"Is he talking about Meena Leonard?" Cassandra asked me again after Andrew had stormed out.

"Yeah," I sighed. "That's his girlfriend."

"That's not possible," she frowned.

"He's a boy, she's a girl..." I said and gestured to myself for the next comment. "Imprinting happens—" And far too often in this town apparently.

"He can't imprint on a Leonard," Natalie said with an upturning of her nose. I didn't know if she was in her holier-than-thou, snotty wolf attitude or if she was truly prompting me for a warning.

"I'm not saying he did, but they are together—"

"No. It's not fated that way," Cassandra insisted. "And if it was, Greta would've mentioned it."

At the mentioning of Greta's prophetic involvement on issues not even related to her own supernatural tier, I now took it more seriously. Maybe there was a reason I didn't really like Meena. Moments later, I found myself waiting for Cassandra to run upstairs to probably enter the locked bedroom besides mine and retrieve something. She returned and flipped through a journal, much like the one my father had left behind for Andrew or the one Ryder had inherited. She put it on the coffee table in front of us and flipped through the pages. Every few turns, I'd see a new family insignia on the top. Eventually she got to a page with a black sign of a simply-drawn square with two pegs on one side and one circle on the opposite, all inside of a tight circle. It looked like a trapped chariot. And next to it was the name BLACK.

"The Black Family's werewolf lineage was hard to trace, but it didn't matter since legacy triumphs," Cassie began and her bright eyes met mine. "They were known for their control." She flipped a couple more pages and I saw the familiar maroon bird insignia with a backwards "6" on its belly that my grandmother had on her stone. "Condors: blessed with the Spirit that runs through us all." She flipped to the centerfold, which was bolded and stiffer than the other pages. Everton. "Known for absolute power."

I gazed over the page of my family, seeing the drawing of a wolf along with the hurricane-O. There was a short registry of alphas of the past and I noticed my father's name on there as well. They were all alphas who had other family insignias attached to the ends of their names. Their mates. Before I could see the full family crest or decreed prophecy scribbled along the sides like the other families, Cassandra had continued to flip the pages to none other than a folded sheet with an orange insignia of an aerial view of a crown and the name LEONARD beneath it.

Again, it listed the alphas, but they had much fewer than the Everton's list—like they rode their Alpha title until their ultimate death. There was a list of locations, some crossed out, beside a family creed of "He who has power, makes the rules. He who has money, has power." It was pretty straight forward.

"So what, they're gold diggers or something?"

"Not exactly," Cassandra said. "The Leonard lineage is one of the oldest bitten werewolf families or they wouldn't be in this book. History points to one of them being the first to receive the Bite and successfully pass it down, but they're still dangerous. They're wealthy and powerful."

"So what?" I asked. "So are us Evertons. Alphas breed Alphas."

"Evertons breed Alphas because there is an overlaying blessing of strength and inspiration that's carried within and is passed on," Natalie explained.

"We lead because people are willing to follow us, not because we want power," Cassandra added.

"So...the Leonards want Meena and Andrew to be together so they can rule a ruler?" I asked because 'what was a king to a god?' type mindset was likely.

"I don't think her family knows they're together...because you can manipulate a lot and still not want to mess with Fate. Everyone knows Evertons and Leonards can never be together," Cassandra insisted.

"Because we're two Type-A families...?"

"Because the difference between Evertons and Leonards is the difference between a leader and a boss."

That changed things. A leader was inspirational, dedicated, selfless and helpful nonetheless. People like Ryder and Andrew came to mind because despite their stubbornness, they held a lot of admirable qualities and would do the grunt work necessary for their desires while keeping their pack together. Ryder's True character was proven by Fate time and time again if you looked past his impulses. And for Andrew, even though he was a fairly new werewolf, his qualities had shone through bright enough to make a terrified wolf such as Aaron stick around and join our pack.

When I thought of the word "boss," I wanted to think of someone like Zander who expected his rules to be followed, but Zander didn't even have rules for his members. It was just his way or the highway. I thought a boss would be the type of title of someone who saw themselves above the rest with no intentions of stepping down—but did have the inklings of ideas to step over people to lift themselves higher. And if that's who Meena's family was, I didn't want Andrew to be involved with her.

"I'm not saying every pair of mates have a legacy—because they don't," Cassandra continued. "But the few, longstanding, bloodline families do. Everyone knows that Evertons only mate with bloodlines—that's how we keep our strength and titles. But every pair has a meaning or else they wouldn't be fated to be together. Each family has a legacy and each generation has a contribution including the entirety of the pack."

