The Last Phoenix

Chapter 22

POV: Sophia

I'm so worried. Lilliana has never stayed a night away from home. After Aiden left I came home hoping Lily was here but she's not. Max and Jonah are out looking for her now. I hope they bring her home.

Freya is sitting in the living room with me while we wait for word on Lily. "Mother she is fine. I know it. You know how stubborn she is." Freya says trying to cheer me up. I give her a small smile

I may not have given birth to Lilliana. I may not be her biological mother but I raised her from birth. I went through evey tantrum, mended evey wound. She is my baby. I couldn't bare to lose her.

The worst part of all this is Aiden. He wanted to arrest her. His sons mate. Hes my second chance. He held me back from going to her. He took Vivian's side. My heart hurts. I've known Aiden a long time. He can be stubborn but I have never known him to turn on his own family the way he did tonight.

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POV: Lilliana

I flew as fast as I could. I had to get away. I left my mom, my sister, my friends, my protector, and my mate. I don't even know if I'll ever see them again. I land in the pheonix kingdom needing a break. I know the guards saw me. I know this is the first place they would look but right now I just need to rest for five minutes. Mother, father I'm sorry I screwed up. Its over.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I know I'm being shaken. I open my eyes to see Max. I jump right into his arms holding on tight letting the tears flow. "Shh shh my little dove. Its ok. I'm going to fix it." He tells me holding me rubbing circles on my back comforting me. "But how?" I ask holding on tighter. "I don't know yet." He says. Well that real reassuring. Don't ask me how I found it in me to be sarcastic, I just did.

"Baby will you come home now. You are safe there i promise. Your mom is waiting for you. She wants you home." Max says. I nod my head. "Do you feel like fying?" He asks. I shake my head no to tired to. "OK. I'll carry you." He declares. He shifts into his lycan and picks me up into his arms and runs to my house with me.

I had fallen asleep in his arms. I felt so safe with him that no harm would come my way.

When we returned home I was still asleep. He had woken me up to let me know that I was safe with my mother.

Mom was in tears. "Mommy" I say running into her arms. I know that I'm seventeen and to old to be saying mommy but I don't care. I wanted my mommy. She held on to me tight not wanting to let go and neither did I.

"Oh I'm so glad your ok." Mom says in relief. I reluctantly let her go and sit on the couch where I found Max sitting at watching our exchange. I lean my head on his shoulder relaxing into him. He made me feel safe and that was what I needed right now.

"Where did you go? You know what never mind it doesn't matter. All that I care about is that your safe." My mom says. "Mom what now? Whats going to happen to me?" I ask. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I jump up wanting to hide thinking guards where sent looking for me. Max gets up to see who it is. It turns out to be Noah. Noah? Why is he here? "Noah? Why are you here?" Max asks him. "Well I have something you're going to want to see. Lily you where right. My aunt was murdered. And I know by who. I was going to wait till morning but it kept eating away at me so I came here instead. " Noah says.

"Are you talking about my mother?" Max says. "Yes Max. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I wanted to make sure that I was right." I tell him sadly. "Lily how did you know this?" Max asks me a little angry causing me to wince back from him due to his tone. He walks up to me and hugs me. "I'm sorry I am not mad at you. I didn't mean to scare you." Max comforts me.

"Mom has been investigating and I found evidence to support the theory so I called Nathan to see if Noah could get me into the archives so I could see the accident report." I tell him along with what was in the death report. Max sits down on the couch putting his face in both his hands. "There is no way she would have been able to function with all that in her system. What did you find Noah?" Max asks.

Noah tells us his findings then hands Max a letter. Max reads it. Hes quiet for a bit. He begins to ball his fist up so tight his knuckles turn white. He then hands it to my mom. She reads it then gasps. "This is what we've been looking for. Max your father would surely believe this." Mom tells him. "I know but why couldn't he just believe me? He basically asked me to kill my own mate. Doesn't he remember what its like to lose one. Just thinking about it physically hurts." Max says.

"I know. I remember losing mine. I was so lost. It was Lilliana that pulled me from my depths of dispare." Mom tells him. "And now your my dads second chance mate. And he wouldn't even believe you." Max says. Mom sighs. "Max i think deep down he did but he was torn and didn't know what to believe anymore. As he said his hands were tied. Thats why he call an emergency court meeting in the morning. I think you should be there and present that letter to him at court." Mom tells him. Max agrees with her on the letter but he wasn't so sure on her first part.

I let out a yawn. "We should get you to bed." Max said picking me up and taking me to my room. My mom tells me good night. On our way up I see Freya sitting at the kitchen table. I had not even noticed her. She had been so quiet before. "Good night Freya." I tell her. She looks up at me and smiles. She bids me her good night.

Max ets me down on my bed. He looks through my drawers and finds my pajamas. He takes me to the bathroom, undresses me. I suddenly felt subconscious. We hadn't even kissed much less him seeing me naked. I try to cover myself with my arms. He turns and turns the bath on filling the tub up.

I notice he wasn't even looking. Then I began to think that maybe he didn't like the way my body looked. As if reading my mind. "Dont you dare think like that. You are beautiful. I'm not looking out of respect for you. Believe I want to. I just want to take care of you right now." He tells me gentle like. I could feel his love and caring for me.

What if tomorrow doesn't go as he wants it to? What if I never see him again? I feel him wiping tears away that hadn't realized I was crying. "Hey whats wrong?" Max asks. I tell him my worries. "Nothing is going to happen to you." He says. He bathes me and drys my body off. Then he wraps me in a towel and takes me to my bedroom. He sets me on my bed. Before he gets me dressed I pull him to me and kiss him.

He immediately kisses me back. If I were to die tomorrow I want to at least have one night with my mate. His hands go to my waist. Mine wrap around his neck.

He slips his tongue into my mouth rolling it around on mine. I find myself straddling his lap never breaking the kiss. I've never been kissed before. This was better than I had imagined.