Page 41 of Becoming the Alpha

Jessica nodded, moving toward the door. She stopped to glance back at everyone before she walked out the door. I turned to the Healer and tapped him on the shoulder. “Will you please give us some time?” He stood and bowed, walking away immediately. I waited until the door snapped shut and then turned to the rest of the people in the room. Simon and Annette had locked eyes, barely blinking as they took in each detail on each other’s face. I turned to Lily, who was glaring between the both of them with her arms closed.

“Alright, let’s just take a step back. Simon, can you explain what the fuck is going on?”

42

Lily

Simon took a deep, ragged breath, running a hand down his face and sighing. He turned to Jason, barely able to tear his eyes away from my mother. He looked so crestfallen, but I wasn’t letting that sway me. My mom didn’t know how to deal with the pack and I needed to do what I could to protect her.

“She’s…my mate, Jason,” Simon whispered, his voice hoarse and his eyes snapped right back to my mom. My body stiffened and my heart pounded in my ears. I sucked in a breath, annoyed that it was such a difficult task. I sucked in another and it was even harder to fill my lungs properly. I stumbled backwards a few steps when the edges of my vision blurred. “Lily?” Jason’s panicked voice called me.

“Lily, take a deep breath.” My mom’s voice said. If I could have, I would have barked out a sarcastic laugh, but considering I couldn’t even breathe, that wasn’t an option. I felt hands grab under my arms and guide me backward. I was set down on something soft, but my whole body felt like a stiff board that was slowly sinking underwater.

“Lily, tell me three things you feel,” A voice demanded. I choked, trying to clear my voice a few times. I sucked in a few ragged breaths before opening my mouth.

“The soft fabric of this couch, the support of my shoes, and the sun through the window on my back.”

“Good, now tell me two things you hear,” Jason said.

“Voices and wind blowing.”

“Awesome, now tell me one thing you can taste.”

“Pineapples.”

“That’s what you go with? Pineapples? Of all the things you can think of that you can taste, you pick up pineapples?”

I giggled, happy I could boggle Jason’s mind. It always amused me that I could make him look at me like I was strange and he had no idea what to make of me. “I had no idea you were so uppity about pineapples.”

Jason shook his head and grinned at me. I took another breath and wiped the tears under my eyes. Exhaustion rolled over me and I sagged back into the chair. Jason looked at me with concern, but I nodded at him, silently letting him know I was okay.

“Alright, now that we’ve gotten you back to normal, let’s turn back to the big issue at hand. Simon, what do you mean she’s your mate?” Jason asked, turning back to Simon. My mom sat next to me, taking and squeezing my hand with a sad smile on her face.

“He means that we were mated years ago. He’s…” My mom cleared her throat, sitting up straight and rolling her shoulders back. “He’s Lily’s real father.”

I stared at her until I heard Simon go down. I turned to see him lying flat on his back. Jason cursed under his breath and moved over to him, checking his pulse and throwing a towel under his head. My body started shaking again. I turned to my mom. She gave me a bitter smile, looking dejected.

“I’m sorry, Lily. I know I never told you who your father was, but it’s because I didn’t want you to go looking for him. He’s a shifter and if you had known what that was and who he was, you would have tried to contact him. I didn’t want you to get killed by the King. I didn’t want Simon to claim you so he could keep you with him. I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t give you up.”

Simon stirred, opening his eyes and immediately searching out my mom. My heart broke when I saw him sigh in relief when he realized she was okay. I couldn’t stop more tears from building behind my eyes. Simon glanced at me and stiffened, obviously unsure of what to do at this moment. I reached a hand out to him and he immediately responded, shooting onto his knees and taking my hand gently. I squeezed his hand, staring into his eyes.

“You’re my father.”

He let out a short laugh. “Apparently so.”

“I don’t know you and you don’t know me, so we’re going to have to work to rectify that. Before we work on doing that, you and my mother need to have a discussion. You two need to talk about everything that’s happened.”

Simon looked at me with tears in his own eyes. “A-are you sure? I would understand if you wanted me to back off and have nothing to do with her.”

I shifted out of the chair and onto my knees in front of him. I tilted my head up so I could stare at his face and take in all of his features. I wanted to smack myself upside the head when I realized how much I looked like him. He and I had the same small nose that turned up at the end and our eyes were the same blue color. We even had the same face shape. I grabbed both of his hands, gripping as tightly as I could and keeping eye contact with him so he knew wouldn’t question what I said. “I want you to have everything I have with my mate. I want you to be happy. More importantly, I want her to be happy. I know she’s been happy with us all these years, but she needs you more than she’s willing to admit. It’s not going to be easy - my mom doesn’t take the easy route, but you and her deserve each other. I know things were messed up, but don’t blame her for keeping us from each other. You and I both know what Jason’s father was like. She did what she thought was best. Iknowshe was devastated when she left you. Don’t give up now that you’ve found her again.”

He gave me a stern nod, his jaw locking as a look of determination flashed across his face. He cleared his throat and stood, helping me to stand. We both turned to my mother who was sitting there with a look that was partly sad and partly closed off, as if she didn’t want to hope for anything but she couldn’t keep herself from doing it.

“Annette, can we…I mean, would you like…ahem…oh, wait, Your Majesty, I…” Simon stuttered through. Jason chuckled, clapping him on the back and ending his misery. “Don’t worry about us, Simon. Take Annette and talk. Catch up. The Kingdom and us will be here when you’re through. Take all the time you two need.”

Simon nodded and held out a hand to my mom. I looked at her, watching her hesitate even though I could plainly see the need and desire she was feeling. I turned back to Simon. “Give us a minute? She’ll be right out.” I nodded to the door. Jason and Simon both nodded and left, closing the door with a loud click.

I turned back to my mom who had dropped her head into her hands and was silently sobbing. Her body was shaking with the force of her sobs and I sank into the chair next to her, wrapping my arms around her. We sat like that for a few minutes, not bothering to do anything different until it looked like my mom was trying to get herself under control. I pulled back, pulling her hair away from her face and smiling as she looked at me through her tears.