103 - Masks falling
103 - Masks falling
Josh
“My love, your phone is ringing!”
Sarah’s sweet voice interrupts my sleep. Who could it be at this time of the night? Worried that something bad might have happened, I receive the call, just to hear the familiar old serpent almost whispering.
“Come to the pack house, NOW” he says and hangs up on me.
Sarah is looking at me with a mixture of worry and curiosity.
“Go back to sleep. I won’t be late,” I tell her, completely unsure of the truth in my words. Whatever forced Marco to invite me there after midnight can’t be simple.
Less than half an hour later, I’ve already arrived at the front gate of the building that brings back so many memories I’d rather forget. The guards at the entrance inform me to head to the Alpha’s office. I didn’t know Nicholas was back in town. Then, if Nicholas is here, where the hell is Nel? In my brief encounter with William, after his sudden departure and prompt return, he said very little. His rage was palpable, but he wasn’t willing to share its cause with me. Nonetheless, from his words, I got the impression that these two would stick together for a while.
Weird, since she spent so much time covering her tracks from him. I guess our princess has some skeletons in her closet too, after all. Could I blame her? No, despite the bitterness of this realization, I can’t. We’ve hidden quite a lot from her, and even though it was her parents’ choice that I simply followed, I dread the moment the full truth will be revealed.
The door opens before I knock, and a shocked gasp leaves my mouth, before I can mask my distress for the identity of the person before me.
“What is going on here?” I ask with caution.
Linda steps aside for me to enter. Nicholas is not there, and the composition of the team inside is at least alarming. Matt’s piercing glare meets my own as I can’t help eyeing from Marco to Linda and back. Nick’s other young Commander is also there, close to Matt. The déjà vu of the scene is too strong, and it requires a hell load of control to return to the present after it.
Flashback
I ran up the stairs all the way to Steven’s office, wondering what got him that worked up. Instead of him, a stunning young woman opens the door for me. Surprised, I take a step back and stand at the threshold, staring at her. For a couple of moments, I try to decode what is going on. My eyes move erratically from Steven to her, and vice versa. If Alex wasn’t present too, this would look too weird. Perhaps we’re all being unfair to him, but given his father’s many escapades with different women, we kinda expect the apple to not fall far away from the tree. Decoding my suspicions, Steven gifts me with his most unyielding glare.
Before he can reprimand me for my unfounded assumptions, I hear footsteps behind me.
”Alpha Steven, I come as your brother’s representative. What is it you wanted?”
Charles’ Beta’s voice fills the room, only to be followed by a thick silence. The eerie young woman is staring at him, and so is he. All of us recalculate the situation when a low growl from the depth of his throat shakes the place.
”Mine!”
The woman, whose aura is as white as the first light of a frosty winter day, takes slow, hesitant steps in his direction, her eyes full of sadness. She’s almost crying. Her fingers reach out for him, attempting to caress his cheek. He’s swift to capture her hand and trap it there, while he’s taking a deep whiff of her scent with unspoken longing.
‘Who the hell is she, Steve?’ I mind-link him.
‘The new Head of the Coven of the North.’ he replies.
Oookay… Talking about shit… The one who’s supposed to help us locate Steven’s lost half sister in the Golden Moon is the mate of the aforementioned pack’s Beta. Why can’t, even just for once, a mission finish simply, with no complications whatsoever?
Steven’s discreet cough disrupts the awkward silence.
“Beta Marco, this is our friend and ally, Linda. She happens to be visiting for a few days and we were hoping my brother could extend the invitation for the Silver Moon celebrations to her too. You realize it wouldn’t be polite to leave a guest alone here, when all of us are over at your pack lands. Don’t you agree?”
“With all due respect, Linda here looks like an amazing young woman, but she’s a…” he begins to say, but is quickly interrupted.
“... A witch. I think we all understand your point, Beta Marco. But aren’t we all children of the Moon Goddess herself? Why can’t we celebrate her special day all together? I’m sure your clan will have already invited some of our sisters, isn’t it so?” she says in a sweet tone, as fake as it gets, flashing him her most stunning, wide smile.
She’s a strikingly beautiful woman and the bizarre way her powers dance around her makes her even more exotic. To my surprise, Marco has totally snapped out of whatever trance their bond had previously placed him in. His voice when he answers is as cold and calculated as always.
“Our long-time allies cannot be missing from our guest list. It’s not the same for strange witches that our pack is not familiar with. I’ll see what I can do, but if I were you, I wouldn’t put my hopes too high. You know Charles at least as well as I do. And now, if you don’t have any further issues to discuss, I’d like to take my leave. Pleased to meet you, Miss Linda…” he says and exits without waiting for permission from Steven.
