Family Secrets

Family Secrets
POV: Vincent Castellano

The screaming gets closer, and I know we're all about to die.
My shoulder is on fire where Luna's man shot me, but I force myself to stay calm. In fifty years of running this family, I've learned that fear gets you killed faster than bullets.
"Luna," I say, trying to keep my voice steady. "You don't want to do this. Emma isn't stable. She'll kill you too."
Luna laughs, but her hand is shaking as she holds the knife to my daughter's throat. "Emma needs me. I'm the only one who understands her magic. Without me, she's just a monster. With me, she's a weapon."
The screaming stops. The quiet that follows is worse than the noise.
Then I hear footsteps on the porch. Slow, careful footsteps that sound wrong somehow. Too heavy. Too purposeful.
"She's here," Kael whispers.
But when the front door explodes inward, it's not Emma who walks through.
It's Marcus Ravencrest. Kael's father. The man I've been fighting for fifty years.
And he's not alone.
Behind him are six of his best pack fighters, all in human form but with their eyes glowing gold in the darkness. They move like animals, spreading out to block every exit.
"Hello, Vincent," Marcus says calmly. "You're bleeding on my son's carpet."
"Your son kidnapped my daughter," I snarl back.
"Actually," Marcus says with a cold smile, "that was my idea. Though things haven't exactly gone according to plan."
Luna spins around, the knife still at Aria's throat. "Marcus? What are you doing here?"
"Cleaning up your mess," Marcus says. His voice is disappointed, like he's talking to a child who broke something important. "I told you to wait. I told you the plan wasn't ready."
"What plan?" Kael wants. "What are you talking about?"
Marcus looks at his son with something that might be sadness. "Oh, Kael. You still don't understand, do you? This was never about payback. This was never about the war between our families."
My blood goes cold. "What do you mean?"
"It was about evolution," Marcus says frankly. "About making something new. Something better."
He walks over to Luna and gently takes the knife from her hands. She lets him, looking confused and scared.
"Luna came to me two years ago with an interesting proposal," Marcus continues. "She'd found that certain werewolf bloodlines, when mixed with human DNA under the right conditions, could create hybrids. Creatures with the best of both species."
"Emma," I breathe, finally understanding.
"Emma was our first success," Marcus nods. "But she was unstable. Too much vampire power in the mix. We needed to try again."
Aria goes very still in Luna's arms. "Try again with who?"
Marcus looks straight at her. "With you, my dear. The daughter of Vincent Castellano and Maria Santos."
The room goes dead quiet. I feel like someone just punched me in the chest.
"Maria Santos wasn't your mother's real name," Marcus tells Aria gently. "Her real name was Maria Blackwood. She was my niece. A werewolf who fell in love with a human and gave up her pack to be with him."
"That's impossible," I whisper, but even as I say it, pieces start falling into place. Maria's amazing strength. The way she always seemed to know when danger was coming. How she died giving birth to Aria, her body unable to handle the stress.
"Your daughter isn't fully human, Vincent," Marcus says. "She's a sleeping werewolf. With the right spark, she could shift. And with her human brain and emotional control, she'd be the perfect hybrid."
Kael looks terrified. "You're talking about my mate. You're talking about hurting Aria."
"I'm talking about improving her," Marcus corrects. "Making her stronger. Better. Worthy of leading our pack into the future."
"She doesn't want to be 'improved,'" Kael growls.
"That's where Luna's magic comes in," Marcus says. "A simple spell to make her more... cooperative."
Luna finally finds her voice. "I won't do it. Not anymore. This has gone too far."
Marcus sighs like he expected this. "I was afraid you'd say that."
He makes a quick move, and two of his pack members grab Luna's arms. She struggles, but she's no match for werewolf power.
"Let her go!" Aria shouts.
"Soon," Marcus vows. "But first, we need to have a family discussion."
He turns to me, and his smile is the cruelest thing I've ever seen. "You see, Vincent, there's something else you don't know about that night twenty-two years ago. The night Maria died giving birth."
My heart stops. "What about it?"
"She didn't die from the birth," Marcus says softly. "She died because someone poisoned her. Someone who wanted to make sure the baby would be raised human instead of monster."
The world tilts around me. "No. No, that's not possible."
