I feel like my world has just shattered, but my questions haven’t been answered. 

“Why? Why would he do that?” 

“Lennox, I’m not going to lie to you to spare your feelings or to cover for Dad. This pack, the Portlandia pack, they’re your biological family,” Raina says, looking at her hands and fumbling with the hairband on her wrist. “My mom had a rare disease that affects vampires and causes them to have a dangerously high metabolic rate for the blood they consume, so if she didn’t get enough, she would essentially lose her mind and attack others to drink blood from the source. She entered pack territory and went after one of the patrol wolves, nearly killing her. 

“To protect the pack and the patrol wolf, Maurice killed my mom. He didn’t know anything about the condition or that she wasn’t a feral vampire and was dealing with the symptoms of the disease. He just saw a feral vampire attacking his pack and killed her. Dad… he usually kept close to Mom to stop her in case, but he was at home that night. Mom just said she was going to go to the store and she had eaten that evening, but apparently not enough.”

My vision is blurry and I feel dazed. I need to keep it together, but tremors keep running through my body and Callum puts his hand at my back to keep me from falling backward. I knew all of this from simply reading Charity’s book, but having it confirmed as true makes it so much worse. 

“Did Dad kidnap me as revenge?” I whisper. “Did he plan to kill me?”

Raina sighs. “It took me a lot of time and different meetings with vampires who know Dad to figure it out. He planned on killing you and framing another vampire family who hated him, but Ramsay was still an infant and killing you would feel too close to killing his own child. So, he kept you and framed the other family for kidnapping you, but, as you know from Charity’s book, they obviously never found anything.”

My stomach turns and I barely have time to get away from the main yard and to a group of bushes before I throw up. I was hoping that the revenge part was the kidnapping and keeping me away from my biological family, but knowing that his plan was to kill me… I know Raina isn’t lying. 

There’s not a reason for her to lie. Maybe if she didn’t have a werewolf partner and child and she just wanted me to leave the family I grew up with, but that’s not the situation. She looks upset for me, and I would probably appreciate it more if I wasn’t so distressed. 

“I’m sorry,” Raina says, coming over to stand beside me. 

I cough and spit into the bushes once more. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“You and I avoid each other and we’re not very close. Coming out and saying that when you were happy… it felt wrong and unprovoked. I wanted you to figure it out on your own.”

“That’s a stupid fucking reason,” I snarl, pushing past her. “I deserved to know as soon as you did!”

Callum grabs my hand, trying to calm me down and stop me from storming off. He tightens his grip when I try to get away, and I turn around to see how hopeless and sad he looks. It stops me in my tracks for a brief second, but I push away the feeling of sadness for my mate and push past him as well. 

“Lennox?” Callum calls, but I ignore him. 

I shift into my wolf form, ripping my clothes in the process since I don’t currently have the insight or thought process to take them off first. I run off into the woods, passing the boundaries of the pack grounds and entering the deep woods. I run for a long time until I make it to the edge of the forest and am able to look out onto the city. 

I lay down on the edge of the forest, breathing heavily as I do so. I often like to run in my human form and I only shift a few times a month, so my bones feel pretty sore. I can see the city from my viewpoint, but I doubt anyone is paying enough attention to the above woods to see me. Plus, my coat is brown and black, and the shades mix together quite well to help me hide. 

Unless a shifter comes across my scent, I’ll stay pretty close to invisible. And, if they were to come across my scent, any shifter would be able to sense that I’m an Alpha and keep their distance. If another Alpha shows up, I have enough rage that they’ll either back off or be defeated if they want to fight with me. 

I’m just a pawn in some game between the werewolves and vampires. 

I always have been; it makes sense now. The homeschooling, the strict rules to keep me away from the shifter territory, the rumors… those must have been in reference to the family that Dad told Maurice to kill. 

