Chapter Fifty-Seven - Jessica

My wolf stirred at the mention of our bloodline. Royalty? Hardly. I felt like the ugly stepsister being shoved aside in the pack. All of this madness stemmed from something so, something so, powerful?

How would grandmother be of royal blood and not know about it? Well, obviously they did know about it. It was written in the book. Maybe her diary would talk about it soon. She had to find out for them to do the digging on her bloodline.

Why wasn’t it mentioned to the pack? Why wouldn’t their grandfathers let them in on the secret? Unless they thought I would never come back to Slade Springs. Or that the gene hadn’t affected me.

I showed no signs while I was here in my youth. They thought the gene would be lost somehow along our line.

Mason stared down at the family tree with a stoic look on his face. I tried to pinpoint the look but he was masking it well. Reaching out, I touched his forearm,

feeling waves of dread and fear.

Why was this bad? What made him afraid?

I cleared my throat. “We don’t know for certain…”

Seth snapped the book shut dramatically. “Don’t we? You think they made this for fun? This is real and it explains absolutely everything. It’s why the lycans were drawn to you. The reason they wanted to kill you was because they felt you were a threat. It’s why you're bigger than us, and dominate. Because you have royal blood. Your wolf knows everything about this because your grandmother passed it down in your genes. Royalty is different than an average wolf.”

I turned away from them and stared down at the living room floor. I didn’t want to admit it, but Seth made sense.

All of it made sense.

I just didn’t know how I would fit into the pack with this bloodline. Would I fit into it? Had other people with royal blood showed up in other places? Were they

still in hiding? Did I have family members close by?

Mason touched my arm and turned me to face him. “Calm down,” he whispered. “This is nothing to stress over.”

Irritation flooded me. “Don’t tell me to calm down,” I said. “I’m tired of hearing that from everyone. No one knows what it feels like to be me right now. I think I

can afford to have a few private minutes to panic.”

Seth pressed his mouth together as if trying to keep from laughing. Nothing was funny.

None of it.

Mason dropped his hand. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to help. This isn’t a bad thing is what I’m saying.”

“Then why did you feel afraid just now when I touched you?"

Mason looked at Seth and then back at me. “I’m more afraid for Jacob than you," he admitted.

“Jacob?” I asked. “Whatever for? What does he have to be fearful of? Me?"

Seth chuckled and interlaced his fingers around the book in his arms. “You’re so new, it’s cute. Jacob would lose his title as alpha to you, Jessica.

Royalty trumps the alpha gene.”

I blinked at him. There was no way I wanted anything to do with becoming an alpha, or taking over this pack.

My wolf felt excitement at the thought.

I wasn’t just my wolf.

I had my own mind. A job. A life. I didn’t want to take over this pack and ruin my cousin’s life. I wouldn't do any of those things.

“I don’t want that,” I said.

Seth shrugged. “Sometimes it’s not about what you want…”

My wolf growled loudly, shoving inside of me until I jumped forward. Mason wrapped his arms around my waist and caught me against his chest.

I felt my wolf fighting for the forefront, jerking and pushing me to do something I didn’t want to do.

Seth stumbled backward against the couch, sliding it loudly against the living room floor and dropping the book.

Aaron and Liam walked into the living room to see the madness. “What the hell?” Aaron shouted.

Seth scurried upward. “It’s fine. Everything is fine."

Mason’s calming hands settled against me and soothed my blood. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I settled down. Covering my hands over my mouth,

I gasped. “I’m sorry.”

Seth gave me a look, but didn’t say anything.

“What’s going on?” Dad asked from the staircase.

“Your daughter has royal blood and just tried to attack me," Seth said.

Dad halted on the bottom step, his hand wrapped tightly around the stair railing.

“What?” Aaron broke the silence.

Seth picked up the book and shoved it at Dad. “I went to look through the old books this morning since Jessica found that yesterday, and found this.”

Aaron, Liam and Dad walked over and looked down at the family tree together. I couldn’t tell Dad’s emotions until he looked up at me. Pride and confusion lingered in his gaze. “Jessica,” he said softly.

“We don’t know that’s true,” I said, wiping my nose.

“It’s right here,” Liam said. “This isn’t a lie.”

I shrugged, finding my gaze landing on Mason. “I don’t want Jacob’s spot.”

He laced his finger into my hair. “You don’t have to take it, Jessica.”

I could tell he wanted to tell me to calm down. I didn't blame him. I wanted to tell myself to calm down even though it wouldn't do any good.

“Jacob is going to hate me,” I whispered.

“Why would I hate you?” Jacob asked as he descended the stairs. The entire room grew silent as he walked down. He stepped and looked around the room. “I heard a commotion and came to see if everyone is ok.”

“We’re fine,” Mason said. “You should go back to sleep.”

Jacob’s sleepy eyes widened at Mason's accusation. “Everyone is fine? What happened to the couch? And Jessica looks as white as a ghost. Someone tell me what’s going on right now.”

More silence ensued. I knew Jacob could demand us to tell him in his alpha voice. It’s why alphas had the voice. But suddenly, I’d rather him demand it than anyone snitch.

Seth cleared his throat, grabbed the book and handed it to him. “After Jessica found the stuff in the books, I decided to look this morning. I found that.”

Jacob looked around before opening the book. “Our family tree?” he asked.

Seth reached over and unfolded the piece of page tucked underneath. Jacob’s gaze skimmed the page slowly. I knew when he got to the names because he grew still.

“Victoria and Victor,” he said softly. “The alpha king and queen?”

No one said anything.

When he looked up, his gaze shifted toward me. I stood partly behind Mason for cover. “That’s why your mark is red.”

“That explains everything,” Seth said. “It’s the answer to all of our questions.”

Jacob furrowed his brow. “The gene didn’t touch me,” he said. “It skipped our line and went down your mothers.”

I swallowed deeply. “I don’t want your spot,” I blurted out.

Jacob focused in on me. “What?”

“They said a royal trumps an alpha. I don’t want that responsibility. I don’t want to be an alpha. I just want to…I don’t know what I want. I want all of this to go away.”

Aaron snorted. “It doesn’t just go away.”

I glared at him. When he averted his gaze, I looked over at Jacob. He sighed heavily. “We have other things to deal with today. This can be a problem for

tomorrow. Today, we’re preparing to save our town. We have to figure out a way to get the elixir on the people with the marks. The lycan problem ends today.”