78: Convincing the family

**Lucien**

In the last few days after I’d marked Tristan, fear had begun to creep into me. It kept me up at night and invaded all of my peaceful thoughts like some sort of destructive, insomniac plague. It only worsened whenever we’d meet up with Damon and Jasmine to discuss how we were supposed to defeat the source of my fear- Ambrose. But today, that fear surpassed anything I’d ever felt before and although Tristan had tried to reassure me earlier on, it did nothing to soothe the raging fear that infected me like a sickness. I didn’t want to lose Tristan. I couldn’t. Just the idea of a tomorrow without her was almost too overwhelmingly painful to bear. However, even though this pain and fear coursed through me relentlessly, there was something that stopped me from completely giving in to it- Tristan.

Tristan was perhaps the bravest person I knew. Even now, as she spoke to Damon on the phone, instructing him on what to do next, she never even showed an ounce of fear or nervousness or even uncertainty. She had every reason to be. Despite my father’s previous vendetta against my brother, he now had an even greater one against Tristan. Then again, it was clear my father was much more afraid of Tristan than I anticipated. She’d beaten him once before and now, he feared that she’d beat him again. Though this time, I doubted she’d stop herself from ending his life and I wouldn’t even try to stop her either. He was a threat, not only to the evolution of the werewolf community, but also to our family and its future.

“I asked Damon to start calling in the rest of your family to the packgrounds as well as the other Alphas that we’ve been corresponding with. Those nearer to Ambrose’s pack have been told to be on standby. They’ll meet us there in the morning.” She said once she’d put the phone down.

I was startled by the last thing she said and repeated, “In the morning?”

She nodded stiffly. “I don’t think he’ll attack right now. It’s too soon after his first attack. He likes to let the fear sink in; it makes the game more… fun. My guess is that he plans to attack tomorrow. So, we need to make our way to his pack throughout tonight so that we can ambush them in the morning.”

“You’re still going to fight even though you just healed Loren?” I asked. I already knew the answer, but I hoped her saying it would deter me from trying to stop her in the first place.

“Of course. I’m going to be right in the front of it all. Despite having used some of my energy to heal Loren, I’m still Ambrose’s biggest threat. Besides, aside from being a little tired, I feel fine.” Again, she showed no sign of being afraid. Instead, her eyes were almost like red hot embers, burning with a heated determination. But I could tell by the slight paleness to her skin and her slightly shaky breaths, that she was far from being as powerful as she needed to be for this battle. I was far from being as powerful as I normally was as well. I felt weak and my head felt foggy and clouded. I knew that if we didn’t stick together through all of this, the both of us would risk defeat and perhaps even death. And so, I made a silent promise to myself, I’d stay by her side no matter the consequences. I’d *have* to if I hoped to spend more tomorrows with her.

Tristan then turned her head and looked at me momentarily before saying, “You helped me heal Loren too. In fact, you’re looking a little pale and weak as well. You weren’t planning on staying out of the fight either, were you?”

I scoffed and then said, “Of course not. My father’s a walking dead man.” My fear stemmed from Ambrose taking Tristan away from me, not from the man himself. If Ambrose was no longer in the equation, then the source of my fear would disappear too. Besides, he had hell to pay for being the world’s shittiest father.

“Then it’s settled.” Tristan said. “Neither one of us is going to stay out of this fight. We can’t afford to.”

***

**Tristan**

By the time we’d arrived at Damon and Jasmine’s home, the driveway was filled with cars already. The drive from Kyle’s cottage to here was not that far and so I assumed that the only people who had made it here were the rest of the Michaels family.

“Brace yourself,” Lucien said as we headed to the front door, “my family can be extremely overwhelming in person.”

I’d met them once before when I snuck into Damon and Jasmine’s engagement party and already then, they were a handful. In fact, during our virtual correspondence with them during the last few days, I’d already decided that the Michaels family was full of very colourful personalities, most of which I found extremely hard to get used to and I doubted I’d change my mind now when I’d meet them in person.

When Chester opened the door, both Lucien and I were greeted by the immense noise pouring out from the dining room further on in the house. Lucien and I walked hand-in-hand towards the room, silent and cautious of the source of the noise. An argument had broken out in the dining room and the closer we got to it, the clearer the harsh words being thrown became.

“… how do we even know Ambrose *is* still really alive, huh? We all saw his dead corpse at the funeral. And all that talk about a Blue-Eyed Alpha is ludicrous! Just what kind of game are you all playing with us? We hesitantly played along with you all in the beginning, but don’t you think this nonsense has gone on for way too long?”

The argument continued with Damon making some retorts and his family laying down more accusations. It seemed distrust ran rampant in the family, but I could tell the source of it all was fear- fear of everything we’d told them being true. During our conversations and planning with Lucien and Damon’s family the only thing we ever truly seemed to agree on was how much of a threat Ambrose was and how much fear we held towards him.

“It seems they need a bit of proof to shatter their disbelief,” I said to Lucien. We both were right outside of the dining room, just another step away from revealing ourselves.

“Seeing *is* believing,” he said with a smile. His eyes had now turned red, a scarlet reflection of my glowing blue ones. We took that last step into the dining room, and the moment we did, silence engulfed the entire room. All eyes were on me, most in disbelief, some in awe. The only people who didn’t seem affected by my presence were the ones who knew me- Landon, London, their mates, my sister and Damon.