As soon as he’s out of sight, the young woman finally collapses in the nearest chair and bursts out in uncontrollable sobs. I never imagined witches would be so emotional about their mate and his silent rejection. Maybe I was wrong. Who knows?
“I’m sorry it had to go this way, my dear. Who would have known? Can I still count on you?”
“Give her a minute, damnit, Steve!” Alex says, leaving the wall where he was standing and moving to her side to offer her comfort.
Taking in a deep breath, she brushes her tears with a fierce decisiveness and attempts to smile at us. It doesn’t come any close to her eyes, but the words coming out of her mouth are what our Alpha would want to hear.
“Thank you for your understanding, gentlemen. I’ve been preparing for this all my life. No matter what happens, we can’t afford to fail, or too many sacrifices will have been for naught. We must reap what our ancestors planted and hid. Let’s find her and bring her out of there.”
End of Flashback
“Take a seat, Josh. It’s time to get the skeletons out of the closet,” she says, pointing to a nearby chair.
“What on earth are you doing here, Linda? Where’s Nel?”
“Why, running off with her mate, of course… Can you believe it? You were right on that, after all. The apple never falls too far away from the tree. Now, will you do us the favor to join us while we explain everything to these two gentlemen whose intentions are for sure to be trusted?”
Amusement dances in her eyes as she studies my struggle to connect the dots. When realization hits me, its blow is enormous and painful. It was there from the first moment. Right in front of me and I failed to even notice. I was too deep in my effort to regulate the events that I neglected to see the signs; her hesitation, his fierce hunting, her faith in him and his request after Greg’s attempted suicide…
I stagger to the side and slump in the nearest chair, hiding my face in my hands.
“I suggest you start talking before I lose my patience,” Matt says with an unmistakable emission of Alpha authority. Gone is the usual calm determination. He’s been through hell lately. It’s easy to tell just by a single glance at him, and his last piece of sanity is hanging on a thin rope.
“What do you want to know, Matt?” I ask.
“Everything… No more secrets and half truths. What happened back then and what are we up against? We can never fight back effectively unless we learn the full truth.”
I nod my head and take the drink Marco offers me. A long night it’s gonna be indeed…
Unknown
“What do you want?” he says with his anger seething.
“Easy now, Alpha! No need to get all worked up. I thought we were friends,” I say, deeply amused.
The almighty Alpha William looks at me like a scared mouse.
“We’re anything but friends…” he spits.
“Let’s not lose our focus and allow feeble arguments on terms to misguide us, shall we? We had a deal and you’re not keeping your part of it. So what will it be?”
“What would you have me do? You had to fucking go and use snipers… We had the agreement that you wouldn’t hurt her. First, you activate an Alpha’s guilt over not protecting his mate. He wreaks chaos, rummaging through the entire country to locate her, so much so that I spent months trying to keep them apart and persuade her he’s not suitable for her. And now, when he’s already found her and their bond is getting stronger, you expect me to magically undo it. Aren’t you the ones who master witchcraft? You do it. You’d be doing both of us a favor after all,” he says.
“Well, yeah, that reaction with the snipers might have been a bit exaggerated. Karen’s fury and sadness were explosive. I gave you the antidote, though, didn’t I? Our little abomination wouldn’t be on a road trip with her sweetheart if it wasn’t for me. Would she now?” I say, laughing out loud.
“Don’t call her that. You know it annoys me. She’s a magnificent creature and deserves only the best.”
“I am really curious to see how this magnificent creature with all these wild powers running loose will react once she finds out you rejected her best friend, but none of you deemed it important enough to bring up. Oh, and not to mention your motivation to have her produce you an heir for the Black Moon so that you can take this rejection back and live with him at her expense. I’m sure she’ll consider it for her own good that you meant to treat her as an ovulating machine.”
“You make it sound so cheap. It’s nothing like that and you know it.”
“Of course I do, you naïve boy! But it’s all a matter of perspective and if I present her with this one at this point when her darkness has almost taken over, I can’t wait to see what she will do.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” he says, and I raise my eyebrow. An uncontrollable wave of laughter takes over me, so hysterical that I’m having a difficulty in regaining control. I’ve spent so much time with wolves during the past decades, but they never seize to amaze me with their lack of guile sometimes!
“Really now? Is that the best you could come up with?”
His sinking shoulders are all the signs I need to confirm my victory. He’s got too much to lose, and he knows it.
“What do you want me to do?” he utters with defeat evident in his voice.
“Not too much. Just enlighten her on what everyone seems to hide from her. That she still has a blood relative alive and how everyone hid from her that her dear grandma left a child behind in order to save her precious mother…”