"I'm going to save you, Mom. Tonight, I'm going to do something that Dad would hate. Something that would make him ashamed of me. But I don't care.
I'm not losing you too."
I wiped my eyes with my free hand, the other still holding hers.
"The Rite is... it's where women go to be claimed by unmated Alphas. For one night. In exchange for gold." I paused. "A lot of gold. Enough gold to pay your bills. Enough to make sure they keep taking care of you."
Saying it out loud made it real.
"I'm scared," I whispered. "The Alphas tonight....they're the Cursed ones. Lucian, Sebastian, and Nicholas Blackwood. All three of them. And I'll be alone with them, and they can do whatever they want to me, and I have to let them."
My hands shook.
"I wish Dad was here. He'd know what to do. He always knew what to do."
But Dad was gone, ripped apart by rogues, and I was alone trying to hold together the pieces of our broken family.
"I wish you could wake up and tell me I'm making a mistake. Or tell me I'm brave. Or just... tell me something. Anything."
Silence except for the machines.
I leaned forward, resting my forehead against our joined hands.
"Please wake up, Mom. Please. I can't do this alone anymore. I'm so tired. I'm so fucking tired of being strong."
A knock on the door made me jerk upright.
A nurse stood there....Sarah, one of the kind ones...her expression sympathetic.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Lilith. But visiting hours are ending in fifteen minutes."
I nodded, unable to speak.
She left, closing the door softly behind her.
Fifteen minutes. That's all I had left.
I stood up, still holding Mom's hand, and looked down at her.
"I have to go. I have to get ready for tonight." I bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Her skin was cool and dry. "I love you, Mom. I'm doing this for you. All of it is for you."
I straightened up, forced myself to let go of her hand.
"When you wake up....and you will wake up....I'll be here. I promise. We'll get through this together."
I backed toward the door, unable to look away from her.
"I'm not giving up on you. Even if you've given up on yourself, I'm not giving up."
My hand found the door handle.
"Goodbye, Mom. I'll see you tomorrow."
I stepped out into the corridor and closed the door behind me.
Leaned against the wall, my eyes squeezed shut, fighting to keep from completely breaking down.
A doctor passed by, gave me a concerned look but didn't stop. They were used to seeing devastated family members in this ward.
I pushed off the wall and walked toward the elevator, my footsteps echoing in the quiet corridor.
Behind me, in room 447, machines continued their steady beeping.
Keeping my mother alive.
Keeping her hovering in that space between living and dying.
Tonight, I would make sure she stayed alive.
No matter what it cost me.
No matter what pieces of myself I had to give away.
The elevator doors opened. I stepped inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.
As the doors closed, I caught my reflection in the polished metal....a girl who looked like she'd already lost everything.
Maybe I had.
Or maybe I was about to.
The elevator descended, taking me down, down, down.
Away from my mother.
Toward whatever waited for me tonight.
Toward three Alphas who would claim my body and use it however they wanted.
Toward the Rite.
I stepped out into the lobby, walked past the receptionist who smiled sadly, pushed through the glass doors into the grey afternoon.
The rain had stopped but the sky was still heavy with clouds.
I started walking home.
Four hours until midnight.
Four hours until I learned what it meant to be thoroughly, completely used.
Four hours until I stopped being Lilith Thorne, daughter of Marcus and Iris, and became something else.
A body. A vessel. A means to an end.
But if it saved my mother, it would be worth it.
It had to be.
Because the alternative....losing her, being completely alone....was worse than anything three Alphas could do to me in one night.
At least, that's what I told myself.
That's what I had to believe.
Because if I let myself think too hard about what was coming, I'd lose my nerve.
And I couldn't afford to lose my nerve.
Not now.
Not when I was this close to saving her.
I walked home through the grey afternoon, my wet clothes clinging to my skin, the hospital smell still in my nose, my mother's cold hand still imprinted on my palm.
And I prepared myself for tonight.
For the end of everything I used to be.