Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 490: A Mother’s Wish

I woke to the smell of coffee.

And, while I would have preferred to wake to the smell of baked goods, pancakes, and bacon, I would take the coffee.

Hopefully, there would be a lollypop somewhere in the kitchen I could steal without Daddy noticing.

Turning my head, I noticed that the coffee was a lot closer than I had originally thought.

There, waiting on the nightstand, was a hot, perfect, already sweetened the way I liked it cup of coffee with steam coming off the top. The blanket was still draped over my shoulders, and all around me, the bed was a tangle of limbs, breath, and quiet heartbeats.

That’s when I realized... Luca hadn’t made my coffee; he was still in bed with me. No, the house had decided that I needed a little pick-me-up, and it was no longer the sweet gesture I originally thought it was.

Slowly, carefully, I slid out from under Tank’s arm, making sure that he didn’t stir. Luca’s hand was still on my hip, and Daddy’s presence lingered behind me like a shield I hated to break away from.

But the moment my feet touched the floor, the air shifted.

A door was open.

Not cracked, not locked... open.

I was really going to have to change the locks on this place.

Of course, it doesn’t help that this particular door hadn’t been there yesterday.

The hallway was dim. Still quiet. I padded across the wooden floor barefoot, drawn by instinct more than intent. The vines on the wall seemed to curl toward me as I passed—welcoming, warning, I couldn’t tell.

But I could definitely feel the pull of the wish before I even saw the person.

A woman.

She was thin, ragged. Her feet were bare and bleeding from one foot, but still she stood in the middle of the threshold like she didn’t know pain or even how she got there.

Her eyes snapped up when she saw me. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

And just like that, the world changed.

She saw hope.

I saw trouble.

Her lips trembled. "I didn’t mean to find you. I just... I made a wish. I didn’t think it would work."

It always starts like that.

"What did you wish for?" I asked, my voice softer than I expected... softer than I wanted it to be.

She swallowed. "I want to bring my son back."

From behind me, I could hear the soft footsteps of my men. I guess my escape from the bed wasn’t as stealthy as I had thought it had been.

Luca appeared first, his t-shirt molding to his muscles in a way I really shouldn’t be appreciating right now. Especially given how tight his jaw was. But when he opened his mouth to speak, there was no fire in his voice.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes scanning the woman, the threat, before turning to me, then me. The cold expression softened when he saw that I wasn’t hurt.

"I am now," I said quietly, letting him wrap his arms around me. Leaning my head against his chest, I took in a deep breath.

Dante stepped into the hall next. He didn’t speak, just stood at my side. A quiet presence. A wall.

"She didn’t come through me," I said, eyes still on the woman. "The house brought her. And apparently, the front door was not an option."

Tank arrived next, already pulling on a shirt. He looked from me to the door, then to the stranger. "She’s a wish?" he asked, his head cocked to the side.

I nodded, letting out a long sigh.

"Then we go with you," he shrugged like it was a given. No argument. Just a simple fact.

The others began to appear—Eric, Ronan, Beau, Chang Xuefeng, Désiré, Salvatore, and Dimitri. None of them raised their voice. None of them told me to stop.

They knew better now.

This was part of who I was.

But they weren’t going to let me do it alone.

The woman clutched the photo in her hand like a lifeline. "Please," she said. "He died in my arms. And every day since, I’ve been dying with him. I didn’t know who else to ask." Her voice broke on the last word.

However, if she expected me to sympathize with her, she really had another thing coming. This seemed to be one of the more popular wishes in the apocalypse. Well... that and getting revenge in another life for those who did someone wrong.

In fact, I was getting a bit tired of this wish. Why couldn’t she just be happy that her son was no longer in pain? That he was no longer struggling? You would think that she would be happy about his death, if only for him.

"What would you give?" I asked, never moving from Luca’s arms and chest. "What would you give to have him back?"

She blinked at me like I was the one saying something strange. "Anything," she continued after a moment. "I would give anything to have him back at my side."

"No," I scoffed, almost shuddering that I had once sounded so pathetic, making a wish. "Be specific." Because if I had my way, I would be sending her into the Netherworld with him, just so that I was fulfilling her wish.

Her lip trembled. "My soul. My memories. My name. Whatever it takes. Just let me see him again."

I felt Papa Khaos’s presence before I saw him. He leaned lazily against the wall, sipping something from a teacup.

"Ah. A mother’s wish. Dangerous. Delicious."

I didn’t flinch at his appearance. I was really too tired to deal with this this early in the morning. If the house was smart, it would set hours, like noon to three for me to grant wishes.

Letting out a long sigh, I stepped away from Luca and placed my hand over hers. "Deal accepted," I said, rolling my eyes.

Around us, the hallway dimmed, and the door behind her flashed—not with light, but an absence of light. Then the space twisted.

And she fell to her knees.

Papa Khaos caught her, humming softly. "They never understand what they’re offering. Not really."

The photo hit the floor, curling at the edges like it had been set on fire.

And across the hall, another door formed. This one bone white. Carved with symbols I didn’t recognize as a cold wind poured from the threshold.

Chang Xuefeng moved beside me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me as close to his chest as he ever had.

"We go with you," he said, his lips brushing against my hair. "No more doing this alone."

I nodded in complete agreement. I was done doing all this by myself.

Dante stepped forward first, and together, we crossed the threshold into the unknown.