Ultima Trials

Hayden's Truth

Hayden’s POV

I looked at my mate.

Cam’s face looked both worried and excited. I guess it wasn’t as secretive as I thought I was. The mate bond keeping me from real true secrets. The beauty of the mate bond. I had nothing to myself. He didn’t try to keep anything from me, even though most of us knew what happened to him anyway.

“Dad was… influenced by Grandpa. He loved us, and he was proud of us, but Grandpa is still a miserable bastard.” I sighed. “He didn’t think Hunter was worthy of Alpha, and made it very well known. We were born before Dad was titled, just a few months after Mom’s birthday. Hunter was… smaller than I was. He wasn’t small, but still.”

“The size of a pup shouldn’t matter. I was only seven pounds. My father was born at six pounds.” Cam said, already growing angry.

I nodded. “But to Grandpa, the bigger the pup the better the Alpha. A big pup housed a big wolf. Hunter took that to heart. He trained harder than all the other pups in the pack. When he wasn’t training with the warriors, he’d be with Dad. He didn’t have much time to be with me.” I sighed, “For weeks, I had felt something different with Hunter. I didn’t know what it was though, and we weren’t the closest.”

Cam pulled me into his lap.

“The day of the shift, I felt him. He was weak, weaker than he had been. But I was gone. Twins are supposed to shift together. Our wolves are twins too. Even if they are fraternal. They don’t know the difference. Hunter’s shift triggered mine. Twin wolves shift together, and they imprint on each other. In some cases, our bond is almost as close as a mate bond. When he shifted my wolf sensed the danger and shifted with her brother. Lucky for me, Mel was already shifted so her wolf guided mine through the shift. Mira imprinted on her wolf. It created a rift between our wolves. That rift opened something worse.” I sighed.

Cam looked down at me and kissed my forehead. I knew there was an easier way to tell him. I had never told anyone.

“I won’t tell anyone unless it puts you at risk.” He whispered.

Flashback

For weeks after our shift, I sat at Hunter’s bed. Hoping that he would wake up and Mom would stop crying. The pack had grieved and moved on, but I hadn’t. He was my big brother. It didn’t matter that he was always too busy for me. I knew eventually we’d have time to really get to know each other. We had our entire lives, he’d bring our pack to greatness, better than Grandpa or Dad. I’d find a mate and we’d all be best friends. Our kids would grow up together.

“Hunter, you have to come back. I need you. Mom’s been crying nonstop since that day. Dad’s angry all the time. I… I need you big brother. Please?”

I can’t come back. Hunter’s voice filled my mind.

“What? Why? You’re Alpha! We need you!”

They have you. You’ve always been stronger than me. The fact that you made it through the shift proves that. You have no idea… I tried, Hay. I did. I failed.

“Hunter what are you talking about?”

You have to belly promise, Hayden. No one can know.

I hadn’t heard that term in so long, I had forgotten it existed. Hunter and I had a different bond, we could tell when the other was lying. It made our bellies hurt, so we stopped lying. At least to each other. Anytime we lied to our parents, we had to belly promise that we’d never lie to each other. And we never did.

For months, Grandpa has been training me to withstand wolfsbane and silver.

Mira growled. Even if Hunter had been able to make it through the shift, he would still be weak. It would weaken the bond between our wolves.

He’s been doing it to you, too. Less than me, but still. He wants us to be strong. We can’t damage the bloodline. He comes from two Alphas, we come from strong Alpha blood. We have to be strong.

“Hunter, that’s not okay! We could have died!” I cried.

I just wanted to be strong. So, I’ve been taking more. Plus, what Grandpa has been giving me. I could barely feel it anymore. I needed to test how much I could take, and I just took too much.

“Hunter, why? Does Dad know what he’s been doing?”

Hayden, you have to take my title. Dad’s not going to be able to stay Alpha. I can feel Mom’s grief. My wolf is dying. I feel him. I can’t come back as a human. I’d be nothing. Mira would die too, and we’d be cast out.

“Then let’s go! I don’t want to be here if you’re not.” I was full on sobbing. “I know we aren’t close.. but please Hunter. I can’t do this without you.”

You can, little sister. You’re strong. You’re an Alpha, don’t let anyone tell you any different. You’re better than I ever was.

“Hunter.” I laid my head on his arm as I felt him slip further into his mind.

End Flashback.

