3. Forty- two

~ Harper’s POV ~

All of us stood frozen in place and watched as the cars drove away from us. What the hell just happened? I would have been reeling after this meeting because it had not gone as I had expected. All of this was to free Zara and make her safe, in exchange for Aaron. Now, Aaron was free and I was clutching the hand of a terrified boy who was my responsibility because I was his alpha. 

The reason why all of us were unable to utter any word was that the rogue had called me his 'brother'. Was this supposed to be metaphorical or was something used to taunt me? I was sure everyone wanted answers to these questions and I turned around to find everyone's eyes fixed on me, watching my every move, waiting for me to do something. 

There was nothing to be done. I wanted answers and there was only one place I could get them. My wolf had not yet recuperated from the attack of wolfsbane but even he was too restless to care about the side effects of the poison right now. I called on him and he let me shift without any protest. Without a backward glance, I ran towards the packhouse to get some answers.

Dad was supposed to get discharged today and I knew mom would be with him, helping him settle in. What better way could there be to know if I had any long-lost brothers roaming around?

I barged into my parent's apartments, startling Mom who had almost lost her hold on the jug of water. She gave me an inquisitive glance," What happened?"

"Dad is resting upstairs?" I asked and she nodded in response to my question. I turned away from her and climbed up the stairs to confront my father. He was resting in the king-sized bed and was looking in the tiny basset where my sister lay sleeping. He looked better than he had a week ago. He didn't look on the cusp of death and color had risen back up in his cheeks. 

"What happened, Harper? How did the truce meeting go?" My mother's voice rang in the room. My father looked up from his daughter and settled his onto me and then on his mate. He smiled at her and she gave him a glass of water. 

I knew how my parent had treated each other before I had been born. They didn't tell me that obviously but I heard rumors amongst the pack members and the older children had liked to taunt me about it. One day, I had blatantly asked my grandparents and they had made me sit and explain everything, how hard it was for a white alpha to produce heirs with his mate, and how the relationship between my parents had soured because of that. As I watched my mother take a seat beside my father, it was very hard to imagine them being so very toxic at one point in their lives. 

I sat on a chair and eyed them carefully for another minute or two. After that, I explained to them what had happened at the truce meeting. How we had had everything in control and then they had presented a small boy as their hostage instead of Zara, how we had had to swap Aaron, a very important rogue leader for a boy. 

"But that's not it," I said and watched as my parents exchanged a cautious glance at each other. They must have been wondering what more could be there, why me and my wolf not becoming crazy as we had failed to rescue Zara and instead had to let go of our hostage. They were wondering what more could have happened.

"Natalie found her mate," Both of their eyes widened at my announcement and I watched as they exchanged surprised glances. "It is one of the rogues," I explained as I recalled the way she had stiffened beside me while looking in the direction of the rogues. That had been the first thing that had startled me and thrown me off my game. After that, one lethal blow hit after another. 

"What do you plan to do about it?" Dad asked and I shrugged. 

"I can't do anything about it till the time he comes forward and claims the luna of the pack. They both nodded in agreement. Natalie's mate would have to enter the pack territory and claim her as his mate in front of me. Only after I give them my blessing and willingly break the alpha-luna bond between us, will they be able to mate with each other. Natalie was lucky she wasn't going to face any resistance from me. I would be more than happy to dissolve the bond between us. It would give me the liberty to pursue the mate bond between me and Zara without any complications. 

"Also, the leader of the rogues called me his brother. It was not a metaphorical use of the word, he meant the word literally," I stated and watched my parents for any kind of change in their expression or any stiffening of their body. "I don't know the name of the leader but the rogue we had captured was called Aaron. Do either of you know anything about it?"

"Sebastian?" My mother's eyes were fixed on her mate who suddenly looked grim and had shifted away from her. 

"I think I know what you need to know, Harper. All this time I thought that this group of rogues had targeted this pack because we were the white alphas and they were jealous of us. They attacked us because of a more personal reason, Harper." He looked straight at me, avoiding my mother's gaze on him. "It was a long time ago. I don't know if you know but your mother and I have hurt each other for quite some time. And deliberately too." He turned to look at my mother and I shifted my eyes away in a pathetic attempt to not intrude on this private moment. 

