Both Zayn and I look at my dad with wide, astonished eyes. What was he talking about? Killing his father, disappearing without a trace, outcasted from the pack? Surly Azazel lived here in town, right? He does go to our school and all. How could he get into our school if he didn’t live here in town? I had so many questions, but I needed to hear the story my dad knows first, before I say or ask anything. I know Zayn felt the same way because he curled up closer to my side waiting for my father to speak again.

            = I know you boys are probably very confused. Let me go back. There was once an alpha in our pack. His name was Draco Morvant. He was married to a beautiful omega named Mallory. Mallory died during child birth of their first child. That being Azazel. Now let’s fast forward to when he was about 10 or so, which is around the same age you guys would have been at the time. I am sure neither of you remember hearing about the alpha who was murdered brutally in his home? Probably because we have been hiding it from you all these years. It was just too brutal of a story to share, especially back then. Anyway, for the first 10 years we barley saw Azazel. The few times we did he had bruises all over, though he tried to hide them. Draco said that he was a trouble child, always getting into scruffs with other kids, never strong enough to beat them so they beat him instead. It didn’t really add up because like I said, Azazel was very rarely seen. He didn’t even go to school. We assume his father was homeschooling him.

My father stops for a moment, letting both Zayn and I take in the information as we sit there shocked. Now that I think about it, it was kind of like Azazel just magically appeared one day. I never really put much thought into it because honestly we have never had much interaction before today and MAN what a day today was. Before my thoughts could further wonder off my dad began speaking again.

= One day the police get a call from a beta that lived near their home. You know, that old abandoned home on 14^th and Bland Street? That’s where they lived. Anyway, the call to the police said that they heard a blood curdling scream as if someone was dying. They gave the police the address and they got there about 5 minutes later. The scene they walked into was not pretty. There were beer bottles all over the house. Not just in one spot. It was all over the living-room, down the hallway, in Draco’s office. In the kitchen was more empty bottles but it wasn’t just beer anymore, it was hard liquor. Then once the police actually got their sense of smell past the alcohol all over, they smelled it. Blood. Lots and lots of blood. They immediately stepped out of the house and called me. When it is a murder or even a suicide, anything that contains huge amounts of blood, the pack alpha must be present. I rushed over and started to see what they were seeing. I couldn’t believe it. The bottles were a ridiculous amount, but once I got past my shock of that we started to search for where the smell of blood was coming from. We realized it was the kid….Azazel’s….room. My heart dropped as soon as we realized that.

Zayn gripped my shirt tighter, tears now slowly building up in his eyes. I buried my face in his hair and inhaled his scent before releasing calming pheromones for him. He started to calm down, and we both looked at my dad to continue again, though I have been having a throbbing pain in my chest since earlier, feeling like my heart was being ripped out. I had it before the story and my sadness was making it worst but I need to hear this.

= I didn’t want to think about the fact there might be a dead kid in there. How do I explain to my pack that a child was murdered? How do I explain that anyone was murdered at all?! Being the pack alpha I had to be the first one in the room and what I opened that door to see still gives me nightmares to this day. There Draco was, the back of his head bashes in, claw marks down his face, and in his hand was his son’s clothes. Now why? Why would he be holding them? We continued to look around the room until I noticed the wall. I could see small bloody handprints along the wall. They were not in a straight line. They were staggered as if someone was trying to hold themselves up. I followed them to the window seal. Only to notice the window was open. There were the same bloody handprints along the side of the house where it looked like someone went down from the window. We found the weapon inside the kid’s room, which was a baseball bat. We searched the entire house, cabinets, closets, small spaces, anywhere we could think of but no sign of Azazel. From there we could only make one conclusion. Azazel had murdered his father and fled.

Zayn burst into tears. He was sobbing so uncontrollably that I wasn’t quite sure what to do so I pulled him into my chest. I adjusted him on my lap and he buried his face in my chest as I rocked him back and forth. “Do you want to continue the story? Or have you had enough?” I ask the omega in my arms, not wanting to stress him out any more. “N-n-noooo,” he cried and stuttered out, “I-I have to k-k-know what happened to him! That look Xavier! That look!”He let out another hysterical sob and I can only assume at this point his heart felt like mine, as if our hearts are no longer in our chest and someone is crushing them with no remorse. “P-please c-continue alpha. I need to know. We need to know,” Zayn whimpered out. My dad straightened seeming this innocent omega in such distress for his new friend. He closed his eyes for a moment then continued. 

= He disappeared without a trace. No one saw where he went, no one heard from him for 5 years. We searched and searched and nothing. We always came up empty handed. We didn’t know what to do. The kid could have been dead, could have been hurt, and could have been killing others. We didn’t know what to think! 5 years later someone spotted him at the shopping mall in town and reported it to the police. Instead of the police going and causing a scene, I went. I approached him cautiously, letting him know I wasn’t a threat and I just wanted to talk. He agreed and we went outside and sat on a bench far from other pack members. I tried talking to him. Tried asking questions. He never said a word. The look in his eyes was just….just…. empty. I don’t know how to explain it. When he finally spoke he told me he was only here for clothes then he would be on his way. I guess it had got around town fast that he was here though because before I could even reply we smelled a lot of pissed off and frightened pheromones in the air. We look up to see a huge mob of alphas from the pack coming for us. Before he could run they were on us. They were yelling at him how he was a murderer and needed to be out of this town before he killed all our families. They called him many things, which I will not repeat. The whole time I could not get my pack under control. I could tell he was terrified because I had seen fear flash in those empty eyes of his. So I did what any alpha would do. I distracted them long enough for him to run. I got the mobs attention by letting out the loudest feral growl I could, being pissed that no one would listen to their leader. All the alphas cowered and left. I waited a few minutes to calm down before following his scent. I found him cowering in a bush, crying. I knew he was an alpha, but I have never seen an alpha so scared. Not just of us, but it was as if he was scared of the world around him. I bought the kid clothes, gave him permission to go to school, under a fake last name of course, and let him be on his way, without a single word from him…. When we found out that was who you were with, I guess we reacted like all the others, terrified he would hurt either of you. I am truly sorry.  

Zayn held his chest over his heart as the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. He looked up at me. “Xavier,” he breathed out in almost a whisper. I looked him in the eyes, realizing I was crying as well from all I had heard. “We need to go to him… we need to be sure he’s okay,” Zayn said, starting to try to stand. Before I could even think rationally, I was on my feet, ignoring our parents protest. I put Zayn in the passenger seat and got in the driver’s side. Our parents watched us from the doorway, but surprisingly, didn’t try to stop us. I backed out the driveway and we were off.

 ‘Azazel, wait for us please. Please be okay. We are sorry for leaving you alone.’ Was all I could think as I drove towards the lake he took us to.