Chapter Sixteen
We pulled the sheets off of everything and then spent a few minutes bringing extra chairs in for everyone. My dad took his chair and patted the chair beside him. Ronnie leaned against the window, facing the door.
My dad grabbed my hand. “I have missed you, baby girl.”
“I missed you too, dad.” Nix pushed forward, our eyes flashing.
“We have all missed you.” Nix’s smokey voice came from my lips. Loki pushed forward and smiled.
“Once this is done, I want to go for a run. With both of you.” Loki’s eyes were mirrors of my own. “I still have a pup I haven’t met.”
Megan pushed forward, and I felt my eyes shift to her brown ones. “I would really like that.”
Loki receded, and my dad reached his hand out. His finger tips danced under my left eye. “I never knew.” His thumb pressed into my cheek. “I’m sorry.”
Megan tilted our head and chuckled. “Amy didn’t even know I existed until you taught her magic. Without you, I would have stayed hidden, like last time.” Megan lifted our hand and snagged his. “Never apologize for something you couldn’t help.”
There was a knock on the door. My dad squeezed my hand once before he dropped it. “Come in.”
Toya’s father came in with a few other Alphas following behind him. “Bad time?”
“Not at all.” My dad gestured to the chairs. “It’s a little tight again. Not like at the Agora.” He chuckled. “This is my daughter, Amy. Amy this is-”
I stood. “I know.” I smiled at each man. “I’ve met everyone in this room when I was younger. It’s good to see you all again.”
“You have grown up.” Alpha Tim smiled.
“I have indeed.” I gave them all a quick bow and then I settled back in my chair.
“Okay.” My dad clapped. “Amy, why don’t you start at the beginning?
” I looked at him. “What happened after you left here?” I opened my mouth to start, but there was another knock.
My dad turned towards the door, and before he could say anything, a man came in.
He was huge, taller than any man I had ever met.
Nix snorted. He’s a little shorter than the king.
I drew in a breath and shushed my wolf. She snorted out a laugh, but I turned to my dad.
“Thoth? I didn’t expect you to show up.” He sounded surprised, but my lungs stopped working.
My head snapped back to the man so fast. His face was covered by a mask. He turned and froze. “Thoth?”
That got his attention. He cleared his throat.
“You told me you were coming back here with the Alphas. I figured you wanted to have a meeting to plan our next steps.” His voice was low, but the mask had a voice changer built into it, because his voice was warped.
He turned to me. “I didn’t know Amy was going to be here. ”
My dad waved him in. “Ronnie, grab him a chair.” My dad nodded beside me, and Ronnie smirked.
“Of course.” Ronnie left and came back with a chair. He slid it next to me and then gestured to it. “Thoth.”
Thoth took a breath and then shimmied his way through the chairs, taking a seat next to me. He looked over at me for a long second before he shifted his gaze to my dad. “You were just starting?” He prompted.
My dad shook his head. “Not me. Amy. Go ahead, darling.” I turned to him. “Start when you left here. I already caught everyone up to speed about what happened before you left.”
I nodded, and I started talking. I had just gotten to my heat, and how I dealt with it alone when I got a message. I pulled out my phone and kept talking. But my voice trailed off when I checked the message from Rick.
“You went through your heat alone?” Alpha Tim asked, pulling me away from my phone.
“Yes. I had someone I thought might help.” My words were distracted.
“But he wanted to wait for his true mate and he didn’t want me to resent him later.
” The Alphas all nodded their heads. I slid my phone back into my pocket and tucked that information away.
I told them about Nina and Nadine. About Vince.
Brandon. And finally, I got to the end. “They call themselves the Brotherhood of Blood.”
Thoth stiffened beside me. But my dad furrowed his brow. “Who does?”
“Vince, for one. But I think it’s the people who started all of this before the old king died. Someone named Garith.”
My father, Ronnie, and Thoth froze. Thoth slowly turned to stare at my dad. “Did you say Garith?”
I nodded. “I know the name, but can’t place it. It’s like something is making me forget. And it isn’t until the name pops back up that I remember.” I shook my head. “Rick found emails between Garith and Vince. It looks like Garith started this all. But I don’t know where I know the name from.”
“He’s my father.”
I laughed. Because that was ridiculous. I would have remembered if Garith was my grandfather. My dad talked about him enough. “Come on.”
My dad just shook his head and looked at me. “Are you sure you heard the name Garith?”
