Chapter 39 — Questions and Answers

Cade’s POV:

Dad stared at Lexus. “You’re what? Is this a joke? No one have been true mates in centuries.”

Lexus looked at me. “Tell him.”

There wasn’t much I could say because there was no way for me to confirm it. “Aqua thinks they are too, she said it feels obvious. They were planning on rejecting each other under the full moon during the ball but… yeah.”

Dad sighed. “No one can know you’re helping us and when we find her you can’t stick around.”

“I know.” Lexus shrugged. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to, but he was able to stay away from her for this long.

After what he did, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to trust him. “She’s not with Mae and she’s not with her mother’s family.” I looked down at my phone and Sadia was calling me. She had been calling me all day, but I haven’t got the chance to answer. I sent her to voicemail again and I got a text from her: It’s an emergency, I have to tell you something. Meet me at the pack house as soon as possible.

“I tried looking in the human world, but the problem is it’s hard for me to cover a lot of ground quickly while having to keep hidden.” He explained.

Dad reached into his pocket. “We have a fix for that. The castle mage gave us these rings to make us appear invisible when we shift.”

“I can go with you guys for a look in the outside world now, but I can’t be gone for long.” I texted Sadia back: Does tonight sound okay?

Sadia responded: Yeah, that’s fine.

We shifted into our dragon forms and went without the rest of the guards. We couldn’t let them see that we were with Lexus. When we got their dad gave Lexus a ring and we flew low. 

After a while Lexus landed in the woods close to Mae’s family’s home. We all shifted back. “She’s here.”

“This was the first place we looked when we came to this world a week ago. How’d we miss her? Are you sure?” Dad asked. We followed Lexus to the cottage we checked at before. “Mae’s old mentor Betty lives here, she said she hadn’t seen Aqua and that she’d let me know if she does.”

Lexus shrugged. “Do you believe her?” 

Dad didn’t look sure. “Not completely, no.”

“You guys head back because I think it’ll be worse if we’re all here. She knows you two probably want to take her back.” Lexus was trying to get us to leave, and I didn’t trust him.

I walked to the door. “No, were not leaving.” I knocked on the door and an elderly woman answered.

“Who…” She stopped when she saw my father behind us. “Konn, I told you she’s not here.” She tried to close the door, but Lexus stopped it. “Her scent is strong inside.” 

“Oh great, you must be Lexus.” She opened the door. “Aqua is gone.” She admitted. “She left a few days ago.” We walked in to make sure. “Sure, come in,” she said sarcastically.

We looked around. Now I could tell Aqua’s scent was lingering. Lexus must really be her mate from smelling it from so far away. Why him of all people? My sister deserved better. “Where’d she go?”

Betty looked at me. “I didn’t ask.” Neither her nor Mae cared enough to ask. “She’s a capable young woman who none of you need to worry about. It’s beyond my knowledge why you’d even want to take her back to that place. It was killing her.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Dad said while staring some enchanted jewelry. 

“She was sick, blood running down her eyes when she tried to use her abilities, migraines, low energy, and a broken heart. She was depressed and physically weak. She was healthy when she left because I cared for her. She tried telling your king and queen, but they didn’t care. They just wanted to exploit her.” Mae said a similar thing about being overworked. Aqua looked terrible but I assumed it was because she missed Lexus and wasn’t taking care of herself. In reality it was because of her workload. “I don’t want her being worked to death and neither does her mother.” She looked at Dad and Lexus. “You both shouldn’t either, none of you should.”

Dad shook his head. “It’s not that simple. If she would have told me I could have done something.” Maybe she shouldn’t have had to tell us. I shouldn’t have tried to force anything out of her. “Maybe she tried to tell me…” He had come to the realization.

Lexus left but we didn’t. “You can take one of those.” Betty said to Dad. “I noticed the enchanted jewelry were catching your eye. They belonged to Mae, and she enchanted them.” She gestured to the display box next to them. “And Aqua enchanted those.”

Dad walked away from the display cases. “I’m fine. Thanks for your help, we’re going to go.”

I followed Dad out of the house. “You would have taken one if it weren’t for me being there, right?”

“Let’s focus on finding your sister Cade.” Dad was avoiding the question. “I thought you forgave me.”

I thought I did too but seeing Lexus took me a few steps back. Surprisingly, Lexus was still around, just waiting for us. “Let me know when you’re ready to search somewhere else. I’m obviously helping.” He was right, we wouldn’t have even known Aqua was here if not for him.

Dad nodded. “Lexus… if we find Aqua. If you really are mates, I don’t expect you to stay away. Leave with her and don’t come back.”

“What?” I questioned.

Dad looked at me. “I don’t want her to be worked to death Cade. I’m not sure if I really could get them to lighten up on her workload. I’m not as close to the king as I used to be. I care about her.” I cared about her to. “If the moon goddess chose for them to be together, I trust her. I trust what Betty said about Aqua even if she lied to me before. I especially trust Mae because she’s Aqua’s mother.” I couldn’t argue against that.

