Chapter 5

Juniper

Every person who was in my living room was currently acting like an idiot. Drew was sputtering like a fool and jumping off of the couch like there were ants in his pants, Myles was throwing Drew around like he weighed nothing, and my parents were watching everything that was happening with laughter in their eyes.

And me? Well, I just wanted to know what the fuck was going on, and whether Drew was my mate.

I had spent a lot of time focusing on what I was feeling around him, and thinking about what had happened, and I had concluded that we were not, in fact, mates. I couldn’t be sure until somebody told us with one hundred percent certainty.

There were no sparks when we touched, and I had detected no hints of jealousy or possessiveness from Drew. Just his overwhelming need to protect me that had him needing me within arm’s reach at all times.

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I just — I need to know,” I began. “Is Drew my mate?” I finally asked, my voice barely audible at the end.

“No,” Myles said with a laugh.

“Oh, thank the goddess,” I said, blowing out a relieved sigh.

“I know, I wouldn’t want to be my mate either,” Drew retorted with a chuckle, shaking his head as he looked down at his hands.

I gasped, realizing what I had just said. “Shit, no, that’s not—”

“I know,” he whispered. “I know who you were hoping it would be.”

His eyes met mine, and I could feel through our connection that he was sorry and worried about me, and that was it. No feelings of jealousy or resentment towards me.

I nodded at him, pressing my lips together, trying to prevent myself from crying any more about something that I couldn’t change. He took my hand, squeezing it gently and keeping it in his, jerking his head towards my parents to let me know we needed to listen to what they had to say.

“Drew is your protector, Juniper,” my dad said once our attention was back on him.

I nodded at his words. “Mom said that already. But what is a protector? And why do I need one?”

“A protector is exactly what it sounds like,” Myles explained. “They protect you—keep you safe, detect any threats or danger. They can feel your emotions so they know when you need them, and they are incredibly resistant to almost all forms of magic—even magical mind control and magical weapons.”

I nodded again, remembering how Drew had absorbed my uncontrolled magical outburst earlier that had forced those giant golden wings to appear out of my back. “And why—”

“Because you’re the Fae princess. The heir to the fairy throne. All the Fae heirs have always had protectors. It’s part of the fairy magic,” a deep, authoritative but warm voice answered from behind us.

I looked up and saw Alpha Eric and Luna Claire, followed closely by Drew’s parents, Beta Damien and Veronica, the other witch who lived in our pack.

“But — I’m sorry, but it sounded like you just said I’m the daughter of two people who are definitely dead, and who died right around the time I was born? I mean, that’s ridiculous, there isn’t any way that…”

I trailed off mid-sentence, taking in the serious faces of all our parents, our pack leaders, the people who had raised my friends and me. They were all looking at me with that look, that look that all adults get when they’re about to tell you about something terrible, something they knew you would not like — like your goldfish died while you were gone on vacation and you’ll never see it again.

“What does everyone here know that we don’t?” Drew finally asked the question that was running through my brain, the question that I couldn’t seem to ask because my brain was still processing the fact that I was a princess.

“June, baby…” My mom’s voice broke me out of my thoughts, her face a mixture of love and pain, my dad’s face a mirror of her own. “Your parents… they — they have been in hiding this whole time, too.”

Well, duh, I wanted to say, you’re right here in front of me, obviously also in disguise, but something in her voice and the way she was looking at me made me hold my tongue.

“Your mother and father used decoys — look-a-likes — to trick my… to trick the king into thinking he had killed them, when, in reality, they had fled with the rest of their people,” Alpha Eric continued the story where my mom left off. “The place they fled to, it… it’s a place full of ancient, wild magic, and it wasn’t a safe place for their heir to be raised.”

“So we left?” I asked, looking at my mom and dad.

“We did,” Dad responded. “And your parents stayed behind to continue to rule over the rest of the fairies and Fae.”

I blinked as his words sunk into my brain. My parents stayed behind. The people sitting in front of me were not my birth parents. My parents, the people who had raised me, were… someone else.

“So…” I choked on my words, tears that I didn’t even realize were there spilling out of my eyes. “So you two are… are not really my… are we… Are we even actually related?”

“Your mother is my sister,” my mom — or, I guess, my aunt — said. “We’re identical twins, and you look almost exactly like your mom, so it was easy for us to say you were ours.”

