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He added, “Just know your mother is the strongest person I have ever known. That she is a loving, adorable, innocent, and functioning is incredible. She has every right to be bitter and hateful, but she is not.”

Alexander got quiet again. I could feel him working through things.

I expressed my feelings, “What you did back then was not ok, but I think you know that. The man I know, would walk through fire for my mom. You and I won’t have any problems if you continue being the man I’ve always known. You’re my loving uncle and you always have been.”

Uncle Aiden cried, “Thank you. I’m so sorry.”

I hugged him, “You don’t owe me an apology. You did nothing to me, and mom forgave you long ago. That’s the past.”

When we parted, Alexander stood and hugged Uncle Aiden too. Much to our uncle’s surprise.

Alexander pulled back, “I love you, Uncle Aiden. I’m reeling from all this information. I’ll always love you though. I agree with EJ. You are the man we’ve always known to come help us. I’m angry, but not with you.”

Uncle Aiden quickly said, “Don’t be mad at your mom. She does not deserve that. Be angry with me.”

Alexander shook his head, “I’m mad at Alania. She ruined the promised siblings. She knew, she had to.”

Uncle Aiden nodded, “She did. I am mad at her too.” We all hugged.

I took Alexander’s hand. I told Uncle Aiden, “For the record, Cassie is not upset with you either. She’s just with mom and dad right now.”

Uncle Aiden nodded, “I expected you two tonight. Cassie takes more time to process, like your mom. You boys are direct like your dad. I put out three chairs in case I was wrong.”

I assured him, “We love you.”

Uncle Aiden wiped tears away, “I love you all too. So much. Even if you decide you’re mad at me later, that’s fine. I’ll always be there for you all.”

I leaned forward and hugged him again.

Alexander said, “Dat canbe ticytoky. Forgave own. Dat's ticytoky to the. Own answered questions tho own expected hatred. Ina cunbe own. Own Aiden (Forgive yourself uncle it is long past time. Mom forgave you long ago. It's time to let yourself off the hook. You answered our questions but you expected our hatred. None of us could ever hate you. You are our Uncle Aiden).”

I echoed his sentiments, “Meself. Taught lives megroup negg mistakes. Own messed fli. Own admitted dat. Own moved ove. Own changed. Canbe negg. Own the megroup falhing (I agree. Mom has taught us our whole lives that we are not our worst mistakes. You messed up. You admitted it. You moved on. You changed. Change is not easy. You are the man we all love).”

Uncle Aiden cried, “Meself own guys so. Meself. Own guys. Dat's (I love you guys so much. I love your mom. You guys... our family. it's everything).”

We broke apart and said goodbye. I grabbed Alexander and we popped to the Hackura realm.

Alexander frowned saying, “You don’t need to stay with me, brother. Go to Elise.”

I nodded, “I will. I wanted to talk to our Hackura uncles first.”

We walked into the main room where they were all waiting. Uncle Bjourn greeted, “EJ, Alexander. We thought we might be seeing you.” \

I looked at my Uncle Marcus knowing he saved mom and any of my uncle’s here would’ve too. Alexander just walked into Uncle Bjourn’s arms and started sobbing. I bent down and started sobbing too. My Grandpa Titus wrapped his arms around me, and I clung to him.

I asked, “Quomodo posset hoc faciunt illi? Ipsa est lux. Qu? est mater mea. Et non nocuerunt mihi indignamini eius et non (How could they do this to her? She is light itself. She's my mother. They hurt her and I don't... I am so angry)!”

My grandpa just held me as I cried myself out. Everything my mom had said, everything she’d gone through broke me. When I stepped back, Alexander had just done the same. He sank onto the couch. I popped to my brother and held him.

My grandpa spoke, “We had many of those moments when your mom came here. Sometimes we still do. It’s not an easy cross to bear. The knowledge of what happened to her guts me every day because she’s my little girl. My princess. I do not understand why she was tortured. Or how they could do that to her. She’s the sweetest thing. I know you must be disappointed in me because I failed her and this family.”

