"This can't be possible."

I was horrified. I was numbed by the unbelievable truth.

Shocked by the ultimate reality, I couldn't stand there in front of them any longer. I rushed out of the room, pleading to Karam to take me back to home.

He kept asking about what happened to me. While all I could do was whimper at the fear that I had started to feel.

The darkness, the silence and the secrets of this pack were scaring me now more than ever.

Guiding me on the path while holding me close to himself, he finally brought me here. It began with stumbling on the uneven pathway, struggling in the dark and saving myself from not stepping on dirt or dung cakes. Karam guided me. 

The feet were broken from all the walk and labour I did today. Karam had offered to carry me but I denied, thinking of how any of the Lycans might be awake or get awake listening to us reaching here. It would be a show then.

But no one was there and I could feel the throbbing exhaustion in my feet.

I removed my cloak hurriedly, hanging it away on the chair.

Sitting on his side of the bed with my mouth cupped by my hand, I kept taking long breaths.

"This can't be possible," I repeated, widening my eyes as he locked the door and sat on the other chair beside the little table we had.

"What is not possible?" Karam looked as blank as he could be, while observing my reaction.

I couldn't believe him. "The existence," I said, pointing at the door. "That him and his family is alive."

His hair moved as he ran fingers through them, pushed them back. Putting his right leg against his left knee, he leaned ahead slightly in curiosity. "What's so wrong with him being alive?" He asked while opening his legs and removing his boots slowly.

I blinked in disturbance. "You don't know what I am talking about?" I asked, feeling an unknown restlessness in my heart.

Did Chelsea know? If she did, then why hadn't she sent the clue yet.

"I know what my mate is talking about. What I don't understand is why she feel surprised," he said while picking up his boots and socks.

He put the boots near the wall. His large shadow formed and that's when, I realized how Amelia had come and lit up the candles behind our back. There was no privacy here even after our doors were bolted from outside.

There was uncountable trust.

He took the socks away to the bathroom and returned with washed feet after two minutes, picking up a folded cloth from the chair at the corner of the room.

"Surprise meant to make my mate happy, to see her relatives. Not shock her with some news. I thought my mate wasn't aware of her cousins' births, Aslan and Kaamil." He said, sitting on the chair wiping his feet one by one.

I observed my dirty feet and realized I had stepped on the bed absentmindedly too.

I was the mannerless, here.

But I felt so blank and shocked, I couldn't care anymore.

Putting the cloth on the chair, spreading it to dry, Karam walked towards the bed. He sat in front of me, his back facing the fence.

"What is wrong, my mate?" He asked, cupping my hand with his large one.

I gulped, looking up at him.

My heart was slowly shrinking in this restlessness I felt inside. I just wanted to run back to the other side of the border and scream to Gilbert and Uncle Robert, that their elder brother was alive. I wanted to do the same to Stephen and Beta Iago.

I couldn't understand who told them about these people being dead, all this time. Who started that rumour?

It had been years. So many years.

How must be the elder brother and his family living here like this? What of his life back at the pack?

"If only they knew that the brother who crossed the border was alive," I whispered, my voice shaking in the deep sorrow that I felt for Gilbert's family.

"My mate. . ."

The deep voice shattered my thoughts. Staring at him, I clenched my jaws to control the lump that was forming in my throat. I gulped hard.

"This was your surprise, Karam?" I asked calmly, keeping my voice low and shaky. "You did this to taunt me?"

His eyebrows straightened and a sudden blankness appeared on his face. "What?"

"You don't know that the Alpha of Southern Pack is Pete, now? And all these years was his father, Alpha Gilbert?" I asked, staring at him in sadness.

He blinked, his eyebrows furrowing. "I know, my mate."

"You don't know why he became the Alpha?" I asked, my voice cracking as I realized that this was becoming a bigger deal the more I was contemplating.

His lips parted. "His brothers died."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Then, what's wrong with you? Why do you behave like I should dance that you showed me their faces? That. . . That man. . . His brothers, his whole family thought that he was dead," I choked out angrily.

His eyes turned calm and he lowered his gaze, clenching his jaws slightly.

"For him, his elder brothers fought a War, Karam. They died over asking justice for his fate. This is not a small thing. This is big. It would crush the hearts of Rucussans who had been mourning the deaths of their lost Alpha sons. How can I face that man knowing, that back there at home, my mother and her mate mourn for his death?" I asked, looking at him sorrowfully.

My eyes lowered as I let out soft sob. "Stephen was so broken when he talked about Valeria. He thinks that she is dead too," I said through gritting teeth while feelings tears sliding down my cheeks. "How cruel this is? Who did this? Tell me, Karam. Did your brother tell the Alphas that they are dead? Tell me!" I said, raising my tone while pushing his hand away from mine.

He let his hand land on the bed. His nostrils flared as I waited.