“Can I…” I pressed my lips together, afraid to ask my next question. “Can I still call you Mom?” I moved my eyes over to my dad—uncle. “And Dad?”

“Oh, goddess, of course you can, sweetie,” my mom said, a fresh burst of tears falling from her eyes. “I may not have given birth to you, but we still think of you as ours.”

Her words caused me to smile weakly. I could sense the truth in them, but it didn’t make everything else hurt any less. There was still a sense of loss inside of me, adding on to the loss I felt from Lukas not being my mate.

I spoke slowly, looking at Myles, trying to figure out how all of this fit together. “So if… if I’m next in line for the throne… I’m guessing that means you’re not really my brother?”

Myles nodded in response as Dad spoke. “He’s your cousin. Our only son. We… we weren’t able to have any other children after him.”

“And I’m… Princess Juniper…?”

“Princess Zéphyrine Juniper Kostas Drakos,” Luna Claire answered, speaking for the first time since they all came into our house.

“That’s a fucking mouthful,” Drew snickered from next to me, and I couldn’t help the laugh that came out of my mouth.

Myles’s lips twitched as he tried to hold his laughter in, and I could see that even all of our parents were trying to look stern but failing.

Beta Damien walked up behind his son and covered Drew’s mouth with his hand. “I’m so sorry about my son. I swear we raised him better than this.” His words said one thing, but his eyes were twinkling with the same mischief that I always saw in Drew’s eyes. “I honestly don’t know where he got it from,” he added with a one-shouldered shrug.

“I do!” Veronica said, looking straight at her mate with a raised eyebrow.

I couldn’t take it anymore. All the revelations of the day, the roller coaster of emotions that I had gone through in the few hours since I had woken up, all of it finally came to a head, and I just couldn’t handle any of it anymore.

I completely lost it, bursting into hysterical laughter, clutching at my stomach as I gasped for air in between my giggles. “I’m sorry — I just — I can’t—”

Tears were falling from my eyes as I continued to try to catch my breath, my laughter shifting into sobs — giant, ugly sobs that caused my entire body to shake uncontrollably.

It was too much. It was all too much. My parents weren’t my parents. The man I was in love with wasn’t my mate, and I had spent my entire life thinking I was a simple witch when, in fact, I was a lost Fae princess in hiding.

“June, you need to breathe!” Drew yelled at me from his spot next to me on the couch, his hand that had been holding mine the entire time letting go so he could put his arms around me and hold my body still as he coaxed me to slow down my breathing and calm myself down. “Focus on my breaths, try to match yours to mine.”

Slowly, I felt myself relaxing, felt my lungs no longer struggling to get air inside of them, Drew’s breaths and heartbeat providing a calming rhythm for my body to follow.

After I settled myself down, I looked around at our parents. I took a deep breath, and finally said, “Goddess, this is a lot to process.” I fell back against the couch, exhaustion seeping into my body.

“If you need to, you can go rest for a bit. We still have some things to discuss with Drew,” Alpha Eric said to me, his senses obviously picking up on my exhaustion.

Drew tensed beside me at his words, the idea of me being out of his sight not sitting well with him.

“I’m okay. I would like to stay and hear everything. If that’s all right,” I replied to Alpha Eric, patting Drew on the leg to reassure him.

“Of course. All of this concerns you and your future as well. I just wanted to make sure you knew you had the option if you needed it,” he told me with a nod before looking at Drew. “First thing — and you’re probably not going to like this — but you are going to have to step down as the future Beta.”

“Done,” Drew responded with no hesitation.

“Wait, what?” I exclaimed, looking at him in complete shock. “Drew, no, I can’t let you do that. You’ve worked your entire life for that position. You’re Lukas’s best friend. There isn’t anyone else that he could ever find that would ever compare to you!”

He smiled sadly at me, his mind already made up, already at peace with this decision. “I knew from the minute they said I was your protector that I would have to step away from that job. Especially right now. I physically need to be near you right now to make sure you’re safe, and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I continued to be the Beta.”

Alpha Eric and Beta Damien both nodded their heads at Drew’s words, and even though I realized it was the right decision, that it made sense, it still didn’t sit right with me that he was giving up something so important to him for me.

“But I’m hoping this overwhelming protectiveness will ease up in time? With training?” Drew continued, looking at our parents and Myles.