My Uncle’s made noises of protest over his feelings.

I argued, “No, you didn’t Grandpa. They did.”

Alexander agreed, “You did not fail mom.”

My bond with my Grandpa told me my words eased his soul. This was too much to handle. I needed my rock, and she wasn’t here. I had to go to her.

I shook myself, “I need Elise. Brother, are you ok?”

Alexander nodded, “I’ll get my anger out here like I usually do. Let Elise take care of you.”

I looked around and felt the need to say something first. I addressed the room, “Thank you for being the men I’ve always known you all were. I’ve looked up to all my entire life and I’m proud to say that. You saved mom and are the reason we are all here. Thank you.” I hugged each of them then popped to Elise.

She ran to me, wrapping her arms around me. I cried all over again. I whispered, “They hurt her. They hurt my mom so badly. It’s worse than I ever expected.”

She rubbed my back, “It’s ok. I’m right here and your mom is here with us.”

When I finally pulled apart from her, we sat on the couch in her house.

I put my head in my hands. Elise put both her hands on my face and brought my face up to hers. She kissed me softly and climbed into my lap. She told me, “I’m here, babe.”

I wrapped my arms around her and repeated, “It was worse than I’d ever imagined.”

She hugged me tighter.

Tears streamed down my face as I admitted, “They raped her and broke every bone in her body. I wondered why she was so short, but it was just normal to me.”

She just held me until I stopped talking.

She looked into my eyes, “Your mom is a bad ass.”

I nodded, “She is. How could they do that to her?”

She hugged me, “Because people are sick. We will fight to make sure this doesn’t happen to others.”

Peter walked in, which usually meant it was time for me to go, but I couldn’t. I closed my eyes whispering, “I need her. I’m sorry I just can’t leave right now.”

Peter held up his hands, “I wasn’t going to ask you to leave. I was going to say I talked to your dad, and we decided you can stay here tonight.”

He put a hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry for what happened to your mom all those years ago and I’m sorry that you heard it tonight. I’m sorry it brings you such pain. Just know your mom is an amazing woman. Her past is hard to hear about, but she’s a brave, strong woman.”

He left the room.

Elise stood and led me upstairs to her room. She pushed me onto her bed before she walked into her bathroom. I snapped myself into athletic shorts. Elise came back in a black crop top that said Dream and short shorts.

I cursed, “Fuck. My girl is trying to kill me.”

She giggled and climbed into bed. She winked, “Your girl is trying to distract you. Is it working?”

Brutus purred, “Yes.” At least he was talking. She kissed me softly then started to trail down my chest.

I whispered, “Elise.”

She didn’t stop. I watched her with hooded eyes as she pulled my shorts off smirking when she saw I was hard. I was close to coming with her mouth so close to my dick. We’d done this before and managed to fumble our way through it last year.

I told her, “You don’t have to do this.”

She smiled, “I want to.”

Brutus told me, “Yeah, she wants to. So, shut up and enjoy.” I mentally rolled my eyes at my wolf. She took me in her mouth. She’d been working on taking me deeper because she hadn’t been able to take all of me when we started. I groaned when she hit further than she had before.

She locked eyes with me and used her hand to get what she couldn’t in her mouth. When she started playing with my balls I groaned and came in her mouth. She let me out of her mouth with a pop and licked the tip of my dick.

I flipped her and tugged her shorts down. I whispered, “God, you smell so good.”

I started licking her clit. Admittedly, I’d fumbled through this the first time we did it. I’d figured it out now and could now have her coming in minutes. She used a pillow to muffle her orgasm.

I crawled back up her body, kissed her, and pulled her shorts back on. I pulled on my own, and just held her to me. She whispered, “I’m so sorry about what you heard today. I can’t imagine.”

I held her, “I can’t understand how that all happened. I do understand that I will protect you with everything I have. Nothing will happen to you or the family we have one day.”

