Chapter 814
“Because Chuck is a siren,” I told her gently. “He made you believe that he was your mate. He made you fall in love with him.”
She let out a breath.
“What? Sirens are still around?”
I nodded.
“Apparently, yeah. And Chuck is one of them. He made you fall in love with him… we aren’t entirely sure why, but your father is going to figure it out.”
“Wait, my dad knows about this?” She asked, her eyes wide with horror. “How long have you all known??”
“A couple of days,” I admitted. “We’ve tried to tell you, but you didn’t want to hear us. Erik has tired more than any of us, though, and you shut him out completely.”
“How do you even know it’s the truth?” She asked. ‘How do you know he’s a siren?”
“Erik went to see a Seer who pretty much told him. It’s the only thing that really makes sense. Only that sirens are usually after something specific, and when they get it or realize they can’t get it from their target, they drop them. Being dropped by a siren is devastating for the victim, and you’ll feel the heartbreak 10x worse than you normally would. It’s as bad a broken mate bond…”
She sat silently for a long while, processing all I was telling her. I was relieved that she was finally letting me tell her the entire story because it was something she needed to hear. I wanted her to understand that Erik was not the villain in her story and that he had tried to save her.
“Erik was telling me the truth, ‘she said in a whisper; it wasn’t a question, just an observation.
I nodded slowly.
“He would never lie to you, and he wouldn’t hurt you like the others had, Irene…”
She let out a breath before her eyes finally met mine.
“How about we continue our lessons for today, and then we can continue them tomorrow?” She suggested. “I need to get off this subject before I lose my mind even more than I already have.”
I nodded, but then my chest tightened slightly.
“About tomorrow, do you think we can skip it?” I asked. “I just remembered I have an appointment with Eliza tomorrow that I can’t miss.”
It was a lie, and I hated myself for it. I made a mental reminder to make an appointment tomorrow with Eliza so I don’t feel like a complete ass.
She nodded.
“Yeah, of course,” she said without batting an eye. “Day after tomorrow it is then.”
I smiled gratefully at her.
We continued our lessons as usual, and by the time I was over, we were both exhausted. As we were leaving the packhouse, Gavin appeared at the entrance with a frown.
“There you are,” he said, his brows raised. “I went home but didn’t see you. The staff said you left this morning and hadn’t been back. I was worried.” “Sorry,” I said as I stood on my toes to kiss him. “Irene and I spent the day at the packhouse.”
He wrapped me in his arms, holding me close to his chest.
“I’m glad you two are spending time together,” he murmured against my lips. “Was everything okay today?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“I could feel your variety of emotions,” he admitted.
My heart stopped in my chest; how could I have forgotten that he could feel my emotions? I wasn’t going to be able to hide my whereabouts from Kim tomorrow, and if i blocked my feelings from him, he would find
me, and it would start an argument. I was going to have to tell him the truth.
“I have to tell you something… but not here,” I tell him.
He nodded and glanced around; some packmates were walking by, their eyes, judgmental as ever, lingering on me for a little bit too long, and felt my cheeks flushing. I’m sure Liv probably spoke to them already, and now I have even more people rooting against me.
I doubted Gavin noticed, though. Irene was already gone, probably to gather her thoughts about all we had discussed.
Gavin took hold of my hand, entwining his fingers with mine, and he pulled me out of the packhouse and into his car. I’m relieved to S that he drove himself because I want to be alone with him.
“Okay, tell me what’s going on,” he said as he started away from the packhouse and towards the villa.
“I don’t want you to be mad,” I said to him, biting my lower lip.
“But tomorrow… I’m going to the Blackwell Manor…”
“You’re what??” He asked, quickly pulling over and putting the car in park so he could glare at me. “Why would you do that??”
I let out a breath and finally told him what had been weighing on my mind, something I wasn’t even sure of myself, but saying it out loud almost felt right.
“Because I think the Blackwells might be connected to my family… my real family.”