and let you play in the grass with Lucas. Lander loved you, he and Claire wanted to claim you so badly.
"Lander's beast loved you, mine did too. You would just laugh and squeal and babble like babies do while we played with you. Neither of our beasts cared; you and Lucas were more like monkeys than kids–always climbing over everything, used to drive Eve crazy.
"She would always get onto Lucas to be careful with you, but he always was. He was so protective of you, stuck to you like glue–" Levi paused while sobs choked their way up my throat. He turned and looked back at me with his silver eyes that felt like they shot straight to my soul.
"I knew what you were–who you were when I first saw you. I remember smelling you and knowing that your blood wasn't from a line I knew. I didn't want to believe it because your family is a legend, a fairy tale that people tell their kids.
"But the more Dominic talked about you, alluding without saying, I knew. I knew you had to be something like that for a vampire like him, close to the damn devil himself at times, to think that I was the only person he could trust–to trust me with a helpless baby."
"Why did you?" I said in a strained whisper.
"Because, Charlie girl," Levi said simply. "We took one look at you and we wanted you, so did Eve. The bond to claim you was so strong, it's a miracle that neither Lander or I did it in the short time we had you. For a while there, I thought that we would get to keep you. You became such a regular part of our lives.
"We had to hide you, God, it was so hard," he said. He shook his head, rubbing his face over before he turned more towards me. "I had to re-work patrol routes, lay ash all around the house and mix it into the dirt of the flowerbeds to throw trackers off–Lander and I took shifts with Claire on keeping watch over the house. Derek and Elliot too, some days I had to have them take you far on our land away from other wolves when it got too close.
"I gave Leo and Dominic permission to go compel my pack members that could have been suspicious. I wrote a list of people for them, almost getting sick at the thought that they would tell someone. That was a fear that terrified me more for you than anything else–" he sighed and nodded to himself, his eyes staring off somewhere before he flickered his gaze back to me.
"Eve was so worried that Ethan was your mate. That boy was so attached to you, always with you, always holding your hand or playing with you. Chris and Margaret would bring them over to play, they helped us when we needed help keeping you a secret. Sometimes Chris would come watch you kids when Eve and I had pack business we couldn't get out of, or sometimes Margaret.
"But that boy would cry every time we took him away from you. It wasn't just a typical toddler throwing a tantrum because we took a toy away, this was so pained. It was like his little heart was breaking.
"The day that they came to take you and wipe us of your memory, I knew we were making a mistake. I had felt sick about it all morning. Eve kept telling me we were doing the right thing, and maybe we were, but my beast and I didn't want to let you go. You kept telling me to stay, it was like you knew. I had you laying on my chest where you had fallen asleep so many times before when Dominic took you.
"Eve told me if you were meant to come back to us that you would. That if you were supposed to be Ethan's, that the moon would find a way. I guess she did..."
I wiped away a tear and nodded. "I guess she did too," I said, before a small laugh came out of my lips.
Levi scooted over then pulled me to him; he nuzzled my hair while I let more tears fall along with soft sobs. He kissed my temple and let me rest my head against his chest, both of our beasts emotionally drained and weary.
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you Charlie girl, you know that right?"
"You can't protect me from everything Levi, especially now," I replied, my voice pained at saying it because I knew it was the bitter truth of it.
Levi sighed then leaned back, and looked me over. "I can smell it now, your blood. I can't believe Dominic could do that, but the moment he took that damn compulsion away, I could again I smelled that King blood in you. It makes so much sense now, how you survived the turn–why you are what you are. You're not just an alpha female girl, you're from a line of the first of all of us. That is some powerful shit.
"It's almost funny," he chuckled out. "Everyone wondering why you were so strong, why would smelled the way you did. You smelled like me–like one of mine, so we all just figured it was because I claimed you. You still do in a way, but it's like an undertone of that King blood. It's like my blood was hiding it until the right time–some strong shit Charlie girl."
"Shit that everyone apparently hates," I muttered out.
Levi nodded. "True, Hagan was not painted well by history, but that doesn't mean that you let his shadow haunt you. Your father was a damn good man Charlie girl, and he gave up more than most people could dream of for you.
"Lucas is right, the truth is hard but we can't hide it. They're going to try and use it anyways for their own purposes that will just bring more bloodshed–that will just bring someone who is a damn monster out of the portal. We need to use it for good and use it to unite our kind so we can live in peace and so your name isn't associated with scary bedtime stories."
"I saw him, Levi," I said more to myself than to him. "I saw my dad. I saw what happened, I saw him die–" My voice broke with a choked sob. "Then I saw him saw him. We talked in a field. I just–I'm never going to get to see him again. I just found out who he and my mother were and I feel like they're being ripped away from me."
"Charlie girl," he breathed out before he pulled me back to him. "We're not meant to talk to them like that. One day, a very far away day from today, we will be with them again. I can guarantee, though, that he's probably up there looking after you. No one can take that away from you; he may not be here, but he's with you girl and so is your mother."
I nodded then leaned back, my eyes catching the sight of Lucas leaning outside against the door through the crack between the little curtain over the door's small window. "What about Lucas?"
Levi shook his head. "It is everything I have not to bring him home. I know it's not his fault. Liam was stabbed bad with that blade," he sighed out, his voice slightly scratchy. "It was Liam's decision to do what he did. He knew it was Lucas he was saving. He knew Lucas was dead. There's no reason to save someone that's already dead–I still cannot wrap my head around why.
"Lander's doing ok, but he still has moments where he is definitely not. He could easily go challenge my son because of what happened, and many in my pack would not see him as wrong in doing that."
