21. The Truth

twenty-one

The Truth

*ELDEN*

E ventually, I fell asleep after Samuel left to allow me to get some rest. I don’t know how long I have slept, but I wake up to the sun still shining and to Calvin keeping watch.

“How long was I out of it?” I ask him.

“Not long enough,” he says. “You only slept for an hour.”

“Well, sleep is for night,” I say. Truth to be told, I still feel drained, but my mind is still too much on a high for me to truly rest. “Thank you for helping me during my breakdown in school.”

“That’s my job,” he says. “It’s what I am here for.”

Somehow his words amuse me, and I can’t help a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Calvin asks, curiously and a tad bit anxious.

“You really are a weird one,” I say. “Anyone else would have pretended to have done it out of the goodness of their heart.”

Calvin looks flustered. “That’s my lack of social skills.”

“Nah, it’s okay, because you are right. It is your job, and we don’t know each other well yet to consider it anything else.”

“How did you learn your social skills?” he asks me bluntly. “Your parents were pretty terrible too, weren’t they?”

He is certainly not one to hold back. Good thing I have Vincent around me, because there is no way I would be able to take Calvin with me to some of the tense, sensitive political meetings. Well, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. “My mother was actually a kind woman, just not very present due to her illness,” I explain. “As for my father, it’s true that we don’t have any real relationship. I was lucky though, because I met Flora when we were children, and I was always friends with Jace.”

“The future Alpha of Emerald Moon?”

I nod. “And then, there is Flora’s grandma and the two elders who are living here. I was never alone.” I look at him. “What about you?”

“I was always alone,” he says. “I don’t have any friends, to be honest. I always had issues making friends when I was smaller. You know, I was a problematic child and my parents couldn’t care less, well, I got used to it. And now, as an adult, it’s more difficult to get to know someone.”

I wait for him to say more, but he seems to want to keep it vague. I am the last one to force someone to reveal their past trauma. It seems like he had a lonely upbringing. “Well, Vincent makes up for your lack of social skills,” I say. “Now I see why the elders said having two betas would be recommended. I heard you will help Vincent with his studies?”

“Yes, he needs to pass his exams and graduate,” Calvin says promptly. “There is no place for failure. I will make sure he gets through his classes.”

Man, he really says the weirdest things in the weirdest way, sometimes. “Just make sure to be nice to him. He went through rough times, and it’s commendable that he agreed to going back to school. It’s true that Geneva used her contacts and made sure that he only needs to join the last grade, but still…”

“Don’t worry,” Calvin says. “He is not stupid. When I talked to him to check on his progress, it became obvious that he is pretty smart. I wouldn’t want to work together with an idiot, anyway.”

I groan at his words.

“Too blunt?” he asks.

“Way too blunt!” I point out.

“But it’s just the both of us,” Calvin says. “I thought it’s okay to be blunt when it’s you and Vincent. I would never say something like that in front of others.”

“If you put it like that,” I muse, “then there is nothing I can say against it. I appreciate you being honest with me. As long as you don’t disrespect me or anyone else.”

“I would never do that,” he promises. “Tell me if I am out of line. I cope well with direct feedback.”

“Okay.” I stretch slightly, carefully getting out of my bed. I still feel wobbly on my legs, but it’s doable. My headache is gone completely, not even the usual ache remains. I guess that was it. Now that Regis and I know what’s happening with our mind, we can work with our gift instead of against it. “I need to walk a few steps to get my circulation moving.”

“Good,” Calvin agrees, much to my surprise.

“I thought you would be against it,” voicing my surprise. “Shouldn’t you tell me that I should take it slow, not overstrain me or whatever?”

Calvin shrugs. “I am not your father, nor am I your brother,” he says.

“You and Vincent are going to be an interesting combination,” I mutter. With Flora in the mix, it’s going to be even more prone to tension, I add in my mind. But, we’ll have to manage somehow. I am sure the four of us will find a common ground of respect for each other.

Calvin doesn’t comment on my last words, and just shrugs. He doesn’t seem to mind. That’s quite interesting about him. I thought he would be easily offended, considering his rank and his upbringing, but he doesn’t seem to mind when I tell him my opinion.

“Let’s get out of the infirmary,” I say. “I just want to tell the doctor that I am leaving.”

“I will accompany you,” Calvin says. “Or your luna will be cross with me.”

“Yes, you better not upset her,” I say. I can suddenly feel Regis’ emotions so strongly. He is proud of our mate, and he loves that he has such a strong counterpart. Although he hasn’t met Celeste in wolf form yet, he is already connected to her. He is a dominant and strong lycan, and we are both happy that he got a lycan mate who can keep up with him.

There is no messing with Flora.

“What’s the future luna’s gift?” Calvin asks me.

“We don’t know yet,” I tell him. “Her lycan is holding her gift back until she is eighteen.”

