Chapter 61: Explain.

Johns pov.

I chuckled as I watched her search my face, her lip wobbling from how happy she was to see me.

“I missed you too, Amy. You… you always cared about me and for that, I’ll always be grateful. Without you I wouldn’t be the person that I am today, you were like a mother to me. I’m sorry I didn’t come see you sooner, or stay in touch. I… I was running away from this place, like it was on fire,” I said, pausing as she laughed at my words, a smile taking over her aging face, “you mean the world to me, Ma. I'm glad I got to see you before father takes me away.”

Just as I mentioned my father, he cleared his throat, sitting up in the bed he was on.

“Everyone, leave,” he boomed out, his voice sounding strong even with the poison slowly killing him.

“But-,” my mother tried to say but one look from my father shut her up.

She shrieked in anger before turning around and storming out, the door slamming shut behind her.

I gave my dad a grateful look, not able to even look at her right now.

“You came,” he said slowly, his voice sounding weaker now.

“We have our differences… but I’d never miss your death,” I said calmly, watching as my fathers face slowly formed a smirk before he chuckled.

“About that, John. I don’t have very long left. We need your help around here for the next few days before I die. Your brother has a lot on his plate at the moment. The attacks, the lack of loyalty. The kingdom is slowly falling apart, son. I’m afraid without your help, someone or something will take over. And I won’t be here to stop it…” he said, grabbing my shoulder and pulling me closer to him, “I’m counting on you. I know you can do this, without you we will lose.”

My brows furrowed in confusion, wondering what the hell he is talking about.

“What are you saying?” I asked carefully, needing to fully understand what he’s asking here.

“You need to help Karl guide the kingdom. The warriors, they need properly trained, since I’ve been poisoned I haven’t been down there and Karl doesn’t have the time to train them himself. They need your guidance. The attacks after attacks have left us low on numbers, so many of our warriors are injured or… dead. The rogues, they’re stronger than ever. And they aren’t fighting alone, they have vampires on their side. You know how hard they are to kill. Especially a rogue one. I’ve tried reaching out to the vampire king but he’s ignored me everytime. I think he’s behind it somehow, somewhere," he said before coughing uncontrollably, blood coming from his mouth.

“Father!” Karl yelled, pushing me out of the way as he held a rag to his mouth, “he’s not supposed to talk this much, John! The poison dissolved in his throat, it’s raw and fragile there…”

I rubbed the back of my head, not knowing what to say.

I didn’t know, it’s not my fault. But I don’t want to piss him off anymore than he already seems to be.

“Sorry,” I muttered, walking around him and placing my hand on my fathers head, letting one of my secrets I tried so hard to keep to myself come out.

My father groaned as my hand turned ice cold… taking the fever away instantly.

“What… What was that, John?” My father mumbled, finally able to talk again.

I sighed, smiling a little at my father.

“It’s… a gift?” I laughed a little, not really sure myself.

I’ve always had it. Since I was a young pup.

Nobody else knew about it, I was.. maybe ashamed to admit to people that I was different.

People who were different were picked on, cast away. I was already cast away enough.

“Why did we know about it?” Karl asked curiously, looking at me as if I might break.

“You know why, Karl. Because you would’ve made my life even worse than it already was, and I couldn’t handle that. I’m stronger now, I have people who truly care about me and want me in their lives, I don’t have to hide behind anything anymore. I can be myself and let my gift show, without holding it back, afraid of what people might say or do, including you guys,” I said honestly, every single thing I was saying was the truth, “I didn’t want to put any targets on my back, or raise any questions.”

My father and brother stared at me for a little while, not saying anything…

“I wouldn’t have ever judged you for something like that, John,” my father said, coughing again slightly, “I’m proud of you. For telling us something you were scared to tell us.”

“I’m proud of you too,” my brother piped up, grinning at me like a fool.

“Now, Karl. I’d like to talk to John alone, okay? Can you give us some time,” my father said suddenly, giving Karl a knowing look.

He nodded his head at our father once before he left the room silently. Leaving us alone.

“Well, son. I think it’s till we talked about you, and your new life. I’ve heard some things, one being a woman in your life. Should we start there?” He asked me with a smirk, making me chuckle while rubbing the back of my head.

“I don’t know, father. Maybe let’s start with when I left here, and how being a beta is treating me,” I laughed, shaking my head at his forwardness.

I’ll tell him about Bella, about how I feel about her.

But I need some time first, to gather my thoughts.

To decide what to tell him… and what I should keep to myself.

“Go on then,” he urged me, watching my face as he waited for my answers.

“It’s been really good actually. I’ve been happy, genuinely happy. At first, I didn’t like the position if I’m being honest. I don’t even think it was the position I was in but the fact that I had to follow under an alpha like Garrett. He was terrible, power hungry, greedy, inconsiderate. He was everything an alpha shouldn’t be. But when Bella took over… everything changed,” I started… getting ready to explain everything.