"Lander wouldn't do that," I rushed out. "Right?"
"I hope not, I don't want to have to kill my brother," Levi replied, his eyes meeting mine and causing my breath to hitch because he was entirely serious about his statement. "I love my brother Charlie girl, you know that, but if he came after my son I would kill him. My beast and I both agree we would."
"What about Claire and Evangeline? What about Lyle? Are they–do they blame him?"
"Claire hasn't come out of their room much. I think the logical part of her mind understands what happened, but right now that part is being overridden by grief. I don't think she would, and Lyle's has only been told the need-to-know information, but I don't know about Evangeline."
"I should have gone with Ethan," I breathed out.
"No, you need to rest girl," Levi pushed back. "Let Ethan spend some time with her. She needs her brothers right now; I've tried talking to her and being there for her. I was trying to get through to her, but I know that pain. It's very easy to give into–I'm still shocked some days that I didn't."
"What should we do? What do we do about her? And Lucas?" I asked. "Levi he talked about re-opening a portal so he could walk back–" Levi's low growl cut me off.
He clenched his jaw as his silver eyes turned hard. "My son is not going anywhere."
"I know," I gently said. "First off, we don't even really know how to open it, we would need a hell of a lot of bloodstones, and even if we open if then who is to say that nothing bad comes out? Ethan already told Lucas no. He's waiting on the witches to come back so we can burn the tree down."
"Good," Levi said before he leaned back, looking over at the door. "Lucas come on son," he called out.
Lucas cracked the door open with a cautious smile and quietly walked in, shutting the door behind him. "Miss me too much already?"
I rolled my eyes. "Where's Dominic?"
"Talking to the vampires in the waiting room," Lucas replied.
He sat down in a chair and looked over at Levi whose eyes still looked slightly shocked to see him. "Son, I am only going to say this once more so you better listen. What happened was not your fault. Liam knew it was you–he knew you were dead, and he chose to do what he did.
"He wasn't coming back from stab wounds like that. She got him good in the gut and in the heart; silver killed Hagan and Balak back then for a reason. It's strong shit son. We will not be opening any portals, do you understand?"
"Dad, I mean, it's ok," Lucas rushed out. "I'm not supposed to be here. We can fix it, I can fix it–"
Levi growled lowly and shook his head. "Even if we did, you would need a mountain of bloodstones. Whose life or lives should I say, will you take to do it? It will cause more harm than good and we would be putting everyone in a danger that we probably don't really understand fully."
"But I'm supposed to be dead!" Lucas bit out.
"And you're not!" Levi bit back. "You are here. You are breathing. You are not dead and there's nothing we can do to change it. I never really believed the moon had a plan or 'fate' had a plan before, but with how everything is working out I'm sure as hell starting to.
"If you were not supposed to be here, then you wouldn't be. You are here for a reason. I don't want to here you talk about going back anymore. We need you, your sister needs you, and I need you. Do you understand?"
"Dad, I mean I died before–"
Another fierce growl cut Lucas off, a growl that was more out of pain than anything else. "You think I don't know that Lucas? You think I don't remember finding you with your damn fangs ripped out and pelt skinned off of you?"
"Levi," I said gently, touching his arm and pleading with him to calm down. I could see the pain in his eyes though, I understood where it was coming from, but it wasn't helping.
He let out a hot breath and looked back up at Lucas, whose eyes looked just as pained–a mirror of his father's. "I cannot lose you again son. I am a selfish man, and I won't give you back up. I won't let you do that. I can't light your pyre again son. I just can't."
Lucas held Levi's gaze for a long moment; his beast packing before he slowly nodded. "Ok," he breathed out. "I'm sorry, I–"
"Come here," Levi said with a tired smile.
Lucas sighed and got up from his seat then walked over to Levi who pulled him into a tight hug. Levi kissed the sighed of his head and let his beast push closer to nuzzle his son–his pup while Lucas eyes grew watery.
Levi pulled away, his eyes slightly glassy as he looked over Lucas again. "Now, where's our damn ice cream?"
Lucas let out a little laugh before he started laughing with Levi. He leaned back in and hugged his dad, blinking back tears that I was also fighting to not shed.
"Can I come in?" Dominic called out from the other side of the door.
"Do you have the goods?" Lucas called back.
He paused for a moment, causing Levi to snapped up and looked at the door with a pointed scowl. Dominic started to laugh as he pushed the door open with a bag in his hand. "Of course, found a secret stash."
"How?" Lucas asked with a raised brow.
Dominic reached into the back while he gave Lucas a long look. "Take a guess, Lucas."
"Dom," I scolded gently.
He shrugged innocently. "I got you cookies and cream?"
I huffed while a smile fought to break out. Levi looked at me then back at Dominic. "You're one handy bastard, Dominic. Don't listen to Charlie girl, it's fine with me."
"God you two!" I groaned while Dominic laughed some more as he handed Levi a carton and a spoon.
"Can we come in now?" Elliot called out, causing Levi to roll his eyes.
"Yes," I laughed out.
Elliot pushed the door open to reveal Derek with a bad of cookies and Barrett with a tote full of wine and whiskey. "We brought the real goods," Evie said with a smug grin.
Helen rolled her eyes before she looked at the ice cream. Dominic just reached in the bag and tossed her a carton of vanilla. "No Helen, I did not forget you."
Helen's shoulders dropped like the gesture was more than it was, like it was a burden being lifted before she walked to a chair and took a seat. Elliot looked around then back at me. "Well Char, wine or whiskey?"
"Whiskey," I breathed out. "Definitely whiskey."