***THE PRESENT***


    If word gets out of Xander’s secret, the whole Alpha pack will face a war that will ruin them all. At first, there will be division in their ranks and internal conflict will invoke an uprising. Lastly, when word reaches Drew of the Omega Pack, his once-buried suspicion wille to life with hatred for all that follow Xander. In the past and toe in the future. A bloodline and sire line will be wiped out of existence.


    Tears dropped on his bare chest. As much as he didn’t want to take Drew’s daughter as his mate he regretted taking her life, every single day he lived from then on. Xander was so sleepless that no one noticed. He was strong for the family he represented, Marion. And the family he is now representing Alpha Pack.


    Xander quivered at the breath of the old witch on his face. It was like a bird pping its wings at your face. He was brought back to reality. The reality he was to face head-on, then and there.


    “Don’t go locking yourself away in your mind just yet,” she held his palm in hers tightly. “As hard as the truth is a huge pill to swallow, you will need to speak it,” she sighed. “The girl you killed wasn’t just someone dered to be your mate. She had dreams and ambition just like you and everyone else.”


    “It’s my burden and I chose to carry it alone,” he flicked a tear off his cheek and rubbed his eyes.


    He looked over at Catherine’s glittered eyelids closed and without blemish. Not the small speck of dust from the ground she had beenying for most of the day. A lock of her pulled back and revealed a big bruise. The blood has sunk and dried in the depths of her hair roots.


    “Where did she get that?” Xander nudged.


    “What good will it do?” the old witch shook her head. “It will take a few weeks to heal for her if she doesn’t possess the power she does. Now a few days would do the trick for her.”


    Xander wondered if he really knew Catherine at all. The gruesome and few joyful moments at the Manor. Keeping watch on her in the human world with Jackson. The exciting and not-so-exciting times at the Condo. She wasn’t the ordinary human he took by the hand and stared into her colorful and bright eyes


    . Some days her eyes were yellow like the sun, and the look in her eyes would take you back to young and vibrant memories. The days her eyes were brown, she looked into you and you see yourself in a different life and a new light that makes you expect the future.


    “I knew her. Not everything but the best parts,” Xander’s eyes lit up. “I don’t mind if you call her a witch or a human. Yes, she has been frail but also feisty. She is-”


    “My daughter,” the olddy’s wings came down and the feathersying around them rejoined the tuft.


    Xander had been in Catherine’s life not too long as a soul mate and not too short to be an acquaintance. A lot of unexpected things he had witnessed today and before, but the old witch being Catherine’s mother was just too tough to process.Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.


    At first sight and description, he thought of the olddy as a powerful hermit. A witch of no coven even. She was somehow Catherine’s mother. She was old, yes her eyes could tell tales of the moonlight.


    ***


    The cloak was down. Manny and Joni who remained at the cabin were surprised to see their Alpha just as Manny had said. “A shirtless Xander Marion carrying a prettyy in his arms.”


    They were gripped with fear when they saw the olddy. She traumatized them with their very brief and hurtful encounter. The young wolves aided their Alpha.


    “We will go get the car,” Joni pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s just a click away from here.”


    “It’s actually a few clicks away. Three,” Manny jerked Joni in the side. “At a shady barn house uphill.”


    Xander gave them a dismissive wave. The wolves tarried along and ran up the moonlighted narrow path. Xander watched them run till he was only seeing Joni’s beanie uphill.


    He looked at Catherine and tried to tug her awake. The olddy held back his hand.


    “She will wake up when the time is right,” the olddy swung back her hand and sped it behind her back. “One more thing… don’tpensate someone who has already epted to be in your life at their own will.”


    “How do I proceed?” Xander asked with an open mind. “The truth which will reveal itself will do just that in due time. I just want to protect her more than anything precious to me. As a matter of fact, she is all I have left in the end when the truth is out.


    “You proved yourself to stand against me,” she smirked. “Protecting her will just be as difficult. Don’t hold back from the truth.”


    He understood what she was saying down to the bone. He would need allies now more than ever. Enemies from afar are far more dangerous than those around. You would never see theming. The foes around you will make them clear to your face.


    His father, James, made a lot of enemies than he made friends. This was hard for him to challenge tough times. No one had his back. This was what led to his death. The attack came from very near I never saw iting.


    I am not my father.


    “How do you know my father?” Xander went out of his way to ask.


    “You father… he was provocative,” she breathed out. “Let’s say he has a truth to tell. He didn’t. And the truth came back to haunt him.”


    “In my findings you murdered… by my father,” Xander’s forehead furrowed. “Howe you are still alive and breathing?”


    “I am a witch who doesn’t die once,” she swayed a finger at his face.


    Xander jerked away to the road where the sounds of tires screeching came from.


    A car wasing from uphill downhill. The young wolves drove fast to reach here. Xander turned back to the olddy and he saw scattered raven feathers around. She had faded away yet again into thin air.