The Alphas Assassin (Complete)

Secrets Untold

*Ariella*

“Hello Mother…” she scowled at me as she opened the door. Gwen peeked from behind me and gave a small wave to her and she broke a smile as she pushed past me and wrapped her arms around Gwen’s shoulders.

“My Gwenny!” She shrieked into her ear. “When did you get here!?”

“Yesterday morning.” My sister smiled as she grabbed mom's shoulders, holding her at arm's length.

“What are you doing here!?” She looked between Gwen and I in confusion. It wasn’t often Gwen came back from her pack. Her and Ivan were typically so busy it was only during holidays, and she had to miss last Christmas as it was…

“Mom…” I sighed, “I… I need to ask dad about Waning Moon…”

Her eyes widened then saddened and she shook her head. “No.” Her voice was firm as she backed away from us, back to her room.

I was able to catch my foot in the door before she slammed it on us. Pushing my way through with Gwen following behind me.

“Mom...” Gwen began.

“No!” She repeated with more force as she walked away, she leaned on her dresser as she worried her fingers on her wedding ring. I could feel her nerves spiking as her body shook with anger.

“Mother, I…”

“I said No, Gabriel!” She screamed as she turned back. Her eyes blackened suddenly. I hadn’t remembered the last time I had seen Mothers wolf come to the surface, much less make itself visible in any way. She was typically very even tempered, though maybe I thought that because she hardly ever showed her face to anyone in the pack house to begin with. The last time I had even seen her was when she scolded me for escaping the Gala to track down my sultry, guilty pleasure…

“Mother.” I said firmly, my wolf now stirring angrily in my consciousness as I stepped up to her. “Waning Moon was wiped from existence almost 11 years ago. All of them were slaughtered.” I growled at her, “by my own father…” her eyes widened at the notion, she knew we had always known that Alpha Valerian, my father, had taken out Waning Moon when we were young. But I’d never brought it up to her or requested details from the slaying. “All but one.” And I held my finger up to her in front of my face, my brows furrowing as I spoke. “My mate…”

She gasped and shook her head. “That’s impossible Gabriel… your father and his men saw to it that every single member was taken out to make sure our existence was kept secret…”

I shook my head. “Alpha Arlo Laurent had a daughter.” I breathed, rage seething in my voice. I knew my mother wasn’t being completely truthful. I could hear in her voice her uncertainty about the situation. “Ariella Laurent.” She turned from me, I could see her sucking her lip into her mouth, chewing nervously.

“Didn’t he, Mom…?” Gwen pressed. Our mother turned back to us. Still unyielding as she shook her head.

“Alpha Arlo left no heirs…” She said in a small voice.

“Mom…” Gwen took a step forward, her heels clicking against the hardwood. “Ariella… that’s… that’s who dad wiped our memories of… isn’t it…?”

I looked at her in surprise, she seemed nervous now, I looked back to my mother, her eyes had widened at Gwen and her lips pinched in a thin line. She shook her head.

“Mother…” I commanded, taking another step forward making her retreat with a nervous swallow. “What is she talking about?” I looked between my mother and my sister, rage fueling the wolf behind me, he growled, raged, and fought to escape. My nails began to itch as I felt claws elongating, my heart raced, my vision blackened and I began to pant with aggravated breaths.

“Gabe stop…” Gwen placed her hand on my arm but I pulled from her, taking yet another step toward our mother. “Gabe… it’s not her fault… it’s… it’s Dads…” she put her hand on my arm again and I paused, my senses coming back to me suddenly as I looked into my mothers green eyes.

“What…?”

“Dad wiped memories from us… with Water hemlock…”

“How do you remember that!?” My mother took a step forward with worry furrowing her brow. “You aren’t supposed to…”

“I’m older than Gabe Mom…” Gwen said with a sigh, “Water Hemlock loses its effects the older you get…”

“But… you both should have forgotten about Ariella…”

“I had… Until Gabriel brought up her name…” Gwen responded.