Elise sat up, “Your mom had no one around her that would help her. She was groomed and conditioned from even before she could conceptualize the concept. She still fought back. I didn’t live that type of life. I’m so loved, and I’ve been raised to fight since I was little. Your mom didn’t have that. No one is going to hurt me in that way and live to tell about it.”

I crushed her to me, “No one will touch one hair on your perfect head. You’re mine, Elise Kyle. I will always protect you.”

She curled up into my chest again. I held her tightly to me and kissed her forehead. We fell asleep like that.

I woke up in a meadow and startled. I looked frowning. I called out, “Hello? Mom? Dad? Alexander?”

Before I could continue, I heard Alexander call, “Where the HELL are we, brother?”

I answered, “I don’t know.” He found me and we hugged.

Cassie cried out, “Hello?”

Alexander and I ran in the direction her voice came from. I yelled, “CASS!”

She popped to us with wide eyes. She whispered, “Where are we?” A voice came from behind us, “The Beyond.” I whirled around pushing her behind me.

Cassie gasped, “Arion.”

He nodded, “I’d prefer Uncle, but I imagine you don’t like me very much. You are still the spitting image of your mother Cassie. EJ and Alexander, you two look just like your dad through and through.”

I asked, “Why are we here?”

Arion sighed, “Your mental defenses were lowered enough I could call you here. I wanted to explain everything. I should’ve pulled you before. It’s not that I don’t watch out for you guys, I do. I know all about you. I just didn’t feel it was my place to pull you here and field questions you’d inevitably have. Haley told me I could pull you, but I wanted everything done on her timeline.”

Alexander asked, “Did you kill the man that first beat up our mother?”

Arion nodded his head, “I did not think that would be your first question, but yes I did. Aiden and I killed who we could get away with killing over the years.”

I knew we all looked shocked. Arion rolled his eyes, “Let me guess, my bleeding heart brother didn’t tell you that part.” We said nothing.

Arion sighed, “Of course not. He loves you all. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me. Not Haley or Aiden.”

Alexander hissed, “Where’s Alania?”

Arion snorted, “She does not come to this side of the Beyond. Neither my father, Uncle Lochtan, Auntie Fae, nor I wish to see her.”

I angrily yelled, “They needed you. You are supposed to be their balance.”

Arion looked away. He whispered, “I know. I brought you all here to apologize and answer any questions you have. If it’s anger you need to get out, then take it out on me. I’ll pull you here as much as it takes.”

Alexander asked, “Why did you allow this to happen?”

Arion sighed, “After I kidnapped your mother, I was broken. I wanted to call it off, but Alania convinced me not to. The moment I took your mom, it was over for me. We didn’t know that we were the promised siblings, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Your dad would’ve been waiting and watching for me. He’d have killed me one day.”

Alexander said, “If he hadn’t, I would’ve.”

Arion smiled, “Ahh, the Warrior Enforcer of you all. I’d imagine you would. You feel stronger like your mother, but your father’s DNA is in there too. Something I am very grateful for. Which feels odd to say. We are frenemies as you say.”

I snorted.

He winked, “He does appreciate me now even though that upsets him. My fate was my fault and mine alone. I just don’t want you to blame Aiden for what happened to your mom.”

I replied, “I don’t.”

Alexander grunted his head in my direction showing his agreement with me.

Arion looked at Cassie. She whispered, “Same. I hate Alania, but we weren’t raised to think she was our grandma. You look like our cousins.”

Arion smiled, “My children are quite handsome and beautiful.”

I agreed, “You look like Lila. Or she looks like you, I guess.” Lila was our partial Fairy/Witch cousin.

Arion smiled, “She’s beautiful.”

I told him, “You should call her here.”

Arion smiled, “I do. Just know things are not always as they seem. Go back to your lives but lower your defenses anytime you have questions or wish to see me. I will call you if you do.” He pushed me backwards.

I sat up with a start and looked around. I was back in Elise’s room. I linked Alexander and Cassie, “Are you guys ok? Was that real?”

Alexander answered, “I’m fine and I think it was real.”