“I recall you all hearing my voice over the phone… yet here I am trying to prove to you all that I actually exist. So, hello everyone, it’s lovely to meet you. My name’s Tristan Spectra, the infamous Blue-Eyed Alpha,” I then paused for a moment before saying softly, “ I’m Lucien’s mate.” They all gasped as soon as they heard the last thing I’d said. All they knew until now was that I was Jasmine’s sister. We thought they’d listen more if they weren’t distracted by the fact that I was Lucien’s mate. Unfortunately, now, we could no longer hide that fact anymore. Anyone and everyone that was a wolf could smell the potent mate bond that Lucien and I shared.

“Her eyes…” said someone, finally shattering the silence.

“Her smell!” Said another.

“Forget that, she said she’s Lucien’s mate!”

Soon the dining room was filled with even more noise. Lucien and I were being bombarded with question after question after question and I could hardly keep up with, or answer any of them.

“Leave Lucien and Tristan alone, Aunt Charlotte, Aunt Hailey, Uncle Joseph. Back away from them right now!” Damon hissed, coming to our aid with Jasmine by his side. I could tell by the annoyance on her face that she dreaded being around everyone and I didn’t blame her. She wasn’t the only one now receiving annoyed and frustrated glances. Lucien had told me earlier on in the week that they weren’t too keen on outsiders who weren’t like Rose, Damon’s mother. And it was clear that I, like my sister, was nothing like Rose.

The giant woman with brown hair and a permanent scowl on her face, red-haired young lady with striking hazel eyes and the extremely tall young man who had a scar across his face all took a few steps away from me, compelled to do so by their Alpha. Although the Michaels family had drifted apart, they still had this thing about obeying their Alpha.

Jasmine waited until there was a clear enough path for me before nearing me and embracing me tightly in her arms.

“How’s Loren?” She asked softly.

“Alive and kicking.”

“What about you? I thought you’d be sick… I was so worried.”

“I would have been. But the healer Oliver took Loren to showed me how to use Lucien to help me use up less of my own strength and energy. Nonetheless, we’re both slightly weaker after everything, but that won’t keep us out of the fight.”

I ignored the growing look of concern on Jasmine’s face and then turned towards Damon and asked, “How far are the rest of our allies? I’d like everyone to be here when I tell them the changed plan. Once I get an idea of our numbers, I can get a better idea of how to divide us up into roles and positions.”

“I take it you’re in charge of drafting up this plan?” Aunt Charlotte spoke. I could already tell by the snappiness in her tone, that Aunt Charlotte was not going to make today easy for me.

“Yes,” I said firmly, “I’m the only person who knows the ins and outs of the packgrounds we’re going to be ambushing.”

She then scoffed before saying, “Well I hate to tell you this, but you’re not our Alpha. You might have been a Beta to Ambrose, but this is the Blood Moon pack, and here Damon is our Alpha.”

All three of the Michaels siblings were about to snap at Aunt Charlotte when I raised my hand and shook my head.

“Fine. When the others arrive, I will have Damon repeat everything I say, since you all think we’re playing a game of Simon Says instead of a game of Life or Death.” I said sarcastically.

“You little bit-”

“That’s enough, Aunt Charlotte.” Lucien said in a low, angry growl. But I was nothing if not a sucker for a little bit of banter, especially since I knew all the trouble they’d put my sister through during her engagement party.

“No Lucien, let her speak. We still have some time on our hands before the rest get here.” I said folding my arms expectantly.

Aunt Charlotte wasted no time in airing her grievances with me. “This is all your fault! Not only did you resurrect Ambrose, but you also let him live. You had an opportunity to kill him, and you let it slip through your fingers. And now we have this on our hands… a war with the rogues and your pregnant sister’s life on the line.”

I wanted to be angry at what she’d said. I wanted to retort back with something steamingly snarky to shut her up. But I couldn’t, because what she had said was true. Once again, I’d made another mistake. This one, however, I did under the influence of others. I let Lucien and Oliver make me believe that perhaps I wasn’t the monster I thought I was. But whether or not killing Ambrose would have made me a monster, should have been out of the question. But I hadn’t known then that not killing him would place my sister and her unborn child’s life in such jeopardy. Despite everything, I suppose somewhere deep down I still believed that, given our history, there would be something salvageable in Ambrose, something akin to humanity. After all, there was something salvageable in me, something emotional and gentle and human. But I suppose Ambrose and I were beginning to look less similar alike than when we pretended to play the roles of father and daughter.

“I’m sorry… I know it’s my fault and I’m sorry that I’ve had to drag you all through this battle with me… and I’m sorry to my sister especially. You’ve all heard bits of the story throughout the week but I’ve made terrible, terrible mistakes and unfortunately all of them seem to create consequences which, if we are not careful, will end up hurting her and the future of the Blood Moon Pack. So, I don’t expect you all to like me, you don’t even like my sister and she’s a ray of joy. What I do ask is that you all work with me here. Just for today and tomorrow. Once this is all over, we can each go our separate ways. So yes, Aunt Charlotte, this is my fault, but I’m asking you all humbly to help me fix it, for the sake of *our* family.”

The room fell silent once more. And this time, I received, not sympathetic gazes, but looks of reluctance and then finally, it all turned to a sense of unspoken understanding.

The silence was finally shattered by a rather familiar voice. “Oh, come on everyone, why so doom and gloom?”

Oliver stepped into the light of the dining room, and right next to him, hand clutching his, was Loren who was still in her bloodied clothing. Both of them looked far from ready for a fight. Admittedly, some part of me expected this act of defiance from Oliver and Loren. But at the same time, I knew that the both of them would only get killed if they even dared to try to join the rest of us. They weren’t, however, the only ones not fit for the fight, and with my pregnant sister in mind, the wheels in my head began to turn. The only problem? My sister’s stubbornness.