Before anyone could say anything, Ryker and Mina collapsed onto the floor. They let out a sigh of relief in unison. Cora watched them, her brows pulled together in confusion. Lilah couldn’t help but follow suit, dropping to sit on the floor and give her shaky knees a break.
“Ashton is going to be livid,” Griffin warned Jasper.
So, it was Makenna who survived the fire. Lilah remembered reading about it in the paper. It hadn’t killed anyone, so no photos had been printed with it.
“Everyone is alive,” Lilah reminded her mate. “I’m sure he’ll learn how to move on.”
While Ryker grimaced, Jasper never took his eyes off Cora. She was avoiding her mate’s gaze. No one could tell what was going through their king’s mind. His face was a blank slate. Lilah wondered if he was hiding his emotions from his family or from Cora.
“We can’t hide the truth from him forever,” Ryker said.
“I didn’t mean to do it.” Cora’s voice was small. It was filled with regret. “I was camping, and it got cold. These mountains are so cold. All I wanted was to be warm.”
The coming days were going to be difficult, but Lilah knew they could get through it. She tugged Griffin’s hand and led him out of the house. It didn’t belong to them anymore, anyway. Not long after, Ryker and Mina followed. They were quiet. The threat of what was to come weighed heavy on their shoulders.
This war was no longer about physical battles. They would have to find a way to make Ashton forgive Cora. Or else his anger would tear them apart from the inside out.
Everyone strained to listen to the conversation inside, but there was none. Neither Cora nor Jasper said anything. If the family survived this war, those two would have a lot of work on their plate. Lilah hoped they could come to understand one another because she knew life was infinitely better with a mate.
No matter what war raged on, she would survive as long as Griffin stood by her side.
“Let’s go,” she said to him. “We have things to unpack at the house.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lilah couldn’t believe her luck. She held a cardboard box filled with little bits of her life and faced her new home.
Their new home.
Griffin laid a soft kiss on her head as he passed by with Bumble in a pet crate. The cat rattled the crate, but Griffin held on tight. Bumble would be much happier once they got him inside.
Lilah smiled. The house was small, only a two-level craftsman in which the second level was basically an attic bedroom, but the truth was they didn’t need a whole lot of space. Lilah was happy to be near Griffin. As the house filled with furniture and bits of art she finally unpacked, it became cozier and cozier.
Everything she had was so much more than she ever expected out of her life. For as long as she could remember, the dark haze of a family curse hung over her head. She blamed every bad thing that happened on the curse and never bothered to look any further. Not once did she stop and consider what she might have if she threw the whole idea away.
Never once did she think she would have the kind of love that mates had. She still wasn’t all that used to the beast inside her. It was often a war of wills, but Lilah was learning. She was listening to the beast and what it needed while reasoning with it, telling it what Lilah needed too.
Lilah needed hugs from her mate and little kisses throughout the day. She needed his hands on her to remind her that he loved the shape of her. She needed late night movie marathons with chicken wings from the diner because they reminded her of that first date. It was the first date, because that was the first time they learned anything real about one another.
“Did Wyatt and Ryker bring your tools?” She asked as she pushed through the front door. “Because we need a new table. Those idiots broke the last one.”
Griffin groaned from another room. “I thought I was done making tables!”
She raised an inquisitive brow. What happened before she became part of the family?
She found Griffin in the bedroom, on the floor with Bumble. A feather toy sat on the floor between them. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Shouldn’t you be unpacking?”
When she’d first met Griffin, he’d been intimidating. He looked like he was ready to knock some heads together. It didn’t matter who, just the next person to look at him funny and whoever stood closest. Over the time she’d spent with him, it was as if he’d changed. But, he hadn’t.
The man on the floor with her fat cat had let go of his bitterness. With the festering bitterness gone, Griffin had made room for happiness. So, when her cat pounced on his silver pony tail instead of the feather toy, his laughter filled the room. He swung his hair over his shoulder, but Bumble wasn’t to be stopped and pounced on Griffin’s shoulder.
“The cat wouldn’t have attacked you if you’d been unpacking,” she said with a smirk.
Already, the cat scratches were starting to heal over. In a second, they were completely gone. Griffin gathered Bumble into his arms and stood. Leaning in, Griffin stole a kiss. Lilah opened to him and the kiss deepened until Bumble yowled between them.
She broke away with a laugh on her lips. As she turned back to the task of unpacking, her phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Once upon a time, the name on the screen would have filled her with dread. Now, she grinned as she lifted the phone to her ear.
“Where the hell have you been?” Vivi shrieked.
“Do I have a long story for you,” Lilah responded. She fingered a take-out menu as she spoke to her sister. Lilah would have to hide her purse after she ordered food for them. As much as she wanted to rekindle her relationship with her sister and debunk the made-up curse they’d been living with, she still wouldn’t trust Vivi alone with her wallet. “How about you come over for dinner tonight and I’ll tell you all about it?”
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Griffin Drake Page 14