"How would you feel when someone abducts your brothers and lies to you about them being dead?" I said, clenching jaws while noticing him breathing slowly. "How would you feel when your whole life, you were carefree and lively, knowing that you had elder brothers. And all of a sudden, you are forced to become an Alpha to this pack. How would you feel when all your life you have been one of the Alpha sons, free and joyful and all of a sudden, you are caged inside some valley? And to do the things that you were never prepared for? To bend in front of the Alpha of a pack you were supposed to hate?"

My blood boiled when he kept quiet and didn't even look up at me.

"Why would you talk now?" I taunted angrily. "All you Lycans know is to spread lies and play with the lives of others! Capturing females in the name of brides, blaming everything on the border!"

He stiffened.

"Capturing males! Their children too! Who deserved more than this medieval filter!" I said angrily, gritting my teeth and sniffling hard to not weep anymore. "You all are sick in the head! Monsters! Dearest to Moons?" I mocked angrily in a whisper. "I bet, she is making a fool of you all. I bet deep inside, all she wanted was to cage you Lycans. But she couldn't do it in her name. Then, came Alpha Rucus in the picture."

His amber eyes raised up at me, anger flickering in them.

He had never looked at me like that.

"My brother never lies," he said, clenching his jaws hard, giving me the death glare. "Neither does my whole pack. Or your wolves are fools enough to buy our lies if we start practising it?"

My eyes turned stone on him. My nostrils flared in anger.

The anger in his eyes was gone slowly as he leaned closer and towered over me. "We never said that their females are dead. That their brothers are dead. We just never let them reach the borders to save their own lives, my mate."

My breaths stopped as I stared at him in sudden shock. What?

His rough and deep voice reached my senses as he spoke, "It wasn't easy to stop them from reaching borders. A desperate soul wanting to reach his home is not afraid to die. All he wants is to be free of this cage. But my father and brother knew what to do. We let them live with us. In our pack, with not even asking them to call our Goddess their Goddess. She is one. Not asking them to call our Alpha their Alpha. He is one. But they respect him for his favor. For his lack of hatred for the pack whose Alpha had destroyed his ancestors."

"Alpha Rucus' pack was destroyed by your ancestors," I said, cutting him off with pride lacing my voice.

His eyes softened at me, his hand reaching down to push my hair away from my cheeks and temple.

His smile faded slowly.

"The six packs outside this territory didn't see their females and males for years," he said, staring at me in the eyes. "We were only saving lives, protecting the wolves from dying. The six packs lost their hopes of seeing them again and concluded their deaths on their own."

My eyes turned blank and tearful.

He wiped that tear that slid down my cheek and said, "When we do good to others, we get good in return. My mother always told me. It worked in our favour, my mate. The fear forced them to think. The terror of this place kept them serious about the exchange. The horror that they imagine to their capabilities we must have done to their relatives built on its own, my mate."

Chill ran down my spine.

I looked around the room, the faint candle light reaching to every corner. My eyes moved across the window that was open.

My mind was soaking in his words.

He caressed my cheek, making me look back at him. His eyes glowed as he said, "If that terror stops them from not breaking the exchange, force them to continue sending our brides so our families could form and continue, keep them sincere in valuing Moon Goddess' rules—then, why should we tell them the truth?"

My eyes widened and went normal in the sudden realization.

"We don't know what happened between the packs. We didn't see the War. We just knew that the new Alpha of Rucussa was the sixth brother. We knew that the four brothers died and we didn't hide it from Joran, my mate. He knows. Valeria knows. The brides informed them. King told them," he explained, looking at me calmly.

I gasped silently.

"We didn't create the War between packs, my mate. It is their own doings. Neither did we say, they died. Nor we said, they are alive. King never talks more than he needs to the Alpha he is supposed to have exchange with," he said, observing my stunned face with a sad smile.

"I wouldn't have gotten you my mate, if this terror for us wasn't present in the hearts of leaders of the six packs."

I sucked in a long breathe and released in terror of what he just revealed.

"Can I tell them now?" I asked politely, my voice shaking as a sob was on its way.

He didn't reply.

"Karam, I would be in heaven if someone just revealed to me that my father is alive. I would be sorted," I told him, my voice breaking along with my heart.

His smile faded slowly.

"All my life, my mother's mate has hated me. Never considered me a child like his own. Amelia too says, I wasn't supposed to be born. I have been a pain to his mind and heart. My existence hurts him. It isn't his fault but only mine." I said, letting out a faint sob.

He watched as the tears slid down my cheeks.

"If I tell him the news of his brother being alive, it will cover all the pain I have given him. Let me give him this good news, Karam." I requested, giving him the pleading look. "Please, I beg you."

"You are begging me to make your brother leave his Alpha title," he told, giving me the stern eye. "To make a man happy who hates my mate's existence?" His jaws clenched.

I frowned. "I don't care. That's their own matter. If Aslan deserves to be the Alpha, then Pete must be at least aware of this fact."

"It will make him miserable, my mate."

"He will ask elders about breaking this border," I said hurriedly, grabbing his shirt in my fists. "Karam, please. You all feel caged. Right? My mother's mate will find out some solution if he gets to know that his brother is alive. He will do anything to make him free. You all will be free too."

He didn't speak as I kept begging and writhing.

