Chapter 5

                       

Lucious 

After Lisa leaves to go shower, I walk back into the room where Tilda is still trying to get mother to eat something, but she just lays there staring blankly at nothing. She hasn't eaten anything for the past two days. My father's death has broken her. I don't recognize my mother this way. Other than the single tears that leave her eyes every so often, she's like an emotionless shell just laying here. 

I frown watching as Tilda holds the spoon of soup a few inches away from mother's mouth, pleading with her to eat, but Tilda gets no response. It's almost as if she doesn't even hear us. It's like she's lost deep within herself.

"Why did you bring her back here with you Lucious?" Tilda glare over at me. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying over the death of our father.

"She's my mate, Tilda." From the moment I kissed her in that prison cell, I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay away from her. I wanted to walk away and leave Lisa, but I couldn't. When I asked her if she was coming with me, a small part of me wanted her to say no and stay there with her people. But a greater part of me wanted her to leave with me and that's what she did.

I thought maybe if Lisa stayed with her people, then killing her family would be much easier because I wouldn't have to see the pain I cause her when I get the revenge my people deserve. Now I'll have to watch her hate me when I take away the ones she loves.

"She had a hand in killing our people! They killed our father! Look at our mother Lucious! She and her people are responsible for this!" Tilda drops the spoon back into the bowl of soup, before placing the bowl on the bedside table as she continues to glare at me.

"Lisa tired to help mother and me. She went against her family by releasing us from that prison." Maybe things would be different right now if mother and I both had gotten away. 

Tilda let out a growl. "Don't try to make her out to be this good person! She's the same as the rest of them! She's just as responsible for this as the rest of them! How can you even look at her knowing she had a hand in all this! You're a traitor to your people!"

I answer her growl with a deep growl of my own, not liking how she's sitting here accusing me of being a traitor to my people. I'm no traitor! "She's my mate!" Is all I say, knowing no matter what I say Tilda will never understand until she has found her mate.

I don't need for Tilda to tell me what I already know. I was there. I saw everything. While I fought her brother, I saw Lisa clawing her way through the wolves to get to her brother and I. I know Lisa isn't innocent in all of this, but she did try to help us before it all happened.

Tilda's lip pulls back in a snarl, flashing teeth at me. "That's enough Tilda." My words come out in a low warning. Glaring back at her, I let my dominance fill the room, making her bend her neck to me. I'm in no mood to go back and forth with her about this right now.

Hearing the room door open, I continue to glare at Tilda for a second longer, before I glaring over at the door watching uncle Jax walk into the room. He frowns looking at Tilda and me both, but don't say anything about the tension that has filled the room.

"How is she?" He asks walking over to us. His jaws clench looking down at mother laying on the bed. 

"Still the same as yesterday, she hasn't said anything. The healer should be here any minute now to have a look at her." I frown looking back down at her. Mother hasn't so much as moved. The only movement we get from her is the blinking of her eyes after staring for so long and the rise and fall of her chest from her breathing. Other than that, she's motionless.

"Did you managed to get her to eat anything?" Uncle Jax asks, seeing the bowl of soup on the bedside table.

"No," Tilda answers his question. She reaches over grabbing the bowl of soup, scooping some onto the spoon. "Mother you need to eat something," Tilda repeats what she has said many times now and the same as all the other times she gets no response from mother.

It's hard to see my mother this way. Every time I look at her, all I can think about is killing them all.

The room door opens again and the healer walks inside carrying her bag. "How long has she been this way?" The healer comes over to the bed and takes a small light out her bag, flashing the light into mother's eyes.

"Nearly two days now." The day my father was killed she cried, then the next day she was like this and she's been this way since then.

"What's wrong with her?" Tilda asks as the healer grab more stuff out her bag.

"Your father's death has left her traumatized. Many of the other females here who also lost their mates are having a hard time, but your mother's case is different. Unlike the other females, your mother was there. She saw her mate lifeless body." The healer explains, listening to Mother's heartbeat.

I still have the gruesome image of my father's bloody, headless body laying on the ground with a hole through his stomach. Seeing father that way may have been too much for Mother to handle.

"Will she be okay?" I ask the healer as she continues to run tests on my mother. 

"It's hard to say at the moment. We'll have to wait and see. She's hiding deep within her self-conscience, almost like a comatose state to escape the pain of your father's death. Maybe after a couple of days, her condition will change, but in many cases, it's just too much for one to handle losing a mate and she can stay like this until....un-until she waste away and die." The last of the healer's words come out low as if she didn't want to say it. 

"She's not going to die!" Tilda flash teeth at the healer as her eyes fill with tears. My jaws clench at hearing those words, hearing that I could also lose our mother too.

