Chapter 57 Chapter 57

Chapter 57 Chapter 57
Jeremy didn't know what to expect when his father called him, but he didn't expect his father to hand him an old-looking, rusted pendant.

"I thought Chris was with you at the location where Rendro found refuge."

Jeremy looked up at the alpha.

"A fight broke out. Chris got shot and disappeared. I thought maybe he came back home."

Ramsey sighed.

"Stubborn as a mule, that kid. Your mother will lose her mind if she finds out he's..."

"He's not dead, Father. Can you stop assuming the worst like you did with me? Maybe if you had looked a little harder, you might have found out I was still alive."

Ramsey fell silent for a short moment before speaking again.

"At that moment, we actually thought it would be a better fate for you to die than to continue living."

Jeremy's heart sank, and his body began to shake.

They wanted him dead?

Because he was an omega?

"We thought the fate that awaited you might be crueler than death in a world that saw your kind as an anomaly."

"My kind? You mean the Rendro Pack kind, right? So why am I like this? Between you and Mom, is anyone from Rendro?"

Ramsey shook his head and swallowed hard.

"Open the pendant."

Jeremy looked down at the rusty pendant and carefully pressed and it opened with a small click.
The inside was neat, nothing like how it looked on the outside.

On one side of the pendant was a couple's portrait.
A man with light brown hair, amber eyes, tan skin, a muscular build, and a happy smile stood behind a woman with black hair and big round eyes. She smiled warmly, her round stomach showing she was pregnant.

On the other side, the woman's portrait was larger and clearer, showing her with her head slightly tilted and a happy smile.

Jeremy instantly felt like he'd seen this face before.

He turned towards the full length mirror which happened to be standing beside him and his eyes widened.

The woman had a face like his, only a more feminine version.

He looked up at Ramsey, who wore a look of complete defeat. Before he could ask anything, the alpha spoke.

"The woman is your biological mother... a Rendro wolf whom I killed during the last years of the purge twenty-five years ago."

Jeremy's eyes widened as tears rolled down his face.

"Dad, if you think I'm disgusting and don't want me here, just tell me. Why make up stories to chase me away?"

"They're not made-up stories, Jeremy! They're the truth." The alpha lowered his voice, his shoulders slumping. "I don't think and never thought of you as disgusting. I... I just want to take this off my chest and also because you deserve to know"

Ramsey let out a deep breath

"Thirty-five years ago, when the world government decided to eradicate the people of Rendro following the atrocities committed by the divine wolves, the pack leaders joined in because we were too emotional. We'd lost loved ones and suffered greatly during the battles against the divine wolves. The experience was traumatic, so when the world leaders declared a purge, Delrago was happy to join. I killed a lot of people, so many I can't remember their faces anymore, but the last kill I was supposed to make... was a woman who had just given birth.

She was alone, trapped, and tried so hard to escape when I found her with the baby. She pleaded, and I was almost moved... but I'd already killed too many people to let her go. But the baby... I just couldn't kill him. So I brought it home. I brought you home, Jeremy."

Jeremy covered his mouth with his palm as he wept bitterly, tears streaming down his face like a waterfall.

"You became a beautiful part of our home. One that we loved and adored."

Jeremy kept shaking his head.

"On the day we suspected you were presenting, we pretended to leave the house but stayed nearby. We knew you had presented as an omega, and even though the initial plan was to painlessly take your life... we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it, especially when you were so confused and so desperate to live."

"You should have killed me with my mother then! Do you have any idea how horrible my life has been since I presented?"

"Jeremy..."

Ramsey tried to reach for him, but Jeremy grabbed the flower vase sitting on the table beside him and hurled it onto the floor near Ramsey's feet.

The alpha paused startled.

The vase shattered against the tiled floor with a loud crash that had Drey barreling in, Julianna right behind him, while Percy stayed in the living room cradling Jaden.

Drey rushed in to find Jeremy leaning against the table, his face buried in his hands, while Ramsey stood several feet away with his head lowered.

Drey hurried over to his mate.

"Babe, are you okay?"

Jeremy shook his head before looking up at Drey and whispering tiredly,

"Please get me out of here, Alpha... I can't... I can't..."

The words caught in his throat, making Drey pull him into a hug before gently leading him out of the room.
They passed Julianna, who simply stared at them.
She couldn't say a word, too afraid of hurting the boy more than he already was.

Once they were out of sight, she turned to Ramsey.
He looked nothing like the alpha she once knew.
He looked frail, broken. And she alone knew how much it hurt him to hurt the boy he had come to love as much as his own flesh and blood.

She walked up to him and wrapped him in a hug that pushed him to break down.

"He was so hurt, Julianna. He looked so terrified."

The luna rubbed his back affectionately.

"You did the right thing alpha" she cried with him.

Meanwhile, Drey softly rubbed Jeremy's back, trying to calm him down.

"What do you want to do now?" the alpha asked.
This turn of events wasn't what he had expected, even though it had crossed his mind.

"I don't want to stay in this house," Jeremy sniffled as he wiped his face clean. "Maybe I'll stay at a hotel for now."

Drey sighed before cupping Jeremy's cheeks in his hands.

"Are you crazy? How can I let my fiancé stay in a hotel when I have a mansion? Come home with me?"

"Your dad wouldn't mind?"

Drey chuckled and pulled the omega into a hug.

"I'm no longer a kid Jeremy. I was talking about my own house, the one I built near Lake Libra because people said it had been your favorite place."

Jeremy's eyes widened, and another tear slid down his cheek.
"They remembered? Did they tell you what I liked about the place?"

"The lake"

"You didn't destroy it to build right?"

"Of course not, even the engineers and builders said they wouldn't because the alpha's younger child loved the place so much his spirit keeps visiting."

Jeremy let out a small laugh at that.

"Everyone liked you Jeremy. And even if you're Rendro originally, it doesn't change how Delrago sees you. You're one of us too, you know."

"I don't know anymore..." Jeremy sighed. "Can we leave this place already? it's making me sick to be here"

Julianna watched sadly as they loaded the car shortly after. She was too scared to approach Jeremy, but she couldn't stop crying.

Just before getting into the car, Jeremy stopped, turned back, and walked over to her.

"If you also knew I was an omega all this time, why didn't you tell me, Mom? I wouldn't have felt so alone if you had just said something."

The Luna shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy."

"Those drugs you mixed into my drinks all those years... they were to reduce my heats and dull my scent, weren't they?"

Jeremy asked now understanding why he had gone into heat once when he stopped taking her 'vitamins' that she said was good for growth.

"I should have done better, Jeremy. We should have done better."

Jeremy looked up to see Ramsey watching them from the balcony of his study. He gave the older couples one last look before turning around and walking into the car.

The house...

The warmth...

The people he grew up with...

Now felt like a distant dream. One he had believed was perfect. One he had struggled so hard to return to. Now he realized he'd been the only one living in an illusion created by a family of three that had never truly considered him one of them.

As the car speeds away leaving a dust of sadness in the Blake household, several people arrived carrying gifts, hoping to welcome home the returned son.
Instead, they were met by a saddened Ramsey, who quietly announced that Jeremy would not be staying at the pack house for a while until further noticed and when pressured to know why, he made a confession.

"Jeremy is a Rendro wolf who I rescued twenty five years ago and raised as my own."