"Karam, please." I whispered, putting my hand against his chest.

"No one can break the border, my mate." He said, humming deeply. "That hole of so many years without their existence, in the hearts would be too overwhelming. King will never allow it. I know that this will hurt your mother and her family. They will blame it upon us and stop sending the females. The border will still be strong and unbreakable. But our brothers, our pups and grand pups would be deprived of their mates. Our pack will be vanished, my mate."

I squeezed my eyes, punching lightly against his chest. "At least, let Stephen know about Valeria?" I asked, whimpering with tears as he shook his head. "He is old. His mate and the only pup are dead. The news of Valeria would make him happy—"

"Enough to take him to the Moon," he said roughly. "You do not want that to happen to your old best friend."

I pulled my head back to give him a look of disappointment and sadness. "Karam, please," I whispered. "Please, my mate."

His eyes softened but they went hard as he spoke, "Being mysterious help us in survival, my mate. We cannot break the rules of this land."

"This is cruel," I said, sniffling softly. "So cruel."

He smiled sadly. "Not as cruel as seeing my sisters die in longing for their mates in front of me."

I gulped, looking at him with sudden empathy spreading in my heart.

At least, the brother was alive. Valeria was alive.

"Who else is alive?" I asked hoarsely.

Karam gulped slowly, his face turning serious. "Those whose pups were fortunate enough to have Lycan mates," he replied, churning my stomach. "And who followed the rules."

I shuddered slightly, feeling the tears hanging at the lashes.

"I hate this," I whispered absentmindedly. "Whatever this mess is. This border is cruel. This is an injustice to the people who take birth here. There is so much outside this territory. A big world to explore and learn from. You all are missing on a lot. It's heartbreaking."

Karam gave me a disturbed look. "For the females, yes. But for males, our mates are our world. I am not missing on any joy if I am with my beautiful soulmate. My heart only breaks when she cries."

I lowered my eyes, my lips trembling as his words squeezed my heart so hard.

"I am just a boring human, Karam. But that world outside is full of wonders." I said, weeping softly.

He cupped my cheeks, wiping my tears as he looked in my eyes. "My human mate is the most wonderful thing I have seen, felt and love."

"Don't be cheesy," I sobbed. "There is washing machine, comfortable toilets, toothpaste, under wears, burgers, cars and the list goes on. These are not even the low level wonders I am talking about. I miss my earphones too. I miss the buildings."

He stared at my face, looking helpless and hurt.

"Then, you tell me about these wonders. I will try to replace them with better things of my world, because it is now yours too." He said, holding a positive smile.

It made me cry more, hurtfully.

God knows what got over my chest.

To ease down the heaviness, I raised myself on my knees on the bed to match his height and wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my face against his shoulder.

He hugged me back, making me feel small in his hold.

Passing his warmth to me, he kept rubbing my back as I wept my heart out.

Pulling back slowly, I stared at him. Grabbing my hand, he roamed his fingers over my palm, smiling at me.

"My mate's soft hands will get hurt from washing the clothes. I will bring more meat for Nysa to keep these hands soft," he whispered, leaving a kiss on my each palm, making me squirm.

"I will wash all your clothes every day if you let me cross the border for a day, Karam. I will come back to you, I promise." I choked out, staring at him.

His nostrils flared and jaws clenched. He looked at me for longer. "Why? Does my mate love me?"

I stiffened, lowering my eyes. "I will return the favor."

He didn't like the answer because his breathing turned intense and slower. I could see the hope breaking in his eyes.

I would come for my honest promise, but loving him? This was too early to even think of that word.

"My mate cannot cross the border anymore. For she is my bride. One of the Lycans, now. A member of this pack." He said, looking at me in frustration.

"We can fuck too in return for that one day across the border," I said, standing on my knee, staring at him.

His eyes turned straight and surprised. For a moment, I could see the lust and greed glinting. And then, he smiled at me sadly.

"I can lie to you now about crossing the border and fuck you endlessly," he said, his smile fading. His nostrils flared in the anger he was started to show. "But I don't just lust for my mate. I want her to lust for me too. Love me too like I love her. Madness, it is. In my head and heart. For you."

I lowered my eyes and gulped hard.

"You don't have to make deals and promises. They are already taken during the rituals we did. You owe me an eternity of love and respect, our beautiful pups, grand pups, mad fucks," he said, snaking his hand around my waist, pushing me towards him only to sit on his lap.

My heart shivered with the excitement as he loosened the braids over my head and removed the crown. Massaging my scalp for two minutes, he hummed slowly.

"You can't cross the border, my mate. It will kill you."

My lips trembled at the helplessness, pain and remorse I felt for myself.

"It will kill you," he said, pulling my face closer. "You are safe with me, my mate."

Overwhelmed, I did what I felt could bring me immense comfort in that weak moment of realization.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed my lips against his.

He responded slowly and softly, caressing my sides. Pushing us towards the bed, he let me fall on it with his hands beneath my back.

Only the heavy sleep could stop us from spending the whole night kissing each other deeply.

______

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