Chapter 113
Astor’s Pov
+25 Points
My head was spinning. My father had just dropped a bomb that made my whole world tilt on its axis. “No,” I blurted out, shaking my head vehemently. “We all know who Faith’s biological parents are.” I mean the whole being exchanged at birth situation is what brought all of this
- on.
My father just looked at me, his eyes filled with a weariness that went soul–deep. He shook his head slowly. “Astor,” he began, his voice low and grave,” When Alpha Connor found his mate she was already pregnant. He loved her so much, he didn’t care. He was willing to accept another man’s child as his own.”
I blinked, trying to process this. “Okay. But what does that have to do with Faith? How does that connect to my mate?” I’m not stupid because I’ve already made out what he’s trying to say but I just want it to not be real.
He leaned forward, his gaze intense. “Because, Astor, Kyle’s father the former Alpha of the Fallen Pack is Faith’s biological father.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. “What? How is that even possible?” I stammered, the confusion a thick fog in my mind. “There has to be some mistake. That doesn’t make any sense!”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” my father said, a hint of exasperation creeping into his voice. “You’ve been believing stories, nonsense. How could you possibly think that an Alpha would raise a child for eighteen years and not know that child wasn’t his own blood?”
The realization dawned, cold and sharp. “So… Alpha Connor knew all along? He knew Alice wasn’t his biological daughter?”
My father nodded.
“But… if Faith was biologically Luna’s daughter,” I pressed on, my voice rising, “why did they give her away? Why was she sent away?”
“A seer,” my father explained, his voice hushed with an ancient dread. “A seer told them that the child would be born a white wolf. A wolf who would either destroy or save the world. And she could only fulfill that destiny if she was with her true mate. The prophecy… it already suggested that her mate would be you, Astor.”
I was starting to pierce the puzzles back together so they did to keep her away from me so that she never fulfills whatever destiny is said.
1/3
< Chapter 113
My breath hitched. “They… they exchanged Faith? With Alice?”
+25 Points
“Yes,” he confirmed. “They swapped the children. I don’t know if they did it to save her life, Astor, or if Alpha Connor simply couldn’t bear the thought of raising his mate’s biological child with another man. He might have preferred a child with no connection to him or his
mate.”
The weight of it crushed me. “They played a game with Faith’s life,” I whispered, the words tasting like ash. “They treated her like a pawn.”
I always thought I was crazy because I noticed the discomfort and divide between faith and her parents and how close they were to Alice and Part of Me believed that Faith wasn’t giving them a chance to be there for her because she resented them for not being there for her but now I get that they never really loved her.
“Astor, calm down,” my father urged, reaching out to place a hand on my arm.
But I couldn’t calm down. Not now. “Calm down?” I cried, pulling away. “I can’t calm down! Not when I just found out that you… that you killed my mate’s biological father!”
His face hardened. “Alpha Benjamin had to die,” he stated, his voice devoid of emotion. “He was ruining lives, killing people, all because he wanted to experiment with dark magic. We did the right thing.”
“You killed him, yes, that might have been justified,” I conceded, my voice trembling with a mixture of anger and grief. “But you slaughtered his pack! Innocent children, women who had no part in his madness, men just following their Alpha. There’s nothing to justify in that!”
“Don’t worry about telling your mate,” my father said, his gaze fixed on some distant point. “At the end of the day, Faith will have to make peace with the fact that her father was a very bad man. A monster. This decision, this m******e… it will stay with me forever. But I don’t regret what we did.” He then turned his piercing gaze back to me. “It is imperative that Faith does not find out about her paternity.”
“Why?” I demanded. “I would never hide something like that from my mate.”
“The seer told us,” he repeated, his voice laced with a familiar urgency. “Faith is going to grow into a powerful white wolf. We haven’t seen the full extent of her powers yet, how dangerous they could be. What if she finds out about her biological father and decides to seek revenge?”
My immediate thought, raw and honest, was: “She would be justified in trying to take revenge.”
“And would you be able to look your mate in the eye,” my father countered, his voice dangerously soft, “if she kills her own father? If she seeks revenge and ends up killing me?
2/3
< Chapter 113
+25 Points
Would you forgive that?” He knew the answer. He knew I wouldn’t. “You have to take this
decision as an Alpha, Astor. Not as a husband, not as a mate. The future of all werewolves depends on it.”
A new question gnawed at me. “Does Kyle know? Does he know Faith is his sister?”
“It was a secret kept by all the men involved in that m******e,” my father stated firmly. “We swore we would never speak of it again. I don’t believe anyone would have broken that promise. So, no. Kyle doesn’t know.”
I don’t really know what to say and what to feel about all of this because I want Kyle dead. I want him to pay for everything he put Faith through by his obsession and most of all the fact that he kept us away from our daughter for 5 years and maybe not so much me because I got to see her grow but faith was deprived of all of that.
“I want him dead.”
My father’s expression shifted, a chilling resolve settling in his eyes. “Then, Astor,” he said, the words like ice, “you will have to kill Kyle.”
The plan. The original plan. But the thought of it twisted my insides. “That was the plan all along,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “But… how can I kill my mate’s brother? Faith will never forgive me for that.”
“This isn’t about forgiveness, Astor,” my father said, his voice hardening. “This is about saving lives. Kyle will continue killing and destroying, just like his father. Someone has to stop him. And in this case, that someone is you.”
