Chapter 11

Alpha Roman's POV

“Elise, I need you to go into my bag on the floor in the back seat and pull out the small black case, open it and take out the syringe with the purple tip on it,” I instruct my daughter and she doesn’t hesitate and starts looking.

“What is this?” She asks as she shifts into the back seat and holds up the syringe.

“It’s a sedative, very light, but it will keep Leo out for a couple of hours while we get him back to the pack house. We can’t risk anyone seeing him, and he isn’t going to be cooperative when he wakes up.” I tell her and she doesn’t question me, the trust she has in me is unwavering, and she knows I would never do anything to harm someone for no reason. Especially the boy lying in the back seat. “Just inject it into his thigh, and do it quickly, before he stirs.

“Done.” She says as she pulls the boy onto her lap in the back seat and I watch her through the rearview mirror stare down at him and run her fingers through his hair. I can sense the sadness coming off of her as she holds him.

“What’s going to happen to him? He’s going to be so scared.” She says and I step on the gas trying to get home quicker.

“He’s going to be terrified. Elise, Leo has no idea who or what he is. Unfortunately, we don't have time to introduce him to this life slowly. He isn’t going to trust any of us to start, and you must remember that he just lost Frank, the only person that probably meant anything to him. It was a pretty gruesome scene, he’s going to have a lot to process.”

“He’s going to think we kidnapped him.” She says and I don’t deny it.

“Yes, and when he wakes up in a strange room with nothing familiar around him, he’s probably going to freak out. I’m going to take him to the private chamber behind your mother’s office. It’s extremely important that he isn’t seen by anyone. Not any of the council, not even Sammi, understand? His life depends on the fact that no one knows he’s here.” I explain, but I’m also considering that I may have to restrain the kid in there too, temporarily, until I can get him to calm down and truly listen. I don’t like the idea, but the young man is strong.

We finally get to the pack house and I drive into our underground parking garage and pull into my private parking area. I pull out my phone and call a member of my security detail.

“Jack, I need you to turn the cameras off in parking bay 3, and the cameras in the elevator up to my floor. Shut down all surveillance for ten minutes and then turn it all back on... Everything is fine, Elise had a small and slightly embarrassing accident and I don’t want anyone observing. Understood? ... Excellent. Thank you.” Elise isn’t too happy with my excuse, but she just grumbles slightly.

I watch the cameras, and as soon as the red light is out, I get out of the car and grab Leo. I take him to the elevator and we easily make our way unseen to the private room that is hidden behind a false wall in my wife’s office. This room was built decades ago when war was raging between the different territories. Only the royal family has ever known of its existence, it is a sacred and protected place that even my Beta is not aware of.

I place Leo down on the bed that’s in there and look around.

“Ooof, this place is a bit dusty,” Elise says as she pats down curtains that drape over a large arched window. “Won’t people see him through this?” She asks and I realize that she hasn’t been in here since she was a small child.

“No, from the outside it just looks like brick, it’s an optical illusion that is created from the outside. You can see out, but people can’t see in.”

I get a fire roaring in the fireplace and turn the heat up in the room while Elise does a quick dusting to make the place look more appealing. It is setup like a studio apartment, in the event someone would need to stay there for longer periods of time.

“Roman, is everything okay?” Anna comes in and walks over to the bed. “Oh Elise, the poor thing.” She says and smiles at our daughter. “How long do you think he’ll be out?”

“Another hour, maybe less,” I respond, lifting the kid’s eyelid up gently and see that his eyes are moving rapidly. “He’s dreaming about something right now.” I say and Anna comes by and grabs Leo’s hand.

“I can feel he is very distraught. What is the plan for when he wakes up?” she asks and I look at my watch.

“The council meeting isn’t until four this afternoon. I think we should all be here when he wakes. Anna, I’m going to need you to help calm him. I hate to ask you to absorb his emotions, but I don’t know any other way,” she nods and motions for Elise to come by her.

“Honey, I want you to sit here and hold his hand. Open yourself emotionally to him. His wolf is trapped in there, maybe knowing Lily is here with him will help settle him so he doesn’t overwhelm Leo with his own thoughts.”

I notice his backpack beside the bed and I pick it up. It’s heavy, that’s for sure. I go to unzip it and my wife gives me a disapproving look.

“That’s his. Don’t go through his things.” She says, and I know she’s right. I set it down, but I desperately want to know what this kid is carrying around in there. It feels like a lot more than books.

I settle back down and we sit like this for about thirty minutes, and then he starts to stir. We all tense knowing that as soon as he wakes things are going to get turbulent.

Leo's POV

I slowly open my eyes and scan the room. My mind is trying to connect to something familiar, but nothing looks remotely like anything or anywhere I have ever been. I close my eyes again and open them once more and I can hear someone saying my name but it feels like it’s a thousand miles away.

As I push through the fogginess an image comes flashing in my mind and I shout out loud.

“Frank!”

The image jolts me upright and suddenly I’m slammed back into reality and I remember what happened. My heart starts to race and I see Elise, the man that killed Frank, and another woman in the room. I jump from the bed so fast I nearly fall out of it and I back myself into the corner of the room as far from them as I can get.

