Chapter 33

Aurora’s POV

My legs give out beneath me, and I fall back into the chair outside of my stepfather’s hospital room. A nurse eyes me with annoyance, but I don’t pay her any attention. I can’t. Everything around me blurs. Sounds become muted. Air becomes stale.

I try to breathe, but the air gets caught in my chest, making me gasp and lean back against the wall. I clutch at my chest. This has to be a lie, a cruel joke that my stepfather cooked up to get back at me for saying I won’t give them more money.

It… it can’t be real.

She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. The mother who raised me, who kissed my knee when I scraped it falling off my bike, who worked extra hours to get me the cellphone I wanted for Christmas, who kept me safe when I felt like the world was against me.

She was my mom.

I shake my head to clear it and suck in a long, deep breath. What reason would they have to lie right now? There’s no one around for them to lie to, and they don’t know I’m outside the door, so…

My chest begins to ache at the realization. They’re not lying. This private conversation wasn’t supposed to be heard by anyone, so they had no reason to make things up.

Never once in my life did I think that my mother wasn’t truly mine. I don’t remember anyone before her, and there were never signs or clues.

My father was never in the picture, so this woman is the only family I ever knew, until my stepfather came along. Then, I got a little sister, and we were a happy family. Or that’s what I thought.

But now I know she’s been keeping the truth from me for years- for my entire life. So many questions fire through my mind at the same time, making me feel dizzy.

What else could she be keeping from me?

Does she know where I came from?

How old was I when she found me?

Why did my real parents abandon me?

There are too many questions that my head begins to ache. A throbbing pain starts behind my eyes, and I try to rub at my temples to chase it away, but it only grows, expanding across my entire head.

My phone rings from somewhere in my purse, and somehow, I push my way through the heavy haze of confusion. I reach for my phone, answering the call without looking at the ID and waiting for the person to speak.

“Aurora?” It’s Thorne. Just the sound of his voice pulls me a little closer to the surface. “Aurora, are you there?”

I’m here.

I can’t make the words come out.

“Aurora, I need you to answer me,” Thorne says sternly, and I can hear the hint of worry in his tone.

I can’t.

Tears blur my vision as my head falls back to the wall. The white ceiling fills my fuzzy vision.

“Can you tell me where you are?”

I want to, so bad, but the words won’t come. Thorne would know what to do. He could make things better if he were here, but I suddenly remember that I can’t let myself think that way.

All that falls from my lips is a whimpered sob.

“Fuck, Aurora,” he growls. “Where are you?”

“H-Hospital,” I rasp.

“Which hospital? What happened? Are you hurt?” His words come out rushed, and I bite back another whimper. He sounds worried.

Why would he be worried about me, though? I’m not his mate or his woman. The only thing he wants from me is sex. Just like everyone else in my life, he only wants something I can give him.

The haze coating me pushes me deeper into he darkness of doubt.

“Mercy General,” I whisper, my voice falling to a flat almost robotic tone. “My stepfather got into a fight. I’m not…”

I’m not physically hurt, but the way my heart is ripping in two was painful on the emotional level.

“I… can I take the rest of the day off?” I couldn’t go back to work like this, and honestly, I don’t think I could deal with people either.

“Yeah, do you want me to come get you?” I shake my head, only realizing I didn’t answer when he asks again, “Aurora, do I need to come get you?”

“N-No. I’m okay. I’ll talk to you later,” I say before ending the call.

“Honey?”

My mother’s voice makes me look up from my darkened phone screen. Worried eyes watch me with caution, and she reaches for me. I jerk back, feeling somewhat bad when her face falls.

“So, I’m not your daughter?”

My mother blinks at me, surprised at my sudden question.

“Oh, honey. I-I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you.”

I don’t know what to say, and when she sits in the chair beside me, she takes my hand in hers. The soft touch is familiar, but I pull away, unable to focus until I get answers. I push the anger and confusion back to face her. All the emotions swirling within me are clogging my mind up, but I know that the pain in my chest won’t go away with hand holding or sweet words.

“Who am I?” Is the first question that falls from my lips.

“I’m not sure who you truly are, honey. I came home from work one day to find you on my doorstep. You were so tiny and swaddled in soft pink blankets,” she explains. “I took you to the doctor and found out that you were only a few months old…”

A few months old. My parents had abandoned me before I could even sit up.

“They ran tests that showed you were human, and after a month of no one claiming you, I brought you home,” she says, trying to touch my hand again. I slide my hands between my thighs and squeeze them closed, keeping them as tightly bound and away from her touch as possible.

Confusion and hurt fill me with her words. My real parents didn’t want me. They left me on a random woman’s doorstep and never looked back.

“The only things you had were the swaddling clothes you were in and a ring that I found in the clothes. I—”

“Where is the ring?” I ask. The urge to know claws at my insides.

She shakes her head, looking down, “I sold it to Jose’s pawn shop years ago. We were struggling to get by, and selling it was the only thing that kept us from starving.”

“I need to go,” I mutter, standing and turning away from her. “I’ll…” my words catch in my throat. I was going to say I’d see her soon, but I’m not so sure I will. I need time and space to think, and I need time to find that ring.

It’s the only clue I have that could help me find out who I really am. Something left to me by my parents- something she had gotten rid of. It may have been for a good reason, but I let myself be selfish for a moment.

That ring was mine, not hers, and I am going to find it.