Chapter 32-The One Behind Everything

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Chapter 32-The One Behind Everything

Sydney Carrington's POV

"Mom?!"

I sputtered out in horror and disbelief and all I could do was gape at my mother who entered the living room with a group of men and women.

Her gaze was locked on mine and sadness was etched on her face. "Sydney. I told you, it's a crime to be with a Kingston."

I narrowed my eyes at her as murderous intent swarmed through me, "You're behind all of this? What the hell does Brendon have to do with all of this? He is nothing like his father or his uncle!" I shouted and my mother regarded me coolly.

"Who said I was behind all of this? I'm just a part of it. His father killed my husband." My mother said calmly and I frowned, confused. "Then who is it?"

"I am." The woman who was standing beside my mother spoke up. She had auburn hair and striking blue eyes and she looked younger than my mother by a decade at least.

"You may not know me, but I'm Nora Marston. I'm Cara's mother."

My eyes widened and I studied her even closer. Now that she had mentioned it, I could see the vague similarities of her and Cara. Both had oval facial features and were generally quite short. Where Cara had a joyful demeanour in the past, Nora seemed cool and emotionless.

Now it made sense. Cara had spoken earlier about wanting acceptance and not fitting in. What better way to get that when it was given by her own mother whom Cara never knew?

"Why are you doing this? Is this because of Brendon's father? I'm sorry that he hurt you in the past but Brendon and I have nothing to with this! And he's bleeding! Please get him help!" I begged as I shot concerned glances towards Brendon where a small pool of blood was forming on the ground.

At the mention of blood, Nora narrowed her eyes at me and her eyes stopped at my bruised cheek before gazing at Brendon before demanding harshly. "Who harmed them? I told you no one was to be harmed!"

Immediately, the hushed whispers turned silent and Cara spoke, "Kyle and the Winston brothers." Nora turned and glared harshly at the men. "Didn't I tell you that no one is to be harmed?"

The men shifted uneasily while Kyle stood apart from them with an expressionless face as he watched on. Nora gave a subtle nod to the man beside her and before I knew it, four heads were rolling on the ground.

I bit back a scream at that. Fucking hell, I was dealing with an insane bitch! I looked up to see my mother with a grimace on her face as she stared at the heads. Looking at Cara, I noticed that she was looking at her mother with a tiny bit of uncertainty.

"Kyle, what did I say about not following my orders?" Nora questioned and Kyle shifted his feet under the scrutiny of her hard stare, "She attacked me, it was all self-defense!"

I remained silent, not bothering to defend myself and looked to see Nora staring at Kyle for a long moment before dismissing him as she turned back to me.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. People who do not obey orders are the worse sort to deal with. It shows the lack of discipline and order." Nora stated calmly as if she didn't indirectly murder four men.

To be honest, I was a little freaked out but I was the Luna of the European pack. I straightened up and watched her and her followers. Nora gestured towards Brendon and a woman stepped forward with a first aid kit.

I relaxed slightly, relieved that Brendon was getting help. "Why are you doing this? Like I said, Brendon has nothing to do with the sins of his father."

Nora looked at me calmly and nodded. "I do know that. But do you know what Robert Kingston did to me?"

I eyed her cautiously and a low groan sounded from beside me. Immediately, I turned around, "Brendon! Are you alright?" I questioned and Brendon turned to look at me confused before realising what was going on.

The cuts and bruises that marred his face made my heart ache as blood trickled down his face. He looked around and his eyes stopped on Cara. My heart broke for him as I saw the look of anguish and betrayal on his face when he realised that his half-sister was the traitor.

"Brendon-" I started but he turned away from her and his eyes stopped on Nora. His eyes widened with recognition and Nora appraised him. "You." Brendon started.

"You do remember me. Good. I was twenty-two when your father got me drunk and then he raped me. And because of that, I got pregnant with Cara. Of course, I couldn't be around her, she looked exactly like Robert. So I left her with Brendon before taking off."

My jaw dropped at that and I glanced at Cara to see her lower lip trembling a little. She caught my eye and quickly turned away. Despite her betraying us, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Like I said earlier, we don't want to hurt you, we just want to make sure that no more Kingstons are to rule a pack. After all the damage that they had done to people they had sworn to protect." Nora finished and narrowed her gaze at Brendon. "If that's all right with you of course."

Brendon's gaze went towards me and his eyes caught onto the bruises on my cheek. Without hesitation, he nodded. "Yes. As long Sydney isn't harmed in any way."

Nora nodded her head in satisfaction and her head gestured for her guards to untie us. Was it really this easy? I thought uncertainly to myself. Looking at Brendon, I could see worry etched onto his face as he gazed at me sadly.

I gave him a reassuring smile as a woman-the medic-came to untie me. As she neared me, she stopped and her eyes widened. Immediately, the medic took a step back and whispered something into Nora's ear.

I glanced at Brendon, desperate to know what was going on and to be in his arms again. "The plan has changed." Nora stated as her cold blue eyes took me in.

