6

Ian

I looked at Archer in bewilderment.

A flash of lucidity went through my head and I got out of his pickup truck.

“God, if you exist, please make me wake up from this nightmare,” I whispered in disbelief.

I felt like I was inside the dream of a dream and it was the strangest situation I had ever experienced in my life up to that point. I really doubted my mental health, so I shook my head hard in a vain attempt to bring myself back to reality.

Archer disagreed with that.

“It's not a nightmare; it's reality,” Archer said once he got out of his pickup truck and approached me.

“You can't come and talk to me about my so-called biological parents,” I said angrily.

It seemed easy for him to say things, but in my head, I couldn't process it. I should have been running away from him, understanding that he was a beast, but there I was, standing before him with no clear idea why I was humoring him.

“You have a biological family that loved you and never abandoned you,” Archer said firmly. “I know this is all an incredible thing to process right now, but I need you to come with me to the reservation so we can talk. Believe it or not, you're in grave danger right now and that's why you need to know everything in the right place. There are a lot of things I need to make clear to you.”

“Why is the reservation the right place to tell me everything?” I asked mockingly.

Archer pursed his lips in annoyance but didn't explode at me and held his ground. That spoke volumes about his level of restraint, a level that had to be far superior to mine.

“Because you were born on the Reservation, you are part of it and you have more in common with my people than you have with the people of Veltonne,” Archer said calmly and I frowned at the shock of that news.

“I'm not going—”

“It's not a matter of you wanting to go; it's that you need to go to the reservation to understand what's going on and why you're in danger,” Archer said seriously and I realized he was very sincere. Whatever was going on, it must have been very important for him to be so insistent. “I don't mean to be mean, but your life depends on knowing what I have to tell you.”

That last sentence was what made me sigh.

“I'll go with you, but I have to be early to attend to my mother,” I said firmly. “My dad gets tired very quickly and I need to help.”

Archer relaxed his muscles and nodded.

I didn't know what was really going on and maybe it was possible that it was straight to my impending death, but the truth was that part of me was trusting Archer and I didn't know why. 

“Let's go,” Archer said and we got back in the pickup truck.

I pulled out my phone and texted my dad right away.

Ian: I'll be home late.

Dad: Is everything okay?

Ian: Yeah, I'm just going out with a friend.

I didn't want to tell my dad where I was going because of the reason I was going.

I didn't want to hurt my parents with the issue of my biological origin.

My parents at one point wanted to help me figure out clues, but after a lot of rethinking with my therapist, I decided to let go of finding out my background because at that point it was something from my past.

Many people would be desperate to know where I was from and at some point I was; however, I loved my life too much, what I had become, to throw everything out of whack with answers that could perhaps hurt me.

My decision not to know had been based on my instinct for self-preservation.

The problem is, that instinct went to hell when Archer opened his mouth.

It took us almost two hours to reach the eastern part of the reservation, and when we entered, several men nodded in greeting. I had a shudder and immediately looked at Archer.

“Are they all werewolves?” I asked him immediately.

“No,” Archer said. “They are not all werewolves; humans also live here who cooperate with us and have become our families.”

I nodded and sighed in relief.

Part of me had the terrible thought that Archer would tell me I was a beast, so I kept my cool.

We continued along a dirt road until we passed through a complex of small houses.

“This isn't it?” I asked as I saw that we missed the small housing development.

“No, we're going to my grandfather's house,” Archer said.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at a large wooden house that looked like some kind of new-age mansion. My mouth immediately dropped open.

“This is your grandfather's house?” I asked in a high-pitched voice and Archer nodded. “You lied to me in the library so Rob wouldn't transfer you somewhere else?”

Archer pursed his lips.

“It wasn't a lie at all,” Archer said and I looked at him annoyed. “I did lie about needing a steady job, but I didn't lie about my need to be in the library. It was the only way I could take care of you.”

I was about to tell Archer even of the malady he was going to die of when an old man came out of the house. The man was tall and stocky but had gray hair. He was very well preserved and I didn't hesitate to understand that he was also a werewolf.

