Ultima Trials

Family is Family

Hayden’s POV

I stared at the people in the room around me. Mav was still in Cam’s arms but had fallen asleep. Pups were like that. They could fall asleep at the drop of the hat while in their parent’s arms. I had seen that so much around the pack.

“First, Randall, I need to explain that back then I was young and scared. My mate was cheating on me with some she-wolf, and I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how to raise a wolf.”

Ultima Wixx snarled. “I did not cheat on you! I never touched that she-wolf! She kept coming on to me, and I always turned her down.”

“Then why was she in my bed?! She said the Alpha commanded her to be in the bedroom.” Gloria screamed.

“My father is an Alpha, my love,” Wixx whispered. “I would never hurt you. You know this. I almost lost my pack, Gloria. My father almost revoked my right to be Alpha for choosing you. I loved you then, just as much as I love you still.”

“Look, as nice as it is to know that Wixx never cheated on you, what does this have to do with Cam?” I asked.

I looked between Cam and Wixx. Gloria said she didn’t know how to raise a wolf 25 years ago. Cam was just about to turn 25. Not many Alpha families only had one heir. Unless there was infertility. My mom had me and Hunter but couldn’t have any more after us. Mom was really small for a she-wolf. Even if she was of Alpha blood, carrying twin Alpha’s was a lot for her body. Too much. Sadly, we tore her uterus apart. After having us, she had a hysterectomy and she and dad had planned to adopt more pups, but twin Alphas. Isabelle only had Cam.

I studied Wixx’s face. His ice-blue eyes were the same as Cam’s wolf. Even his nose and jawline looked like Cam’s. Or was it Cam that looked like Wixx?

“Holy shit.” I gasped. “Holy. Shit.” I turned to Gloria. “Seriously? How did you manage? How have the wolves not noticed? I thought Alpha’s bonded-“

“Hayden, I love the initiative, but they need a little bit more time to catch up.” Gloria chuckled.

Cam looked between Gloria and me. I didn’t want to spill the beans, but I could feel Mira pacing. She hated secrets. She also didn’t like secrets from her mate. She already had a lot she wanted to tell him, but this was massive. That was the problem with mates. Especially marked ones. I was sure that Mira had already told Jersey what was happening. Wolves could keep secrets from humans, but not from their mates.

Cam looked into my eyes, and I could feel him rooting through the bond. I didn’t know how to block him from the bond. He growled when his wolf told him. He moved away from Gloria, and further from Wixx. He shook his head and snarled.

“No.” He gripped Mav tighter and stormed out of the conference room.

Mira whimpered in my mind. She wanted to follow her mate, but I owed it to him to get the whole story.

Gloria explained about the day of the Luna Ceremony. She found the she-wolf in her bed. The same she-wolf that she had scented. How she didn’t know she was pregnant when she started being able to scent things baffled me. Though she was a full-blooded Wiccan. She was rare. They had powers wolves had no idea about. Like the visions thing.

After leaving the pack, she was found by Isabelle, who was infertile. Gloria had been raised around wolves but had no idea how to raise a wolf. Which made sense. She was also grieving the loss of her mate, and no one knew that her mother had died that same week. She wanted one tradition to be upheld: that she would hold off on her mother next week. Finding out she was pregnant was just another reminder of the pain she had to suffer.

“Isabelle was pretty upset about being infertile. As you know, wolves love to procreate. Especially Alphas. She felt like she would somehow disappoint her mate because she couldn’t give him an heir. So, I gave them that.”

“What about me, Gloria? You didn’t think I’d want to raise my own son?” Wixx was getting pissed, and his aura was stifling.

“You did just fine without us in your life, Ultima,” Gloria sneered.

Wixx growled.

“Guys, this isn’t helping.” I said, rubbing my head. Mira was howling for me to follow my mate.

“What does Noah want with Cam?” Wixx sighed.

Gloria groaned. “He knows exactly who Cam is.”

Cam’s POV

No. No. No. There’s no way that my parents weren’t my parents. They would have told me. Dad would have told me. All those days we spent together. 20 years of time with my mother, she would have told me that I was adopted. I saw my birth certificate. It had my parents’ names on it. I had never seen adoption papers.

Jersey, please tell me you felt the bond with my parents. That they were actually my parents.

Silence.

Jersey, tell me that you felt the familial bond! Tell me that they were my parents!

Silence.

I felt the bond. Jersey whimpered.

But… I pushed. I could feel him holding something back.

Not until I came forth. Never before.

I stopped pacing the room. What do you mean before? You weren’t there until I turned eighteen.

Not exactly. You are born with a wolf, Camden. We cannot make ourselves known until our body is strong enough to tolerate the shift. Once you become of age, we come forth. Had it ever occurred to you how I knew all about you the day I met you?

