Chapter 34

CATALINA

How had she found me? How was she able to snatch me out of the safety of my home?

The woman glided toward her seat. If she heard me call her mother, she didn’t make any indication that she did. And I really hoped she didn’t.

The guard that held the door open for her held out her seat. The guy across from me sighed, looking beyond bored.

She sat gracefully, eyeing the guy with disdain. They didn’t get along? What the hell was happening here?

“Something you would like to say, Dante?” She said his name with an insane amount of disgust. Yes, they definitely didn’t get along.

Dante’s lip lifted, but barely. “No, ma’am.” His disgust matched hers. Why were they working together if they hated each other?

She offered him one long look before turning to me. Her stare was blank, but I could feel the disappointment from here. The nerve of her.

I felt a level of anger rise in me that I couldn’t control. Who the fuck did she think she was? Judging me—she didn’t even know me!

A kick to my knee had me wincing. I glared at Dante, who was scrolling through his phone. Did that asshole just kick me?

“Are you aware of who I am?” the woman said, drawing my attention back to her.

I studied her, wondering what game she was playing at. My father had told me she wanted me dead. Yet here I was, having dinner with her. Against my will, yes, but she could’ve killed me when she had the opportunity. Why didn’t she?

“I have my suspicions.”

Dante scoffed.

“Dante,” she snapped, getting his attention. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

Leaning back in his chair, his eyes went from me to her. “Not really.” I tried not to laugh at his reply. She was making it very clear that she wanted him gone, yet he was pretending not to notice.

She decided to ignore him, focusing back on me. “I’m your mother.” I just stared at her. Did she expect me to be happy about that? Stand up and dance in celebration?

“From your reaction, I believe your fathers have spoken to you.”

“Yeah, and apparently you want to kill me.” This time Dante burst out laughing.

The woman slammed her hands on the table. “That’s enough, Dante!”

He didn’t stop laughing. “Oh, I don’t think it is,” he choked out. The man had literal tears coming out of his eyes.

“What’s so funny?” I snarked, annoyed by his laughing. I felt like I was on the outside of some sort of joke, and I didn’t like it.

The woman answered me. “You were given misinformation—everything they may have told you.”

I rolled my eyes. “What makes you so sure about that?”

She sighed deeply, as if preparing herself for a verbal battle. “I’m not, nor have I ever been out to harm you.” I paused, trying to determine if she was telling the truth or not. She took my pause as a sign to continue.

“I know you’re wondering why I didn’t just kill you instead of taking you. If it was so easy for me to get to you, then why didn’t I just kill you? Because I never wanted to hurt you, Catalina. All I ever wanted was to be your mother, and that option was taken away from me.” I sucked in a breath at the tears in her eyes. Either she was a very good actress, or she was telling the truth.

“That doesn’t make sense. Then why would my fathers say you want to kill me?” And why was I so quick to believe them? There was no indication or signs that my mother was ever after me. I just took their word for it. Could it be that I fell for another trap?

She laughed, a tinkling sound full of sadness. “Because they know they can’t kill me. But they know that you can. Their plan is to turn us against each other. Once they got me out of the way, their true colors would show.”

“But if I can kill you and they can’t, shouldn’t I be able to kill them as well?”

She nodded. “Yes, but you’re still young. You haven’t fully grown into your powers. They’ll use your mates as a way to control you. Only for a while. Once they no longer have a use for you, then they’ll kill you before you can grow into your own.” Shit, what a complicated family I had.

I watched her eyes dart to Dante before quickly coming back to me. She opened her mouth to say something, then quickly closed it.

“What?” I pushed, wanting to know what she was about to say. If I was to trust what she was saying, there could be no secrets between us.

“Do you remember anything from your childhood?”

I flinched. I had no memories of anything before middle school. I just woke up one day in an orphanage. “No,” I answered honestly.

She nodded. “Just as I suspected, they erased your memories.” I didn’t need to ask who *they* were. Could it be that my fathers were lying this whole time?

“If you’re not trying to kill me, why didn’t you just come visit? Why kidnap me from my mates?” I frowned. My mates were probably losing their minds right now, thinking I was in trouble. I was still blocked from contacting them.

“I can bring your mates here if you’d like, if it’ll help you trust me more,” she said, smiling warmly. It was one of those smiles a doting mother gives her child. It made me uncomfortable.

I nodded. “I would like that.”

She looked at Dante again. “Why do you keep looking at him?”

This time, Dante was the one that answered. “Because I’m your first mate.”

I blinked, then blinked again. “What?” That couldn’t be true; I didn’t feel a pull toward him.

“He’s telling the truth,” my mother jumped in. “But because your memories are blocked, you don’t remember him and can’t feel his connection to you.”

Now all of this was starting to sound like lies, and I said that. “I don’t believe this. Bring my mates here, and we can discuss things more.”

She flicked her wrist, and suddenly my mates popped in. From their positions, it seemed they were in the middle of fighting. They were facing each other, looks of anger on their faces.

Kol noticed me first. In a puff of shadows, he was next to me, pulling me up out of my chair. “Fucking hell, kitten,” he snarled, pulling me into his arms.

Lucien appeared next, snatching me out of his arms. He didn’t say anything, just buried me in his chest, inhaling.

The rest of my mates crowded around me. Sebastian looked me over for injuries, while Mateo grabbed my hand, taking in the room. Nick rested his hand on my stomach, eyes glowing faintly.

My mother gasped at the action. “Are you with child?”

Lucifer stepped into her line of sight—the only one of my mates that didn’t come running to me. A wave of anger filled the room, all of it coming from him.

“You took my mate from me,” he said in a calm, deadly voice. This was bad. I made a move to go to him, only for Kol to hold me back.

Dante got up, placing himself protectively in front of my mother. He grinned at Luce in challenge. “I’m not usually one who likes to dance with the devil, but this could be fun.” His fingers flexed at his side.

My mother stood, placing a hand on his shoulder. “There’s no need to fight,” she said to him, then looked at Luce. “I do apologize for taking your mate without permission.”

“Who are you and why shouldn’t we kill you right now?” Kol demanded from his place in front of me. Luce was the only one that stood far from the group. And I hated the distance.

“That’s my mother.”

Lucien shifted into his lycan at my words. I startled, not expecting that at all.

“Stand down,” Lucifer said without looking back. “If she wanted to hurt Catalina, she’s had plenty of time to do it.” He eyed her suspiciously. “Explain yourself.”

And she did, telling them exactly what she told me. During her explanation, my mates grabbed chairs, positioning themselves around me. Dante watched silently from my mother’s side, and I wondered if her words were true. Was he my mate? Could having my memories blocked also block a bond?

Once she was done catching them up, her eyes focused back on me. “Catalina, are you pregnant?”

I hesitated, then nodded. She stiffened. “This is bigger than I thought.”

“Why?” Mateo chimed in for the first time. He was sitting next to Lucien on my left. He’d been awfully quiet since they arrived, and it was starting to worry me.

She looked me dead in the eye when she spoke. “Now there are two beings that can kill me—and them.”