CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 11

“What?!”

But Lucas is jumping down from he treehouse and I wrap my arms around his neck.

When we get to the ground, he lets me get off and I look up at him, “What did you just say?”

“It’s complicated,” Lucas says, his face shuttered.

He begins to walk into the forest and I follow after him, “I have a right to know, Lucas. You’re my mate."

He looks over his shoulder at me, "You're very quick to use the mate excuse when it’s convenient for you.”

I catch up to him, "You know that's not what I'm trying to do. I just want to know a little bit more about you.”

The journey to the archives is a five day one by foot so it’s not like we don’t have time.

“My parents died when I was a teenager. They were the Alpha pair of the pack,” Lucas says, quietly, walking forward. I have to struggle to keep up with him.”

“My father was a fair Alpha but there was some discontent in the pack. Some of the pack elders wanted my father to step down. One of them wanted to establish his own son as alpha but it wasn't possible because my father was stronger. His son would have died in that fight. There was an incident at some point and my father gave a ruling and one of the male pack members was banished. The pack elders use that as an excuse to create friction against my father.”

Lucas’s voice is steady and almost ruthless, “Our pack had good relations with a coven of witches. My father was on good terms with them. That pack member that was banished was banished because he went into the coven and killed most of them. He claimed that witches were our enemies but that was not the case with this pack and when my father banished him, the pack got angry because the elders riled everyone up. Together, they got together to come up with a plan to remove my parents from their positions. That pack elders son challenged my father while my mother and I watched with the rest of the pack. He was losing, the elder’s son, when suddenly the entire pack turned on my mother and attacked. They tore her apart before my father could even get to her and then the pack elder ripped her heart out and ate it in front of my father.”

My breath gets stuck in my throat at this revelation and Lucas continues, his voice hard, “My father was weakened in his horror and pain and they jumped on him and did the same. I was fifteen then. I knew that if I didn't leave, I would share the same fate, so I transformed and ran. They didn't follow after me. I ran to the coven who had been friends with my father and my reach their common days later, I realize that there was only one member alive. It was a young woman. She was the same age as me or maybe a little younger. It seemed that the pack elders had insured that the coven was completely destroyed. She was the only surviving member because she had not been there when the wolves had arrived. We stayed together, both of us alone and after a few weeks, I summoned the courage to go back to see whether I could retrieve my parents bodies. She came with me, Aliya. But when we reached, they had hung up my parents skinned pelts at the entrance of the den.”

I feel sick to the stomach on hearing this, “Lucas.”

I take his hand, curling my small one in his and to my surprise his hand squeezes mine.

“I asked Aliya if she wanted revenge because I snapped. And she did. We destroyed that entire pack with one spell that she concocted. They all died painful deaths and I made sure they knew who was responsible for their demise. I walked across the grounds and retrieved my parents pelts, burying it later at a private location of which only I know about.”

My heart beats painfully for the little boy who had his whole world destroyed over greed. To watch his own parents being murdered in front of him is a trauma that is not easily overcome.

“What happened to Aliya?”

Lucas looks sideways at me, “She lives in the forest but she doesn’t like visitors. She’s built a shield around her home and not even I can find her. When I need her, I drop a leaf stained with my blood in the stream that you saw and she finds me.”

“I see,” I tighten my hold on his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago,” He murmurs. “You’re the first person whom I’ve ever told. This is why I want you to be careful. Having a true mate can be both a blessing and a curse. I saw what losing my mother did to my father within minutes. It broke him down, losing that connection. The madness is instant. Of course, he didn’t survive long enough to go on rampage but I saw the agony in his eyes.”

His voice is dark, heavy with loss that still lingers within him and I wish I knew how to comfort him.

We walk for a whole day before resting for the night. Lucas who catches two rabbits for roasting over the fire pit. We make camp and while Lucas manages to fall asleep, my sleep is light and disturbed.

I find myself awake at some point and I sit up, unable to sleep any longer. Restless and tired, I walk over to the fire to throw some more sticks in it. However, there no sticks around so I move a little further into the woods to find some. I’m just gathering a few when I hear something behind me.

Turning around, I see a pack of wolves standing behind me, their teeth bared, saliva dripping from their jaws.