“Where am I?” I ask, trying to swallow my fear and have some kind of assertive voice. “You, you killed Frank, you bastard!”

“Leo, no. Leo, we need you to calm down. No one is going to hurt you. I understand what it looked like, but I promise you I didn’t kill Frank. Please, come and sit.”

'Trust them, Leo. They are our friends, and she is our mate. It’s time, Leo. I know you hear me and I can’t be kept locked away forever. I won’t be!'

The voice is so loud and rings through my head, I put my hands up to my ears and just want it to go away. I feel like I’m spinning out of control.

“Leo, we are Elise’s parents. My name is Anna and this is Roman. We don’t want to hurt you, we are here to help you.”

The woman, Anna, starts to approach me. She is incredibly beautiful, and when I look at Elise I can see the resemblance is uncanny. So this much must be true, they are most certainly mother and daughter.

“I - I don’t know who you people are, or what’s going on, but I - ’m getting the hell out of here.”

“And go where Leo?” His voice drips with authority and he is the most intimidating man I have ever seen. I’m about six-two, but this guy towers over me. He is muscular even where I didn’t know you could be. His hair is sandy blonde and dark brown eyes that for some reason make me nervous.

“Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone what happened. I swear. I’ll disappear and you won’t ever see me again. Please.”

Maybe begging for my life will work.

"Leo, I promise we are here to help you. It's time for you to know who and what you are."

"What are you talking about? What happened to Frank?" I'm don't understand what's going on and I don't have a good feeling about any of it.

"Leo, please come sit down. We know who you are, and we just want to help you. Please..." Elise's mom walks to the table and pulls out a chair for me as the big guy and Elise sit down.

I cautiously walk to the table and take a seat. Elise doesn't take her eyes off me and her father scratches his head and looks like he isn't quite sure what to say next.

"Let me start by telling you where we are. We're about eighty miles from the city in a town called Northern Crest.” Roman begins and I try and remember if I have ever heard of it, but nothing comes to mind.

“Leo, the human world is all that you have ever known, it’s all that most humans ever know," he gets up and unrolls a huge map onto the table. It looks like a regular map of the world, but all the countries and markings are off.

Roman looks at Anna perplexed. “How do I even explain this?” He shakes his head and paces for a minute.

“Leo, you’ve heard of vampires, witches, werewolves, fairies?” he asks me seriously.

“Yeah sure, Halloween, Salem witch trials, Frankenstein. What does this have to do with anything?” I ask, and I’m starting to get nervous again.

“They’re real, Leo, well...except for Frankenstein. That’s just a story. But the others exist. Each species lives and governs its own kind, including humans. The biggest difference is that most humans live their lives never knowing about the rest. It’s been proven over and over throughout the centuries that they are not capable of co-existing with the other kind, they can barely co-exist amongst themselves. So, hundreds of years ago a deal was made, and a spell was cast that keeps them unaware of us, our kind, and the others. Of course, folklore, and stories passed down from the generations create things like Dracula and The Wolfman, but the truth is much simpler. We exist, and we try to exist in harmony.”

I laugh out loud. “Wait, just hold on a second.” I can’t believe what they are trying to pull. This is some kind of real bullshit. “You’re telling me that vampires exist? Werewolves? Do you think I’m stupid?”

Without any warning Roman stands tall and then his entire body begins to contort and shift, and within seconds there is a seven-foot wolf standing before me on its hind legs and I nearly shit myself. I jump back and trip over the chair and fall against the window.

“Geesh dad, a little warning might have been nice.” I look at Elise and I scoot on my butt into the corner of the room as far away from them as I can.

“What? What the hell is that?” The beast comes closer to me, and then stops and just stares at me. I scramble to my feet and just press myself into the corner.

“Leo, it’s okay,” Elise says calmly and I look at her and then back to this thing in front of me.

“Okay? This is NOT okay!!!” I yell and then the voice is back.

'He is big. We are bigger. I want to meet him, Leo let me out.'

“This is it. I’ve lost my mind.” I mutter to myself, and then the thing starts to talk to me, its voice booming around the room.

“My name is Jax. It is nice to meet you, Alpha Leo.” The wolf bends on one knee and I just stare at him in awe. It’s massive with fur as black as the night sky and eyes to match, with the exception of amethyst swirls around its pupils.

“Please, do not fear me.” The wolf stands up and then looks me up and down and cocks his head to the side looking at Elise and Anna.

“His aura is very strong and his wolf is powerful.” He looks at me and comes closer and closer and... sniffs me.

"What the hell?" I say trying to back up further into the corner.

“We have waited a long time for you Alpha Leo, I will see you again soon.”

And just like that, he shifts back and a man is once again standing before me, completely naked. I look at him and he looks like he was cut from stone. Jesus, this guy is ripped.

“Oh, apologies,” Roman says and then dashes to the bathroom and comes back out with a towel around him.