I still don’t understand why Maurice and Charity don’t recognize me, though. Even though I’ve spent my life living among a vampire coven, werewolf scents are unique. You can’t erase your scent so shouldn’t they have recognized me?

A sudden bout of realization comes to me and I get up. I jog back toward the pack house and growl in annoyance when I see that Callum’s truck is no longer in the driveway. I see a bucket on the ground by the front door and I shift back, using the bucket to cover my privates. 

I knock on the door and Maurice answers once again, and he’s obviously confused. “Uh… is Raina still here? And could I possibly borrow some clothes? I haven’t shifted in a while and I-”

Maurice steps aside and waves me in as I trail off. “You don’t have to explain yourself. Just go wait in the bathroom and I’ll bring you some clothes. Where did your mate go?”

“We had an argument and I shifted and went for a run. I guess he didn’t want to stick around.” I sit down on the toilet and close the door, putting the bucket down on the floor. I can’t even text Callum because my phone is in his car still. 

I hope he’s not too mad; none of this is his fault and I just needed to escape it all for a few minutes. I could’ve told him that, though, instead of shutting down and escaping. 

Maurice hands me a pair of sweatpants and a crew neck when he returns and I change into them, thanking him when I leave the bathroom. He hands me a mug and gestures toward the kitchen table. 

“Oh, uh, thanks,” I say, sitting down at the table. 

“Raina is helping Camila put their son down for a nap. She’ll be a few minutes,” Maurice says. “You look a bit distressed.”

Maybe I should just tell him… I’m all mad at Raina because I feel like I deserved to know earlier, so doesn’t Maurice deserve to know as well? And Charity? Shit, they have their daughter, too, so biologically I have a sister as well. 

Thinking about it hurts my head. I don’t want to address it right now. 

“I’ve never fought with Callum before. Usually we can talk things out but I just took off. I think he understands why, but the mate bond is strong and I’m pretty anxious about it.” I take a sip from the mug and realize it’s tea, which is nice because it does help me relax a bit.

“I’ve known Helen and Callum for a while,” Maurice says, putting his own mug down. “And it’s obvious to anyone that has seen you two that Callum is completely head over heels. Even if he’s not a werewolf, other supernaturals can feel the connection. Goddess, it’s so interesting how the whole thing works.”

I nod eagerly. “I’ve been trying to find more information on how it works, the whole connection piece of it, but it’s hard to find anything when the general population doesn’t know we exist.”

Maurice smirks and holds up a finger and leaves the room. He comes back with a notebook that looks pretty worn out. It’s got pages sticking out of it and its cover is torn and has a lot of marks all over it. 

“I’ve been writing this with Charity for the past few years. We’ve been creating records regarding different relationships and taking into account the different species soulmate connection. Raina has been very helpful with our discussion,” Maurice says, smiling. “Charity hopes to publish it soon. You’re welcome to read it when you come here.”

Raina enters the kitchen and she looks nervous for a second before gaining her composure. “Lennox, what’s going on?” she asks smoothly. 

“Can I have a ride home?” I ask. “Callum left.”

“He’s out looking for you,” Raina comments, handing me my phone. “He said to have you text him if you came back. If you don’t want to text him, I can drive you.”

I shake my head and thank her, but I’d prefer to see Callum as soon as possible and apologize for how I acted. I don’t think my anger is misplaced, but I know reacting poorly toward Callum was wrong. 

Maurice stands up, taking his notebook and clearing his mug. “I told you,” he says, winking. “You’ll be fine.”

Me: Raina said you’re looking for me… I’m back at the pack house. 

Callum: I’ll be back soon. 

Raina comes over to me while Maurice is in the kitchen. She drops her voice to a whisper so low that even a werewolf wouldn’t be able to hear her. “Did you tell him?”

“No.”

“He doesn’t even know my last name. He just knows we’re siblings,” she mumbles, glancing over at Maurice. “We’ll talk later.”

I sit down to finish my tea while Raina retreats to her room.