Chapter 38

I quickly mind linked Ash to come to the holding cellars quietly. Dad and Matt followed me, looking over their shoulders every now and then to make sure we weren’t followed. Dad had separated the rogues so he could get information out of them. Roy still hadn’t said anything more to them and we needed information.

However, I had found a different way of getting information.

Ash was waiting for us at the entrance of the cellars.

“What’s going on? What’s with the secrecy?” He had concern written all over his face. Ash needed to be involved. If anything, he was my safety net.

We entered the cellars and I guided them towards the back. They had a rogue named Jeremy held up in a cellar right at the back. The rogue was sitting on a chair with his hands tied behind his back and his head slumped forward.

As soon as the warriors saw us, he got up and bowed.

“Open the cellar”

He bowed and opened the gate, letting us in.

“Jeremy, you awake?” I picked up a glass of water and walked over the the boy.

He lifted his head and slowly opened his eyes. I placed the glass on his lips and he greedily slurped down the water, emptying the glass.

“Why are we here helping this asshole?” Matt growled.

“Because this boy has information. I came down here two nights ago and struck a deal with him. He told me some valuable things and I think you should hear it”

Jeremy looked up at me and I smiled at him.

I had promised the safety of his family and him in return for his help. I opened his ropes and he rubbed his shoulders and wrists. Ash walked around and stood behind him. He was always my back up if interrogation went wrong.

“Tell them what you told me Jeremy,” I nodded, reassuring him.

“I ran away from home because my parents didn’t want to accept that I was gay. They wanted me to mate with a female and carry on the family name. So I packed my bags and left. I met a guy named Erik at a diner two towns away and he offered me a place to stay. He said he helped lots of other lost kids like me to find a place in this world. Once we abandon our family, we become rogues and he wanted to find a way to give us a better name. We weren’t feral, just lost.”

“Erik took me back to this massive boarding house where I met lots others just like me. Runaways, abandoned, orphaned or even just over the ways of our packs or families. That’s where I met Roy. I was told he was a powerful warlock and he could possess any body he wanted too. Everytime I saw him, he was residing in a different body.”

“We started receiving training on how to fight. Got given weapons and technics that others had picked up from their former packs. Erik and Roy had said they needed us to be strong so that when we fought for our freedom, we wouldn’t loose. They made us believe our fight was for good purposes. That they wanted rogues to be treated equally.”

“We were sent into packs as “lost kids” to find out information. Roy needed spell books and he needed us to find out where the packs stored their valuables. Sometimes we would steal it and run away, other times they used a little more force.”

“One day I walked past an office at the boarding house and overheard Erik and Roy talking to another man. The guy was saying that it was time to put his plan into action because The Queen was finally back. I had only seen his back at this stage but when I was first taken to that place, I was told that this uprising leader was a guy called Duke. I assumed that was him. We were scattered around Angel Falls so that we could keep an eye on everyone high ranked in this pack. We watched from a distance as Erik used Natalie to manipulate you guys.”

Matt growled and lunged for Jeremy. Dad quickly grabbed him and I pushed him out of the cellar and closed the gate. Ash started in place watching Jeremy. Last thing we needed was Jeremy bolting.

We had assumed that Erik was dead and Roy had magically possessed his body. But after listening to Jeremy’s story, it was obvious that Erik was alive. This meant Natalie was still not safe.

“Calm down Matt. This is important” I turned my attention back to Jeremy. He swallowed loudly but carried on.

“We were told Natalie was Erik’s sister but she was always locked in a room and was always unconscious. When they moved her in with Largo, we were told to keep an eye on them. Erik made it into the packhouse and everything was going fine until Olivia spotted him. She was his mate and because she was human, he could get away with staying away from her. But when he saw her here in Angel Falls, he lost his focus. Alex had started to detect something was wrong and then you guys found those files on Roy and Erik.”

“We were told everything had been erased which wasn’t the case. However, Duke always has a plan B. Keep in mind that Roy isn’t the only warlock helping Duke. He’s got witches and warlocks eating from the palm of his hands. We had already seen Alex at Clark’s house and Duke knew that it was a matter of time before you unmasked Erik. I was one of the rogues there that night when Alex got attacked by the lake. Erik was told to attack and we were there to extract him so that it looked like he fled since you had discovered his secret.”

“After that we went into hiding until Duke called to empty out the house Clark was living in. He was very angry that day. Erik had been send out to find some Sensei so that they could get more information on this legend that had great value. Erik had been gone for 2 weeks and then we heard that he got caught by a pack for trespassing somewhere out West. Duke had to go get him out and it was ruining his plans. He had to come up with an out so he could go find the Sensei himself. He said Alex will be so desperate for him when he came back that finding a way into the packhouse would be easy.”

“While we were emptying that house, it was the first time we got to see who Duke was” Jeremy looked up at me.

I turned away and closed my eyes.

I had already heard all this. I was so grateful I had numbed emotions. If I had heard all this with emotions, I would have burnt everything down trying to get revenge. It was after my conversation with Jeremy that I figured out how Clark’s kidnapping took place. I wasn’t just accusing Clark, I knew for sure that it was all a set up. A fake kidnapping. When Jeremy had taken the name of their leader, Kona almost took over and ran to rip him apart.

I took a deep breath in and waited for Jeremy to continue.

“Clark Miller is Duke. As I’ve now found out, his real name is Duke Johnson. He is the great grandson of banished Alpha Tim Johnson. I’m sure you all know who he is” Jeremy kept his voice down.