“Time for proper introductions, Leo. I am Alpha King Roman and this is my wife, Luna Queen Anna. You have met Princess Elise. We are the royal family of the Northern Territories.” He walks back to the table and I follow him, still unsure of what I just witnessed.

“From here north, my family rules over the different territories. The red indicates vampire territory, the blue is the covens, the green is where the fae live, and the purple indicates the different wolf packs. Of course, the grey represents human territory. We live in harmony, for the most part, there are always issues that arise, but with exception of the humans, we have accepted one another and roam freely from sect to sect.”

“You, y-you just turned into a wolf.” I manage to stammer out. “This can’t be real.”

“Oh, Jax is very real, he is my other half and can be a pain in the ass, but he helps guide me through this life. We are one.”

“Are you...do you...” I try and get my question out but Elise answers before I can put anything that makes sense together.

“I am, Leo, my wolf is named Lily.” She says shyly. “My mother is too, her wolf is named Rae.”

She comes over to me and grabs my hand and gently guides me to the couch.

“Leo,” She says and she reaches up and runs her fingers through my messy hair and then just smiles at me.

“You are one of us, that voice in your head, it’s your wolf.” My eyes go wide and I feel like every ounce of moisture in my mouth has disappeared. Elise’s mother sits down in front of me and her dad sits on the other side of me.

“It’s true, Leo. Your eyes are just like your father’s. They are remarkable.” Roman says and I can’t comprehend his words.

“My father? You know him?”

“I knew him. I’m sorry to say he isn’t with us anymore.” Roman says as Anna gets up and takes a book off of the counter. She flips it to face me and turns several pages of photos. Then she stops at a photo of four people, all dressed like they are at an extravagant party, the men in tuxedos and the women in ball gowns. “This is Roman and I with Aria and Augusta, they are your parents, Leo.”

I take the photo and just stare at it. I can feel the heat swell behind my eyes. He looks just like me, but bigger. His eyes are exactly like mine, hair too. Even our dimples are the same. I brush away tears and look at Elise and her parents.

“And my mother?” I ask afraid to know the answer.

“Yes, we know your mother too, she is still alive,” Roman says.

I stand up and walk around the room trying to process this.

“Why? Why didn’t they want me?” I feel my heart break. “I’ve been alone for so long and they existed the entire time? Why did they just toss me away? My life has been hell and they didn’t give two shits.”

“Oh Leo, your parents loved you very much. They ruled the southern territories. Alpha King Augusta and Luna Queen Aria Heroux. But Augusta has a brother, Eric, an evil spiteful man whose jealousy of his brother knew no boundaries. He murdered your father before you were even born. Your mother was so terrified of Eric that she never told anyone about you. She had you in secret and asked one of the covens to hide you somewhere safe. Somewhere you could be free. Eric would surely have killed you because you are the rightful king and alpha of the South.”

Anna says in a desperate voice, eager for me to understand that I wasn’t tossed away.

“Leo, I think Eric has found out about you. Until a few days ago, none of us were aware of your existence, but I’m sure it was Eric at the shop today to question Frank, but he wouldn’t give you up. You need to know that Frank was sent by the coven that hid you to watch over you. He cared deeply for you.”

“He died because of me.” The realization hits hard.

I sit back down on the couch unable to take my eyes off the photograph. “None of this makes sense.”

Roman pulls a chair over and sits down across from me. “Look at me Leo,” he says, almost like a command that I can’t disobey.

“Your real name is Alpha Leo Heroux. You are the rightful Alpha of the Southern Raven pack and the rightful King of the southern territories. I’m going to be direct with you. You are part human and part wolf, when you turn eighteen your wolf will emerge and force you to shift whether you accept him or not. He is powerful, I can sense him. You must accept him before you shift.”

Elise comes next to me and sits beside me. “And I am your mate, Leo. The Goddess selects our true destined partner. The one who is our perfect match in mind, body, and soul. I know it sounds silly to you, but the minute I saw you I knew you were destined for me. I know you feel drawn to me too, you just didn’t know what it was.”

I can’t get my mind to fully understand everything, all I want now is to be alone, which is ironic. I need a minute to process all of this. I want to leave.

“Unfortunately Leo, there is a council meeting that we all must attend regarding your uncle and what he is doing to his people. The council knows now that you exist, but what they don’t know is that we have found you. We need to keep it that way. I don’t want to do this, but I need to keep you safe and out of site.”

I tilt my head and wonder what on earth that means. Roman presses something and a panel on the wall shifts open.

“Anna, Elise we have to go.” he gestures for them to leave and Elise is hesitant.

“Dad, I can’t leave him.” she tries to argue with him but he is stern and in the end, she kisses me on the cheek and then rushes out.

“I’m sorry Leo, we’ll be back as soon as we can.” Roman lets the door close almost all the way before he to slips out, and before I can get to it the wall is sealed up.

I start to panic as I realize I have been locked in.

“Hey! Let me out!!” I search the wall and find nothing that will trigger it to open. “LET ME OUT!” I bang on the door but there is no response and I’m left standing in the middle of the room alone and locked up like a prisoner.