by JJ King
“Yes, Teagan.”
“Anthony’s heard back from his contacts in Europe. He asked me to bring you down to Dad’s office.”
“You mean his office, don’t you?”
Teagan stared at her, his eyes wide, but again she didn’t care. It had been a horrible thing to say. It was no one’s office until the Council decided on the new Alpha. She pushed to her feet and tapped her hand against her thigh, “Come on Eve,” she murmured.
Completely unperturbed by the emotional turmoil around her, Eve bounded to her mother’s side and happily trotted down the hallway, stopping for a moment at the top of the stairs before tumbling down them with happy yips.
The door to the office was slightly open, which was all the invitation Eve needed to rush in to pay an impromptu visit to her uncles. Katherine pushed the door open and stepped inside, breathing in the deeply familiar scent of her father’s private quarters and fought not to double over in pain. The buzzing sound that had set in when she’d left Rose in the cabin increased slightly, making it hard to hear and even harder to concentrate. So, she sat and let the world move on around her.
At some point Eve disappeared, whisked away by a servant or her grandmother, Katherine wasn’t sure. She’d been staring at the desk, still covered with her father’s favorite knick-knacks and framed pictures of their family. They were all a lie, she thought. Those pictures didn’t show their family, not all of it. Rose was telling the truth, she was Pierre’s daughter, the lab she’d sent Rose’s blood and her father’s hair follicles to had confirmed it after only two days. Even before they’d responded, she’d known, though. She could see her father in the young wolf’s features.
“Katherine?”
The sound of her name jostled Katherine out of her thoughts. She shifted her gaze to Anthony who was looking at her with a worried expression. She wondered absently how he would handle the news that their father had been unfaithful.
“What do you think?”
She blinked, not understanding the question. “Think about what?”
Anthony took a deep breath then asked again. “Someone needs to go to Montana to search for clues to Dad’s…” he paused, then gritted his teeth and finished the thought, “murder.”
Katherine’s mind focused on the question. Ronan had come home with their father’s body and before that he’d been locked up with the Alphas as soon as Pierre’s body had been discovered. Their security team had taken some pictures and swept the room for evidence, but they’d found very little.
“Has the Council sent anyone into the room yet?” She wondered aloud.
Ronan cleared his throat, “The Alpha Council agreed to make the room off limits until someone from the family returns and we’ve had two of our guards stationed in front of the door twenty-four-seven. No one has stepped inside the room since I left to bring Dad home.”
Katherine shuddered and looked away, “I can’t do it.” I won’t, she thought.
Anthony sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face, “I’ll go.” He sounded tired, Katherine noticed, feeling guilty. Being here, in their father’s office, was dredging up feelings of responsibility that she couldn’t seem to dismiss. Katherine looked at each of her brothers and recognized fatigue mixed with heartbreak. They were all suffering, all barely keeping it together, and they didn’t even know about Rose, yet. She felt the weight of the knowledge she held press down on her, making it hard to breathe.
Secrets had never been allowed in this family. Not big ones, anyway. There were Alpha families around the world whose everyday life consisted of infighting and lies, and Pierre had been adamant that they remain separate from that insanity. Katherine debated telling her brothers for the millionth time.
It was only a matter of time before they found out and, when they did, they might be resentful of her for keeping it from them. More than anything, the family needed to stay united and, as the first born, it was her job to keep them on a solid foundation. Everything she’d been keeping at bay pushed in on her until she couldn’t keep silent any longer. Katherine took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “There’s something we need to talk about.”
♀♀♀
Katherine leaped over the fallen log and landed on the pads of her paws without breaking stride. She dodged a branch and her fur brushed up against Ronan, who growled low but kept running.
You need to calm down and listen, she pressed her thoughts into her brother’s mind, into all their minds, as they raced toward the North cabin. They’d listened for precious little time as she’d explained who Rose claimed to be. Anthony had been the first to react, his eyes flashing with fury as he slammed his fists onto their father’s desk and cursed.
She was there, all this time, Anthony fumed, darting past Ronan who pressed on without response. She was right there and…
And I didn’t see it either. So, don’t give yourself grief and, for fuck’s sake, give me an ounce of leeway. I didn’t know what to do with it. Katherine hoped her oldest brother, at least, would understand. Ronan, she thought, would take some work.
The cabin came into view and they all sprinted forward, Ronan trying to get to Rose first, Anthony and Teagan trying to slow him down, and Katherine just trying to keep her family together.
Ronan reached the cabin first and swung the door to the small room open with a vicious crash. It slammed into the wall and stayed, the door handle securely lodged in the Gyprock. He stalked up to the chair where Rose sat, growling low in his throat, and just stared at her.
Katherine entered on his heels. She skirted around him and held out a hand to stop him from doing something he’d regret. “Ronan,” she spoke softly, like their mother, praying it would get his attention, “please. Calm your wolf. Breathe. Ronan,” she caught his gaze and went for the Hail Mary, “how would Dad deal with this?”
