by Flynn, Donna
“We’re fine,” Mercy said since Alec was too busy staring between his father and his grandfather with shock to answer.
“Son?” Gregory placed his hand on Alec’s shoulder.
“Dad what is going on?” He looked to Alaric as if seeing a ghost. “You told me he died. You said that all of my grandparents were dead.”
“Your mother’s parents are dead and the night your mother was murdered,” he looked to Alaric with hatred, “he died too.”
“Son, I tried to make them see that the threat of the rogues needed attention, but back then I was the new guy and they didn’t exactly listen to what I had to say,” Alaric explained.
“I lost everything that night, everything but my son and I thought if I kept you away there was no chance you could ruin his life too, but I was wrong wasn’t I? Here you stand trying to take away his mate too,” Gregory snarled.
Gregory looked ready to shift and Alec quickly pulled Mercy out of the way just in case he lost his control.
Mercy stared at Alaric. She could see he, too, blamed himself for the past. In fact, she could see he clearly had suffered his son’s loss every day of his life. Alaric’s eyes snapped to hers and she looked away, embarrassed she had been caught staring at him.
“Why did you come?” Gregory asked.
“Alec is my grandson. I want to do all I can to help him.”
“He doesn’t need your help!” Gregory roared.
Alaric’s eyebrows lifted. “I am not the new kid on the block anymore, son. I am now the oldest and I have more power now than I did back then.”
Gregory snorted. “Unless you can change their minds and just go back to wherever you came from, and leave us alone, you’re of no use to us.”
“Gregory,” Mercy said, placing her small hand on his arm. “I know you two have your differences, but we need all the help we can get and he is one of the Elders. Surely, that means something. Let him stay and help us.”
“You’re asking a lot,” Gregory said placing his hand over hers.
Mercy looked up, blinking back tears. “I’m asking for my life,” she told him seriously.
Gregory pulled her to his side and hugged her close. “That, I could never deny you.” He looked to his father. “You can stay, but if my son or his mate gets hurt in all of this, I will kill you this time.”
Alaric nodded and looked to Alec. “I will do everything I can to help you, but you must be prepared for the worst, and you must not in any way compromise Mercy,” he told him, referring to the way he had found them upon his arrival. “It would be seen as an act of defiance and that will not win you any favors from the other Elders.”
“My son is ready to face anyone who might challenge him and he will keep better control of his emotions from here on out,” Gregory answered for his son.
“I hope so,” Alaric said.
A knock sounded and they all looked to where Jaden stood at the screen door, watching them all warily.
“I thought I made it clear I didn’t want you close to Mercy,” Alec snarled.
“And I told you that she is not our enemy,” Mercy said, going to the door and opening it for her.
“Grandfather,” Jaden said, walking briskly to Alaric’s side.
“Jaden.” Alaric reached out and pulled her against him in an affectionate hug.
“Care to explain?” Gregory asked, looking at Jaden with newfound interest.
“This is your sister Anna’s daughter. When she passed away I was the only family she had left, so I took her in and raised her.” He looked down proudly on his granddaughter. “She is one of the Elders’ best emissaries.”
“Grandfather, stop,” Jaden said, pulling away from him and turning to face Mercy. “I didn’t know it was him coming and until I overheard your conversation just now, I had no idea I was related to Alec in any way.”
“It’s alright, these guys seem to keep a lot of secrets,” Mercy told her.
“Are you never going to let me live down not telling you that you are a werewolf,” Alec said.
“No I am not, but I have decided to love you anyway,” she said walking to his side, and placing her arms around him.
“And I thank God everyday for that miracle,” he said kissing the tip of her nose.
“Grandfather, surely there is something we can do to help them?” Jaden said.
Alaric looked at the young couple and knew she was right. There was no denying they were Bond Mates and he believed that should outweigh any old law inexistence, but he wasn’t the only one making the decision. “I will do everything I can, but as I was telling my son we should prepare for the worst, just in case.”
“Before this goes any further, how did you find out about Mercy anyway?” Gregory asked.
“Someone tipped off Valdis that you were harboring the Born Were and he sent one of the guard to take a look around.”
“Shit,” Alec said feeling guilty for alienating Rich until he remembered Mason telling him about Jaden and him meeting at the prom. “What about Rich, I was told that he was seen talking to you?”
“He didn’t exactly talk to me, I read his mind at the prom, but he didn’t know anything more than we already knew,” Jaden told him.
“If you didn’t get any information from him, then why did the Elders move in here so fast after that night?” Alec asked suspiciously.
“I read Mercy’s mind that night and found out you were planning to take Mercy away and bond with her before we came for her,” Jaden said, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Mercy stared hard at Jaden, seeing that night clearly, remembering her shooting something into her hip before brainwashing her to forget their meeting.
“What is it, Angel?” Alec asked worriedly.
Mercy walked to where Jaden stood and slapped her across the face. “You bitch, how dare you!”
Alec yanked her back against him and held her firmly in his arms as she struggled to get free and go back after Jaden who watched, stunned by Mercy’s reaction.
