Judy’s POV “My mother was a rogue?” I asked, my chest feeling tight and my stomach rolling into a knot. My mother and father looked at one another, sadness in their eyes. My mother had tears glistening in her eyes as the memory came back to her. It’s been about 23 years since all of this went down. I knew my mother couldn’t have children, but it seemed like her sadness came from something else… something deeper. “She was,” my father finally replied. “And she gave your mother and me a gift before she left…” “She didn’t want me…” I whispered, feeling a heaviness weighing me down. My mother didn’t die… she wasn’t forced to give me away…she just didn’t want me. Plain and simple. “Oh, sweetheart… she was so young,” my mother told me gently, reaching out to grab my hand. “She was a rogue. She had no home… she was in and out of different homes, and none of them were good. We got to talking a lot during her labor… once she started to trust us, she opened up a bit more about her homelife.” “What about it?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone. “She got pregnant by a rogue whom she fell in love with. Her parents were incredibly controlling, and they weren’t good people. They were rich and snobby, but terrible to her. They treated her more like property than anything. Her birth father, the only one who ever showed love towards her, died when she was much younger, and her mother remarried someone else…someone who already had kids.” My mother paused to gather her thoughts, and I remained quiet, listening with my heart in my throat. “Your mother, Meg, didn’t get along with her stepsiblings at all… especially her stepbrother, who was older than her. He was cruel and mean. She didn’t really tell me much about him, but I knew she feared him more than she feared anyone else in her life. She tried to run away a few times… but the very last time she ran, she met a rogue. A boy about her age. She fell in love with him almost instantly. But then she was found and dragged back to her family's home.” More tears filled my mother’s eyes, and I fought the urge to go to her. I felt numb, and I needed to know what had happened all those years ago, so I remained quiet, waiting. She found out she was pregnant a month later, and her family was furious. They kicked her out, and she left to find your father. They found one another, and they planned to run away together so they could raise the baby themselves without her family's influence. But before they could make an official run for it, they were found, and he was killed by her family's people.” My heart shattered from her words. My mother’s family killed my father? I let out a shuddering breath. “They dragged her back home,” my mother said softly, more tears spilling from her eyes. “And they were so cruel to her. So very cruel. They wanted her to either get an abortion or lose the baby. But your mother didn’t want to lose her baby… she didn’t want to lose you. She knew that the love of her life, your father, would never want that. He wanted a family… he wanted you more than anything and was willing to give up everything to keep you. Eventually, Meg met someone. An older woman who gave her a way out. She had a carriage filled with goods that was going into another territory and offered Meg a ride. It was her only way out, really… so she took her up on the opportunity. She hitched a ride, hiding out for many days and many nights. When they finally reached the new territory, she lived her days as a rogue in hiding. She feared her family would find her out. She heard rumors that her family was looking for her, and she feared that they would find her… that they would find you. She couldn’t settle down in a new pack out of fear; she avoided Alphas and packmates. She kept to the shadows and ate scraps for food. Her life wasn’t her own… she lived in fear, and she knew that it would never get better. That they would never stop until she was and you were found.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and stared down at my hands, tugging at my trembling fingers, trying to get them to stop. “Then, she went into labor and ended up in the hospital where we met her,” my mother continued. “She loved you so much, Judy. She wanted so badly to keep you safe… but she knew that the life she lived could never be the life you deserved. She couldn’t let you be on the run with her for your entire life… living in fear like she did. She didn’t want that kind of life for you and wanted only the best. So, when she gave birth and she held you for the first time, crying and kissing your cute little cheeks… I saw the love she had for you. It was undying and real; she said that you looked so much like your father, and she was so happy that you were born healthy… that you were safe for right now. But she knew the second she left that hospital with you in her arms, you would no longer be safe…” My heart crumbled, and I hadn’t realized I was crying until my father pulled me into his arms, holding me in his strong embrace. “She really did love you, Kiddo,” my father murmured, kissing the top of my head. “As did we.” “Which was why she wanted us to have you. She knew we could give you the life you deserved, and plus, I couldn’t have children… so it just made sense in her eyes. At first, we declined, saying that she should be your mother and take care of you the best she could because a child deserves their real mother. But she told us she could never give you a good life, and it was only a matter of time before her family found her. If they found you as well… it would have been so much worse. She wanted to stop running and living in constant fear. It was time she faced the music and returned to where she came from… to steer them away from you. So, we agreed to take care of you.” Her words stopped, and she let out a soft cry, so my father continued. “Your mother and I went home that night to give Meg and you some time alone to say goodbye. We also wanted to pick up some things and make sure the house was baby-ready. Not to mention, let the Alpha know about our newest addition and get everything approved. Meg was supposed to remain in the hospital for a couple of days. So, we knew we had some time before we could take you home. We spent a couple of days getting everything together, and by the time we returned to the hospital… Meg was gone.” “Apparently, she checked herself out and took off the next morning,” my mother said, shaking her head. “At first, we thought she took you, and we panicked. But we soon found out she didn’t, and that you were safe. She told the hospital that we were taking you, and after we finalized all the paperwork, we took you home that night. We hadn’t heard from Meg since… we don’t even know if she’s still alive.” “And you have no idea where she could be?” I asked. “Or who her family was?” “She made it a point not to tell us who her family was,” my mother said. “I’m assuming they were powerful, though. At least powerful enough to scare her and shield you from them.” I sat with that information for a long while. It was so much to take in, and I wasn’t even sure where to start unwrapping things. Yes, I got the answers I was looking for, but now I have so many questions. Like what happened to my birth mother? Who was the family she was trying to hide me from? I love my adoptive family, but now I’m more curious about where I came from and how the Blackwell family comes into ties with this. Elois comes to me in my dreams often enough to make me think that they are connected to me somehow. Then, something else my mother said in her tale brought my attention back to the current moment. The Blackwells were also having a baby that day… in a neutral territory, a low-rated hospital. It was strange to say the least. “Did anything else happen while you were at the hospital?” I found myself asking. “Anything strange?” My parents looked at one another with frowns. “Like what?” My father asked. “You said the Blackwells were there as well,” I said, staring between the two of them. “Did you meet?” “Not officially,” my father said. “But I did get a glimpse of them when we were leaving. It was the older woman… the Zachary Blackwell’s mother, Esme. I recognized her from photographs and magazine shoots.” My heart lurched. “Did she say anything?” I asked quickly before I could stop myself. My father frowned and shook his head. “No… but it was the weirdest thing,” he said, a crease forming between his brows as the memory came back to him. “She didn’t say anything… but she did stare. At first, I thought she was staring at your mother as I wheeled her out of the hospital, but I realized pretty quickly that it was you she was staring at.” “What?” I breathed. If that were true, could that mean that Esme Blackwell knew something?”