“Yes. And when she finds her mate,” Dad confirmed. “Myles and I will help you with your training. You likely have received some fairy powers now as well, so we’ll need to help you learn what those are and how to use them.”

“What happens when Lukas asks him why he quit? Or if he asks him why he currently has to be with me all the time?” I asked curiously.

“Protectors cannot reveal the secrets of the Fae heir they are protecting, or give any information that might harm them,” Myles answered.

“Lukas could alpha command him, though,” I pointed out. “Drew is a powerful wolf, but he still can’t resist an alpha command.”

Alpha Eric laughed, then looked straight at Drew and asked, “Drew, is Juniper a Fae princess?” He let his alpha aura out with his words, using his power that forced any wolf to answer him truthfully, even if they didn’t want him to.

“No, where did you get such a crazy idea?” Drew said immediately, then looked around the room with wide, surprised, almost gleeful eyes.

“What’s Juniper’s real name?” Alpha Eric asked him, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Uh, Juniper Marie Costa. Come on, Alpha, why are you asking me questions you already know the answer to?” Drew laughed in delight, lifting his hand to Myles for a high five. “Fuck yeah, immune to the alpha command!”

“Not for everything, Drew. Now tell me, who really crashed my Mustang five years ago?” Alpha Eric asked with a wicked glint in his eyes.

“Luke and me, obviously. Henry was too much of a goody two shoes to — oh, fuck, that was not cool, Alpha!” Drew winced in reaction to his unexpected confession, the adults in the room all laughing and smirking at him.

“Well, I think that’s enough new information for today,” Alpha Eric finally said, standing up from his chair. “June, if you have any more questions, you can ask any of us in this room for answers. We will tell you what we are able. For now, my mate and I will break the news to our son that he needs to find a new Beta. Hopefully…” He trailed off, looking towards his mate.

“Hopefully he won’t take it too badly,” she finished for him. “We will see you all tonight.”

I sat quietly as Alpha Eric and Luna Claire left my house, heading back to the packhouse to deal with their stubborn alpha son. The eyes of mine and Drew’s parents lingered on the two of us as we sat on the couch, his arm still around me from when I almost fainted from my panic attack.

I could feel through our connection that he was feeling calmer and definitely less confused. In fact, he seemed almost excited about this whole situation.

I, however, was still processing everything that I had just learned about myself, still coming to terms with the fact that I woke up thinking today was going to go one way, and it ended up going in a direction that I never would have expected.

Never in my life would I have imagined my birthday going this way. Never in my life would I have thought that I was anything other than an ordinary witch living in a werewolf pack.

I was vaguely aware of my dad setting something on the coffee table between the two couches, the clearing of my mom’s throat finally bringing my attention back to the people who were sitting with me in the living room.

My eyes were drawn to the small wrapped package that I had found that morning, the one I had completely forgotten on my bed in my haste to get out the door and see Lukas.

“This is… from your parents,” my dad said finally. “We were told to give it to you on your 19th birthday.”

I felt heat flash through me, starting from my stomach and churning through my blood at my dad’s words. “I don’t want it,” I declared immediately. “They are not my parents.”

I braced myself for a scolding, braced myself to be told that I was being irrational, that I should be grateful for everything they sacrificed for their kingdom and for me. I knew, deep down, that they did not deserve my anger, that they did what they thought was best, but that didn’t make it hurt any less, didn’t change the fact that although they may have been my parents by birth, my real parents were the two people who were sitting in front of me.

But the scolding didn’t come. Instead, my mom took the box, and gently removed the paper, taking out a small jade charm, and closed the box. I glimpsed a handwritten letter inside, but I didn’t acknowledge it. I would read the letter later, some other time when I was thinking rationally, when my world hadn’t just turned completely upside down.

Mom stood up and walked to Drew and me, sitting on the other side of me. “This jade piece contains a Fae illusion. It will disguise your Fae features from anyone who does not know about your true form.”

“So, it will hide my ears?” I asked her, my brow furrowed.

She nodded. “And your wings, if you choose to keep them out occasionally.”

As she was speaking, Drew’s fingers were at the back of my neck, removing my new necklace with Lukas’s wolf on it. I reached up to clutch at it, trying to prevent him from removing it, but then I realized he had the jade charm in his hand, and he was smiling at me.

“So he can keep his promise,” he breathed as he slid the charm onto the chain and refastened the clasp.