"We have no choice but to kill both of you." She announced. At her words, terror and shock shot through me like a lightning bolt and all I could do was gape at her, stunned.

Fucking hell, she really was insane after saying she didn't intend to harm us. Beside me, Brendon was struggling in his chair as he shouted threats towards Nora and her guards.

My mother on the other hand turned white as a sheet. "No! You said we didn't have to kill anyone! Especially not my daughter!" She shouted and glared at Nora. "This was never part of the plan! I won't allow it! I won't allow you to murder my daughter! What is the cause of this?"

Nora stared at me before turning to Brendon and looked at me again. This time, her eyes lingered on my belly.

"She's pregnant."

My jaw dropped and I glanced down at my belly. I was pregnant?! I turned to Brendon in shock and he looked at me with wide eyes before his eyes were fixed on my flat belly.

Even though I had literally just found out about this, I was already in love with the baby. There was no way I was letting anything happen to him or her. I bared my teeth and glared at her as murderous rage took over. "Do anything and I'll make sure you burn in hell!" I hissed viciously.

My mother glanced at me, her eyes lingering on my stomach in shock. Wordlessly, Nora sighed and tilted her head to the right. A man with an axe stepped forward and I shrunk back into my seat and desperately tried to free myself from the knots.

Brendon was practically shaking in his chair from rage as he shouted to let me go and punish him instead. I glanced at him to see him looking at me desperately and what broke my heart most, was that he had tears of anguish and helplessness in his eyes.

"I love you Brendon." I said shakily as the man with the axe stood in front of me.

"Sydney, I love you too! Please! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Brendon roared in anguish and I gave him one last smile and waited for the inevitable. I shut my eyes and my heart pounded as I waited for death.

"No, stop! I told you, I won't let you hurt my daughter." My mother stated firmly and shielded me from the man.

I opened my eyes and looked up to see my mother standing in front of me as she stared defiantly at Nora and her men.

Nora simply looked at her and sighed heavily before looking at the man in the axe. In just a second, something warm and wet splattered onto my face and on instinct, I closed my eyes as the blood landed and the metallic scent of it rose in the air.

Before opening my eyes, I knew what I was going to see. But nothing could prepare me for the sight of my mother's dead body. With her head separated from her neck.

Opening my eyes, I screamed at the sight of my mother who was beheaded on the ground. The smell of blood filled the air and the tears fell uncontrollably.

"Mom!" I screamed and bucked about in my chair frantically. Even though my mother and I didn't have a fantastic relationship, she was still my mother and I loved her. Finding out that she was alive was one of the best things that happened to me.

And now, she was dead because she protected me. But this time, it was for real. She could never come back. Not this time.

"Why can't people just can't obey orders?" Nora muttered under her breath before folding her arms over her chest. "Braxton, continue." She called and the man with the axe stepped over my mother's dead body and approached me.

I was in too much shock to care as the tears kept falling. Beside me, I knew Brendon was trying to comfort me as much as he could but I couldn't hear a thing he said. My eyes were still fixed on the body of my mother as blood pooled around it.

I could hear Brendon shouting, begging, yelling and even screaming to hurt him instead and to leave me and our child alone.

Before the man-Braxton-could slice my head off, Cara shouted. "Mom! Please!"

Nora shot an annoyed look towards her daughter and Brendon and I watched the pair. Now that a distraction was here, I quickly tried to untie my knots.

"Cara, what have I said about speaking out of turn?" Nora questioned icily and Cara flinched before moving towards Brendon and I. "I'm sorry. But I agreed to help you if you promised that nobody would get hurt. And people here did get hurt!"

Nora sighed and crossed her arms before looking at Cara. "We have no choice. So are you going to step back and get out of the way?"

"But you promised me! Brendon took care of me when you didn't! And this time, you said you would make sure that no harm will get to him!" Cara protested but I did take notice that her hand was clutching onto the tranquilliser gun tightly.

Nora studied Cara and spoke emotionlessly. "If you're looking for a loving mother and an accepting one, you're in the wrong place. I may be your mother, but I will never be your mom. How could I really accept you when you were the very reason I left?"

I sucked in a breath at that harsh sentence and Cara's face fell while Nora continued coldly. "You should be thankful that I carried you to full term instead of aborting you even though I wanted to. I didn't look for you because you're my daughter, but because you're an easy link. A girl who was abandoned by her mother and looking for acceptance. All I had to do was say I wanted you back in my life again."

Cara's lip trembled and her eyes pooled with tears.

She glanced around and met my tear streaked face before her eyes landed Brendon who was watching the exchange carefully with a blank expression on.

I'm so sorry. She mouthed as a tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away furiously and I could feel my heart bleeding for her.

Even though Cara turned out to be a traitor, my heart ached for her. I understood where Cara came from. Risking it all for the hope of her mother loving and accepting her when it was all thrown back to her face, it had to hurt like hell. It was a different sort of heartbreak.