“What did you do to me?” Mercy demanded angrily.
“What are you talking about? Alec asked, still struggling to maintain his hold on her.
“At the prom, in the bathroom, she shot me with something. Somehow she made me forget that night, but I remembered just now when she admitted she was there that night,” Mercy told him angrily.
Alec was across the room in seconds trying to get past Alaric, who blocked him from getting to Jaden.
“Enough!” Alaric bellowed.
“It’ll be enough when I kill her for touching my mate,” Alec yelled.
Alaric lifted his hand and Alec flew backwards across the kitchen into the wall, rattling the shelves that hung there and sending a glass vase crashing to the ground next to him.
“Are you done now?” Alaric thundered. Alec nodded and he dropped his hand to his side, releasing his hold over him.
Mercy rushed to his side and checked him over, looking to Alaric with disgust.
“Now, Jaden came to confirm what we had been told at our orders. We needed to verify Mercy was indeed a Born Were before we acted.”
“I’m sorry, I never meant to harm anyone,” Jaden said, her face white, her hands clenched at her sides.
“Get her out of here,” Alec said through clenched teeth, his wolf rumbling just under the surface.
Mercy looked down at his amber eyes, and knew he was close to losing it. “Go, Jaden, we can deal with this later,” she said angrily.
Jaden looked to her grandfather, who nodded, and fled the house wanting to get as far away from Alec as she could. Nothing was worse than a mate wanting justice for a wrong done to their partner and she didn’t want to be around him until he got over it.
“Alec, calm down, I am alright,” Mercy whispered in his ear, taking his trembling hands in hers. “She didn’t hurt me. I promise, I was just upset when I realized what she had done.” He looked up, his face taut and slightly distorted and she knew he needed to release his
beast. “Go run,” she said softly.
“Will you go with me?” he asked hoarsely. Mercy nodded and he placed his arm around her shoulders, walking out of the house without saying another word to Alaric or his father.
“He’s got to control himself, son, the other council members will not look upon his quick temper fondly,” Alaric said.
“They are trying to rip his mate from him. How would you react it were you?”
Alaric shook his head. “I loved your mother, but she was not my Bond Mate so I don’t have any firsthand experience with how he must feel.”
“That’s right, and not a single one of the Elders has a Bond Mate either, so how can they decide something that they can’t comprehend?” Gregory pointed out before walking out, slamming the screen door behind him.
“I don’t know son but I hope to make them understand,” Alaric said sadly.
****
“What the hell happened today?” Lucan asked Alec as they sat down to dinner later that night.
“Apparently, I have a grandfather who is alive and quite well. He showed up this afternoon, and surprise! He is one of the Elders,” Alec explained, glaring at his father.
Mercy took his hand and squeezed it, knowing even after the long run they had taken he was still irate with his father for keeping his grandfather from him. “It also turns out that Jaden is Alaric’s granddaughter, which makes her Gregory’s niece and Alec’s cousin.”
“She’s no family of mine,” Alec growled, bending the fork he held with his free hand in half.
“Son, she is family whether you want to admit it or not. She was only following orders and she didn’t know she was related to you at all until today,” Gregory told him sharply.
Alec raised his eyebrow, staring daggers at his father. “Really, Dad, you’re going to educate me about family? You, who hid the existence of my grandfather for most of my life, are telling me to accept the female who stuck something into my mate without her knowledge?”
Alec rose from the table looking dangerous and out of control and Mercy rose alongside of him, fearing he actually might go after his father.
Gregory rose to his full height a tactic that intimated most lower Weres, but not his son. “Don’t tell me about my family, Father because you destroyed it a long time ago,” Alec told his father angrily.
“Son, I am still your Alpha, and I won’t have you speak to me this way.” Gregory said sharply.
“Well, maybe I don’t want to be part of your pack anymore,” Alec growled. Mercy gasped loudly beside him and Gregory paled, but Alec didn’t care. His father had betrayed him and he wasn’t sure he could ever forgive him for that.
“Son,” Gregory reached out for him, but Alec moved out of his reach.
“I’m sorry, Angel, but I need to be alone for awhile.” He brushed Mercy’s lips lightly and walked out of the door, leaving them all staring after him, shocked by his outburst.
“He didn’t mean it,” Mercy told Gregory as he slumped back into his chair. Gregory met her gaze and nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “You two will work this out. I don’t know of any father and son who share the kind of relationship you two do,” she said, placing her hand over his.
Gregory stared at her, completely undone by how much she had changed. Not too long ago she would have ran from the room in fear when they argued, but now she sat next to him offering him comfort when her own life was in such turmoil. Again, he was impressed by how much she had matured and he wondered if his son really knew how lucky he was to have her by his side. “Thank you,” he said patting her hand before rising from the table. “I think I will go home and wait for Alec to return.” Mercy hugged him and he left, leaving her and her brother alone for the first time since he arrived home.
“You all right?” Lucan asked worriedly.
Mercy’s bottom lip trembled and she threw herself into his arms letting go of the tears she had been holding back all day long. “No, I’m not, but I have to be. Alec needs me and I can’t let him down.”
