XXVII. Remember-2

"Alexander!" cried a voice from across the clearing. We both stopped and looked around, Lex still holding the blade as he did. A man had joined us in the clearing. He was holding both of his hands up in a calm surrender. He looked between Lex and I worriedly, eyeing the blade with apprehension. As he drew closer, walking carefully as he did, I was able to get a clearer look at him. I felt like I had seen him before. His face sparked my memory, but I couldn't quite place it. He looked to be about forty years old, his hair dark, but longer than most men his age, and his facial hair was neatly kept. He was tall, and looked very fit, with a lean, muscular build. His eyes stood out to me early, being of a brilliant blue. The same light colour as Lex's but not nearly as cold. I had seen him before. Where had I seen this man before? "It can't be," Lex said in disbelief. Lex knew him. How on earth did I know someone that he knew as well? I felt like I had met him back home in New York. "Alexander," he said again, this time he was not twenty feet from us. His hands were still raised in a steady, calming way as he approached us. It was then that Lex snapped out of his utter shock. He jumped back from me, turning the knife around on the stranger. "Your fight is not with her," he said calmly. "Not with Saraphine." I froze. I had heard my name spoken like that before. I had heard my name said in his voice before. I had memorised that voice. I had memorised the way he said my name. I had watched that video a dozen times. Two dozen. But it couldn't be. It was impossible. But it was. Underneath the facial hair, and the years on his skin, I could see the baby-faced man who was in my mother's wedding picture. I couldn't believe it. "How?" growled Lex, his voice now rocky with fury. "I will tell you everything," he promised, "but you need to let Saraphine go first. Nobody needs to get hurt today. Not her, and not you." He sounded like a cop, like a hostage negotiator on TV. Lex's head snapped. "You killed my father! How the hell are you alive?" he demanded to know icily. "I will regret what happened between your father and I until my dying breath, Alexander," he promised sincerely, "but that fight was only going to end one way. I want to explain myself to you, but I cannot do it while you have a knife to my daughter." Even though my heart was already racing, it probably sounded like a hum right now. He'd just confirmed it. Somehow, my dad was alive, and he was standing here. He'd found me. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like the drugs that Lex had given me were causing me to hallucinate. But it was real. This whole insane ordeal was real. Lex's knife hand hesitated as it slowly dropped to his side, but he didn't drop the blade. He was standing with his back to me, so I couldn't see his face, but I could only imagine it from how rigid he was. "This conflict started because your mother's mate was a member of the Providence pack," Dad revealed slowly, carefully, his hands still out with a sense of calming Lex. "Bullshit," sneered Lex. Dad shook his head. "No, this is true. I don't know the circumstances of how your parents came to be together, but they were not mates. When your mother found hers in my pack, she tried to take you and join me." His voice was deeper, stronger than it had been in the video, aged like he had. He spoke with such authority and influence, yet he was still calming and sincere. "Your father wouldn't allow it. He had her mate, my friend, murdered to keep her in submission." Oh my God. This sounded like the freaking Godfather or something. "I retaliated," continued Dad. "Irrationally at times. But I got to a point where I couldn't take any more loss." He did his best to maintain his tone, but I could hear the pain in that sentence. "It would be just Kurt and me. We needed to end it." He shook his head. "I didn't want it to end that way. I promise you." My father and Lex stared at each other for several moments. Both of their heads suddenly turned, and they looked off into the distance. They could hear something that I couldn't. Something was coming. I felt it before I heard it. The ground began to tremble. That was then followed by echoes of growling and snarling, rapidly getting louder and louder as it drew nearer. Lex's head snapped back to my father's. "I don't believe you," he snarled, before turning to me and smiled. I didn't have time to react, to scream, or to do anything. He raised his right hand so quickly that I couldn't really see it. He released his knife, sending it hurtling through the air in my direction. A searing pain burst across my abdomen, which quickly rippled across my entire body. I sucked in a breath, and then another, as pain quickly overwhelmed me. I heard my dad cry out, but the sound was muffled. The sounds of the woods were beginning to sound like TV static. All I could hear was my rapid, shaky pulse thundering in my ears. As my vision started to blur, I saw dozens of enormous creatures spill out of the wood into the clearing. Lex disappeared, himself exploding into a giant creature before running off. I watched as the wolves, almost in slow motion, sprinted off in pursuit, though one gigantic creature remained behind. I heard the unholiest of howls escape from its mouth. He was in pain, dire, extreme pain. And I felt it, nearly as completely as I felt my own. "Go!" said my father, in a muffled cry. "I've got her!" He came into my vision, blurred as it was. "Daddy," I mumbled, the rusty taste of blood on my tongue. "Saraphine!" was the last thing I heard him say before I drifted from consciousness. ---- So I'm seeing The Lion King tomorrow night then I am on phone BLACKOUT until I've watched the game. NO PHONE AT ALL FOR HOURS. I don't trust my friends. They know how football psycho I am so they always text me about it hahah