Ronan blinked slowly as if seeing her for the first time and, after a moment, his eyes went back to normal. She blew out a slow breath, lowered her hand, and turned to Rose. “We have questions.”
♀♀♀
Rose refused to lower her gaze.
The tension in the tiny cabin room was thick, making the hairs on her arms stand on end. Rose sat, straight-backed, on a wooden chair opposite what was left of the LaFlamme family, minus Sylvie, and stared straight ahead.
No one spoke. Rose let her gaze wander the four of them as they assessed her, and knew they were probably searching for some sign of their father in her. She wasn’t sure if there was any, she’d been told many times how much she looked like her mother, but there was always the chance. She’d never seen her father in person. The images she'd found online hadn’t looked like her at all.
After a few minutes of silence, Rose felt the impatience begin to rise in her chest. She counted to one hundred then thought, fuck it, and cleared her throat. “I’m aware of Pierre’s death and I know what it must look like, my showing up, claiming to be his daughter. I didn’t know him, but from what I’ve heard, he was a good man who loved your mother very much.”
The sound of teeth grating against teeth filled the air. She’d hit a nerve. Rose inhaled and continued, “Which is why you need to know that he was never unfaithful to your mother.”
Growls filled the air but no one from the other side of the table spoke. Rose shifted in her seat, unsettled by their lack of questions. This was her one chance to get it right, to find the help she needed to save her family, and theirs.
“I know exactly how this is going to sound, but you need to listen and believe me. Pierre is my father, but he was never with my mother. Her name was June.” Rose swallowed, it had been a long time since she’d talked about her mother. “She was artificially inseminated thirty-one years ago and gave birth to me.”
“What?” Katherine leaned forward, her eyebrows drawing down over her intense green eyes. Rose watched her eyes now, seeing the intelligence and pain flit through them, mingling together to create a firestorm of passion. She’d learned bits and pieces about her fath
er’s children as she’d made her way to Wild River, but there was too much she didn’t know about them to feel safe, yet.
Katherine was the eldest, she knew that much, and Anthony the eldest male. The two of them worked well together, she remembered from their time interrogating her. They were composed and smart, like the quiet one, Teagan. Ronan, on the other hand, looked like he was about to ring the truth out of her with his bare hands. She understood each of their reactions and judged them to have truly loved their father.
“It’s true, I was an experiment, but I wasn’t the only one.” Rose closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the faces of her family; her mother, her aunts, and cousins. They needed her to succeed. She opened her eyes and recited the speech she’d been practicing for weeks. “There’s a prophecy, and I know this sounds insane but, it’s true, every bit. There’s a race of wolves called the – “
“Geliget,” Katherine whispered the word but in the quiet of the room it sounded like a shout. All heads turned to her, including Rose’s.
“How do you know of them?” Rose asked, searching Katherine’s face for answers.
“We just do, leave it at that.” Katherine cleared her throat and steepled her fingers together, obviously taking the lead. Something had shifted in Katherine the moment she’d brought up the prophecy, Rose realized. She bit down on her bottom lip and thought carefully about her next words.
“Who created you?” Katherine’s eyes narrowed.
“A wolf named Raphael.”
Anthony hissed and gripped Katherine’s arm while Ronan exploded out of his chair, sending it crashing to the floor. Rose pushed back as far as she could and looked from one to the other, fear singeing her heart. She opened her mouth to go on but snapped it shut when Ronan roared.
“Ronan,” Anthony spoke firmly, “this isn’t helping.” He kept his gaze on her as he spoke, and his hand on Katherine’s arm, protecting her, Rose thought. She darted her gaze to Katherine and recognized a familiar emotion in her eyes, fear.
Their reactions clicked. Rose pushed out a deep breath and focused her attention on Katherine. She was the key to all this. “He took you, didn’t he?” She asked, knowing the answer.
Katherine didn’t budge, then slowly, her head nodded, almost imperceptibly.
Rose felt for her, for the pain she’d more than likely endured and the damage it would have wrought in her life, but she needed to understand. “Listen to me, Katherine. Whatever he did to you, he’s done to others. He’s done to me. I don’t have scars, God, I wish I did so you’d see them and understand, but I don’t and you don’t, even though it happened. It’s been happening to me since I was a child. To all of us.” Her voice rose and fell as she pleaded, brushing aside her intense sense of pride for those she’d left behind, needing Katherine to believe her.
“What did he…” Katherine broke off and shook her head at Anthony who nodded and pulled his hand from her arm. “What did he do to you? Did he say anything?”
Rose knew the words by heart, she heard them in her sleep. “Mia, Mother,” she whispered, “He called us his little mothers.” She bit down on her lip to center herself before answering the rest. “He uses silver, knives and dust, bullets and whatever else he can find, to test us. Every year since I was twelve, since I could carry a child.” She hung her head and focused, berating herself for being too weak. She needed to be stronger than this for the others.
