Vindicator

Chapter 72

Karma gasped from the shock of the statement. She didn't particularly care that her father was dead, since she had never considered him a father to begin with. Unfortunately, she knew her mother's feelings for him had been changing lately, so that concerned her.

"Did you kill him?" She asked gently.

"No! No...He saved me..." Christina replied, with complicated emotions resonating through her tone.

"Oh...I'm sorry mom, I want to be supportive and help you, but...I don't know how to react to that news. What do you need from me?" She asked, having enough sense not to celebrate his death; but, after that, she didn't know how to help Christina.

"No...I don't need anything, sweetie. I'm okay. I just...Needed to tell someone, I guess" her mother said, sounding very unconvincing.

Karma was hurting for her mother, recognizing she needed someone to be there with her. She furrowed her brow, wanting to bring her mother back to the Forsaken pack but concerned she needed more medical care than they could provide.

Chance had been carefully watching Karma's expressions as she mindlinked with her mother. He gently smoothed his thumb over the lines on her forehead, pretending to iron them out. "Go to her" he murmured.

Attention snapping back to Chance, Karma's frown remained. "I can't leave you here, and I can't bring you to the battle" she argued.

"Nobody even knows where to find me, I assure you I will remain safe and sound" he said, kissing the tip of her nose. "Your mother needs you, and I can tell that you need to be with her, too. Please, go" he urged.

"No, stay for mate" Alessia whimpered.

"He's right, nobody knows he's here..." Karma said to Alessia hesitantly.

"Let me stand guard!" Alessia commanded.

"No, you should go find Xander! That's what you should have been doing all along, not trying to steal kisses from Chance" Karma scolded.

"One of us had to do it" Alessia snorted sassily. "Fine, go to mom quickly, then come right back to mate" she agreed.

With Alessia's consent, Karma leaned forward to give Chance a peck on the lips. "Okay. I won't be gone long, and you have my number if you need anything right? Don't open the door, don't even acknowledge you're here if someone knocks, okay? And—"

Chance cut her off with another kiss, chuckling. "I understand. Now go, your mother needs you" he said, scooping her up into his arms so he could stand.

With one more kiss, Chance gently set Karma down on her feet. Karma stared at him a moment longer once she was free to leave, hesitant to go. "Maybe I should leave you in the Lupine realm" she said, as a last minute thought.

"I have no idea where that is, but I am perfectly fine. Go" he urged a bit more this time.

Karma didn't want to dump him in the Lupine realm and leave without explanation, so she reasoned it was best to just hurry and come back. With a nod, she opened a doorway to Christina and disappeared.

Christina was kneeling beside the body of her former mate in her human form, staring down at him sadly. When Karma appeared, her mother didn't so much as flinch, so absorbed in her own thoughts.

At the sight of her mother's swollen, purple, half-healed but half-crushed leg, Karma let out a gasp. "Mom! Your leg!"

Still, Christina didn't look up, she just whispered "I'll be fine..."

"Could have fooled me" Karma retorted, but kept her tone from being too harsh. She approached her mother and knelt beside her, taking a look at her face.

Christina was pale, and had blood spattered over her naked body in random places. It was difficult to discern what was hers, and what was not. Mainly, Karma wanted to make sure there were no other wounds that looked like her leg; and, at a preliminary glance, she had healed fine everywhere else.

"He died to save me" Christina said. "After everything he put me through...After I had vowed to hate him for all time...How did he make me care again? Why does it hurt that he died, and that he did it for me?" Christina asked in a wavering voice, a single tear dripping down her cheek.

"I think...When the pain stops, and we can stop thinking about it...It can be easier to focus on the good" Karma said, wrapping her arm around her mother's shoulders. "He had regrets, and felt he had a second chance when he knew you were still alive, so he was trying to make amends to a degree...And I think that is what your heart is remembering most vividly now. Not the torture, the misery, or being separated from one of your children at birth...Not the isolation, or the hardship...Just that he realized he had done something wrong, and wanted to fix it..." Karma reasoned, smoothing her mother's hair down in a loving gesture.

"And," she continued, "I think for fifteen years, you longed for that to be the case, so...It's even harder to accept that he's gone, when things were finally changing..."

Christina had begun to let her tears fall freely by this point, and just nodded in agreement mutely.

"But mom, don't forget...He was a monster for a long time...And he was changing for selfish reasons...While I'm happy he saved you, even though it cost him his life...I'm angry that he's once again hurt you. Don't let his sacrifice erase all of the bad he did, okay? I can't dictate how you feel, or mourn, but I really hope you mourn the good you had, and what maybe could have been...But don't mourn the monster. You deserve better than that" she said, kissing the side of Christina's head.

Christina nodded again, but this time turned to embrace her daughter and bury her face in her neck. Karma let out a sad sigh, hugging her tightly and letting her cry. She rubbed her bare back, murmuring comforting words to her, but just letting her cry out all of her emotions. And cry she did, for the good of the past, and for the horrors that he put her through; for the years without him where she flourished, but the secret knowledge that she still missed him. And, for what could have been, but should never have been...And never would be.

When the sounds of paws hitting the ground began to approach, Karma decided she wasn't interested in finding out whether they were friend or foe. She scooped her mother into her arms and opened a doorway beneath them so the fell into the Lupine realm before the incoming wolves arrived. While she landed on her feet, and set her mother down gently, she couldn't help but wince a little when Hunter's large wolf body hit the ground heavily.

"Sorry" she whispered to both of them. Then, she sat next to her mother and sighed. "Mom, we really need to get you to a medic...Your leg...It's a mess. The longer we wait, the more your body is trying to heal it on its own...I know your heart is hurting...But isn't your body?"

Christina didn't respond, but her crying had slowed a bit. She seemed to be trying to staunch the flow of her tears.

"You don't have to force yourself to stop crying, if that's what you need to do...We can bring you to the doctors like this, they won't care" she tried reasoning with her.

Shaking her head like a stubborn child, Christina denied Karma; but, after a few more minutes had passed and she still wasn't ready, Karma decided to be the bad guy.

"Look, I can't let you leave it like this. You can hate me for now, but we're going" she said matter of factly, and picked Christina up once again. Shocked when her mother didn't fight her on it, Karma opened a gateway to bring her mother back to the palace.

Meanwhile, at the Forsaken pack, Chance was reclined on Karma's bed with his hands folded behind his head. He had started out admiring the paintings on the ceiling, but had long since switched to daydreaming of a future with Karma.

He was, at that moment, wondering if Karma's blessing would somehow allow them to have kids. Or perhaps, if the throne was overtaken, would that change his ability to have children? He wouldn't be an Alpha anymore; although, Karma was an Alpha, so would they still be unable? As these thoughts swirled in his mind, he didn't notice the sound of footsteps approaching Karma's door.

The insistent knocking on it, though, did get his attention.