Chapter 21 - The secret under the floor boards.

LENA REALLY WANTED to know what was written in the books that were safely tucked away underneath her, but something told her that she shouldn’t. She wanted to rebuild her relationship with Rebecca, and if she was going to do that, she had to wait until Rebecca told her she could read them. Lying back down, she closed her eyes.

The door to her prison burst open and Alaric glared at her before scanning the room. It was clear that he was looking for Rebecca. It was also clear that he either told Rebecca not to come in here again or she didn’t tell him she was coming to see Lena. Without a word he slammed the door shut and she heard his footsteps retreat in the direction of Rebecca’s room.

ALARIC STORMED TO REBECCA’S room. One of the guards saw her removing some books from the library and he wanted to know what the hell she was up to. If she really wanted the council to know everything, why would she be hiding something?

He found Rebecca in her room reading and he sighed as he took a seat beside her on her bed. She denied having taken anything from the library, which put Alaric in a very difficult position. He knew his guards were telling the truth, and that his little sister was lying, but he couldn’t see anything strange in her room. He knew she had gone to see Lena because she told him she was going to, but there was no sign of books in Lena’s room.

“Becs, some of the guys saw you taking some books from the library.” He decided he needed to ask her outright. “Where are they and why did you take them?” He frowned as she looked up from her book and smiled at him before confirming that she didn’t take anything out of the library. He sighed. He knew she wouldn’t tell him the truth, and he would have been surprised if she did. Pulling her book from her hands, he turned the book the right side up.

“You have been reading your story upside down.” He stood up and left her alone in her room. His little sister was going to make him old before his time! It had become pretty clear that nobody besides Rebecca knew what was in that library, which meant he wouldn’t be able to prove that she actually took something, but that didn’t bug him as much as the fact that she had found a way to get in and out of the library without his key.

As he walked back to the office, he wondered if his parents had a second key that he didn’t know about. If they did, were there anymore? Did others have access to locked rooms in the pack house? There were so many damn secrets in this place that they would strangle you if you weren’t careful. Things his parents did and hid from everybody that Alaric hadn’t been able to find out yet.

He was waging war to avenge their deaths. Surely people couldn’t expect him to know everything, could they? As he walked into his office, his phone rang. Argus wanted to make sure that Alaric knew he was coming in the morning and he also wanted to find out if Alaric had made any decisions about what to do with the blood witch.

He didn’t. What was he supposed to do with the woman who he was meant to love, but hated more than anything else? Half of his heart was telling him that he already loved her, while the other half was disgusted that he could even just think about her in that way. He was literally being torn apart by this and that was exactly what he told Argus. He knew to be careful of what he said to any councillor, but he needed to be able to confide in someone.

“Have you tried to give the girl something to do?” Argus’s question made Alaric laugh sarcastically as he explained what happened when they tried it. “Hmm, yes, I see your problem.” Alaric wasn’t planning on telling anybody that Lena had tried to escape, but maybe if he shared the load with Argus, he would be able to unburden his mind enough to think a little clearer.

Argus asked for a little bit of time to think about the situation and Alaric appreciated the councillor’s guidance. They might not always see eye to eye, but councillor Argus had been like a father to him since his father died. He helped Alaric through the start of his reign as Alpha. To find his feet in not only the council, but the pack as well.

Most of all, Argus helped Alaric with Rebecca. He was still a child himself when he took over after his parents died. Not in years, but in life experience. He had no idea what to do with his baby sister and he was worried about what might happen to her while he was waging this war. Argus stepped in and arranged Rebecca’s care with such precision, that Alaric was almost sure his own parents couldn’t have done a better job.

Rebecca’s life continued as normal as possible at the pack house while they tried their best to hide the horrors of the war from her. Which now made Alaric wonder how much she really knew about what happened. Maybe if they had told her the truth … The entire truth from the start, she wouldn’t have made friends with Lena.

That made him think about Lena and the fact that she refused to believe that her father was the one who killed his parents. His mind drifted as he stood in front of the window and he wondered if he would ever be able to convince Lena that her coven and more specifically, her parents weren’t the good people she thought them to be. One thing her loyalty to her parents showed him, however, was that she fought to the death for the people she loved.

Alaric tried again at dinner to get Rebecca to tell him which books she had removed from the library, but when she denied it again, he had no other choice but to drop the subject. The guards couldn’t even give him a description of what the books looked like and, for all Alaric knew, it could have been what she was pretending to read when he walked in.

ALARIC WAS ON THE TRAINING grounds when Argus’s wagon pulled up and he shook his head at the sight of the medieval wagon. But then, they shifted and turned into animals when they wanted to run, so why couldn’t the council use old wagons as their form of transport?

Rebecca was dressed and waiting near the front door as Alaric walked in with Argus. He led the way to the library and unlocked the door, showing them inside. He had to fight the urge to burst out laughing when Rebecca promptly informed the most important person on the council that he could use the spare desk and chair and that she would be supervising him from their mother’s old desk. It seemed she had everything well under control, and Alaric decided to leave them to get down to business.

He had promised to come back and take them to lunch, but before then, he needed to take care of some business of his own. Since he had no idea what to do about Lena yet, he was hoping that Argus would have some answers for him later in the day. In the meantime, the barn was in serious need of some repairs. Hard labour was a good way to work off some of his frustrations!

LENA HEARD THE CARRIAGE pulling up not so far from her window, but thanks to the cage, she couldn’t see what was going on outside. Rebecca hadn’t come back again after leaving the books and Lena sure as hell wasn’t going to ask the male wolf who always brought her food.

What exactly was Alaric planning to do with her now that it had become clear he wouldn’t kill her? Her mind drifted again to the small parcel of books underneath her and she shook her head, turning onto her other side.