Friday, October 18th Pt. 21
“We’re related? Why haven’t I heard about any of this?” Cassius is shocked by the revelation.
“There’s a little distance between us but yes, we are cousins. It’s part of why I never suggested a dual alpha leadership. While they have been done before, I was under the impression that the council didn’t like having relatives running the pack together. It’s only under extreme circumstances that they allow brothers to be co-rulers.”
“I haven’t researched the history of the White brothers but that might be why the White Fang and White Moon packs are separated.” I add in.
“If the pack is large enough then that’s the normal option the council seeks.” Deven nods his head.
“Deven?” I start cautiously.
“Were you aware that Clay fell asleep?” I relax as he nods.
“Although he’s more educated on sex than we were prepared for as he’s only six and a half, I wouldn’t have exposed him to the fact that my great grandmother was raped repeatedly before being dumped.”
“How do you know he can’t hear you?” Cole is also concerned for the pup.
“My empathic abilities allow me to check on my kids without touching them. I knew he was in a deep peaceful sleep before I started talking.”
Cole nods as he leans his cheek on the top of Clay’s head. He appears very comfortable in Cole’s gentle hold.
“Many important things happened after Marcus and Rose got married. Marcus was already a unique alpha among the many east coast packs. He was often jeered at for being weak and those who tested him found out the hard way that being gentle wasn’t a weakness.
As a gentle alpha he gained the respect and absolute loyalty of his pack. They trusted their leader’s command and when it came down to it he was right there with his warriors fighting the worst fights. It was only when he came back significantly injured and his doctors didn’t know what was going on that Rose’s empathic abilities came out. She was genuinely terrified of the consequences but the idea of losing her mate, the alpha who had treated her with such tender understanding and kindness, was a worse fate than the torture she had endured as an empath.
She knew very little about her abilities but was still able to tell the doctors that he was bleeding internally. Back then werewolves relied heavily upon magic and potions to strengthen their wolf’s ability to heal. The pack doctors were familiar with ng-tubes and used that to administer the medication. It took several doses to stop the bleeding but after a week in a deep coma he turned the corner and started healing. She remained by his side while in the hospital and actively worked with his beta learning the ropes of running the pack. He too was hurt in battle but was not in a coma.
Marcus continued to struggle for a month before the doctors were willing to believe he would make a full recovery. As hard as Rose tried to keep herself in control as the command of the pack relied very heavily on her, the better Marcus got the more fearful she became. At the end of the second month in the hospital, Marcus was well enough to leave but was under strict orders to take it easy. Recovering from such a near death experience takes time and to their fortune, the fighting had stopped.
Marcus hadn’t seen Rose for several days which was part of the reason he sought leaving the hospital. He had felt her fear towards him and how that fear drew her away. He followed his nose to their room where he caught her packing a suitcase. He was standing in the door when she looked up after securing it closed. They stood in silence as Marcus was very confused. She trembled at the sight of him, something she hadn’t done in the three years since they got married. All she was able to do was whisper an apology on repeat mixed with begging him to let her leave. He was as he always was. While it scared her to hear him tell her she wasn’t leaving she knew from the feeling she had deep inside that his next words were sincere. He would never hurt her.
She tried to pull herself together but ended up breaking down. She screamed at him that she was an empath. That using her power was the only way to save him. She begged him not to classify her as a feral as she would never do what ferals do. He convinced her to stay and they spent a long time that evening talking. For the first time in the seven years since it happened she told him what her alpha did when he discovered her gift. She also told him that after three years of trying she had finally become pregnant with twins and she knew the same treatment would cause her to miscarry them. She felt that it was in their best interest if she left and raised them alone.
While in that time frame it was believed that ignoring the trauma that happens to you is how you move on, talking about it with her mate and receiving the love and comfort she needed is what set her on the path of true healing. Nine months later she gave birth to a boy and a girl Nicholas Malachi and Nichole Rosalyn Leroux-Marcellus were the only children born to Marcus and Rose. The doctors told them that the twins were a miracle after the trauma she had gone through. They continued having sex without any thought towards pregnancy. They believed if Rose got pregnant again that it would be a welcomed accident but it never did occur.
Rose knew early in the twin’s infancy that Niki was special but wasn’t able to confirm that she too was an empath until she was three years old. Unlike her mother, Nichole didn’t have to hide who she was. Marcus had heard of what another alpha further south had done to his pack and actively worked to become the second sanctuary pack recognized by the council on the east coast. Unlike the years before where rogues entering his land spelled trouble, Rose was able to recognize from several miles away when the rogue entering their land was hurt and in need of sanctuary. Soon word got out about the sanctuary pack and more wolves wandered their way. The more that came the more practice Nichole got as a child diagnosing their various injuries. She quickly became an irreplaceable asset to the medical team and by the time she was twenty, Niki was running the hospital wing.
It was through Marcus’s involvement in the new prospect program that Niki found her mate, Henry Jonesman. After several deep discussions with Marcus, Henry and Niki were wed under the January wolf’s moon. Marcus understood the gift, the true gift that having an empath in the pack was so they decided early on that the twins’s last name would be hyphenated and whoever ended up an empath would take on the Leroux last name. Henry agreed to the change and my grandmother was now Nichole Rosalyn Leroux lead pack doctor while Henry Leroux became Nicholas’s beta.
It took some time but Nick ultimately got married to his high school love instead of his fated mate. After years of war to maintain the sanctity of his territory, Marcus was run down with arthritis by his late forties and could no longer properly protect the pack. Nick was of an appropriate age to take over and his long term girlfriend had just found out she was pregnant. While the preference is for fated mates to rule the pack, Christina was the perfect match for Nick who took the last name Marcellus. This is where our family trees split off.”
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