“I see.” I stare at each man in turn. “I really fucking hate secrets.”
Chapter 18
Truths and Lies
SHADOW
Seven Years Ago
Ilead the freshly graduated guards to a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, not far from the academy that serves what I call long noodle soup. The appropriate name for it, I’m told, is ramen or saimin.
The restaurant mimics a Northern A-styled diner with booths lined against the walls and square tables pushed together in the center. A small stage sits on the far left for karaoke. The bar holds a mixture of Asian-brewed beer and sake. They never carry the good stuff, like whiskey, bourbon, or imported wines.
Two young men sit in the corner, speaking amongst themselves quietly. I place an order for all of us and request some beers while we wait. I need alcohol and lots of it to control the roiling emotions stirring in the pit of my stomach.
Beers in hand, I take a swig and raise an eyebrow at Sodi. He drinks from his Japanese-brewed beer, makes a face, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Then, he proceeds to play with the label on the glass bottle, avoiding eye contact. I leanback against the booth’s seat and take another drink from my beer.
“Why does it feel like I’ve stepped into the middle of a story I don’t fully understand? There’s more behind your actions than what you’ve told us. Something in my gut says you knew Jessica long before we found her that night a year ago. If that’s true, then start from the beginning because I need to understand what you meant when you said that she didn’t remember you,” Liam encourages Sodie and pushes his beer toward Darwin.
He reaches for a glass of water instead. His clothes are intact, not a singe or burn anywhere. I make a mental note to ask him more about his magic later.
Sodie drinks from his beer, clears his throat, and sighs in defeat. “In my interview, I told you I was from one of the small ranching packs, one that homeschools their kids. The Alpha of that pack confirmed my whereabouts as a favor tomyAlpha.”
“Who is your true Alpha?” I think I already know the answer, but I want to hear it from him.
“Alpha Agnus Whitemore,” he answers, confirming my suspicions.
I don’t know much about Alpha Agnus, except that she’s Anders’s grandmother. She hides her true nature under the façade of being a widowed Alpha who took on the role after her second mate passed. Even though I was practically raised by Anders, there are some secrets he still keeps, to protect his pack, as well as his last living relative and himself.
I begin to wonder if Alpha Agnus kept her own secrets from him. That would make sense, given how Anders never considered reaching out to Alpha Agnus as part of his search to find Jessica. Or maybe she didn’t know what Sodie and his brother did, either.
Darwin gasps and raises his brows in surprise.
Liam’s face pinches in confusion. He leans forward. “How can that be? There are barely any children in that pack, let alone teenagers and young adults.”
Sodie nods. “There’s a reason for that. Most are sent to the Void to hide our magic, and the parents usually go with them. My parents stayed with Alpha Agnus because my father is her Beta. My mother runs the tiny school there for some of the children who can stay. In my family—there are seven of us—the older siblings took care of the younger ones, or they did at one time.”
He’s Miller and Charlotte’s kid? I always thought of Miller as old, like Alpha Agnus, or at least old enough to have kids much older than Sodie. If he is truly the age he told me.
Sodie closes his eyes. “One of my sisters is Anders’s mate. Obviously, she’s older than I am.”
I freeze, my beer held midair just before my lips. I slowly set it back on the table.
“Your sister?” the three of us say in unison.
He nods again. “At first, she kept her relationship with Anders a secret. My family directly descends from one of the original guards who crossed over into this world with the Alpha Queen. For generations, from a young age, we are trained to protect the royal family, and that tradition has continued, despite the genocide of our species and the monarchy that was replaced by the Emerald Pack.
“We are bound by our oath to protect the descendants of the royal family. This includes one of the cardinal rules that a guard cannot have a relationship in any shape or form with a royal descendant. My sister broke her vow when she chose her true mate bond with Anders. Somehow, my parents found out. She was terminated from her role as a guard and extricated from the pack.
“I don’t think I was even born when all of that happened. I only heard whispers and rumors growing up. Some rumors said that she ran with a group of vigilante rogues who neither sided with the Resistance nor fell under the rule of the current monarchy, while other rumors said she just disappeared.
“When the Alpha King fell ill from some mysterious disease and passed, rumors started that Anders returned home and vowed to seek revenge on the culprit who dared to harm the man he viewed as his father.”
He pauses to take a drink.
“My sister was accused of poisoning the Alpha King. She was imprisoned by Anders, taken somewhere where no one could find her. I never met my sister, but even at a young age, I couldn’t believe that she would maliciously kill the Alpha King. She was a born guard, and from what I was told, she was the best guard we ever had and very dedicated to her role to protect our Alpha, including the current Alpha King.
“My Alpha was the only one who believed she was innocent and tried to reason with Anders. She tried to make him see that he was blinded by grief and rage and that he was making a big mistake. Months passed, and when he finally got his head out of his ass, he went to let her go. But it was too late. She had already escaped her prison.”