"I didn't mean to offend." The healer exposes her neck in submission. I know she didn't mean to offend us with her words, but that's not something I want to hear. As Tilda said, our mother isn't going to die.

"For now I can hook her up to an iv that will give her body the nutrition it needs to help with her not eating, but that will only work for so long. It won't be enough to sustain the amount of food our bodies need to not waste away." She says as she starts to get the iv prepared.

Looking at my mother laying here like this causes this anger that has settled inside of me to boil over. "I'm going to fucking kill them all!" I leave the room knowing there's nothing I can do about the condition my mother is in, but I can go kill them! As I make my way through the house, my breathing picks up and the beast within me push forward to be let out, ready to spill the blood of those who are responsible for this. 

"Lucious!" Uncle Jax call my name as I head down the stairs, heading for the front door. Uncle Jax makes his way in front of me, placing his hand against my chest stopping me. "Stop!" He glares at me.

"You expect me to stand here and do nothing and just let them get away with this?!!" I growl out, slapping his hand away from my chest. I look at him with disgust. Clearly, he's not the fearless uncle I thought he was. He's just a coward who's just going to let them kill his brother and do nothing.

"I'm not telling you to do nothing! I'm just telling you to take a second and think about what you're about to do! If you want to go there, then I'm with you. But running in there blinded by anger will only get us both killed! We need to think this through and carefully plan this out like your father did when he managed to take the Lycan King down." Uncle Jax says.

I glare at him, thinking about what he's saying. I slam my fist into the wall, letting out a loud roar, causing the pictures on the wall to shake, threatening to fall. I continue to slam my fist against the wall over and over until it gives away and my hand goes through the thick Sheetrock of the wall. 

Pulling my arm out the hole, I begin my assault on the wall again, letting this boiling rage pour from me. First my father and now my mother! She has never caused anyone harm. I continue to slam my fist against the wall until it gives away and my arm sinks into the thick wall again. Breathing heavily, I force the beast within me back, trying to keep myself from losing it.

"Lu-Lucious." I look over and see Lisa standing at the top of the stairs, watching me. I look away, glaring back over at my arm still inside the hole in the wall.

"Don't let this anger get the best of you. Keep yourself together Lucious. We'll talk more about this another time." Uncle Jax tells me before walking away, leaving out the front door.

I continue to glare at the wall, breathing heavily, thinking about what uncle Jax said. 

I can hear Lisa's footsteps as she starts to make her way down the stairs, coming over to me. She reaches up grabbing my forearm and slowly pulls my fist out the hole in the wall. My breathing starts to even out as her touch sends tingles through my arm.

"It's okay Lucious." Her words come out low, holding my hand in hers, looking down at my bloody knuckle, before looking up at me again.

"It's not okay!" My words come out through clenched teeth.

"It's okay Lucious." She repeats herself. "It's okay for you to be angry Lucious." She looks up into my eyes, placing her other hand on top of mines, slowly rubbing her hand over my bloody knuckles, wiping the blood away.

I stare into her eyes, her now wet hair hanging down into her face, slightly hiding her right eye. As she rubs her hand over the top of mines, the boiling rage that exploded inside of me just seconds ago is now simmering back down.

I force myself to look away from her eyes, removing my hand from hers."Why did you come here with me?" I ask, ignoring the lingering tingling sensation that crawls across my skin from her touch. "Did you come here hoping you'll stop me from doing to your family what they have done to mines?" I don't need her getting in my way. I don't need her trying to talk me out of it. I've already told her that I wasn't going to just let things go.

"I came because you're my mate Lucious. I want to be with you. I want us to get past all of this together." She says.

"I'll get passed it all once I've gotten the revenge for my people." My jaws clench as this boiling rage slowly starts to bubble back up.

She let out a sigh. "Lucious you're going to get yourself killed. My father w-"

A deep growl vibrates my chest, cutting her off, not wanting to hear anything about her father. He's the reason my mother is in the condition she's in. "I won't be the one who dies! And before I kill your father, I'll be sure to make him feel the pain my mother feels when I rip his mate's head off in front of him!" 

A deep frown creeps onto her face, glaring back up at me. That calmness leaves her eyes as they slowly start to darken. "Don't threaten my mother Lucious." She glares up at me, holding my gaze. Not many are brave enough to lock gaze with me in a hostile manner and the ones who have aren't alive to speak about it. But with her it's different. She's holding my gaze in a challenging act, but neither the beast within nor I feel the need to insert dominance over her.

With her, it's just a person who I've upset and I don't like that I've caused her to feel this way. Mates are supposed to bring each other happiness, but I'll bring her heartbreak and pain before I'll be able to bring her happiness.

I will do whatever needs to be done to make them pay and if killing her mother is apart of that, well so be it. I look at her for a second longer, before turning and leaving out the front door.