"The poison was in her medicine. The medicine you gave her every day during her pregnancy, because the doctor told you it would keep her healthy."
I can't breathe. " The doctor said... "
"The doctor was paid by someone who wanted Maria dead and Aria raised without knowing her true nature."
Kael steps forward, his face pale. "Who? Who paid him?"
Marcus's smile gets bigger. "The same person who's been playing both parts of this war for twenty years. The same person who planned for Emma to be in that swamp the night she 'died.' The same person who made sure Aria's car would crash exactly where Kael would find her."
"Stop talking in riddles," I snap. "Who is it?"
"Someone who's been very patient. Someone who's been waiting for exactly the right time to take control of both families."
That's when we hear slow clapping from the hallway.
"Very good, Marcus. Though you're spoiling all my secrets."
We all turn to see Detective Rosa Martinez walking into the room. But she's not wearing her cop uniform. She's dressed in black, and she's holding a gun that looks like it could stop a truck.
"Hello, everyone," she says cheerfully. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was murder."
Marcus actually looks surprised. "Rosa? What are you doing here? This wasn't part of the plan."
"Plans change, old friend," Rosa says. She aims her gun straight at Marcus. "Especially when you start improvising without telling me."
My mind is spinning. "You two are working together?"
"Were working together," Rosa corrects. "Past tense. Marcus got greedy. Started thinking he could run this business without me."
She pulls out her phone and shows us the screen. It's a video call, and on the other end is Emma. But she's not the monster we saw before. She looks cool, controlled, almost human again.
"Hello, Papa Vincent," Emma says sweetly. "Hello, Uncle Marcus. Rosa has been taking very good care of me."
"Emma?" Aria whispers. "How are you..."
"Stable?" Emma finishes. "Because Detective Martinez has been giving me very special meds. Medicine that helps me control the monster inside."
Rosa laughs. "Turns out werewolf-vampire hybrids are much more controllable when they're properly medicated. Who knew?"
"You've been controlling her," Kael realizes. "This whole time, you've been pulling the strings."
"Not controlling," Rosa says. "Directing. There's a difference."
She looks around the room at all of us. "You've all been so focused on your little family fight that you never noticed what was really happening. The supernatural society in New Orleans has been growing. Getting stronger. Getting organized."
"And you want to be in charge of it," I say.
"I already am in charge of it," Rosa corrects. "I've been building this network for fifteen years. Werewolves, vampires, witches, people who know the truth. All of them answer to me."
Marcus looks angry. "We had a deal."
"We did. But deals change when people start making their own plans." She points the gun at his chest. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out about your little mix experiment? About your plan to use Aria as a breeding stock?"
"Breeding stock?" Aria looks sick.
"Oh yes," Rosa says conversationally. "Marcus wanted to mate you with Kael and make a whole new generation of human-werewolf hybrids. A new species that he could control."
"But you have different plans," Kael says softly.
Rosa nods. "Much better plans. You see, I don't want to make new species. I want to join the ones that already exist. And for that, I need leaders that people will follow."
She looks straight at Aria. "I need a werewolf princess who demands respect from both humans and supernatural creatures. I need someone with royal blood from both sides."
"Aria isn't a princess," I say desperately.
"Oh, but she is," Rosa says with a smile. "Vincent, meet your daughter. Aria Castellano-Blackwood, daughter to both the human Castellano crime family and the werewolf Blackwood pack. The bridge between two worlds."
"That's impossible," Marcus snarls.
"Is it?" Rosa asks. "Maria Blackwood was your brother's daughter, wasn't she Marcus? That makes Aria your grand-niece. And Vincent, Maria never told you her real last name, did she? She let you think Santos was her maiden name."
The room spins around me. Everything I thought I knew about my life, about my daughter, about the war between our families... it's all been a lie.
"And now," Rosa says happily, "it's time for the real fun to begin."
She holds up a remote control device. "This button will release a gas into the air system. A gas that will force every inactive werewolf in the building to shift. Including Aria."
"No," Kael growls, starting to change.
"Yes," Rosa says, and hits the button.
Immediately, I hear a hissing sound from the vents above us. The air starts to smell sweet and strange.
Aria gasps, falling over in pain. "Something's wrong. Something's happening to me."
Her eyes start to glow gold.