The Tripartite Mate Bond Chapter 136: CHAPTER HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX

I wasn't even shocked as much as I should have been. I'd been pretty wrung out of surprises in this rollercoaster journey of mine but still, it felt weird to see the woman I once called mother running a literal criminal gang.

“Wait, Tuscan? What are you doing here?” I asked, recognizing the driver that brought me into this mess.

Well, me walking in on Beta Jayden started it all but still, it was him who drove me all the way to meet Kane.

He refused to meet my eye or answer my question.

“Don't mind Tuscany here, he's new and still grasping with the reality of the possibility of a better world than this one. You see, he's tired of being so strong yet all his pack sees him for is as a driver. He can never be Alpha or Beta or anything useful. All he's ever gonna do is drive, can you imagine how sad that is?” My foster mother who looked like a total stranger right now said, her figure near drifting towards me.

She was extravagantly dressed, unlike her followers. It was like she was a goddess or something, her long robe a mix of gold and white, and her knuckle rings were quite pretty too.

“But isn't that how the werewolf works though? Power and responsibilities are shared based on actual abilities, not what you think you deserve,” I replied, proud of myself for remembering everything Juno taught me.

“Naa, that ain't right. It's totally unfair, if you ask me to be living with so much power and unable to even enjoy it. But with the humans under our grasp, we can do anything! Be anything!” She legit preached, her charisma giving me weird vibes.

I looked around, ignoring her attempt to convince me of her whole ‘being the good guy’ spiel because we both knew she was just doing this for herself, just like she'd driven my foster father to madness

The entire camp looked like something out of a crime story. There were literal shacks and military style huts in rows upon rows all the way down and some of them looked like they'd been in a mining pit or something.

She was like a diamond in the rough, her beauty totally weird to me because the woman I knew for the past twenty one years didn't even bother to bathe that much yet here she was, looking so clean and everyone around here worshiped her.

She walked over to me and roughed my hair up a bit in a fake display of affection. I guess she was taking the ‘kill then with kindness’ approach.

“Guys, let's give Aurora, my daughter here a warm welcome. Juno, get her situated in the upper room, hm? We've got an attack to prepare for and she's gonna be working with us, aren't you, daughter?” She smiled, a dangerous look in her eye.

Just like I'd predicted. She didn't want it to seem like she was kidnapping me even though there were literal guns out and I was the only enemy here.

“Why on earth would I do that? And what on earth is with you recruiting people that hate me? Juno? Really?” I shouted, exasperated and confused.

“Look daughter, you really don't have much of a choice here. Our plan’s been in the works for years, we've been fine-tuning all our weapons and tactics, the attacks you've been seeing were just tests that we needed to figure out how much damage it could do. So it won't really be a big deal making the supernatural world bow to me, I mean us. After all, we have everything we need, witches, vampires, werewolves and whatever the fuck you are so the only choice you really have here is, do you want to wear the pretty dress I set out for you to wear as an amazing mother that I am or do you want to be a blood bank for my vamps over there?” She pointed to the brood and I recognized the face of the guy that had tried to make Axel and Kane fight with him at the restaurant we'd gone for our date when I got back from Arkonos.

“You're right, things do need to change around here and I trust your judgment to get us there… Mom,” I said, hoping to sell the act and give Lyra enough time to get help.

She whooped in excitement, the uneasy crowd rejoicing with her with a sluggish smile.

“That's amazing. Juno!” She screamed and my old friend materialized from the crowd looking quite overworked.

I can't imagine Chris’s reaction if he saw his former mate right now. She'd thinned out and her hair was dyed blue, making her eyes duller than usual.

“Hey bestie!” She greeted me enthusiastically.

I called out after my foster mother who was already busy with something else.

“Can I get someone else to like, show me around and all? I don't think I can actually get close to her. She's quite a bitch,” I said without any emotion on my face.

“Oh, y'all got history? Well, here we kind of prioritize unity, if you know what I mean? Werewolves and vampires working hand in hand to get out battle equipment ready and all,” she explained in an ‘i can't help you, deal with it way’ and turned back to the map she had on the tall table.

I put it at the back of my mind to get that map before leaving here, if that's even possible.

I grudgingly followed Juno who began giving me a mini tour of the camp as I followed.

“Our most important sections are the food and weapons set, everything else revolves around it. Leslie believes we can get the world we want in less than a month with you here, so we've been preparing extra hard,”

“So this is what you do now? Betray even your own race, not just your pack and your supposed friend as well as your bloody soulmate?!” I bellowed at her.

I hated how she was acting like all of this was so normal and she didn't look like a ghost of herself

She didn't reply, only taking me past the huts and factory style spots for manufacturing different things.

Then she brought me to a floating house, pink like a barbie house and she clapped her hands three times before it landed on the ground for her to get into, dragging me in after I displayed a good amount of hesitation.

She quickly took me upstairs to a room that was supposedly mine from all the pictures of me while in school displayed around.

“Look, I'm really sorry for everything that happened. I was angry and stupid so when this offer for revenge came to me, I didn't even think twice about it and now I'm way in over my head. I don't belong back in the pack and this is the only way I get to live so please, judge me a little bit lesser,” she pleaded, a stray tear falling from her eye but I wasn't feeling it.

“So you're saying that if you get a chance to come back to the pack, you will? Like you don't believe in all of the bull crap she was pouring?”

“Of course not! We're kept away from the humans for a reason. Crossing over that line is dumb and not something we can easily turn back from. Mind you, once humans get wiped out, vampires are gonna follow suit and then the rest of the world will lose its luster,” she explained as she brought out the weird outfits I was supposed to wear.

She really was serious about her little game of house.

“Fine. Help me escape,” I tell her and the shock on her face tells me I might stand a chance of leaving here with adequate information and the hairs on my head complete.