Quick as lightning, Cara turned to face the front and fired her tranquilliser gun at all the men in the room. In just a few seconds, all the men and Kyle were unconscious, leaving Nora all on her own.

I took it as a cue to finish untying my knots. The good thing was, I could feel my wolf stirring. Cara had informed me that the tranquilliser darts made you lose contact with your wolf for a day. Why was mine returning to me? I guessed it could be that I was Luna and mated to an Alpha, thus making me recover even quicker.

Looking at Brendon, I could see his eyes turning darker and that meant that is wolf was starting to surface as well.

Nora glanced around the room casually. "I see. You still have a weakness my darling and it will be your downfall." She said tonelessly and fished a knife from her jacket before throwing it right at Cara.

"NO!" I screamed and beside me Brendon roared in agony as he thrashed about in his chair. "CARA!"

Time seemed to stop and I saw Cara choke and collapse on the ground as blood began to spill out of her mouth and from the wound in her chest.

"You should really separate your emotions and feelings for people and work and you should have shot me." Nora stated calmly as if she didn't just tried to kill her own daughter.

I quickly finished untying the ropes and lunged out of the chair towards Nora while shifting mid-lunge. Purely on instinct, I gave half of the control to my wolf who clawed at her face before sinking my teeth deep into her body. Nora yelped and shifted into a wolf with reddish-brown fur and began attacking me back.

Even though I was a reasonably good fighter, Nora was better and also, she had the advantage of not having wolfsbane in her system while my body was still recovering from the effects of it.

Nora pounced on me and sank her teeth into my leg, which resulted in me giving a pained howl. Adrenaline pounded through my veins and I attacked her back. I clawed at her body viciously and satisfaction bloomed at the deep scratches on her belly as blood begun to flow.

Nora howled and the door burst open with three men entering who quickly went to Nora's aid. Fuck, I was screwed. Two of the men roughly pinned me down despite my efforts to bite and tear out any part of flesh I could reach.

Nora shifted back and the third man handed her a coat which she quickly put on. Grabbing the knife which one of her men handed to her, she made her way towards me. "I'm truly sorry things had to go this way." She raised the knife and was about to plunge it into my body when a resounding roar sounded.

It was so loud that I could feel the floor tremble. Before Nora could shove the dagger into me, a huge black wolf burst into my view and lunged at Nora and flung her to the opposite end of the room before making its way to me. Her body slumped to the ground and remained still.

My body sagged in relief as Brendon attacked the three men holding me. I knew he could handle them and I quickly shifted back and grabbed one of Brendon's shirts that was lying on the sofa before putting it on and limped my way towards Cara on the ground.

"Hey, don't worry, everything's going to be fine." I murmured anxiously and Cara shook her head weakly as more blood began to flow out of her mouth. I reached for the phone beside me and dialled for the medic.

"I-I'm so sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen." Cara said softly as she grabbed onto my hand shakily as tears fell from her face and onto my hand.

"It's okay. I understand. She's your mother." I replied softly and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "It's all my fault, none of this would have happened if I didn't listen to her. It's my fault your mother is dead."

I swallowed harshly at that and resisted the urge to look at my mother's dead body. "Put some pressure on the wound!" Brendon ordered as he knelt beside me. I nodded and pressed my palms against the wound and winced as more blood trickled out.

Brendon took over the phone and barked out orders rapidly before hanging up. "Cara, look at me. Everything is going to be fine. I promise." He said lowly and tears entered his eyes.

Cara shook her head, "I'm so sorry Brendon. You are the best brother and family anyone could ever have." My eyes turned glassy and Cara seemed to turn even paler.

"Cara please. It's alright. I know you've wanted to find your mother the entire time and I don't blame you." Brendon murmured urgently as he grabbed some blankets from the sofa and pressed them against the wound. "Come on Cara, you'll be fine."

"I'm sorry Brendon. I'm so sorry." Cara whispered and her eyes fluttered shut. Frantically feeling her pulse, I stopped as tears poured down my cheeks.

She was gone.

"NO! CARA!" Brendon roared in anguish and I slumped back onto the floor and shut my eyes as the pain of loss filled me and I choked back the tears.

It was at this moment that the door burst open and both Brendon and I tensed. "Oh god, we're too late." Rhett spoke up in shock and defeat as he entered with several men from the royal army behind him.

I simply stared at him in stunned, my mind not really paying attention to him before turning back to Brendon who was holding Cara's arm as he cried in sorrow and pain.

I sat there still as a stone statue and wept for Cara and my mother.

***

A/N: Hey! Yes I've updated and I hope that you guys loved this chapter because it's such a difficult one to write. And did any of you see Cara's mother behind everything? Hopefully not. Ha. Let me know your thoughts on that. Anyway, please vote and comment!

Good news is that there only two more main chapters before this book ends! So now I can concentrate more on That One Kiss! This does not include the epilogue and the extra chapter. So stay on!  I hope that all of you will continue to support me in this book and that you guys loved this chapter. Thank you so much for reading and I love you all! :)