All three males growled loudly. Their growls were so loud it shock the cellars a little.

“Tim Johnson?! As in the asshole that slaughtered packs for power and caused the war between territories?!” Matt growled. He was holding the gate bars so tightly you could see his knuckles go white.

“You both need to calm down. Jeremy is scared as it is and you two will make matters worse” I stepped between Jeremy and my dad.

“Calm?! How can you even say that?! How are you so calm? He's been playing with your life this entire time! Using Erik or Roy or even himself to manipulate you Alex! He’s taken away your right to be happy and have a Mate. He’s  messing with your ability to trust a mate! How aren’t you mad?!” Dad was furious. He had his hands clenched into a fist and I could see the nerves on his forehead throbbing.

“Dad, you forgot I don’t feel pain or fear. I definitely don’t feel any remorse for Clark. Yes, I’m annoyed but in a way this is good. His plan backfired on him the moment I stepped into Shiloh’s shop to make my pain go away. He thought I would sit around moping for my lost love. What he didn’t realise was that I’m not that stupid. I’m so much stronger than he gives me credit for. I had to move on and I was going to do it one way or another.”

“I knew something was up when Leo came to me with Clark’s reports. Clark had told us he was a half blood. On a blood test our bloods are so up with irregularities thus why we don’t go to normal hospitals. Clark’s blood should have shown some amount of human blood but it didn’t. His blood work was as irregular as ours. That meant he lied about being a half blood. I brushed it off thinking he had a past he didn’t want to tell us about. What made me even more suspicious was the way he was ignoring me.”

Dad was huffing and puffing and Matt was still holding the gates tightly. Ash had his hands folded across his chest and they all had murderous looks on their faces.

“Dad, you were the one that said that because Clark still bears my mark, everything I do or don’t do will still hurts him. So, wouldn’t he want to be around me? Regardless of my numbed sentiments, shouldn’t he crave my touch especially after spending 6 months away from me, locked up and tortured?”

Dad’s expression didn’t change but he nodded.

“Well he's been avoiding so much, you wouldn’t even think he was my mate. So, when he had his concussion yesterday, I helped get him on the clinic bed and purposefully touched his mark. The boy didn’t even flinch. There was no reaction at all. There were puncture marks on his neck, but they aren’t mine. His reaction made me think of what Shiloh said about the situation I had with Erik. Magic was used to make everything seem and feel real but it actually wasn’t real.”

“After my chat with Jeremy, I went to see Shiloh. She explained that even though she has a protective spell on me, there are spells out there much stronger and effective. Jeremy mentioned that they had stolen spell books and Duke had lots of witches and warlocks helping him. Shiloh said it would have been very easy for Duke to create an illusion of me marking him even though I didn’t. I may have slept with him but that would have been all.”

“What the fuck?! So he's taken advantage of you and satisfied his sexual needs while you’ve been magically blinded! That’s disgusting.” Ash growled.

“Ash, trust me, Kona isn’t very happy about this. I had been saving my virtue for my mate. My true mate. I feel violated, used and I am very angry but right now isn’t the time to react irrationally. We have to be smart about this and use this head start to our advantage”

“Alex, he has a head start. This may be a little bump on his plans, but trust me, he has much bigger plans. He obviously didn’t plan on Roy getting captured but Erik is still out there.” Jeremy looked tensed. He was very worried that if Duke found out he had spoken to us, he would go after his family.

“Don’t worry, I figured that bit out after we spoke the other day. That’s why Nicholas is here” I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at me.

“Wait, you called Nicholas?” Dad clenched his jawed tighter. He didn’t have a problem with Nicholas but he had a problem with that shameless flirting we did.

“Chill dad. It’s not like that. When Jeremy said that Erik was caught trespassing in a pack somewhere out West, I called Nicholas. If there was a trespasser, Nicholas would have been informed because they record all those issues just like I do with my territory. I wanted to know who got Erik released and what details were noted in the documentation. Nicholas offered to bring the paper work down and help us.”

“He was angry when I told him what was happening and he said he wanted to be here to make sure I was okay. Don’t you think that’s sweet?”

Dad rolled his eyes and nodded.

“I still ask the Gods why they didn’t make Nicholas and you mates. You two are definitely compatible.” Dad confessed. He sighed and rubbed his face. He had finally calmed down a little.

“That honestly is the least of my concern right now. I have bigger problems. Shall we go inside and see what Nicholas’s documents say? He said he had another surprise for me and promised it wasn’t hidden in his pants” I laughed while Ash, dad and Matt snorted.

“What about me?” Jeremy asked.

“You don’t have to worry. Alpha Donnell’s boys will be here later this evening. You will go with them under the pretence that you’re getting moved for interrogation. You’ll be safe there. I’ve send a team to keep an eye on your family. Any issues and they will intervene. I really appreciate your help Jeremy, I will keep my promise. Don’t worry” I gave him a tight smile and rubbed his arm. He gave me a smile and sat back down on his chair.

“Alright. Let’s go have some breakfast and chat with Nicholas. Remember, keep it normal. We don’t know anything and are oblivious of Clark’s secret identity.”

“I want to break that guys face!” Ash snapped.

“Well you can’t. Not right now anyway. Dad, shall we?”

My old man nodded. He looked like he had aged 10 years. I knew it would break his heart to hear all this, but if I wanted his help, he needed to know.