We went back to the hidden world and Lexus parted ways with us. I went to the pack house and met Sadia in her room. “So, what’s the emergency.”

Sadia looked nervous. “Ugh this is so weird, Tam offered to be here when I told you but that might have been weirder.” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant, I just found out a few days ago that I’m pregnant. I made an appointment with the packs doctor, and I’ll find out how far along I am soon.”

“You’re pregnant…?” I wasn’t sure how to react. “You’re pregnant and it’s mine or it’s not mine?” My heart was pounding.

Sadia shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t know it could be yours, but it could be you know who.” Lexus’. “We had sex two weeks before I had sex with you so if I’m around three weeks it’s yours but if I’m more than four it’s his” She covered her hands with her face. “I don’t know what to do.”

I’m not sure what she expected from me. “I’ll be here no matter who’s it is or what you want to do with it, Sadia.”

She moved her hands and looked at me. “You’re serious? You don’t have to do that Cade. I know it’s a lot especially if it’s not yours.”

I sat next to her on her bed and hugged her. “I want to be with you Sadia. I thought you liked how slow we were going but if you want to be with me then that’s what I’ve wanted this whole time.”

The next day we got called into the king and queen's office and my father explained to them her last known whereabouts. “I don’t think we should be looking for her anymore, it’s clear she doesn’t want to willingly be Hannah’s adviser. We can’t force her to work here, she was suffering.” Dad was doing the right thing. 

The King nodded. “We agree but we still need her to be found. We met with the pack alpha yesterday and the sixth stone exists.” I heard very little about the mythical sixth stone. He looked at me. “How would you like to be adviser to Hannah as Queen and the new holder?”

“How would that be possible?”

“With the sixth stone.” Father said. “It’s a transfer stone. It’s said to be able to transfer any abilities from one person to another. Even holder abilities… we can’t take Aqua’s powers from her.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want them. If she volunteers, will you accept our offer Cade?” The Queen asked.

“I think so… I need more time to think about it,” I said.

“Okay one last thing, one of the guards spotted you with Lexus, now what’s that about?” The King asked.

That night I slept in Grays room with him. He had an extra bed in his room. “Hey.” Gray whispered. “Are you awake?”

“Hey.” I whispered. 

“I miss Aqua…”

“Me too Gray.”

“I want her to come back now.”

“Me too Gray.”

“She said we’d finish the movie… how are we going to do that now? She promised.” He sounded like he was going to cry.

When Gray went to sleep, I turned the tv off and everything was so quiet that I could hear my parents. “Lynn, I don’t want to fight with you about this anymore, it’s been more than two months since you found out about my affair.”

“I know but it still bothers me. Just answer a few questions and we’ll be down with it.” Mom said.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Dad was against it.

“Do you love me?” That was her first question.

“Yes.”

“Okay… Do you love Mae?” That was her second question. “I’ll know if you lie because of our marks.”

“What’s the point of any of this Lynn? I love you, you’re my wife and we have a family.”

“Do you…?” She sniffled. “Do you love her more than you love me?” That was her third and last question. I heard nothing but silence. “Answer the fucking question Konn!” 

I was afraid my mother’s yelling would wake up Gray, but he was a deep sleeper. “Let’s go to sleep.” Dad said instead.

“Answer it… answer it…” I heard her heavy breathing. “Answer it or I’m leaving.”

“No.” Dad said. “I love you more Lynn.”

I could only hear my mother sobbing. There was silence for a while, and I was relived. I was afraid this was it, but the questions stopped. I thought everything was going to be okay until my mother whispered, “You’re lying…”

“Lynn, I chose you over her.” Dad said in defense. “Nothing else has to matter.”

“That’s not enough for me. I Lynn Andrews reject you, Konain Andrews.”

It was hard for me to accept what I heard. For the twenty years I’ve been alive my parents always had a loving relationship. Now they weren’t in one at all.

I heard a door slam then I opened the door and walked in. I saw my father on his knees holding his shoulder that was now blank where his mark used to be. I could tell it was painful. “I’m sorry Cade.” He slowly stood up.

“You don’t have to apologize to me.” 

Dad shook his head. “I do. I was still seeing Mae up until she ended things a few weeks ago. I didn’t see her often, but I saw her a few times a year. I know it was horrible of me, but I loved her.”

Now he was getting what he deserved. “You didn’t have to tell me that. You only have to worry about Gray. I think I understand now.” I might be a father myself soon, so it was easier to understand. My father wasn't knowingly risking his family. He was trying to satisfy his own needs and ours. He wasn’t going to let Gray be taken from him. He really was only risking his relationship with our mother and why would that matter if he really loved Mae more? I don’t know if I would be able to stay away from Sadia if I already had a family. Love makes you do terrible things. What Lexus did to me wasn’t for love but what Aqua did to Sadia was.