“I… I had forgotten about her existence until she told me her real name while we were in Silver Falls…” I raked my hand through my hair, letting out a heavy sigh as I squeezed my eyes together.

“You two were never supposed to know about Alpha Arlos daughter…” My mother pressed a finger to her temple as if she was trying to massage away a headache.

“Mother… What do you know about my mate!?” My voice shook with anger as I tried to tamp down my wolf before he came forward again.

She looked up to me, first surprised and then her eyes softened. “We should sit…” she motioned to her small sitting area in the corner of her room where the electric fireplace kept her room way hotter than the rest of the house. We nodded and followed her to sit down.

“Mother…”

She had called for Tea from her personal maid, who dropped off the tray with a small bow and hello to all of us before scurrying from the room. She had stalled by dropping sugar into her cup, stirring slowly as it melted in and sipping it carefully.

She let out a sigh as she looked up to Gwen and I, we sat across from her on the small couch. She looked into each of our eyes before she dropped her hand back down and fiddled with the ring on her ring finger “Your father… hardly remembers anything himself… it’ll be useless to ask him…”

“Then tell me what you know…” I ordered.

She rolled her neck slightly and sighed, looking out the window before she took in another deep breath and looked back to me. “Your father… was made by another pack to take the fall for Waning Moon…” she started as her eyes dropped sadly, “They were feuding with a pack from the South… Red River… Their Alpha had made a pact with Waning Moon that Alpha Arlo wanted to break…”

“What pact?” Gwen asked after a sip of her tea.

“Alpha Camilo had asked Alpha Arlo for an arranged marriage between his oldest son, Armin, and Arlos daughter… to assure strength in the packs for the future…”

“Ariella…” I breathed, my chest stinging at the mention of my mate marrying another. But my mother shook her head.

“No…” she said. Gwen and I exchanged glances quickly before leaning in toward my mother. “Ariella had an older sister who died when Ariella was only 3… Isabel, she died at 7… She… was kidnapped by a rival pack… her body was found in the courtyard and…” my mother pinched her eyes shut as tears started to form. She shook her head, unable to continue the thought.

“Ariella… never mentioned a sister…”

“Your father and Alpha Arlo wiped her memory of her, to keep her from talking about it or worrying about her sister… they wiped both of yours too… it’s how we knew the water hemlock would work when the war came…”

“So… if Ariella's older sister died doesn’t that nullify the pact?” Gwen asked, she was a lot better at pact rules and laws than I was, being a lawyer would do that. She was my go to for all the laws and regulations that Esen or Beth couldn’t answer for me.

But my mother shook her head, “Alpha Camilo wanted to change the arrangement to Ariella…” She continued. “Alpha Arlo refused to change the agreement and swore to break the pact. He absolutely refused to arrange a marriage between Ariella and Red Rivers next Alpha… he only ever told your father the true reasons… I fear maybe that reason was lost with his damaged memories… but I assume it was because he didn’t want his younger daughter to suffer the same fate as his eldest…” she sighed and took a sip of her tea. “Arlo was able to delay the discussion for a few years, but eventually Red River became unruly, and demanded meetings with Arlo… When Arlo called a meeting with Red River to officially refuse to marry Ariella to the Red Rivers future Alpha when they came of age, Red River denounced Waning Moon as an ally, and flung the two into even harsher disagreements with one another, slowly breaking smaller treaties over a few years…”

“Red River… but that’s…” Gwen paused, “Red river is our biggest ally…”

“Full Moon was an ally to both.” My mother corrected, clearing her throat “But an ally to Red River first, which meant their alliance took precedence over your fathers friendship with Arlo and his family. When Alpha Arlo threatened to out the entire race to protect his daughter, Red River declared a full on war…” My mother continued, “Which is why… when Alpha Camilo went to destroy the pack… he asked your father to join him… your dad couldn’t stop him… the only thing he could do was protect Ariella and hide her away, as a final favor to his best friend Arlo…”

“So… so father didn’t kill Alpha Arlo… or Waning Moon…?” I asked in a shaking voice.

