Who the hell are you?

Who the hell are you?
"Braydon and I should shift from now on - just incase. I have a bad feeling about this." Malachi whispered and Braydon nodded his head silently in agreement. The boys stripped down to their underwear and then froze.

"What is it?" Amora hushed, looking concerned at their confusion before looking around the room to see what she had missed.

"We can't shift." Malachi whispered, looking horrified and confused all at once. "I don't like this."

"What do you mean that you can't shift?" Amora asked, wide eyed and terrified.

The sound of creaking made all of us snap our heads towards the door, as an old man stepped out chuckling.

"This is an ancient, sacred space." He announced in a course voice. The old man looked to be around 80yrs old and was dressed in a brown robe with a gold belt tying it together. He had a few grey hairs left on his head and looked like he had seen better days. "Get dressed boys, I've been waiting for you all."

The old man disappeared back behind the door and Malachi and Braydon quickly pulled their clothes back on, glancing at Amora and I and silently willing us to stay behind them.

I gasped as we stepped through the door and into the most beautiful amethyst, crystal cavern that sparkled from the dimly lit candles placed strategically around small altars that surrounded a few church pews and lead up to one large altar at the back. It was the most beautiful room I'd ever seen.

"There's one of you missing." The old man stated, furrowing his eyebrows. "Go and fetch her. She's important."

"I'd feel more comfortable if we left Grace out of this." Braydon growled wearily, knowing exactly who he was talking about and not wanting to put his mate in danger.

"She comes from a long line of protectors. She needs to be here for this." The old man challenged and nodded towards the door.

"Go and get Grace." I smiled, trying to comfort Braydon. I knew that the others were weary, but I felt nothing but peace. I felt like I belonged in this place and I was starting to feel impatient since I needed answers.

Braydon shot me a nervous look and headed towards the door, racing back up the stone stairs at full speed as the door to the cavern slammed shut behind him.

"Who are you?" Malachi asked and the old man chuckled.

"How about we wait a few minutes." The old man chuckled again as if he was talking to an old friend. "Take a seat." He waved his hand towards the pews and we all walked over to sit down.

A few minutes later, banging started against the door and the old man chuckled again as he walked over to let Braydon and a nervous looking Grace in who promptly came and sat with us.

"The door only opens from the inside, from the outside - only a protector or Aurelia here can open it." The old man explained in response to Braydons glare. "Did you let Grace open it, or did you just try and barge in?" He continued and Braydon looked sheepishly at Grace, which gave us all the answer we needed.

"Who are you?" Malachi repeated, and the old man sighed.

"My name is Tarquin Selene - however above ground our family lineage name is Winters."

Our group collectively looked at Grace who went pale and couldn't take her eyes off the man.

"Yes, my dearest Grace - We're related. Your Aunt Rowena was my daughter." Tarquin said softly to Grace.

"The Landow Pack has attempted to eradicate our family for years to steal this stone and its power. Even going as far as building their pack over the top of this cavern, in order to try and get into it and claim it as their own." He continued, "But they quickly realised that they weren't going to be able to open the door, even though their descendants come from our lineage as traitors."

"How did you know that we were coming?" Amora questioned, cocking her head to the side in curiousity.

"It's written, by Selene the Moon Goddess herself." He answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and turned back to Grace.

"Our Ancestor, Chandra, strayed from the path of protection and wanted the power for herself. Our other Ancestors at the time quickly realised her intentions and stopped her, our pack back then was only those of family and the mates we bought back with us from our travels, but Selene herself stopped that branch from being able to enter any further. We had kept this secret hidden for centuries, however with our own family members turning against us - the word of this power soon escaped from our small commune and we were continuously attacked." He paused for a moment.

"It was the Chandra and her mate - who eradicated most of us and built the Landow Pack how it is today. Holding the secret within these walls again, ensuring that they were the only ones who could try and claim the stone as their own and the rest of us slipped into the shadows... Protecting it from a distance."

"So my Aunt knew? Did my Mother and Father know as well?" Grace asked, leaning towards the old man and drinking in every bit of information about her heritage that she could.

"Oh yes, Your Mother was my niece and I loved her dearly. Your Father though... we always respected our mates by swearing them to hold our secret, however his loyalties laid with the Landow Pack." Tarquin paused to let Grace process what he'd just said.

"Your Father sold Rowena out to Cassius after she worked her way up into a Nanny role, so that she could sneak in and out of this Cavern without being detected and she was banished from the pack after relentless torture to try and get her to open up the door. He never sold out your Mother though, even though he knew Cassius wanted to get his hands on a protector - she was still his mate and he would have felt her pain and fallen with her. He was a selfish bastard that one." He carried on, again giving time for Grace to process.

"Why didn't they just kill her then?" I asked, confused as to why they would just let her go.

"They had hoped that she would have led them to more protectors, one's who would be more easily swayed to help them with their cause - which is what she ended up doing with poor Kenna. After Kenna was born, your parents weren't in a great spot - your Mother hated your Father for what he had done to her cousin and as soon as Kenna was born, she got both girls out of Landow, thinking that they would be safer with Rowena than they would be in the wolfs den." He answered, Grace looked like she was on the verge of tears and my heart wrenched at the pain she would be feeling for this betrayal right now.

"Your Mother passed, unable to keep holding on to the pain and your Father soon followed. Then the Landow Pack swooped in on Rowena one day - Grace was out of the house, but Kenna was there and they immediately took her away. She was a strong girl though and even though she didn't understand what was going on since both girls had been kept in the dark, she still fought them and refused to open the door. Rowena passed before that, stupidly coming back to Landow to find Kenna - but since they no longer had any use for her, they killed her on sight. Eventually by dumb luck, Atticus took her out without knowing who he actually took and she passed on - leaving them more desperate than ever which led them to their demise." He finished, and Grace was sobbing into Braydons shoulder as he tried to comfort her.

"Ho-How c-could my Father do something like that." She cried, but no one had any answer for her as her sobs echoed around us.

"Tell us about the stone, where do the rest of us fit into this?" Amora asked softly, with tears in her own eyes.

Tarquin smiled sadly at Grace before turning to the rest of us to begin another story.