Chapter 68 Witches

Chapter 68 Witches
Auren’s pov
“When she was a baby?” Xavier asks, his brows drawing together. His eyes move to me. “Why?”
“Just answer the fucking question,” Alpha Dravik says. 
“There was no talk of witches, but I assumed it was a witch or witches who bound her. No one else has that kind of power.” 
“That’s exactly why I’m asking,” Alpha Dravik growls. “So tell me what you know.”
Xavier shakes his head. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Alpha Dravik. Marcus worked hard to keep the pack hidden from other kinds. He wouldn’t let anyone in.”
“What do you mean by that?” Alpha Dravik asks, his silver eyes narrowing.
“It means that Marcus is that paranoid that whomever bound her at thirteen will be the same one who bound her as an adult. No way will he risk letting someone else knowing about them or about Auren.”
My stomach twists at his words, and I look toward Alpha Dravik. “Do you know who he is talking about?” I ask quietly, searching his face.
Maybe that’s why he has seemed different since I woke up.
“Not yet,” he says, and his expression gives nothing away. 
He turns toward the stairs and extends his hand to me, his fingers curling slightly in invitation. “Come. It’s time for your lesson with Collins.”
“Lesson?” Xavier asks, wrapping his fingers around one of the bars. “What are you learning, how to fight?” His mouth curves into a grin as he glances between us. “Is this Collins a big handsome guy too? It gets rather boring down here seeing the same faces.”
“Reading lesson,” I say without thinking.
“Reading? Nice. It’s about time someone taught you to read and write.”
My entire body freezes. Alpha Dravik with his hand still extended toward me, slowly turns his head towards him. 
“What….what did you say?”
I had kept it a secret for so long. Hope figured it out. I blurted it out to Alpha Dravik, but I have never told anyone else. Even my uncle thought I could read while the truth is I just learned to figure out what things were without reading the label.
Xavier says nothing and he starts moving backward away from the bar. 
“Answer her,” Alpha Dravik snaps.
“It’s nothing.”
“How did you know that?” I ask.
My heart begins beating faster as I stare at him, because there is no way he should know something I have hidden from everyone.
“My person on the inside.”
“That’s impossible,” I whisper.
Nobody knew.
“Your story is starting to slip, Xavier.” Alpha Dravik's hand closes around the iron bar. “I knew there was something off about you.”
“Honestly, it’s what he told me.” 
“And what’s this person's name?” Alpha Dravik asks.
“We agreed he would never give me his name.”
Alpha Dravik laughs. “You trusted someone inside the pack, someone you claimed was your boyfriend, and you don’t even know his fucking name?”
“Fine.” Xavier grimaces. “The boyfriend part may not be entirely accurate. It was mostly just sexual, but yes, he never gave me his name because he believed it would put him in danger.”
“Bull fucking shit.” Alpha Dravik shakes the bars hard enough to make them rattle. His eyes flash silver, and Xavier moves farther away from the bar. “I have heard some stupid lies in my life, but this takes the fucking cake.”
“I’m telling the truth. I can describe him if that helps.” His eyes turn toward me. “He’s blonde, easily six feet tall, blue eyes, and he’s always happy.”
“Cut the crap!” Alpha Dravik roar.
Xavier's shoulders tenses, and I find myself stepping closer to Alpha Dravik rather than away from him.
“He’s telling the truth,” I say.
His head turns toward me. “What? This guy wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him in the ass.”
“I….I remember someone like that.” I press my fingers against my temple, closing my eyes as I try to reach through the fog. “The guy didn’t come to the house often. He comes to drop off groceries sometimes, and I would give him the list Alpha Marcus had given me.” It was like an old memory scratching to gain entrance into the back of my mind. Little pieces flicker through. “I remember one time he joked about me not reading yet and then read the list out loud. 
He always reads the list aloud.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s not fully clear, but it’s there.” I open my eyes, frustrated by how little I can grasp. “I….I don’t know why I remember that and almost nothing else. It feels like….all the good things from when I was little have been erased, and all I…I have left are the bad ones.”
The memory of blood flashes through my mind.
Broken bodies.
My parents.
I suck in a sharp breath and wrap my arms around myself as the image fades, leaving the familiar ache behind.
“That’s what Marcus wanted, Auren.” Xavier's voice cuts through the silence. “If you remembered all the good things, you would have become a threat. He had to make you weak.”
“Shut up.” Alpha Dravik snaps at him. “And again, you know an awful lot for someone who claims he was never inside that fucking house.”
Xavier opens his mouth, but Alpha Dravik is already turning away. His hand finds mine, his fingers closing around it as he pulls me toward the stairs. I follow, still trying to make sense of the memories Xavier has dragged into the light, and when we emerge into the cold air outside, I realize I’m breathing faster.
“I don’t like him,” Alpha Dravik says. “Something about him keeps me on edge.”
“But….but he was right about the spy,” I murmur.
He grabs my shoulder, spinning me around towards him. “Just because he’s right about that doesn’t mean he’s telling the whole truth, Auren. He’s holding things back and I don’t like it.”
“You mean like you not telling me why you have been acting weird with me since I woke up?” I snap.