“The prophecy mentioned she is special,” Calvin muses. “It makes sense. Her lycan probably wants her to be at her full power before getting her gift, and that’s only once she is eighteen.”

“You have strong gifts, too,” I say. “Did you receive them early on?”

“Yes, I got them pretty early,” he says. “I have always been good at plotting and planning, and being sneaky. When I was in my early teens these talents got stronger, and I figured it must be my gift.”

“Must be nice to get your gift while you are growing and can adapt to it step by step,” I mutter, annoyed that I just got mine so late. It felt like I was hit by a brick!

Calvin nods. “Yes, it’s definitely an advantage. But I think most mental gifts appear later.”

He waits for me to talk to the doctor, who doesn’t look very happy to see me up, but doesn’t stop me either, before we both continue our walk.

I decide to use this moment to show Calvin around the pack. It’s interesting to watch him take everything in. He looks at everything, his expression concentrated and serious. He is so focused he doesn’t even blink. “Structure of the pack is good,” he tells me. “But there is room for improvement. I would love to see the schedule for the guards, at some point. Safety measures are one of my fortes. Vincent is good at battle strategy, right?”

“Yes,” I say. “You two seem to complement each other well. Do you want to see the pack house and the other buildings, such as the training halls?”

“Of course,” he agrees.

I lead him through the side buildings first, showing him the training areas, then the nursery and the orphanage. After that, the storage sheds and workshops, where our mechanics and engineers build and repair our vehicles and gadgets. Then we head to the pack house, which is clearly the pride of the pack. Vincent moved into one of the suites for ranked members recently, since, as beta of the pack he couldn’t keep living far away, so he accepted to take Oliver’s place.

Retired members don’t get kicked out just like that, and Oliver had already said he wanted to move with his mate to a quieter area of the pack. I don’t think Dad really cares what happens to his ranked members, but the elders helped organize it. Looking back now, I am really glad Samuel and Geneva spent so many years here. They surely made the pack run better. Now, retired ranked members can choose where and how they want to live, and the pack will support them as thanks for their long service.

“This has to be a joke, Caelum!” I startle immediately, when I hear an exasperated voice coming from around the corner that leads to the alpha office. “How could you!? You went too far!”

“Did you hear that?” I mutter to Calvin.

“Loud and clear,” he says.

I gesture for him to be quiet before I step closer. I know eavesdropping isn’t good and certainly not something a respectable alpha should do, but I recognized the voice; it was Samuel’s and the fact he sounded so angry is enough for me to listen in. Calvin doesn’t seem to have anything against it, instead he looks slightly intrigued.

“The woman claims there is a child, Caelum! Tell me you didn’t know!” Samuel hisses.

“It’s none of your concern what I do in my free time,” Dad says.

“By the Goddess, Caelum, the boy is only a few years younger than Elden,” Samuel exclaims. “We are going to have a DNA test done, but I doubt the woman is lying. How did you hide it for so long?”

“I didn’t,” Dad says coolly. “I told her to get rid of it when she got pregnant, but that whore obviously didn’t listen.”

“Does Emilia know?” Samuel asks.

“No, and she will never find out. I have one heir only,” Dad says darkly. “Elden is the one with royal blood and with the prophecy. At least there is some worth to him, that other boy is just a waste.”

“Carolina was still alive when the boy was born,” Samuel says quietly. “You broke your oath to her, and you broke your bond.”

“Bond?” Dad huffs. “Don’t make it sound more than it is. It’s not like Carolina and I were fated mates.”

My heart stops beating for a second, my breath getting caught in my throat, only to be released in short huffs. Then it settles in me. This is it, the one puzzle piece I never quite understood. That fucker! He didn’t care when Mom died, because he’d already broken their bond plenty of times, and because she wasn’t truly his.

Still, if they were chosen mates, they would have built a similar bond to a fated mate bond, the moment they marked each other. Mom had his mark on her neck; she was his.

“Still, even to a chosen mate we have a bond,” Samuel verifies what I just thought. He sounds disgusted and disappointed. It’s true that I never liked him much, because after Dad completely abandoned me, the last thing I wanted was a second father figure. But right at this moment, I truly respect him.

I peek around the corner, seeing how Dad and Samuel glare at each other. Samuel has stopped talking now and, for a split second, he gazes in my direction. I retreat instantly, not wanting him to know I have heard their talk.

Calvin doesn’t need me to say anything, knowing instinctively that I want to get away. He leads me through the pack house, choosing a way where we don’t bump into anyone. It’s amazing how he already knows the best paths.

Meanwhile, my thoughts are running havoc. Dad betrayed Mom. He cheated on her. All the times he went away for business, leaving her behind, ill and sad, he was with another woman. Apparently, he didn’t even treat that other woman with respect either. It seems like she hid her child from him until there was no hiding it anymore. Maybe she sought out the council or asked for help. I don’t know what she did. I just know that I have a half-brother, someone my father disowned, and I know now that he is a cunning liar and broke my mother more than I knew he did.