Chapter 153 2-25-VALEN'S SECRET
\-THIRD PERSON'S POV-
Venus and Vaheed sat around the breakfast nook. Vaheed was busy on his phone while Venus was reading the Brew'n Herald Newspaper. The paper was previously brought in by Zuzu and she flew away to have her morning flight in the forest.
"The investigation update was posted on the front page. Turns out that the kriplings only attacked us. The
vampires and witches were not attacked." Venus highlighted with her harlequin-green eyes fastened to the
paper.
"Who cares? Dad's dealing with it." Vaheed shrugged, finding his phone more entertaining.
Venus was disturbed by his uncaring attitude. "Those things were pretty powerful and they hurt me. How can you say that?"
Understanding that his words hurt his twin sister's feelings, Vaheed put his phone on the table and patted her on the shoulder. "Vee, you are safe now. Dad will make sure that they don't hurt us again."
Venus sighed, gulped down her dose of halo-moon serum from the vial on the table, and went back to flipping the pages. "There's nothing in here about a werewolf prince."
"Dad would have covered it up anyway. Stop looking." Vaheed suggested, thinking that she would not find
anything about what Valen had done in the werewolf news.
Valen strode into the kitchen with Nyx following him. He was dressed for school as he went to make cereal. Nyx sat on his rear in front of the kitchen island. Both Vaheed and Venus watched Valen's movements. They itched with curiosity about what got him into trouble. He would not tell them yesterday when they tried to talk to him. As a matter of fact, he locked the door after shoving them away.
"Morning to you too, sunshine." Vaheed sarcastically greeted. Whistling a popular fast tune, Valen ignored them and poured milk into his white bowl. "Valen, where did you go when you skipped school yesterday?" Venus was too anxious and daringly asked, peeping over the paper.
"Why the hell should I tell you?" He went to the pantry to get some dumpling-sized kibbles for Nyx's bowl and placed them down on the floor.
"Because we share everything with you," Vaheed replied, with a straight face.
"What are you talking about?" Valen sat on a stool around the island instead of sitting with his younger siblings.
"We don't hide anything from you when we get into trouble," Venus added, coyly. She lowered the paper to rest on the top of the table.
"That's because you usually get Mom
so angry that she shouts it throughout the entire house." Valen lifted a
spoonful of cereal to his mouth and chewed. His emerald eyes swayed to his lion that munched on his treats.
"Well, what did Mom and Dad do to you?" Vaheed inquired. It was the first time that Valen had gotten into some kind of trouble.
"Nothing," Valen smirked. It would irk the twins to think that he got away
with it. "They got into an argument and forgot all about me." You can't be that lucky." Vaheed shook his head in disbelief. The justice in their home was shitty. "They must still be at it." Valen pointed out, raising his chest high. “
Mom did not make breakfast and I'm still a free man." "Pluh-ease." Venus disagreed. "Once they get over it, your ass is fried."
"Yeah," Vaheed snickered with a wry smile, agreeing with his sister. He would rather believe that ending. "Gloat all you want. I'm out of here."
Valen placed the bowl in the sink and left the twins alone. Nyx shimmered into his invisible form. "We should get a ride with him,"
Venus suggested, getting up from the table.
"Or we could hang around and find out what Mom and Dad were arguing about." Vaheed mischievously opted. Flash fingers sent a text message to
Raina to have Hailey pick them up.
Venus giggled, nodding her head. " Yeah." Upon hearing heavy footsteps, Venus quickly sat back down on her
chair. "It's Dad. Just act cool." Vaheed advised her while going on to his phone. She nodded and took up the newspaper as though she was reading it. "Hey," Dad greeted going directly to the refrigerator.
"Dad, you look like you had a hectic night." Venus began her fact-finding routine. Her father squinted his eyes at her.
Vance thought that he was immaculately dressed in a crisp white t-shirt, a pair of white chinos, and low- top white tennis shoes. He always spent enough time in front of the mirror to ensure that all his long black strands were neatly combed in a man- bun. Unless the evidence was in his eyes since sleep riddled him. "Yes, I did princess." Vance was bent, scanning the contents of the fridge. "Were you up working on the werelions case?" Vaheed played smart with his questions. "No," Vance replied, looking up and down the fridge. "I'm done with them."