Lucan held her in his arms, hugging her close, his hand running through her long curls as he did when she was a child, offering her comfort she so badly needed. “You need to remember that although Alec needs you there has to be space for your needs, too.”
“I know, it’s just too much, you know? I mean first the Elders, now Alec and his father fighting. I don’t know what’s happening anymore and it’s killing me.”
“I know, baby, but it will all work out.”
Mercy looked up, tears running freely down her face. “Will it, because right now I don’t see it.”
Chapter Ten
Alec reappeared a few days later on the front porch of Mercy’s house, where she was sitting on the swing by herself looking off into the forest. Her gaze swung to his the moment he reached the top step and she stood, waiting for him to approach. He said nothing, stopping a few feet before her and staring into her eyes, all the pain and hurt he felt, easy for her to read. Her heart broke for him and she rushed to him, enfolding him in her arms, hugging him as close as possible. He groaned softly and gathered her in his arms then carried off into the heart of the forest, and laid her down by the river, before lying next to her and pulling her against him, wrapping her in his arms. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t need to, she knew he just needed to hold her and know she was there for him.
They lay that way for a long time before she turned to face him, running her fingertip down his cheek, saddened by the lost look upon his face. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. His eyes glistened with tears and she felt his pain as if it were her own. He was hurting badly and there was nothing she could do but be there for him like he had been for her all the times she had been frustrated or upset in the past, which were far too many to count.
“I can’t believe he never told me about my grandfather,” he said softly.
“He was in so much pain back then, Alec. He needed someone to blame and unfortunately it was your grandfather, but he didn’t do it to hurt you.”
Alec met her eyes and he smiled wanly. “Isn’t it ironic that not so long ago I was asking you to forgive us for deceiving you, when all along he had been lying to me?”
Mercy frowned. “What, you think this is payback, that Karma really is a bitch?”
Alec chuckled. “Of course not, but I don’t know if I can face him right now. He was the one person I never thought would lie to me, and it sucks.”
“Yeah, I know how that feels,” she mumbled.
Alec grasped her hand, bringing it to his lips to brush her knuckles with soft kisses. “I am sorry, but we were trying to protect you. This is entirely different.”
“What’s different? Your father thought he was protecting you by keeping you away from your grandfather. Gregory has always tried to do his best by you even if you can’t see it right now.”
“I don’t want to deal with it right now. I just want to be with you for awhile and forget about everything else.”
“I think that sounds great,” she said, laughing when he pulled her back into his arms and flipped her onto her back.
“Now, if you’re willing to indulge me, I think I would very much like to kiss you,” he said with a grin.
“Kiss away, I have no problem indulging you in the least,” she told him.
Alec smiled and swooped in for long searing kiss that left them both breathing heavily as they lay on their backs looking up into the sky. “Do you think my grandfather can help sway the other Elders?” he asked, stroking her hair as she lay with her head on his chest.
“I hope so, but if not, we will find another way. I won’t be separated from you, Alec, no matter what the Elders decide.”
“We should just go away and forget all of this. Find a place where we can live alone and start our lives together,” he told her.
Mercy propped herself up on her elbows and looked at him, her heart wanting to agree with him, her brain knowing if they ran it would be a huge mistake. Alec had been groomed
his entire life to be the next Alpha of his father’s pack and she couldn’t let him walk away from that. It was a piece of him, just as she was, and she knew he couldn’t live happily without it. “Alec, I know things are not going the way we planned, but running away isn’t the answer. We have to face this thing with the Elders and you have to face your father and forgive him before it becomes too late for apologies.”
Alec groaned in frustration. She was right, the longer he waited to speak to his father the harder it was going to be, but he just didn’t know what to say to him. The bond they had as father and son had been shattered, and he didn’t know how to forgive him for years of hiding the truth from him. For once, he could empathize with Mercy and how she must have felt when she found out they had kept the fact she was a werewolf from her. He pulled her down on top of him, tired of talking wanting only to kiss and cuddle with her for just a little longer before he had to face life again. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear, as he nibbled her neck playfully. “You are my life and the only person I need to be whole and happy.
“Ditto,” she said as their lips met.
*****
“I’m sorry about that day Alaric found us, I shouldn’t have pushed you into that situation,” Mercy said as they walked hand in hand through the woods on their way to her home.
Alec stopped walking and pulled her into his arms. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“You would have known Alaric was coming if I had not distracted you,” she told him, her face pressed to his bare chest, savoring the evergreen scent that clung to him.
Alec groaned and hugged her tight. “Angel, it’s going to happen when it is right and apparently, once again, the time was not right. No one is to blame and I am kind of glad I didn’t break the promise I made to your brothers.”
It was Mercy’s turn to groan. “Ugh, I am so tired of hearing about that damn promise. I can’t wait until this is all over and we can bond, so I never have to hear about it again.”
Alec smiled. “Well, at least until we have a daughter of our own and her mate comes calling.” Mercy smacked him playfully and he lifted her over his shoulder, running across the lawn to the back porch where the smell of dinner wafted through the window.