Andrei arrives early the next morning. I ran down the stairs and open the door for him, Ezra comes down the stairs behind me.
“Hey, sorry, I was supposed to be here an hour ago, mom took a turn,” he apologizes, stepping inside.
“Is she okay?” I ask.
“No, she is dying, now where do you want to do this?” He quips, holding up a larger than normal specimen cup with some latex over the top.
“Maybe I can heal her?”
Andrei shakes his head. “People die, Kat, besides, you would only be prolonging her death. Parents die eventually, that’s how it is supposed to be,” he says.
“But maybe?”
“I said no, Kat, no point in you getting sick so that she can live a few extra months,” he refuses walking into the kitchen. Ezra is watching me, and I could tell he didn’t agree with me healing anybody. I follow Andrei, and he sits at the table before handing me the cup.
“So I just bite it?” I ask.
“I think so, but hell if I know,” he shrugs.
I let my canines lengthen before biting into the cup, my teeth break through the latex. I feel like an idiot.
“Damn,” Andrei says, and I pull my teeth out of it to find nothing in the cup.
“And nothing,” I tell him, and he sighs. “I was worried that would happen, which means you can only use your venom when under duress or strong emotion, and I am not going to tick you off just to get it.”
“Why is it so important you get it anyway?” I ask, wondering if he would tell me now it didn’t work. He just stares at me. “No harm in telling me now, it didn’t work,” I point out, and he rubs a hand down his face.
“To make them pay for what they did to Anthony,” he says.
“Jackson?” I ask.
“His Pack,” Andrei answers, and Ezra sits down. Mateo also comes into the dining room, now fully dressed.
“How would my venom affect the pack?”
“I was going to put it in the town’s water supply,” he explains, and I am taken aback by his words.
“You wanted to kill the entire pack?” I whisper.
“I am not a good person, Kat, but yes. After what they did, they deserve death.”
“What did they do?” I asked, needing to know what warranted the death of an entire pack.
“Doesn’t matter, but what they did was wrong, Anthony is lucky to be alive, not that he wanted to live afterward, I thought at first, it was your father’s way of punishing him, making him live with it. But now I think he saved him out of guilt,” Andrei says.
“Guilt, didn’t he just make my mother reject him?”
“Yes, but Jackson took it further. It would be one thing to be rejected and banished. There was no reason for what they did afterward, he would have left. Him being fated to your mother didn’t just cost him the bond, it cost him everything, and it cost your father his mate when she found out. I believe that is why he stepped in and saved him, tried earning her forgiveness, but nothing would ever make her forgive him after what he made her do, then finding out what they did afterward, I couldn’t imagine the guilt she felt,” Andrei tells me. “It’s okay, I will just have to figure something else out. I should go. I have to get back to my mother,” he says as he stands up.
“You sure? I can-” Andrei shakes his head, cutting me off. Ezra drops his hand on my shoulder.
Andrei nods to him before looking down at me. “No, I mean it, she can’t be saved, not everyone can be,” he stresses, making me think back to the moon goddess’ words. Choose wisely, not everyone can be saved, not everyone deserves to be. I glance at Mateo, who furrows his brows, and Ezra stares at me. I know they felt fear run through me, there was no hiding it that time when he said those words.
Andrei leaves, and I wave goodbye before shutting the door and turning to find Ezra staring at me, Mateo behind him. “You are hiding something.” Ezra accuses.
“I’m not hiding anything, just worried about something.”
“Worried about what?” Mateo presses, and my heart squeezes just staring at him, I can’t lose them.
“The Moon goddess showed me a future, said not everyone could be saved and that I need to choose wisely because some don’t deserve to be.”
“Makes sense, but why does that scare you?” Ezra asks.
“Because the future she showed me, I chose wrong, and it cost Mateo his life and made you hate me,” I admit.
Ezra growls. “You have been keeping this from us?” He asks.
“No, I just didn’t know how to tell you. I would never choose anyone over either of you, I would never choose between you either.”
“So who did you save that cost him his life?” Ezra demands.
“I don’t know, she never showed me that, just showed me our twins, a boy and a girl, but…” I look at Mateo. “You weren’t there, but you had a son, and you had a daughter. I chose wrong, but I won’t make that mistake I know now, that’s why she showed me, to make sure I choose right.”
“How can you say that when you don’t know who you are choosing between?” Ezra asks.
“Because I would never choose anyone over either of you.”
“What if it became choosing between us? I swear, Kat, if you choose me, I would hate you,” Ezra whispers.
“You think I would be any different, Ezra?” Mateo growls, glaring at him. “You are not dying for me!” Mateo yells at him.
“None of you will die, ok. This is why I never said anything, I know I will make the right choice, neither of you is going anywhere,” I tell them, needing them to calm down.
“What? I am not letting him die for me, Kat,” Mateo objects, and Ezra growls right back at him.
“That’s the beauty of being a Gemini wolf, only I choose who I let live and die.”
“And if it becomes choosing between us, then what, Kat? I won’t forgive you if you choose to save me.”
“I wouldn’t choose,” I tell them.
“But you would have to,” Ezra insists, and I shake my head.
“No, because if it came down to choosing between the pair of you, I would sacrifice myself just like Marabella did for her son,” I tell them before shoving between them and heading upstairs.
I ignore them when they start yelling at me, not agreeing. They were outraged at the thought, one thing they both agreed on, but they didn’t realize the choice isn’t theirs to make, it is mine, and I will choose death rather than lose them. I should never have told them, but either way, they would find out when I am forced to choose because both of them will live even if it costs me my life.