I thought wolves went on a crash course when we finally shifted. I wasn’t a wolf biologist. I had no idea how much wolves would know about their humans. I just knew that our souls were matched to balance each other. A hot head was supposed to balance a calm wolf, a calm wolf would balance a raging human. That’s how I had always been taught. By my father.

A bond can be formed from more than just family. The bond we felt with Garrison and Bruce was just as real as the bond formed with Mom and Dad. He said. They were the wolves of my former Beta and Gamma.

Why do I not feel the bond with Randall and Gloria?

Gloria has no wolf. I have nothing to bond with. She has always been family to us, though. I had no reason to assume that she is our mother. As for Randall, I had never met his wolf nor sensed it before today.

I sighed. Gloria had always loved me like a son. Mom always said it. That’s why she made Gloria my Godmother, because if anything happened, Gloria would love me like a son. Gloria had risked her life to save me and Mav. She had always done everything to make sure that I was loved. The night of Jeri and I’s anniversary, it was Gloria who made sure to double check our anniversary reservation. When Mav needed someone to watch him while I was being punished, it was Gloria that had made sure he was safe. I had always seen Gloria as family because she was. She was there when my parents couldn’t be. She was there when I had no one else. She never thought twice.

Did that change the idea that my parents were still my parents? They were the ones that raised me. Despite that I wasn’t his blood, my father had taken his time to make sure that he carried his family’s traditions with me. Going out every few months and getting my wrist measured for my crest. The whole day was spent being father and son. Blood didn’t always make family, and family wasn’t always blood.

I felt Hayden’s warmth enter the room, but she didn’t say anything. She just stood letting me know that she was there. I finally sat on the chair in front of the fireplace. My mind was reeling, and I knew that Mira was trying to calm Jersey down. He was pissed that I was pissed off. Though I was only upset that my parents never told me that I was adopted, not so much at the idea of being adopted.

“Mira said Jersey didn’t feel the bond until after you shifted.”

I nodded.

“How does that happen?”

I shrugged. I had never heard of anything like that. None of this made any real sense. Something that I had learned about life was, it didn’t have to make sense to be reality. Reality was what mattered. My reality was I had my son, my second chance mate, a home even if it wasn’t the home I had grown up in. The woman I thought was my godmother was my biological mother, the Ultima Wolf was my father. The people that I thought were my parents were dead. My mate was the Alpha of one of the largest packs in the state.

I ran my hands through my hair and groaned. I only came because Hayden wanted a spot at the Alpha table. Now not only did she have a spot, so did I. As the first born of an Alpha, I was the rightful heir of Graystone. As I was titled Alpha of Silver Star, I was the rightful heir of that pack as well. Which made me…

“I’m an Ultima,” I whispered.

“What?”

“I’m the rightful Alpha to two separate packs. I’m the firstborn of Alpha Randall Wixx, but was also titled as Alpha of Silver Star. I’m an Ultima. Since I’ve shifted, I’ve never submitted, not even to my father. Not even to Wixx when he released his aura on us downstairs. I didn’t want to submit; I just didn’t want to be there anymore.”

“Holy. Shit.” Hayden was staring at me wide-eyed.

“When you marked me, that made me an Ultima. I’m the rightful Alpha of three separate packs. I never rejected Graystone. I didn’t know I needed to.”

“But you rejected Silver Star,” Hayden said.

I nodded. I did, and yet when I came back they submitted to me. They still called me Alpha. I wasn’t a complete i***t, was I? I hadn’t ever seen a rejection, but I had banished a few people. You had to use the name, title, and pack.

I thought back to my rejection. Camden Bailey Tarain. Did I use my full name? s**t. The rejection wouldn’t fully work if I didn’t use my full name. The better question was what is my full name? Obviously, my birth certificate was fake, as were all of my medical files and legal documents. Though how did they get the pack to believe that Mom was pregnant? It’s a little difficult to hide an Alpha pregnancy.

I grabbed the warrior we had brought with us and told him to watch over Mav. Hayden followed close behind me. I could feel her curiosity. Just as I expected, Gloria and Wixx were still sitting in the conference room. Wixx was whimpering, and Gloria sat across the room.

“What’s my full name?” I demanded as I glared at Gloria.

“Cam.” Hayden tried to soothe me.

“No, I deserve to know. They kept me in the dark for my entire life. I don’t care that I’m adopted. Those people were my family, but I deserve to know the truth. What is my full name?”

Gloria’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at me, “Camden Charles Bailey Wixx Tarain.” She whispered, “I wanted you to at least have something of his.”

Wixx sucked in a deep breath.

I looked at them, “Who is Charles?”

“Charlie. It was going to be our firstborn son’s name.” Wixx said, “After my little brother. He was sick as a pup. Sadly, that triggered his wolf and forced a shift. He died when he was only ten.”