Cassie said, “Also fine. It was definitely real. I read about the Beyond in Faerie.” I replied, “Alright then. Are you guys ok?” Cassie replied, “Relatively.” Alexander grunted but he felt ok in the bond.

I sighed and looked at Elise, unable to stop myself from kissing her. She responded so I gently ran my hands up and down her body. I groaned as I cupped her breasts. I whispered, “You’re so perfect.”

We were about to take it further when a metaphorical cup of water was thrown on us.

Her mom yelled, “COME GET brEAKFAST.”

I eased back while Elise looked at me. She was frustrated and there was a blatant need in her eyes. I whispered, “You need to stop looking at me like that, babe. I won’t be able to stop myself.”

Elise closed her eyes, sat up, and went into the bathroom.

When she came out, we went downstairs for breakfast. We ate quickly and she led me outside. Her family didn’t say anything. They were just giving us space. Elise walked outside a ways, then sat down. She asked me, “Are you ok?”

I answered her honestly, “No, but I’m better. Being with you makes it feel like I can breathe again. I just can’t wrap my mind around the things they did to her.”

Elise rubbed my arms, “I don’t think you ever can.”

I shook myself, “My Uncle Arion pulled me to the Beyond with my siblings. God, I need a distraction from this subject. Do you have any Melanie stories for me?”

Elise laughed, “Do I ever, but I have something else I want to talk about.”

I leaned forward and kissed her, “The floor is yours.”

She blushed, “After my birthday, I’m ready.”

I asked, “Ready for what?” She stared at me. I asked, “Brutus?” He replied, “I don’t know.” Elise pushed me slightly, “Gosh, Alpha’s really are lost without their Beta’s.” I frowned, “Hey now.”

Elise said, “I want you at my first shift.”

I snorted, “Nothing could keep me away. I’ll be there for you the whole time.”

Elise nodded, “Afterwards, I want our first time together to happen.” My dick actually jumped. I searched her eyes, “We don’t have to do that.” She nodded, “I know we don’t. I’m ready though.” I kissed her hard.

I pulled back, “Ok, I’ll conjure a treehouse for us in your territory that night. If you’re too tired from your shift though, that’s ok. We don’t have to do anything other than sleep. I’ll just hold you.”

She smiled, “We’re doing more than sleeping.”

I kissed her again, “Let’s just see how you feel. I’m onboard for whatever. I want you more than you can imagine and want you to be comfortable. I want our first time to be special for you.”

Elise said, “It’s us, so it’s going to be special. I was thinking outside in the grass, but you’re over here like ‘I’ll conjure you a treehouse.’ You’re perfect.”

I rubbed her shoulders, “Just know if you’re too tired I won’t be mad. Ok?”

She nodded, “Ok, I’ll let you know. I promise. Did I distract you?” I snorted, “Yes, you did. In the best way.”

We sat in silence for a moment. I looked over at her, “You know I love you, right? You’re everything to me.”

She turned her head and kissed me. She whispered, “I love you too, EJ Conners.”

Brutus was practically doing backflips in my mind about her getting her wolf later this week.

We were holding each other when I heard a fight. It was far enough away I barely heard it. My siblings and my hearing was off the charts. Even better than our dad’s. I jumped up. Elise asked, “EJ?”

I grabbed her hand and ran into the forest.

My heart sank when I realized where were heading. This was where Melanie practiced her dancing. Elise started running harder coming to the same conclusion I did. I heard a growl and shriek of pain. A WOLF was fighting Melanie?! Brutus snarled, “We need to shift.”

I was still processing the fact that someone shifted and was fighting her. Brutus urged, “Focus.”

I let a snarl loose and shifted myself.

Elise shouted, “Go, EJ! Make sure she’s ok!”

This was getting ridiculous. She was only eleven years old. Who shifted into their damn wolf to fight an eleven year old? I charged into the field only to stop in surprise. Brutus said, “Oden would be proud.”

Yeah, he would because Melanie McAlister was taking on three wolves and winning. Easily.