From that day, I had only been able to speak to his wolf. Mase was stronger, but I wasn’t sure how much longer he had. I had to get my pack the best it could be before he died. His body could only hold on for so long before it was gone, and when it passed, my wolf would be gone too. The possibility that it killed me too was high

Cam wrapped his arms tighter around my body, “You aren’t going to die.” He whispered more to himself.

“It’s why I didn’t want a mate or to date. I’ve seen what the mate bond has done to people. Losing both your mates will kill you, Cam.” A tear slipped down my face, “I just.. I couldn’t live without being with you. It’s the most selfish thing I have ever or will ever do.”

“No, you’re not dying.” Cam said more forcefully. “We’ll find a way.”

I smiled sadly. We’d done everything we could. Magic, blood treatments and waiting it out. Hunter was so far into his mind, there was no way to reach him. I wasn’t sure if he was there anymore..

Cam refused to let go of me for days after. When Rich asked, it was easy to explain that we were newly mated. No one second guessed. Cam had pushed all his meetings and tours. We found doctors and Wiccans. They had all given the same answer. If my wolf’s twin died, then mine would too. As she and I had been fully bonded, her death would kill me too.

Gloria had come to look within Hunter’s mind, but she couldn’t find him. Randall had tried to command Mase to come forward. Even if he had the control of the body at least he wouldn’t be dead. I would still have my brother. Mase was still too weak though.

It was a full week before Cam had a trip he couldn’t put off any longer. I sat on our bed as he packed. Every few minutes he would stop and kiss my forehead or nose. It wasn’t until he grabbed my duffel bag did I finally question what he was doing.

“You’re coming with me.” He said as if I should have known this.

“Cam, I have a pack to run.”

He began packing his favorite of my clothes including a bikini and silk robe. He did offer me a chance to veto my clothes, but he was on a mission. He rooted around in my closet for a while before pulling out a rain jacket and boots.

“Cam, what about the pack?”

“Do you not have a competent Beta and Gamma? I’ve known Rich and Bentley for years. They can run the pack for a few days while we’re gone.” Cam said, “If you really don’t want to come, you don’t have to. I just thought it would be a nice surprise.”

I sighed. I knew I could trust Bentley and Rich to look after the pack. It was only a few days. I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I was used to having someone else to think about. Cam needed to be around me. After the bomb I had dropped on him and knowing that there was nothing he could do but sit and watch me die. Except take me on little vacations. I couldn’t remember the last time I was on vacation. It was quite exciting.

Gloria had set Mav up in his room, he wasn’t excited to be left behind, but he didn’t know everything that was going on. I told Cam it was better for him to be told, but Cam didn’t want something to scare him. Mav had already lost one mother, and I was the next best thing after Gloria.

It took another hour of goodbyes before Cam, and I set off. He had a bag of snacks prepared, plus a decent road trip playlist. Though it didn’t take long into the trip for me to be a typical passenger and fell asleep.

Cam’s POV

I couldn’t understand how everyone just accepted that Hunter was dying. Did no one do research into twin wolves? From the moment she told me she was dying to the very moment I got her in the truck, it was all about getting her brother to come back.

I had heard of her grandfather. He was a worldwide dickhead, naturally that fell to his children and grandchildren. Randall said that the Elder of the pack had forced the former Alpha to give up his title to Hayden’s father. It was apparently talked about between the Alphas, and it made him look weak. I guess he took it harder and because he had looked weak he needed the rest of the family to be stronger.

I’d called in every favor, question and even owed a few people a favor trying to get this Shaman to do this for me. I wasn’t going to lose another mate. I couldn’t. Jersey growled in agreement. He wasn’t ready to die and leave our pup. Mav had already lost his mother; I would be damned if my son was an orphan.

I had just met my father, my biological father, and I wanted to know more about him. Even if I had grown up looking at Gloria like a second mother, I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted the bond that I had with my mother. I wanted Mav to have that bond, even if Hayden never gave me a pup, I wanted Mav to have her.

It took almost seven hours of driving to get to where I needed to be. It was a cabin on the beach of the smallest of the Warner Lakes in Oregon. There was a very small patch of forest that led to the cabin, opening to the beach of the lake. Hayden had finally woken up and looked around the forest. I could feel the questions in her mind. I said nothing as I got out of the car and helped Hayden.

“She’s worse than you said she was, Camden.”