When I entered the study, I gasped, my heart slamming to a stop. For sitting in one of the red velvet chairs along with Alpha Archie, Beta Mason, and Gamma Riley, was Ethan! "Oh my God," I whispered, stunned, tears filling my eyes.
Ethan rose in one swift movement, and almost before I quite knew what was going on, he had me wrapped in his arms. I closed my eyes, listening to the steady thump of his heart, and I held on tightly, fearing I'd lose him if I let go for even a second. He didn't seem exactly keen on letting go either, and when he did, after several blissful moments, he did so reluctanctly. But he kept a firm grip on my hand as he led me over to where the other males waited. Once I was safely installed in a chair, Ethan pulled his chair closer so he could take my hand in a near painful grip. I didn't care; the pain meant bliss to me, so happy was I to see Ethan again.
"Well, that proves it to me," Gamma Riley said, nodding.
"Proves what?" I asked, confused.
It was Beta Mason who supplied the answer. "Ethan was telling us how, the night before that ill-starred fight, you and your friends bonded with the rest of the pack. Seeing the way you and Ethan all but ran into each other's arms without hesitation proves to me that your friendship with him, and indeed the rest of the Whitewaters, was genunine."
I nodded. "It was Alpha Simon who kept us all apart, at least until I became Luna," I said. "I guess he didn't want the rest of the pack mingling so-called 'lesser species', but he couldn't say boo to me once I became Luna."
Alpha Archie nodded. "Simon and Samuel represented the core of the corruption going on within the Whitewater pack," he said. "You know the story all too well, Stephanie, but there are some further things you need to know."
He sat back, steepling his fingers together. "You already know how obsessed Simon's father was with maintaining a pure bloodline," he said. "It was why he objected so to your stepmother, because her mother was 'inferior', being from the Silver Stones pack. But it goes much deeper than that. Your stepmother was in fact a foster, having lost her true father in an unrelated attack. Her mother was already with cub at the time she was found by Simon's father, so he took her in, and raised Dorothy as his own. But he was never kind to her, since in his eyes she was nothing more than a mutt. So he made her an omega.
"However, he had a better idea. Since Dorothy was of no relation to him, he decided instead to mate her to his son. Dorothy did not take to this well at all. She'd already been abused all her life, and when she found out she was to be mated to Simon, she rebelled. Naturally, her rebellion was not taken well, and she was severely beaten to the point of unconciousness."
I shuddered, and Ethan gripped my hand even tighter.
Alpha Archie smiled sadly. "Simon, of course, didn't like her any more than his father did, seeing her as a half-breed. But he did his duty, and Dororthy conceived. She refused to carry the cub to term, however, and when she was found out to have aborted the cub, she was beaten even more severely, this time almost to death. Only her foster father intervened, and that was only because he cared more for getting a cub of more 'pure' blood.
"But Dorothy refused to stay any longer, and she fled, severing her ties with the Whitewater pack. Your pack found her, and the rest you know.
"However, there is one more piece of information you need to know, and it will not be easy." Alpha Archie took a deep breath. "Your mother 'officially' died in a car accident. That was not the case. She was, in fact, the half-sister of Simon through another 'inferior' female, also from Silver Stones. But your grandmother had had the good sense to flee when she was with cub, and she fled to the safety of the Greenfields pack, where she gave birth to your mother."
I shivered. "So she was murdered?" I said in a small voice.
"Yes," Alpha Archie said sadly. "Your grandfather didn't want her living a free life with another pack, since she was his daughter, and therefore, he had rights to her in his mind. It is why Simon referred to you as a half-breed, but also why he was so obsessed with you. Doreah was a means to an end for him - and you can easily guess what that end was - but when she escaped, he instead turned his attention on you."
"Oh God," I murmured, shuddering. "That's why he wanted me isolated from my friends; so he could make me rely on him entirely."
Ethan now took up the story. "James was the only one to see it was wrong," he said, and I blinked, surprised.
"But he hated me," I protested.
"Actually, no he didn't," Beta Mason corrected me. "James hated the situation, but not you. You see, the day he came to the packhouse for your half-sister's shifting, he recognised you as his mate. He went to Simon to ask you to be made Gamma so he could get closer to you but..." He shrugged. "He'd been rejected by the female he thought was to be his mate, so he closed himself off to all love. It's why he was so cold towards you, and after you effectively rejected him, he decided he was better off alone."
My face paled as my mind went back to that night in the pool; he hadn't been dominating me. He'd been trying to claim me! And as I sifted through the details of that fateful first kiss, I realised that, deep down, under my panic and fear of drowning, there'd been a core of molten heat desperate to be released - a core which should have met with the same core of heat at the centre of James' being!
I gasped as I came back to the present. "Oh god," I groaned. "Then he was trying to protect me." It didn't excuse his behaviour, but it did go a long way towards explaining it. And it also explained the hurt I'd felt from him when I'd rejected him the day after our one - and probably only kiss.
Ethan squeezed my hand. "He didn't like what Simon had planned for you," he said, "not just because you were his mate, but also because he views incest as wrong. And Simon's was the only family to practice it. The rest of the pack didn't agree with it, hence why they're not as, well, ax-crazy as he is. He comes from a long line of incestuous breeding, as does Samuel, unfortunately. And when Simon succumbed to his injuries, he vowed he'd make you suffer, and carry on Simon's original directive of placing an incestuous cub in you, to carry on the bloodline."
I groaned. "Is he Simon's brother?" I demanded, revolted.
"Half-brother," Ethan corrected me. "But just as ax-crazy, if not worse. His parents were brother and sister, as were their parents, and so on."
"Which brings us to the now," Alpha Archie said. "Samuel is currently being held below for his crimes against you, and several other misdeeds. You are needed as witness, and I need you to please tell the truth of all you suffered under his hands. It will be the only way he can be truly brought to justice."
I shivered. But despite my old fears coming back, I felt new determination creep in. It wasn't just the determination to get Samuel put away for good, but also the determination to reunite with James and make things right. Of course, he had a lot to make right with me, not the other way around, but I knew I could at least start the process and get us on the right track. That gave me the courage I needed.
"I'll do it," I said. "And thank you, Alpha Archie."
"Call me Archie," he said, smiling. "You are, and always will be our friend."
I blinked and then smiled back, tears of gratitude filling my eyes. "Thank you, Archie."
"Hey, don't forget us," Mason said with a wink, and I laughed as I hugged first him, then Archie, and finally Riley, all of whom hugged me back just as warmly. "Never let it be said the Windsong pack doesn't look after its own," Mason added, once the hugging was done, and my eyes all but bugged out of my head.
"What?!" I said, poleaxed.
Archie chuckled. "We're a bit deceitful," he admitted. "But we didn't want to run the risk of you being caught by Samuel in some way. He may have had a link to you, and it wasn't until today, when you finally let your fear go, that we could determine you were in fact clear of him, save for the nasty words he threw at you."
"Bloody hell," I muttered. "You are all a bunch of cheeky sods."
This got all of them roaring with laughter, and after a moment, Ethan and I found ourselves joining in.
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