"Merfolks?" Vaheed pressed. "No." Vance shut the fridge door and stood, then walked towards the island empty-handed. He thought maybe he should have the first day's meal at the pack house.
"Arguing?" Venus pushed, impatiently. "Venus!" Vaheed scolded. Vance stopped immediately, eyeing
both kids suspiciously.
"It would be Christmas before we found out anything with your questions," Venus told Vaheed, defensively. She assumed that her Dad
would not get mad at her based on their father-daughter relationship. The boys had it the hardest under the Wolversons' roof.
"Dad, I hope you and Mom work things out and if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. But we got grounded yesterday over something that we didn't do. It's only fair that we want to know what's going on." Vaheed cautioned, putting his case out diplomatically.
Vance leaned his elbow on the tall island, tilting his towering frame." People in love argue from time to time. It's natural in relationships. And as far as Valen is concerned, your mother will handle it." "So you'll be alright when we get home from school?" Venus asked, worried lines creasing her forehead. The twins understood that it wasn't a good idea to use their brains to sleuth
out facts when their parents had been bickering. It might tick him off. Though it must have been something serious for their parents to end up arguing over.
"Yeah. I have swimming with the boys later." Vaheed added, referring to his need to be free to go out with his friends after school.
"Dad," Venus chirped, hoping to help. "You could give Mom flowers. Valen has some bluebells in the backyard. They are very pretty."
"Valen?" Vance arched his brows. It was Sianna's garden. He could not picture his jock son doing gardening. How peculiar. "Aren't all the flowers planted by your Mom?"
"Nope." Venus shook her head. Vance assumed a military stance that would intimidate anyone except his children, since they were of his alpha bloodline and they hadn't done anything to be scared of. "You mean to tell me that Valen went
Vance to his mother's garden and planted that specific set of flowers?" sought avid confirmation. Venus nodded. He further prodded, "You saw him doing it?" "Yes." She folded both hands on the table and rested her chin on them. "He said they smelled really good. He even asked the housekeeper to leave a fresh batch in his room every day."
Vance was taken aback. Inwardly, he brainstormed as to why Valen was drawn to that particular scent. The flower was wonderfully fragrant, beautiful, and delicate. Although it was strange for him to want that aroma all around him.
The thought made him relax as he now deduced that the mermaid was not Valen's mate. It must be someone with that particular odor. Based on his extensive interactions with everyone, his eager wolf swiftly combed through the whole pack in an attempt to identify the individual whose scent it was. Valen shifted into his black wolf at age four. Vance brought a hand to his chin as he wondered when Valen had found his mate. His wolf felt like a proud father with his chest bulging out and his tail wagging, brushing the dark floor of his mind.
"Interesting," Vance whispered when a specific face presented itself in his mind.
It bothered him that Valen hadn't mentioned the possibility of him discerning his mate. If his wolf was right and this person was Valen's fated mate, what a glorious match it was! It made his lips curl into a smile until his eyes bounced to look at Vaheed, shrinking with abrupt concern.
Honk! Honk! Honk! A car horn blared three times outside. Vance rushed the kids off. "Hailey's here to pick you up. Don't be late."
Vaheed's face brightened at the thought of seeing Raina. Not understanding her brother's infatuation, Venus rolled her eyes. "Later, Dad!" Shouting in unison, they darted from their seats and hurriedly ran to the living room. They picked up their bag packs from the couch and
sprinted out the door, slamming itmbehind them.
Sianna was still asleep. They'd both toss and turn in the huge king-sized bed all night. He wondered about going
to the master bedroom and being the peacemaker. He loved to eat her to his satisfaction until she screamed his name in ecstasy. Smiling wickedly, he turned to head for the stairs.
"Alpha, a group of merfolks are heading to our pier," Blayne reported through the mind-link.
Damn.
This was Valen's doing. This was the meeting that he negotiated with the despicable mermaid and, obviously, the Mer-king accepted the arrangement. The impromptu visitation rattled Vance. He hadn't had time to tell his men about it.
Already halfway up the stairs, he stopped and began to make his descent. "Do not engage if they do not attack us. I'm on my way."