Rose heard Katherine’s gasp and raised her head. There was something else in her eyes now, shock and pity. The disbelief was dissipating but still there, definitely still in her brother’s expressions. Rose wished she had time to convince them all, but she knew it was Katherine who she needed. Only Katherine. She would bring the rest with her.
Katherine’s hand floated up to her mouth, covering it, like a shield from what she was about to ask. “Did he…” Again, she trailed off. Her fingers closed over her mouth, not letting the word escape.
“Rape me?” Rose asked, voicing the word they all seemed too afraid to utter. She shook her head, “No. I never tested well, my body never reacted the right way to his experiments. What you need to understand about Raphael is that he’s obsessed with the prophecy and he would never deign to stoop to fuck a nothing like me.” She laughed and heard her hatred in the sound, “He’s saving himself for her, for Mia.”
Katherine wavered and, for a moment, Rose thought she was on the verge of fainting. Her brothers must have thought the same because they all turned to her, reaching out to reassure her, murmuring that “He isn’t here,” and “Kat, you’re safe now.” Rose watched, confused, and studied Katherine, whose face had drained completely of blood. She looks terrified, Rose thought. I wonder…
Then she knew. The breath in her chest whooshed out as if she’d been punched in the gut. Rose’s body searched for oxygen but she couldn’t remember how to inhale. She gasped, clutching at her chest, as darkness encroached from all sides.
A hand came down hard on her back, knocking what little air she had left out, but it did the trick because when she gasped next, her lungs filled with blessed oxygen. “It’s you, isn’t it?” Rose asked. You’re the one he’s been waiting for, aren’t you? You’re Mia.”
Katherine stared at her in horror, her breathing ragged. Without breaking eye contact, she nodded and reached her hand across the table, grabbing Rose’s hand like a dying man reaching for salvation.
Rose gripped her back and swallowed hard, “He’ll never stop looking for you.”
“I know,” Katherine nodded.
“We won’t let him anywhere near you ever again, Kat,” Ronan growled and his words were instantly echoed by Anthony and Teagan.
Rose looked at them, crowded together to form a unit, a family that loved and protected. She had a family, too, even if it didn’t look quite like this, and she needed to save them. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “There are twenty-six girls locked in a house in Ireland right now. Twelve of them are children, not old enough to even be tested. Seven are of age and being tortured constantly, although,” she frowned at Katherine, “maybe now that he’s found you.” A terrible thought threatened to upheave the water in her stomach. “If he’s already found you, if he decides the rest of them aren’t worth keeping…” she begged with her eyes, letting every ounce of pain she’d ever felt seep into the one word she needed to say, “Please.”
Katherine nodded, glancing at her brothers for confirmation, and squeezed back, “We’ll help.”
Chapter Three
Katherine closed the door to her father’s office and nodded to Anthony. “We’re good.” She felt bad keeping secrets from her mother but she was still walking around in a complete fog and learning about Rose before they had the chance to corroborate her origin story would be too much. Katherine crossed the room and sank down next to Quinn on the love seat.
“So,” Anthony leaned against the desk next to Ronan and Teagan and crossed his arms over his chest, “everyone, this is Rose. Rose, this is Quinn, Keme, and Daphne. Rose,” Anthony spoke slowly as if he were carefully choosing his words, “is Dad’s biological daughter who was created through artificial insemination as part of Raphael’s evil plan to create a new generation of Geliget wolves.” He stopped abruptly, chuckled and startled mumbling curse words under his breath.
“What?” Daphne’s eyebrows shot up as she glanced around the room, looking from Rose to Katherine. She nodded and shrugged in response to her friend’s unspoken question.
Quinn turned to face her, “What the hell is he talking about?” His voice sounded completely confused and more than a little angry. Katherine shifted and shook her head.
“Okay. Okay,” Katherine pushed up from her seat and walked across the office to stand next to the chair Rose was sitting stock still in. “This is going to sound insane, but here it is.” She started pacing and retelling everything they knew so far, stopping every sentence or so to throw up her hands or laugh at the absurdity of it. When she was finished, Katherine scanne
d the room, saw the incredulous expressions on her husband’s and friend’s faces and lowered herself unceremoniously down next to Quinn.
“How can we trust her?” Quinn’s words came out rough and filled with enough emotion to break Katherine’s heart. She knew it was still difficult for him to think of his cousin as a psychopath, even after everything he’d done. They’d grown up together and had been friends, before he’d lost his way and gone off the deep end. “If everything she said is true, if Raphael created her and others, then she’s been under his influence her entire life.” He turned to look directly at Rose, “How can we trust you?”
Rose remained stoic under his intense scrutiny. Katherine couldn’t help but admire her fortitude, she was a fighter that was for sure. “I don’t know if I would trust me if I were you,” she said simply, looking Quinn straight in the eye, “but my family needs help and I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”
“So, you’re saying there are more like you out there and Raphael is torturing them like he did to Katherine?” Keme spoke for the first time, his tone turning rough. “He’s tortured you?” He scowled.
