The way Silas was looking at him now made Dean hope that breakfast was just going to be a quick refueling break. He could totally get on board with that. Everything else on his to-do list could wait.
Just then, Jasper barreled into the empty dining room, his eyes wide and his cheeks flushed. He ran over to their table.
“Aaron is at the perimeter!” he gasped.
Dean looked at Silas, who shrugged, “One of the betas we exiled when we first took the pack.”
Dean turned to Jasper, “Tell him to piss off,” he said, wondering why Jasper was bothering them with this.
“He says he has important information about what happened when Silas was held captive here.”
Dean was watching Silas as Jasper spoke and he caught the tiny flinch his mate gave before turning away to look out of the window, chewing his toast as if the topic of conversation was boring.
Silas had said he remembered little about that time. His father had kept him drugged out of his mind. Dean thought this was probably a good thing. Poking around at it would probably be like poking a sleeping bear.
“He is talking shit, and even if he is not, it doesn’t matter. We don’t need to know.” Dean told Jasper calmly.
“That’s what I said,” explained Jasper. “I wasn’t having any of it, so he told me.” The beta took in a deep breath, his blue eyes flicking anxiously between Dean and Silas.
Dean felt apprehension coiling around his gut, his mouth suddenly dry.
“Believe me, you are going to want to hear this.”
Reluctantly, Dean nodded at the beta to continue. Jasper glanced around nervously.
“Let’s go to your room,” he said.
“No!” snapped Dean, thinking of the nest. “Let’s go to my office.”
Jasper stared at him for a moment before nodding. Silas threw down his piece of toast and got to his feet. The three of them shuffled to the office. Dean closed the door behind them and turned to Jasper.
The beta swallowed, sweat beading his brow. He sidled along until he had positioned himself by the door.
“Dean, can you stand between me and Silas please?” he pleaded.
Dean looked at his mate. Silas rolled his eyes, leaned his ass against the desk, and crossed his arms over his chest. He gestured with a tilt of his head for Dean to do as the beta had requested.
Dean got into position and waited. Jasper licked his lips. A long silence stretched as the tension increased until eventually Silas snapped.
“Jasper, I’m not a fucking child! I know you are just the messenger. If what you have to say really pisses me off, I’m going to take it out on Aaron, not you!”
Jasper nodded, and his shoulders relaxed slightly. Silas’s words seemed to have had the desired effect and reassured him a little. Dean hoped it was enough to finally get Jasper to speak. The beta took a deep breath.
“It’s very complicated, so… um, pay attention.”
Dean was almost glad for Jasper’s dithering, it was turning his dread into annoyance. Nevertheless, he glared at the beta to get on with it. Jasper eyed him warily and took yet another deep breath before finally resuming whatever the hell he had to say.
“So, um… when Silas was Silvanus’s prisoner, they brought a kid here and tried to give him Silas’s magic. Silvanus knew he could never control his son, but if he took his magic and gave it to someone he could boss around, he’d be extremely powerful.”
Dean looked over his shoulder at his mate. Silas looked a little green but seemed to be coping well. His father had tried to steal his magic. The most awful part was that Silvanus had been such an asshole, the news wasn’t shocking. It wasn’t even high up on the list of nasty things he had done to Silas. It was the depressing reason why Dean was not surprised that Silas could take it in his stride.
Jasper continued. “Ah… Thom was involved.”
Rage filled Dean. Silas respected the older mage. Silas had argued against Dean when Dean wanted to kick Thom out of the pack for his part in capturing Silas. His mate had been adamant that Thom had only been doing what his Alpha had ordered him to. But now it was clear that if that was true and Thom was a decent man ruled by an asshole, he would have told them this. He would have shared everything and kept nothing from them. Thom’s silence was his complicity. Dean fought the urge to go find the mage and exile him immediately, but he managed to restrain himself, purely because he had a feeling Jasper had more to say.
The beta backed all the way to the door, pressing himself against it. It looked like he had one hand behind his back, holding the handle, preparing to flee. The pungent scent of fear rolled off of him.
“It’s worse,” whispered Jasper, his voice shaking. Confirming Dean’s fears. “Nobody knew this until they brought in the kid, but Silvanus couldn’t have any more pups after you,” said Jasper, nodding at Silas. “He was obsessed with having an alpha heir of his bloodline. So… so before they gave you to Greenwood. They… um told you they needed some… samples to check you were virile. Or whatever the equivalent is for an omega.”