I nodded. “I’m sure.” I pulled my phone back out. “Rick found this.” I handed him my phone, and he clicked the email. His eyes darting back and forth over the screen as he read.
“This can’t be real.” My dad whispered to himself. “My father was killed by the king.”
Thoth shook his head. “No, he wasn’t.” My father’s head snapped up.
“What did you say?”
Thoth sighed. “The old king had started the council by the time your father was acting up. He was sentenced to death, but it was the council’s duty to enforce it.”
I looked around the room. And I saw a ton of faces that I was unsure about. Nix, go to Loki and ask if I can use magic in front of everyone here. Nix took off as my father kept staring at the phone.
“The council?” Toya’s father turned to Thoth, who nodded. “They seem to be popping up more and more.”
Nix came back. Loki said yes, he has done magic in front of everyone here.
I stood up. “Grandma. I need you. I have questions.”
Everyone else stopped talking and turned to me. “What is she talking about?” Someone whispered.
A soft voice caused me to spin.. “Oh.”
“Grandma.” I faced her as she looked around the room.
“Well then.” She sighed as her eyes met mine. “By the look on your dad’s face, I can only assume you have a lot of questions for me.” She sighed.
“Who the fuck is that?” One of the Alpha’s whispered and I laughed. Because what else could I do?
I turned to face the men sitting. “As you know, my father has magic. His magic stems from his parentage. As I assume, you all know. His mother, my actual grandmother, was the daughter of the first family. The first line of wolves. What you probably didn’t know was that the first wolf was a son of a witch.
A powerful line that had settled in the area years before anyone else.
The three faced goddess couldn’t save her son, so the moon goddess did.
But his father…Garith, is the son of a witch who fell in love with a wolf.
” I turned to my grandmother. “This is his mother.”
“The witch?”
My grandmother smiled. “Yes, that’s me.” She reached out to cup my face. “How are you, my love?”
“Confused.” I smiled at her and raised my hand to hers. I couldn’t feel her, but I closed my eyes and pretended.
“That’s okay. Being confused just means you don’t have all the information.” Her voice was soft, and I nodded.
“Exactly.” I opened my eyes. “Garith…”
I watched her eyes flash as she took in a deep breath. Then she turned to my dad. “I wanted so much more for you, my boy.”
My dad swallowed past the lump in my throat. “He’s dead.” He said it, but his words rose at the end like a question.
My grandmother shook her head. “No. He’s not.”
My dad sagged. “How?” His voice was a soft whisper.
My grandmother walked over to him and tried to rest a hand on his shoulder. “You know how. He has magic, as much as you, even if he didn’t want to accept it.”
There were a few murmurs. “So he used magic to escape.” Thoth growled low.
She nodded. “Aye. He has been making the others that follow him dance like puppets. He was and still is a foolish boy.” She turned to me. “He hates you. He hates your father, but he has turned most of his wrath to you.”
My dad shot up. “Why?”
“Because she is a female who is stronger than he is. Smarter than he is. He hates when someone is seen as better than him.” She shook her head.
“I raised my child to be forgiving, sweet, and loving. But when his wolf came, he shifted. His mind became obsessed with the first family. With the old King. The lycans.”
Thoth snorted. “So this was all because he wasn’t a Lycan?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know why he turned out this way. He was always accepted in this pack. Always cared for. But his obsession turned dark, and I knew we couldn’t tell him the truth.”
“The truth?” Alpha Tim questioned.
My dad tilted his head. “That’s why my mother commanded me to never tell him we were the first line.”
My grandmother nodded. “He never loved her. He just wanted the power that came from this pack. But he was focused on finding the first. Or some way to trace back the power to the Goddess. He never suspected that the thing he was looking for was right under his nose. Your ma’s father made sure of it. ”
The others in the room watched as my father processed the idea that his dad was still alive. “My mom?”
My grandmother pursed her lips but shook her head. “He didn’t want or need her anymore.” She looked down at the floor. “She wasn’t his first victim, nor his last.” He nodded once.
“Why did he stick around so long if he didn’t want to be here?” Ronnie questioned.
My grandmother sighed. “He was content to be the Alpha of this pack as he searched.” She turned back to my father.
“And he was fine keeping your mother alive because he knew he would lose standing if he got rid of her. He was the outsider.” She looked around the room.
“As it stood, he wasn’t very liked.” My grandmother paced.
“Your mother was so much like Amy. Strong, bright, loving. She was funny, and the darling girl of the pack.”
“What happened?” My dad asked.