My mother shook her head. “Full Moon was bigger… stronger, more able to take the heat for the war at the time… your father was hounded and ridiculed for years for slaying Waning Moon… and it drove him to alcohol, even drugs… until it took his mind…” tears flooded her eyes, she patted her cheeks with a small napkin from the tea tray. “Your father… wiped all three of your memories with water hemlock, even Esen had his memory wiped, so that Ariella could escape and continue living her life without the Red River Pack chasing her down… if no one remembered her… no one would know she wasn’t amongst the slaughtered…”

“How did they fool Alpha Camilo?” Gwen asked.

“Valerian… took the body of another girl… and took the head… put her in one of Ariella's dresses… Alpha Camilo was too concerned about Arlo to even check, and they counted her on the death record with everyone else…”

Nausea bubbled in my throat at the thought. I had to resist the urge to vomit, clutching my chest and trying to steady my breathing to get ahold of myself. I felt my claws piercing into my own chest, my wolf was still fighting to take control.

“All this time… she… she thought our family killed hers…” Gwen gasped sadly, shaking her head as she stared at her hands. “That poor girl…”

“Why didn’t you tell us…?” I growled from my chest as my darkened eyes looked up to my mother.

Fear returned to her face as she locked eyes with me. “I-I…” she stuttered before I rose to my feet and stepped forward. She backed up against the couch in a defensive way before my sister grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“He made me forget her!? Forget my mate!?” I felt saliva spit through my teeth, dowsing my lips as I screamed, “He made me forget her and you just stood there and let it happen!?”

“Gabe!” Gwen urged, now pushing at my chest.

“They made her forget me!?” I questioned, my voice reaching a deep rumble. “We could have protected her!”

“Gabriel, Please!” My sister's voice was pleading and desperate.

I pushed my sister from my chest and took another step towards my mother, she receded further into the couch . “She forgot about me! Now she’s run away to goddess knows where, still assuming that OUR family was the one who slayed hers!”

“Gabriel…” My mother whimpered as her eyes pinched shut. “I had to! Your father had to!”

“WHY!?” I raged.

“Because we promised Arlo we would!” She cried back, tears erupting anew from her swollen eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at her, stopping my advance to question what she meant. “What…?”

“It was Arlos idea…” My mother whispered in a tearful voice, “Arlo made Your father the hemlock casters, he gave Val strict instructions on where to take Ariella and how to wipe your memories. Arlo stated that she could not go back to Full Moon. With them being such close friends, we risked Alpha Camilo finding out and coming to take her… We promised Arlo we would follow his instructions to the letter and give Ariella the best chance at survival from Red River…”

“But… you left her… alone… to fend for herself?” My sister's voice cracked as she stifled a sob.

“Your father promised Arlo he would fulfill this task for him… he has lived with the guilt that he left that poor girl alone, with a murdered pack… but he swore, On his own life, he would fulfill that promise for Arlo.” My mother defended. “He has drunk himself into an early grave with the guilt he’s held for his part in the Waning Moon m******e… his only solace is his memory loss from his chronic drug and alcohol use…”

I swallowed, a knot had formed in my throat, nausea still plaguing me as sweat had begun to roll down my forehead and neck. My sister finally pulled away from me and gave me a sympathetic look. I stood for a moment in silence, watching my mother cower from me with tears in her eyes.

My chest burned as I took in a deep breath then turned on my heel and headed toward the door.

“Wait, where are you going!?” My mother called after me, I heard both her and Gwen’s heels click as they followed.

“To find my mate…” I responded with a growl.

“Wait, Gabe…” Gwen slammed the door behind me, shutting out my mother who had stopped just short of the door.

“What?” I groveled.

“I… I need to tell you about something else…”