Chapter 23 - "This is not a prison sentence, son."

WHAT LENA READ was still floating around her mind as she watched Alaric pace back and forth in front of her cage. Did he know? Of course, he did! He had to, didn’t he? Why else would he be so protective over his little sister? Why would he be so adamant that Rebecca stay away from Lena?

Alaric stopped pacing after a minute or so and glared at her as if his glare would force her to change her damn mind! Who the hell did he think he was? Lena knew a little bit about wolves, but only because they had to take a class on them at school. One of the things she never forgot was that a higher ranked wolf could force a lower ranked wolf to do what they were told purely based on the fact that they were the higher rank. Lena had always thought that was just ridiculous. Nobody had the right to force anyone to do something they didn’t want to do, so why did wolves have this power?

She glared right back at Alaric to make sure he got the message. She wasn’t one of his wolves and he wasn’t going to intimidate her! He sighed, pulled his fingers through his hair and stormed out again. Lena waited until she was sure his footsteps were well away from her room before she pulled the book out from its hiding place.

Lena reread the part she read right before Alaric burst through the door. She did in fact read it right. This book was Alaric’s mother’s diary. She was a half witch, which meant that Rebecca and Alaric also had witch blood in them. Blood witch blood. Their mother came from a very small coven in the hills. Lena had heard of them, but never met any of them.

Like all blood witch covens, they kept to themselves mostly, but every so often one of them would wander off and find a mate. Once they were pregnant, they would return to the coven, but it seemed Alaric and Rebecca’s mother never did. Lena wondered if Rebecca had read the book and she scoffed at herself. Of course, that one read it! That was probably why she hid the books!

Lena felt a shock shoot through her body. Could that be why their parents were killed? Did someone from her coven come for her and when she wouldn’t leave … Lena shook her head at her own thoughts. There was no way that would have happened. Blood witches did use dark magic and not white magic, but they believed in life just as much as the next person. Besides, Alaric told her that it was her father who killed his parents.

Why would her father have killed them? Alaric and Rebecca’s mom wasn’t from Lena’s coven. No witch would be killed because she left her coven. None of what she read and what Alaric told her made any sense. They were taught above all that no harm should ever be done. Lena stuffed the book back into its hiding place and closed the floorboard. She couldn’t read any more.

She didn’t know much about their mother and, for all she knew, the woman could have been stark raving mad. She sighed and lay down on her back, carefully studying the ceiling. Her mind drifted to her father as she wondered about his secret missions. Could he have killed Alaric’s parents?

REBECCA SIGHED AND closed the book she was reading. Her butt was asleep and she wondered if the old fart sitting at the other desk had the same problem. She fought the urge to giggle at her own thoughts and decided she needed something to drink. She didn’t want to leave him alone with the books, and she didn’t want them bringing food and drinks to the library …

“Would you like to go for lunch?” She sighed as she looked at the old man. He looked at his watch and nodded and she almost breathed a sigh of relief. She would have hated it if she had to convince him to go. They got up and left the library. Rebecca hated leaving it unlocked like that, but she couldn’t take the chance that anyone found out she had the key. Luckily, her most important books were now under the care of Lena. They carried her most secret of secrets.

Rebecca could only pray that if Lena did read the books, she wouldn’t say anything, but she was sure that Lena would keep her secret. Rebecca and Argus joined a brooding Alaric for lunch and the first thing out of her brother’s mouth was to find out if they had found any solutions to his problem yet. Rebecca almost laughed and told her brother yes, but kept her comment to herself. She knew the last thing her brother wanted to hear was that Lena was his mate for a reason.

ALARIC WAS FEELING incredibly frustrated. He knew that it could take time for Argus to find answers, but he couldn’t help himself. He wanted out of this damn situation! Everyone knew that he couldn’t send Lena somewhere far away from here. He couldn’t send her to the council prisons, for instance, because his wolf would pine after his mate.

No, Lena had to stay with the pack and she had to stay as close to Alaric as physically possible. Argus asked why they didn’t try to put her to work again and Alaric rolled his eyes as he explained what happened when they sent her to the laundry room. He hated the fact that Argus looked amused when Alaric told him that Rebecca had convinced him to allow Lena to be her omega.

“We can’t take the chance that she will try and escape again.” Alaric sighed and Argus nodded. “Is there no way that I could appeal to the moon goddess?” Alaric frowned. He knew he was asking the impossible. Nobody had ever seen the moon goddess and he sometimes wondered if the woman was in fact real. Argus shook his head. There really was no way for Alaric to appeal this.

“It’s not a prison sentence, son.” Argus sighed and Alaric rolled his eyes. Even after all these years, Argus still saw him as a child! With just one small word he made Alaric realize that! Rebecca thankfully changed the conversation to something she read about their pack’s history and Alaric tuned out. There had to be a way out of this. After lunch, Rebecca and Argus returned to the library and Alaric had an idea.

His paws hit the dirt in the forest and Max was right behind him. It had been a couple of years, but if Lena returned to her old home, there might be something there they didn’t know about. It was one hell of a long shot, but Alaric was willing to do anything to get him out of this mess. His plan was to look around where Lena was last seen in the hopes that he could find something. Any damn thing that could possibly get him out of this!

He arrived at the ghost town. Images of that fateful first day of the war flashed through his memory. He could still hear the screams and taste the blood in his mouth. Sniffing around the area where he found Lena, he tried to look for anything that could mean something, but the plants took back their forest. Where there used to be burnt-out buildings, flowers have grown. The forest really was a force to be reckoned with.

He couldn’t find anything in the spot where he found Lena and he moved on to the next building. He could still see cutlery in the kitchen, but what he saw next tore him apart inside. A small crib was placed in the far corner of the kitchen. He shook his head as he tried his best not to think about what might have happened to the child. He gave the wolves strict instructions not to kill any small children, but once they were in wolf form …

Were they the monsters Lena was making him out to be? A shiver ran down his spine. There had to have been children around. He knew there weren’t many, because when they did their recon, he didn’t see any. An overwhelming feeling of regret suddenly flooded Alaric as he left the house he had been in. There was nothing here but the ghosts of war. Whatever happened, he couldn’t change any of it now. He called out for Max and they returned home.

Alaric’s heart was heavier than he expected as he walked into his office unable to shake the image of the crib out of his mind. They weren’t monsters! They started this war because the blood witches killed their alpha and luna!