I looked over at Natalie, somehow calmer because I was interested in anything that had to do with imprinting.

"What was you and Dad's purpose?" I asked her softly.

"Evertons were famously known for their power, obviously, but Blacks evolved not even believing we had the power to shift anymore," Natalie said. "When we got together, we thought 'hmm, power from one family and control from the other,' how oddly stable we already were." I saw her let go of a breathy laugh. "For years we thought it was ridiculous how seemingly perfect it was, but we grew with each other and realized that through everything, it was deeper. Evertons took pride in their abilities to shift and lead and be an outstanding family for all werewolves; my family shied away from their 'demon blood' and suppressed it because it was something we couldn't completely control, just manage. We were a perfect medium actually. I learned pride, he learned humility."

"Our generation was of devotion," Cassandra added. "Give and take. Balance. It takes trust and faith. That's why the Obsidian pack was successful. That's why Marc's break in fate was possible. That was part of your father's legacy, Ashlynn."

It made sense now. How my father had put his heart into everything and told me and Andrew to find something to be passionate about and stick with it. But when Cassandra mentioned Marc, everything clicked. His entire generation was centered around faith and loyalty. Though he had the Bitten's curse of doubt over his mate, he was still tied to Merida and Ryder and me.

"There's a trend in mates," Cassandra continued. "Even with my parents. It was the joining of Everton and Condor—a native family that was one of the first possessions of animal spirit conjuring. Those two together were the symbol of wholesome strength and clear passion—"

"And me and Ryder?" I finally asked. It wasn't selfish to ask. I wanted to know about me and my mate because it seemed as though we were tested again and again for no reason. I loved him with all my heart and I knew why for myself, but I wanted to know the destined answer.

"Ramons aren't a longstanding bloodline considering Albert bit Marc and that's only one generation ago," Natalie immediately told me. This whole time, I was under the assumption that Evertons had to be with bloodine werewolf families to continue to have leaders with 100% werewolf blood, but maybe it meant anyone with werewolf blood, which certainly qualified Ryder—let alone his alpha status. I didn't know if the book even mentioned female wolves having mates though—if there were any others historically documented in the first place.

"Ryder's a True Alpha," Cassandra suddenly blurted out to remind me and inform Natalie, who knew Ryder the least...but the thought of their interactions made me remember that they had interacted on numerous occasions. I didn't know how much they knew about each other and it was making me frustrated because I thought Ryder had been on a path of absolute honesty this whole time.

"What does that mean for her?" Natalie wondered, new to the term. I wanted to scoff at her insolence, but I had just barely learned what it meant myself.

"I asked Greta about you two a while back," Cassandra revealed while ignoring Natalie's question and I felt a bit like my privacy was taken by a small coven that could tell my aunt whatever they wanted about me and my mate. But I guess it was within her right as my guardian who was already apprehensive about the delinquent who was immediately interested in me. It made me wonder what they could've said because it took a while for Cassandra to give her reluctant approval of Ryder only for her to reject it once more in the idea that he killed Preston... "All she told me was that you and Andrew are the most important siblings in the Everton line for a while, and you would soon be a very commanding force especially with Ryder."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Ryder's an imprinted True Alpha," she repeated, adding a new epithet. "Other than him acting out for years to compensate for his brother, he's the walking epitome of the true character and leadership. And on top of that, he's a mated man in love—that's enough to drive him to do anything...you to do anything. You two are very powerful together."

While I was in love with the boy she confirmed was a great mate in the eyes of the universe, I didn't want to let it excuse Ryder from the fact that he had taken the fall for a brutal murder. Sure, it stretched out my feelings for him, especially in terms of forgiveness, but I couldn't help but feel played for him falling back on our Mate Card for justification of my support of him.

And while Cassandra and Natalie shifted the conversation back to some plot to pull Andrew and Meena apart for the sake of an off set of balance, I only thought of Ryder. I couldn't wonder about anything else except his intentions. I knew he would be home by now. I knew he had probably kicked Colin and/or Zander out of his room and his mind while he was frantically worrying about me and my whereabouts. His wolf wasn't stupid; he was right to worry about me and right now, yet I was gonna let him suffer with a million scenarios running through his mind as consequence for dragging out a terrible lie that changed everything.

Everything about it consumed me more than Cassandra wanting to avoid another Marc/Caroline/Merida triangle with Andrew/Meena/and Andrew's mate in the world or Natalie talking past her admission of murder. I found myself just getting up and leaving the house entirely.