FENRIS

"Tell us, son. Why this sudden visit? The presence of this witch here guarantees that there is some shit brewing," dad asks me after our meal.

Here goes nothing.

My mom and dad sit facing me and Alcina sits in the lone chair giving us space so that I can first explain my story.

"I found my mate," I start but as soon as I utter these words my adoptive mother is out of her seat and kissing my forehead whispering how lucky I am to find my mate so early in life. I sigh not knowing whether I should laugh or cry at the loss of my mate before I could even touch her.

"Why did you not bring her with you? We would've loved to meet our new daughter," says my mother looking at my father for confirmation who only nods his head with misty eyes. I wonder what caused such an emotion to surface on his face. I have never seen his face so expressive. I look at him questioningly but he quickly hides his expression and returns back to his stoic look.

"There must be some reason for why he didn't bring his mate home, isn't there?" he says to my mother but is looking at me.

I take a deep breath to begin with what is going to be the most harrowing conversation with my parents till now.

"Umm, she didn't accept me," I ignore their hurt and shocked expression and continue to spin a tale. "She is young, dad, not even 21. I was the one who recognized her as my mate and she said that she would like to wait till 21 for confirmation and then move ahead with the mating," I say and I sound like I am defending my mate's actions.

"How can she say that she wants to wait for confirmation? Didn't you shake hands or touch each other. The touch itself should have confirmed your claim," says my mother making my cheeks tingle at the word "touch each other." I wonder what would have happened if Sierra had accepted my claim the first time we met officially. I would have marked and mated with her by this time.

Pushing away those distracting thoughts, I say, "she accepts that I am her mate but for now she wants to focus on her training and not on me. I allowed her to take some time before accepting the bond because I do not want to overwhelm her into this mating."

My mother nods her head relieving me that I could convince her with my half-truths but one look at my father confirms that he detected the tiny lie about her accepting the bond. Not wanting to be stuck at this point and to move ahead with the conversation, I ignore his stare and continue with my story.

"A little while later she was kidnapped by some rogues and kept there for a week. No harm came to her as I saved her from the rogues' assault. But a week after that the elders received a letter saying that they want Sierra's mate to be surrendered to them and that Sierra is not some ordinary wolf." I end my story with a lot of loopholes but for now providing the gist of what happened in the last month. I also keep the information regarding my mother being a witch from mom and dad as I first want to extract as much information as I can from them.

I stare at my mother and she seems to be very sad at the news that my mate was hurt in any manner and confused about that letter. Her emotions appear to be genuine with a lot of concern and confusion so I turn my head towards my father to gauge his reaction. Sure enough, my father's face has turned white as if he has seen a ghost. He seems to be reliving some bad old memory and is slightly trembling. His emotions are all haywire but I can pick fear, panic and anger as the majority ones from the chaotic emotions.

He knows something and I feel betrayed that he hid things about my past from me. Should I confront him here in front of Alcina and mom. But it seems that mom doesn't know anything about my past. It would hurt her more that her mate hid something from her. I don't want to be the cause for her sadness.

"What do you think is that about, dad?" I ask with genuine curiosity also giving him the choice of speaking in front of his mate or privately.

"It might be that the rogue found particular interest in Sierra but somehow sensed that she has a mate. Did you accidently put a claiming mark on her or scent mark her?" he asks and I wonder how did I not think of it?

Of course, I didn't mark her. I scent marked her only on the first day of her training when I verbally claimed her as my mate but other than that I wasn't welcomed by her. If I exclude the last time, I touched her in the infirmary when she rejected me the second time, I don't recall ever marking her in any sense, then how did the rogue know about her having a mate?

"Maybe she told them when they threatened her?" I say still thinking about the possibilities. I look at my father to assess his reaction. He is rubbing his chin with his index finger and appears to be in deep thought.

"I suggest we meet Alpha Zac. He might have some idea about your heritage after all it was him who found you," he says and once again I am stunned into silence. Another betrayal. I always thought that my dad found me and he accepted me on his own but to know that Alpha Zac found me, there are chances that the Alpha forced the Beta to adopt the rogue pup as he couldn't adopt one being the Alpha.

I purposely keep a neutral expression to hide the anger and hurt I feel. It is like the goddess wants to show me how lonely I am with no mate and no real parents. I just nod and get up from the couch. My father looks at me with surprise probably at my eagerness to have a chat with the Alpha but I don't care. I need answers and I need them now.

Alcina also gets up from her chair therefore, making my father leave his seat. My mother also starts to follow us but fortunately, my dad stops her.

"Why don't you make dinner for the Alphas and Zion, lyubeemaya? It would be like a welcome party for Fenris," says my father. I could sense a hint of panic when my mother got up to follow him. I guess he doesn't want her to know about how he hid things from her.

My mother nods rather reluctantly and heads towards the kitchen to prepare for a huge meal for the Alphas and her son. I feel bad that I am keeping her out of the loop but don't want her to be hurt anyway because of me.

"Let's go," says my dad motioning for me and Alcina to follow him to the Alpha's house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walk towards the Alpha's house with my dad and Alcina following me. So far, Alcina has kept quiet therefore, keeping the chattering at bay and giving me a clear head to think. I don't understand why did Alpha Zac adopt me? Was he forced by someone to adopt me? Why not give me to someone else? Does this mean that I might belong to some other pack also?

Goddess! So many questions but no answers so far. I hope that Alpha Zac answers all my questions.

As we near the Alpha's home, the guards perk up, probably scenting the witch accompanying us.

"Introduce the newcomer," says one of the guards.

"She's my cousin," I say not giving out any more information. The guard looks like he wants to enquire more but one look from my father makes him shut his mouth.

Good!

We enter through the gates and I hear a gasp probably from Alcina.

"Such a beautiful garden. I am sure the one behind the making of this garden is a wonderful person," says Alcina confirming the gasp of surprise.

"One of these plants include the plants of wolfsbane. I still don't know why the Alpha allowed his mate to plant a poisonous plant in their garden," I say.

"Probably to kill the rogues or enemies in case of an emergency," she says casually. She's definitely smart.

"Well, well, well, look who's here! The orphan of the pack."

I turn towards the voice with menace clear on my face and march towards Zion.

"It seems my time away from the pack did not do much to reduce your insecurities as the future Alpha," I say calmly but with a teasing note in my voice.

"Of course, my mother always kept worrying about how Fenris won't be accepted by other wolves. How other packs are different than ours," says Zion trying to imitate his mother's voice.

"You were always jealous of the affection your mother and sister had for me," I say.

"Keep dreaming, boy," he says and I snarl at his insult.

I look in his eyes accepting the challenge from a worthy opponent but am stopped when Alcina comes between us and pushes us with a flick of her fingers no doubt using her magic skills.

"Stop it, both of you. We have come for some answers, haven't we Fenris?" she asks in her sickly-sweet sarcastic voice.

"Got yourself a mate, huh?" asks Zion mockingly and looks at Alcina, clearly checking her out.

"She is my cousin. Stay away from her," I growl pulling Alcina beside me and away from this womanising wolf.

Alcina shrugs of my hold on her, glares at both of us and mutters something under her breath, marching towards the house behind my father who shakes his head exasperatedly at me and Zion.

I just stare back at my father's gait. He is trying very hard to walk casually but failing to keep the tension from his muscles. I wonder what exactly are they hiding from me.

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