Night

Twenty-Six

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I suck with the updates, I'm sorry. I've been so crazy busy! But my schedule is clearing up, slowly but surely. Enjoy this chapter!!
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[Unedited]

"What is your family like?" Lily asked softly. It was a little past 11, and Lily and Alaricus were both in bed. The lamp sitting atop the nightstand beside Alaricus was turned on, and Lily was laying on her side with her hands tucked beneath her chin. She was facing Alaricus who was sitting upright, his back leaning against the headboard and an old laptop on his lap. His expression was very focused as he scrolled through pages and occasionally typed things. He was wearing only boxers and, though Lily still blushed when she looked at him for too long, she was used to him sleeping this way.

It was three weeks into the war against the Rebellion and Alaricus had been notably tense. He was gone more than usual, even during some nights, and she'd met a few of his select soldiers as they'd traveled through the house. She spent much of her time with Ronnie, even though Ronnie was a soldier. She couldn't even express in words how thankful she was for Ronnie's company and battle stories during her times of loneliness. Though Ronnie acted like she visited only as a result of the Alpha's orders, Lily liked to think that maybe she came around a little more than she actually had to, if only just for Lily's cooking.

Alaricus didn't look up after hearing Lily's question, just grunted, "I had two parents and one half-sister." Lily was somewhat surprised by his answer. She couldn't imagine Alaricus having a sister. And why, she wondered, had he spoken in past tense? Could it be that they were dead? Whatever information he would offer, Lily wanted to know more about him.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Lily said. "Will you tell me about her?"

"This is not something I wish to talk about right now, Lily. Can't you see I'm busy?" He sounded agitated and still didn't look up. Lily frowned and turned away from him, curling into herself and closing her eyes, hoping she'd be able to get to sleep quickly.

Just as her thoughts had started to feel fuzzy and dreamlike, she heard the sound of something being set down and a lamp string being pulled. Even from behind closed eyelids, she watched the darkness fall. She was too close to sleep to wonder why she didn't feel her body being pulled into Alaricus's embrace the way it usually was when they slept.

"Her name was Annobel," Alaricus's deep voice suddenly penetrated through both the darkness and her sleepy mind. Lily felt awake immediately, but didn't say anything. "She lived with me for fifty-seven years and died nearly a century ago." Lily slowly turned to face him and was barely able to make out his solemn features in the darkness.

"What was she like?" Lily asked in a whisper-like voice.

"Infuriating," Alaricus answered without hesitation. "She thought of no one but herself, and that put everyone around her in danger. There were many occasions where I came close to sending her away."

"But you never did," Lily deduced after a few moments of silence.

"No. I took care of her only because she was family. She was my sister and I was all she had." Lily couldn't help but reflect on how similar her situation was—he saw to all of her needs only because he felt a responsibility to do so as her mate.

"You didn't care for her?"

"No," Alaricus said dryly. "I was, however, intrigued by the fact that my mother had carried another child. It took me years to figure out why she'd done it."

"What do you mean?"

"My mother didn't want children. She disposed of all evidence of her pregnancies. She bore me only because I was the son of Mathieu, and she bore Annobel because she believed herself to be in love." There was a tinge of bitterness in Alaricus's emotionless tone.