I wasn't going to tell them that I knew what he was talking about. Even now, the way they had lived seemed impossible to me now. No matter what happened between me and Zara, I could never imagine hurting her like that and honestly, I could not imagine her hurting me like that. 

"When we were struggling to get pregnant, we had started sleeping with other wolves who were mateless. Your mother and I had some sort of understanding about this arrangement, one might say. We were never supposed to have children with someone else. Every time she conceived, she dutifully had an abortion while I urged my lovers to have one." Confronting my parents about this seemed much easier than doing it. It felt so wrong to force my parents to go through such painful memories but it had to be done. 

"There was one time though when I didn't know that one of the girls had given birth to a boy whom she had named Damon," I looked at my mother who had taken on a stony countenance and no emotion seeped through her blank face. I noticed her sharp intake of a breath and a subtle stiffening of her spine. If dad noticed her reaction, he didn't say anything, but it was clear to me that it was the first time she had heard about this. "Any better man would have not seen this man again but it was so hard to let him go. He was my son. Even though he didn't have my name, he was my blood and even though I hated that he didn't share blood with your mother, I couldn't help myself from seeing him again and again. That was five years before you were born. Three years later, the girl became pregnant again and I was overjoyed when I came to know that she was pregnant with twins, whom we named Addison and Aaron. It felt like a family, you know. A family I had longed to have with your mother and the more I wanted to stay away from them, the more I was tempted to stay with them. My wolf was torn between caring for his pups and staying true to his mate. It was the biggest emotional battle I have ever fought with anyone." 

I wanted to puke. My dad was essentially telling me that he had a make-believe family before I was born and he was happy there. I could tell by looking at my mom that she had no idea about this thing. I couldn't imagine how she must be feeling right now. My dad had kept this secret for more than twenty-five years. Twenty-five years of lying to his mate. 

"How did it end?" Mom asked and even though I wanted to turn my head and look at her and give her my support, I couldn't take my eyes off of my dad. A single moment had changed all of my perceptions about him. 

He looked at my mother for a second who didn't back down and looked him in the eyes. "When I found out you were pregnant, I left her. She knew this would happen someday and so she let me go. We had an understanding, that way. Two years later, she contacted me again and told me that she had found her mate and he rejected her because of the children we had had." 

I tensed as I heard the words. A wolf rarely rejected his/her mate and when it did happen, it had devastating effects on the rejected wolf. They go into severe depression and become suicidal, not caring about all the good things they had in their life. When I rejected Zara, I knew she would feel no pain because as a human, the pull of the mate bond was insignificant to her. She would have felt pain only after I had started the mating process with her. If I rejected her now, she would feel the exact all-consuming pain that a werewolf would feel. 

"She asked me to meet her and afraid she would come forward in front of you and the pack, I agreed to meet here. She looked pitiful and not at all as I had remembered her. She was withering away, dying. When she came to meet me, she had our children with us and she begged me to take them with her. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't exactly accept them and keep them in the packhouse or the pack orphanage So, I agreed to take care of them and watched her die slowly in front of me. I contacted an ally pack and asked the alpha to accept these three children in his pack. He agreed without any objections."

"And then you came back to live with your perfect little mate and son while washing your hands off of your children," mom added sarcastically and my dad flinched. 

I had no idea what to do now. I had no idea what to say. What do you say when your father confesses that you have three half-siblings out there who are desperate to claw out your throat and leave you for dead? Damon, Aaron, and Addison weren't on some roguish rampage. They had singled out this pack because they knew it belonged to their father who had maltreated their mother and abandoned them. Their attacks were personal and intended to hit us where it hurt the most. They wanted to destroy everything my father holds dear, everything for which they had been sacrificed. They wanted their revenge and they wanted Dad to know the reasons for the downfall of this pack.

Alpha, rogues are coming towards the southern pack boundary, the warrior at the guard post mind-linked me and I jumped from my seat without any comment. 

Have all the warriors report to the southern border now, I replied and without giving another glance, I ran out of the room. These rogues wanted to destroy everything my father holds dear but I would not let them destroy anything I cared about.