So, I didn’t do it wrong. Not intentionally. It was only wrong because I didn’t know my name. I looked back at Hayden who had her hair wrapped around a finger. She was nervous.

“I’m not taking your pack from you, Hayden.” I brushed her cheek with the tips of my fingers. “You’re the Alpha of Black Storm.”

“You’re the Alpha of Silver Star.” She whispered back.

Gloria gasped.

I touched my forehead to Hayden’s something a wolf only did with family or mates. It was as close as kissing as we could be without actually kissing. Her nose brushed mine as she reached up and nuzzled her face against mine. I chuckled.

“You’re an Ultima,” Wixx said. He sounded proud.

I sighed before turning to look at my father. My eyes glanced at him. He was shorter than me, but I was also 25 years younger. His hair was black at some point in his life but had mostly turned white. He was still in shape for his age. Gloria was in her early forties, so he couldn’t have been much older. He did have ice blue eyes, like mine. I always wondered where I got my jet-black hair when my father’s hair was sandy blonde, and Mom’s was auburn. Dad’s eyes were brown and mom’s were darker blue. I had always thought I got it from someone down the line on either side.

Gloria was Gloria. I didn’t think I looked anything like her. She had deep brown hair and bright green eyes. She was short, though I couldn’t expect her to be much taller than a she-wolf as she had no wolf. I didn’t actually know much about Wiccans. Gloria never talked about her life before becoming friends with my mom. I did know she had garnered favors with other packs for whatever reasons, and they all fell in love with the idea of being allies with the pack with the Wiccan.

“You’re the Alpha of Silver Star, Graystone, and sorry, Hayden, but also Black Storm. Despite what you would like to call it, he is the highest-ranking male in the pack,” Wixx stated proudly.

“I thought your son took over as Ultima of Graystone.” Gloria said.

“No.” Wixx snorted, “I don’t have a son. I never found a second chance, now I know why.” He stared back at Gloria.

“So, who’s the Alpha of Graystone?” I couldn’t help my curiosity.

“Me. Being Ultima means I can do whatever I want. If I want to go live in the packhouse at Blue River, then I can. If I wanted to take the role at Mystic Moon, then the Alpha steps aside and gives it to me.” Wixx ran his hands through his hair, “They all report to me.”

Hayden was shocked. That was a lot of work, honestly. One pack was a lot. I couldn’t imagine having to make major decisions for three separate packs. Each pack was around three hundred wolves on a small scale, five or six hundred on larger ones. Hayden’s pack was nearing 900. Silver Star, when I was Alpha, had 400 members. Now it was probably half that. If Noah was lucky. He had run a lot of warriors out, Silver Star had always been proud of its strength.

“The first Ultima mated pair in centuries.” Wixx breathed.

Hayden’s breath caught.

“Since he’s an Ultima, and you are marked, that makes you an Ultima.” Wixx smiled at Hayden. “You will need an Alpha for all three packs though. As much work as it is overseeing five hundred wolves, taking care of 1,500 is a lot harder.”

“Does that mean that I am the true Alpha of Silver Star?”

“Since you’re standing right in front of me, it’s hard not to know the truth. Noah claims that you had died before he could challenge you. Though the report says that he did challenge you, since you were in a coma you could not respond, which is an automatic forfeit.”

Hayden snorted, “The rumor was that Noah had forced Luna Isabelle to marry him, after Camden was dead. That’s how he became the rightful Alpha.”

Wixx looked at Hayden, then at me. I could see the questions turning in his mind. Before he could say anything, Gloria rushed to him and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and his face went to her neck. A small growl came out of his chest, but it was one of admiration. The sound of a wolf being surrounded by a mate’s scent. The same sound my wolf made when I was holding Hayden.

After a little more back and forth, we decided to table the discussion until tomorrow. I knew that Mav would be waking up soon, and he’d need a snack. We could all use a meal. Even if it was cooked by Noah’s slaves. I had grown up in this packhouse and though I hadn’t lived in the packhouse in over four years, I still knew the place like the back of my hand. I showed Hayden all of the secret hiding spots I had used as a pup, and even my Mom’s office. Naturally, the Alpha’s office was locked, but Noah hadn’t changed the door. It still had the T my father had carved on when he took over as Alpha.

I loved that door. My entire life, I had looked at that door and knew that one day, it would be mine. Dad would have to knock on that door to talk to me. Mom would stand at that door and look for her son, the Alpha. Hayden used her shoulder to bump into my arm and knocked me from my thoughts. I smiled down at her and took her back up to our room. Mav was bouncing on the bed looking and waiting for a snack, just as I assumed.

Gloria, being Gloria, knew that I wasn’t ready to make myself known to the pack so she brought food up to our suite. She had made all of Mav’s and my favorites. I even brought him a late birthday present. We celebrated Mav’s birthday the same way we always had. With family.