Chapter 122 The Bloodline of Arthur

(Arthur POV)

While we were planning against Jean Luc, someone else was also conspiring a scheme against us. They have made a grave mistake though. I am not a werebear.

The immobilizing potion they had somewhat injected us with was quite strong, however it only lasted for several minutes. Even for an old man like myself, that was nothing.

In the van, the woman named Alpha Bailey had tried to see my past memories. She clasped my hand with her fingers and I showed her bits and pieces of my past, all focused around bears. She let go of my hand with a disgusted look on her face for ever touching a bear, and ordered I be sent to the cave while the others would be sent to the underground dungeons underneath her mansion.

When we arrived in their territory, they dragged me to a small hill with an opening barricaded with copper doors. Inside, they stripped me of my clothing and placed me in a copper cell used to hold werebears. They left me inside, alone, locking the heavy copper doors after them.

I sat there, in the middle of the cell, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dark. The Alpha who captured us was an Ula. While she tried to get a glimpse of my past, she didn't block me from hers. I saw what she wanted to do. She wanted Jacques' power of time control so she could kill Hope. I heaved a sigh. She wanted to kill Hope. I rubbed my forehead with my fingers, thinking back to the conversation I had with Amelie.

"When are you going to tell Hope you are her blood relative, Arthur?" Amelie took me aside at her hotel the night Hope was about to make her debut as Celeste. "I have always wondered who the "Arthur" was in the bloodline of Lupa. You are a firstborn, the error in the long line of firstborn daughters. What happened Arthur?" She opened a bottle of wine and poured some into two glasses. She handed me a glass and gulped the contents of hers, then poured herself another one.

"There was nothing erroneous about it, Amelie. My twin sister, Camilla, was technically the firstborn daughter. She gave birth to Hope's grandmother, Victoria and Victoria to Adella," I explained, "so the bloodline is still correct."

"So why did you leave your pack and why all the secrecy? Surely, Hope would be very happy knowing you and her are not just mere friends. Did you tell Adella before she died?" Amelie downed another glass of wine and refilled her glass and sat down with me at the balcony table. The view was spectacular. The Eiffel Tower was aglow with its lights, the moon had an ethereal shimmer and the stars in the sky above were twinkling. I was sharing all this with my bestfriend.

"No, but I felt she knew. I hid my powers from her once she became the Luna of Crescent Moon. The stories about me died while hers became legend. Wasn't that what we all wanted?" Amelie narrowed her eyes at me, not happy with my answer.

"You couldn't even tell Adella. So, why did you leave your pack?" Amelie wasn't going to budge on the subject. It was time to tell her the truth.

"Like what you just said, I was believed to be an unforeseen error." I sighed not wanting to go back and talk about my young years living in Canada. "Camilla and I were born as fraternal twins. I was a boy without the golden eyes, but was awarded all the powers. Camilla, she was born with the golden eyes, but had none of the powers. My pack believed I was a curse and had started to renew alliances with the Ula's of the neighboring pack. They wanted Camilla to train with a mage and drain me of my power and ultimately, kill me, returning everything to its proper course. Fortunately, Camilla did show power when we became of age, she was blessed with the gift of foresight. She told me to leave the pack and enlist in the US Military so I could be sent to Vietnam. I followed what she had told me and left, without ever looking back. There, in the long line of young men, I met a scared, young human by the name of Donald Leventhal." Amelie laid her chin on her hand, wanting me to continue, very interested in my past.

"I was a Canadian enlisting in the US Army and before I could serve the great nation of the United States, I had to become a citizen. Donald and I had become fast friends and he offered me the privilege to adopt his surname when I told him I wanted to change mine. He said this would make us brothers not just friends."

"When we were in the jungles of Vietnam, I did everything in my power to keep my platoon safe. I conjured protection bubbles, made the men invisible when needed, conjured harsh weather against our enemy. Before we knew it, we were leaving Vietnam as heroes without even a scratch on us."

"Now, Donald saw me as his lucky charm. He came from a wealthy family in Washington State and was an only child so he decided why not make being brothers permanent. So when he started going to the office for work, he took me with him, and taught me everything I needed to know to run a bank."

"Since I was uneducated, I went back to school and received a degree in Business Administration. I also finished my Masters while working for him. Business was booming, we were putting up branches across the United States, I was already starting to help impoverished wolf packs, investing in their livelihood, when, unfortunately, luck ran out. Donald and his parents died in a car crash and even with my powers, I couldn't revive them."

"I inherited everything. My name started to pop up from the various wolf packs and I started helping Alphas invest their money. During that time, there were only a few wealthy packs, so I decided to help spread the wealth."

"I was visiting Alarick's pack, his grandfather was Alpha at the time, when a group of rogues attacked. I did what Hope usually does and I struck them all with lightning. There, I gained popularity. I had, money, influence, and power so I was asked to become an Elder. As Elder, I pursued unity among wolf packs here and abroad which made me a very popular Elder thus, I was elected as High Elder."

"Contrary to the notion that I did not help Autumn Moonlight, I did. I would send money to Camilla hoping it would help our pack. I had heard tough times had struck the Autumn Moonlight pack after I had left. In a way, the Moon Goddess had cursed them for sending me away. Camilla died when Victoria gave birth to Adella and Adella took the brunt of Victoria's pain. Victoria had loved her mother very much."

"I continued sending money to them until I heard Adella had run off with Alpha Davis Brandt to become his Luna. Can you believe it? My grandniece had also left the pack. That now made two of us. I was informed Victoria had formed the Circle of the Ring once again, but this time, instead of the ring choosing the preistesses, she chose Adella's priestesses. Soon after, Maria had left and Julia died, bringing forth the Rogue Lord. Victoria was arrogant in her presumptions and did not follow the bloodline of the third Priestess of the FIRST ever Circle of the Ring. The third Priestess bloodline originates from name Hrolf and if you follow it to the present, you will come to the Hemming surname." Amelie nodded her head, knowing this to be true.

"Going back to Adella, I took her under my wing, taught her, molded her into a great Priestess. However, she continued to profit from her magic. I had given her fair warning to stop profiting from her magic and to instead invest what she already had. Davis didn't want her to stop though. He had plans to best the Ulrich's and the Hemming's. And he did, at a cost." I looked up into the clear dark sky. "Every thing has a price. Question is, are you willing to pay for it? When I asked Davis that very question, he answered, "Of course."

"Here you go again, Arthur, becoming so...cryptic." Amelie waved her hand as if to say, let the past remain in the past. "Will you tell Hope, Arthur? She already sees you as her grandfather."

"I will, Amelie. When all of this is over. I will. I want to enjoy retirement. Maybe grow apples at Crescent Moon." I wink at Amelie. She smiles at me and pats my hand.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Looking back, I should have had the courage to tell Adella who I was to her. Unfortunately, she was gone. Now, I had another chance and I was throwing it away. I'm going to tell Hope that I am her great granduncle when this is all over. She shouldn't have to carry all the burden of being a Lupa on her shoulders.

"Who is there?" I heard a voice in the darkness. I squinted my eyes trying to focus on the source of the voice. I heard a cough. "What is your name?" It was a man's voice, elderly. There was an old man just like me here in this very cave.

I wasn't alone.