They were bleeding, but she was perfectly fine. I quickly evaluated her realizing there was not even a scratch on her. I snarled in warning. I saw a fourth wolf going for her toy wolf. Brutus growled, “For GOD’S SAKE! IT’S A STUFFED ANIMAL!”

I was going to buy a billboard ad saying, ‘IT’S A MOTHER FUCKING TOY FIND SOME CHILL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!’ I’d find one in this area that was free and do it.

Melanie screamed when she realized where the fourth wolf was going. She yelled, “NO!”

She turned and ran to her stuffed wolf. Damn, she was fast. People weren’t kidding about that. I pinned the wolf that was about to swipe at her to the ground. She clutched her wolf behind her back.

Elise ran over to her, and the wolves began to circle them. I snarled in warning because no one was hurting my mate. Brutus bared his teeth ready to rip them apart. I knocked the one I was fighting out. I heard a shift and growl.

Brutus howled happily because we knew the scent. It was Ray. He’d had followed us. I nodded to him. He linked, “Being a football field away from you guys is hazardous. I thought it was a respectful distance. LINK ME NEXT TIME KID!”

He had a point. He snarled in warning to those circling us, but these wolves were determined to take Melanie’s toy.

I let a warning growl loose at the one closest to the girls. Brutus chuckled in my head when Melanie kicked the wolf in the face. I heard its jaw breaking. He howled in pain. I used my pushing power and they all went down.

I heard snips in my mind, “You are mine!”

“No, she’s mine!”

“I’ll be your first kiss!” “That wolf needs to go! It should be brown!” “No, it should be gray!” “She’s not yours! She’s mine!” “I’m not any of yours!” “You don’t know that!” “YES I DO!” I heard clothes tearing in my mind as if it was happening now.

I shook myself when I felt Elise’s hands on my back. She whispered, “Let them go, EJ. Everything is ok. I’m safe and so is Mel.”

I turned, looked in her eyes, and mentally released them. I shifted back and snapped Ray and myself clothes. He nodded to me.

Peter, Drake, and Garrett were here now. I looked to my right and saw that Tristan and Jason had Melanie. I asked her, “Are you ok, Ladybug?”

I’d heard people call her that so much it just came out. She nodded, “Yes, thank you EJ.”

I replied, “Of course.”

I turned to Peter, “We have a rather large problem. These wolves were upset because they were arguing over who Melanie belonged to. When she screamed that she wasn’t theirs, they shifted to fight her.”

Drake snarled, “WHAT?! THEY DID WHAT? FOR GOD’S SAKE PETER!”

Melanie gaped at me. Tristan asked, “How do you know that?”

I replied, “You know when I use my pushing power, sometimes I see things or hear them. In this case, I heard them.”

I also heard the conviction in Melanie’s voice when she said she wasn’t theirs. She truly believed with every fiber of her being she belonged to my brother. Whether that was true or not, I didn’t know yet.

Peter ordered the four wolves, “Shift back. NOW!”

He used an Alpha command, leaving them no choice but to shift back. Drake attacked one with Tristan right beside him. Jason joined the fight, and I could tell why. These guys had attacked someone who didn’t have a wolf yet. She was a pup.

Melanie yelled, “DAD! T! JASE! COME ON! I had it handled! Then.... well… EJ… well Brutus showed up. I mean… is it EJ or Brutus? It’s both, right? Like…”

Brutus chuckled in my head. I knew she’d ramble on if not stopped. I said, “Either works but it’s definitely both. We are a team.”

She seemed to consider my words.

Peter looked angry. He turned to Garret, “Get our Warriors here right now!”

I looked at the wolves. Brutus linked, “These aren’t newly shifted wolves. I don’t recognize them though.”

He was right. They didn’t smell like rogues, but I’d swear they weren’t Red Run wolves.

Peter snarled, “I want to know how the FUCK they got past our border. I want to know who they are. DRAKE, STOP!”

He stopped fighting. Drake snarled, “What damn pack are you dead men from?”

They all stalled.