“Come on,” Archer said and we got out of the pickup truck.

As I approached, the man looked at me with his mouth open, then smiled and held out his hand.

“I'm Archibald Altaha, Archer's grandfather,” the gentleman said. “I'm one of the counselors at the Reservation.”

“Altaha?” I asked and frowned. “You're not Coleman?”

They laughed at the question and Archer denied it with embarrassment.

“No, that last name is an alias we use outside the Reserves,” Archibald said. “We're Altaha.”

“I'm—”

“Ian De Santis,” Archibald said. “I know; we know all about you.”

That answer left me with a frown.

“I showed him what we are, grandfather,” Archer said and I looked at him suspiciously.

The old man nodded and invited me in.

I entered his house with mistrust but did what I was supposed to do at that moment.

We sat down in the great room, and Archer's grandfather didn't beat around the bush; he got straight to the point.

“Ian, I know my grandson's intrusion into your work may be somewhat complicated; however, Archer's intentions are based on the intentions of our wolf pack and the end is to protect you,” Mr. Archibald said and I frowned uncomprehendingly. “It is possible that you are the son of the late Quill Adakai, former Alpha of the Sigil Pack.”

My mouth fell open in surprise, then I began to laugh loudly.

“It's true,” Archer said seriously. “It's not a joke, Ian.”

“It's impossible; I'm not a wolf like you guys,” I said immediately. “I think you've mistaken me for someone and—”

“Our seers never lie,” Archer's grandfather said and I froze. “The seers saw who the possible Omega of a centuries-old prophecy was and you showed up. You are the spitting image of your mother.”

I stood up immediately because I wasn't understanding anything.

“Look, I don't know who my birth parents were, but I'm not a werewolf,” I said firmly. “If I was, I would have figured that out sooner, don't you think?”

Archer and his grandfather locked eyes.

“We believe your power was sealed somehow,” Archibald said. “We don't know how or why, but we have a suspicion that your power was sealed so that you would forget your life in these lands and not feel your powers, nor your beast.”

“It must be a mistake,” I said at once. “I was delivered in—”

“At a fire station when you were five years old,” Archibald said and I looked at him open-mouthed. “We know the story of the boy who was abandoned with a head wound, who lost his memories and who won Veltonne's affection. It was something that was known far and wide; however, we didn't associate it with you possibly being the Alpha Quill's son due to the fact that we didn't all know you and you had been declared dead months before you were dropped off at the fire station.”

His response completely shook me.

“I am not that child,” I said forcefully. “If the boy is dead, you just have to investigate.”

“We did, Ian,” Archer said. “We investigated, but we didn't find the boy's remains, only the remains of the Alpha Quill and his Luna. The boy's grave has been empty for years.”

I felt a shiver run through my body.

“It can't possibly be like that,” I said in disbelief.

Archibald nodded, got up, asked me for a minute and went up the stairs leading to the floor above. I sighed and looked at Archer in confusion.

“How can you be sure that I am that boy because of a supposed vision?” I asked incredulously.

“I know you don't believe any of this, but if you remember the stories your father used to tell you, you should know that visions of prophecies are not wrong,” Archer said gently. “If you appeared in the council visions, it means you're part of the Pure Omega prophecy.”

“How can you be a Pure Omega?” I asked incredulously.

“Because you are the son of two of the most powerful werewolf bloodlines in the Reservation,” Archibald said as he came downstairs and held up a notebook of sorts. “Your late mother, Sarah, was a woman who liked photography, so she always photographed the family. This is a photo album of your family; you're in the pictures.”

Mr. Archibald handed me the photo album right at a picture that caught my eye.

A tall, muscular, dark-haired man was smiling at a beautiful blonde who was holding a blonde boy identical to her on a table. I realized that this child looked exactly like how I looked when I was that age.

I looked at Archer in bewilderment.

“They are your parents; they were people dear to this pack and they died defending us from dangerous people,” Archer said. “I don't know what happened to you or how you ended up in Veltonne, but I believe you are their son and that you are part of something very big.”

His words were like a sentence.