Chapter 4: Advice

Anna looked at him interestedly.

“And have you seen any of them feeding on humans?”

Ian wondered.

“They weren't feeding... I saw Dester and... He was injecting something into a dying werewolf. Something that could kill him.”

“And where was he? You know we've been looking for Dester for years! God! Ian, how can you hide information like that?”

“What information? That I saw Dester through the eyes of a dying werewolf? I couldn't even feel the werewolf. I think he was under the influence of vampire manipulation, but his pain was so great that he was able to send... A warning, or a cry for help.”

“You don't know what they were injecting him with?”

Ian thought. He didn't know if he should reveal something like that to his mother. He was saving that feeling for his father Adam. He could understand his conflicts. But he didn't want to lie to his mother.

“I saw something red in the syringe. I think it was blood.”

Anna looked at Ian in surprise.

“Vampire blood?”

Ian also looked at her in surprise.

“How do you know?”

She shook her shoulders.

“I have knowledge of past Mists. When I hear something that is stored in those memories, but which I considered irrelevant to thinking about them... They come up.”

“And what do you know about it?”

“I know that vampire blood... can kill a werewolf, on some occasions... That is, when they have their werewolf side almost dead.”

Ian thought it made sense, after all, werewolves recover very quickly from their injuries.

“They must have been injecting vampire blood into that werewolf I saw many days ago...”

“Is he still alive?”

“No.”

“Then don't repeat that story to anyone else. Max is going to look among the few vampires he's let live for one who might be betraying him. Your father has become very paranoid about security and betrayal.”

“I know. That's one of the reasons I didn't say anything.”

Anna shook her head.

“I know the werewolves will behave, Ian. Our whole family will be together, handing over the business to you. They didn't dare defy the Alpha.”

“You say that as if it didn't please you.”

“I wouldn't want to see anyone from our family involved in this mafia stuff... But I can't protect you from your decisions any longer. I'll always look out for you, Ian. And you being an Alpha has put my mind at ease. The werewolves will always look after you.”

“I'll be fine, Mom. Don't worry about me... You won't get rid of me that easily. I'll always need your advice. I'll never have the strength to say goodbye to you and Papa Max.”

“And I'll always be here, for whatever you need.”

Maxwell entered the dining room at that moment.

“What's up, son? Ready?”

“I thought I was, Dad, but now I guess I never will be...” Ian replied, weighing up his happiness. Going to the United States was his dream, but to do so, he would have to give up his family. Just like Tayme, who cut ties when she was still a child. She wouldn't have to think about what she was giving up.

“Ah, son!” Maxwell said, and went over to him, wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed the top of his head. “It's also my wish that you stay and work in my office with me, but I accept your decision. And I respect it. We've had you with us for twenty-five years, and I've enjoyed every second of it with great happiness, but always knowing that one day it wouldn't be like that anymore, but with all this modernity today, we'll be able to talk as if we were in the same environment every day.”

“You're right, Dad. I'm leaving. And if I find out that what I've always wanted was just an illusion, I'll come back and advocate for you.” Ian said and got up, but before he left he looked at Anna. “Mom, I didn't ask the staff to make breakfast for me.”

Anna rolled her eyes.

“I'm Bruma, Ian. I also feel the Alpha's desires. You wouldn't have to ask, would you?”

Ian exchanged an amused glance with Maxwell, and then they left in Ian's car, which made a point of it, and went to the barbershop.

Maxwell filled him with advice, but what he said most, and what he seemed to want to get into Ian's head, was to always be good and merciful, no matter what the circumstances. To believe in second chances, even if he pushed the person away, to believe that one day they might change, because they certainly would. Humans had been constantly evolving since the beginning of the world. And he had to believe that.

The two of them were almost identical, because it seemed that time had been generous to Maxwell, who wore make-up, just like Anna, and he hadn't aged, as an older brother, he tried to look the same age as Adam, but no matter how much make-up he wore, he still looked like Adam's younger brother. As they strolled through the mall, women stopped to stare at them. Ian noticed that his father wasn't looking at any of them, while he couldn't resist sniffing the curls in one of them's hair and complimented her, enjoying it when he saw her cheeks turn pink. He felt powerful. He felt he could do anything. He felt that any woman he wanted would jump into his bed without a second thought. But that day, he couldn't pay special attention to any of them. He didn't know what his father was looking for until they stopped at a jewelry store. Maxwell asked the man behind the counter if his order was ready, and the man immediately took out a rectangular velvet box and handed it to Maxwell, who opened it, without letting Ian look too, and was satisfied. The man took the box and put it in a bag with the store's slogan on it, then they left the mall and went home. When they arrived, all his siblings, including Tayme, Adam, and his grandparents, and his uncles, Henry's sons, were at the mansion. The buzz was enormous. When he arrived, he didn't know who to pay attention to first, and he felt suffocated by all the attention directed at him.

As time went by, it was time to go to the graduation. His parents had rented a spacious hall for the party, and after the graduation, they headed there.