Past Sins

Chapter 12: Matteo

Seeing the look on Valerie's face now made me all the more glad we decided to have the meeting in my office on the Alpha’s floor. Being that the Alphas floor was the top floor of the pack house. It took an hour but Robert finished the story of Roland and his involvement in their mothers death and well.. Everything. Valerie's face went from shock, to sadness, to horror, and finally landed on anger. Her face was becoming redder by the moment and I knew once she was given the chance she was going to burst. “Three months. I’m three months away from my 18th birthday. Three months away from my first transition. Three months before I can protect myself to my fullest potential and you tell me NOW that we have some deranged half uncle waiting in the shadows to kidnap me?! This is a joke- It has to be a joke. There’s no way I'm in the middle of some mufasa v.s scar, lion king bullshit!” she yelled. Her voice had grown from a whisper to a full on scream displaying her anger full force for us to see. Her breathing came out fast and heavy.She sat in silence waiting for someone to confirm her words. Needing someone to confirm them like she needed her next breath. We all sat with our eyes on her giving her time to let it all sink in. None of us dared speak another word until she was somewhat calm. When the realization set in that this was reality she sunk farther into her seat and ran her hands through her hair. Pulling the gorgeous black strands out of place. “This is ridiculous.” she whispered. David reached for her hand, “I know that this is a shock and that you should have known sooner but we didn’t think…” Without thinking David gave away the one thing he planned to break to her gently later on- that he knew all along. The bond between Valerie and her siblings was thicker than a steel vault door. Nothing could break that or at least that was the case before David's revelation. The looks of betrayal splayed across her face are saying something completely different. “You knew about this?” she hissed out, ripping her hand away from his. “Yes…” he said. If you looked hard enough you could see the wheels turning in David’s head. He’s trying to think of a way out of this. If I found out anything about Val is that she’s not going to let this go without a fight. He made a mistake confessing what he did. “How. Long?!” her words came out clipped and dripping with venom. “Val, just listen..” he said softly as if to console her in this moment. Good Luck dude! She shot up out of her seat and I could have sworn her eyes darkened. That’s impossible- she’s months from her first shift and it’s rare to do so beforehand, even for an Alpha's kid. Being fueled by her anger she continued, “How long did you know, David? How long did you plan on keeping this from me? How. f*****g. Long.?!” If I were going to get a signal that she needed me, there wouldn’t be one more clear than that. I got up and rounded my desk to go be next to her. She turned and looked at me, her green eyes alight with anger stopping me dead in my tracks. “You knew too?” she said. There was no sense in lying to her. Mate bond or not I've laid everything out in the open for her since the beginning. That wouldn’t be changing today. I’m an open book when it comes to her- she’ll be able to tell I'm not telling the truth. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against my desk. “I did.” I stated, matter of factly. She threw her hands up in the air and huffed, “Of f*****g course you did. Why wouldn’t you? Seems like I'm the last to know.” This is going on long enough and we’ve only gotten a partial way through our shitty news for the day. The next part of this story is what she needed to hear. I'm hoping it calms her enough to cushion the, you’re not going home, bomb we were about to drop on her. I cleared my throat “Maybe we should continue this?” I suggested. David nodded and took a deep breath, this was going worse than he originally thought it would. “Okay, there’s more to this story and I'll tell you everything but you have to sit, calm down, and listen to me without interrupting, alright?”. Trying to compromise with a scorned woman? Yeah! Doing great there bud! She clearly wasn’t a fan of this plan but she stopped pacing, took a deep breath, and sat back down on the couch. Once she was good and settled she gestured for him to go on. “Good. Alright. You wanted to know how long I've known about this.” he asked and she answered with a nod. “Since I was 16.” he said. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something but David shushed her. “We had a deal,” he reminded her. She rolled her eyes but kept to their deal and stayed quiet. “When I turned 16 I shifted for the first time. It was the day you ditched your guards and played near the border with Blake.” She obviously remembered the day, she remained quiet. “You weren’t paying attention and I went out to find you after your guards let us know they lost you. I saw you playing and was going to get you when I noticed the rogue by the border staring in your direction. I’d known about the rogues around our borders but this is the first time that I saw one with my own eyes. It was clear what he was doing- he was stalking you. All the others never left the tree line to avoid being attacked by border guards but this one was bold, val. He left the tree line and made his way toward the border. He headed straight for you and before I knew what was happening I was on all fours and running in your direction. The rogue saw me and took off the way it came. I let dad know what happened and shifted back before you or Blake saw me.” he said, recalling the day of his first shift. We all sat back looking at Valerie and waiting for her response. I was on edge wondering how she would take this information. She hasn’t had a decent reaction to the rest of our news and we weren’t done. “You shifted to protect me.” She said with tears in her eyes. “Yes I did,” he said. She got up and hugged him, thanking him profusely for what he did. Patting her back he comforted her, “It’s okay. You're my sister and I'd do anything to protect you. Which you should keep in mind with the rest of what I have to say.” This was it. This was the final nail in our coffin. We couldn’t put it off anymore- They would be leaving tomorrow and she needed to know she wouldn’t be joining them. I went and sat next to her and put my hand on her leg to hopefully calm her a bit. I couldn’t tell if it was working but she didn’t swat my hand away so I took that as a good sign. Damn this one way mate bond!  “With all of this going on we all came to a decision and we’re going to need you to keep an open mind. The rogue attacks won’t stop and we can’t risk your safety so… When we return home, you’ll be staying here. Under the protection of the guards Alpha Matteo has chosen for you.” David said. Mate bond be damned if I couldn’t feel the sense of betrayal coming off of her. She was being awkwardly quiet as David explained everything about the days to come. No fear, anger, betrayal.. She was just apathetic. That’s not like the Valerie I grew to know. She waited patiently for David to finish before speaking. “So you made decisions about my life without consulting me.?” she questioned. The way she said it was chilling and it didn’t sit right in my soul. She’s not a cold person- she’s the exact opposite honestly. If Valerie has done anything perfectly in life it’s this- she exudes light and love wherever she goes. Right now she was acting colder than a filthy blood sucker. If I could mindlink David right now I would. I’d tell him to choose his next words very carefully. “Yes. We know how stubborn you are. We didn’t have a choice.” he said with as much care as Valerie was showing at this moment. I ran my hand over my face. So much for choosing his words wisely. I could see this was unraveling quickly. Things are not going in our favor right now and he’s only making it worse. I would step in but this is a matter for them to discuss as a family. “Didn’t have a choice. Explaining the situation and letting me make the decision for myself wasn’t an option. You’ve always respected my decisions so why stop now? Huh? Why treat me as less of the person I am? The person I was raised to be- same as you.. You’re all a bunch of masonginstic, manipulative, control freaks. I can’t believe that ANY of you would think to make a decision like this without talking to me.” she argued. Gently she removed my hand and stood from the couch brushing the front of her dress to smooth the wrinkles out. She finished fixing herself and walked out of the office without another word or glance at any of us. Slamming the door so hard the whole house shook. I’ll definitely have to reinforce those doors for the future- I doubt this is the last time she’ll be mad at me. “Well that went well.” huffed David running a hand through his hair. “Let’s give her some time.” I said, “She has to process all of this.” Robert who had been exceptionally quiet after his part in this disaster finally moved in what seemed like forever. I almost forgot he was there. His eyes full of sadness for what seemed to be the end of whatever trust he had with his daughter. I feel for him- one day when I have a daughter I'd hope she would never lose faith or trust in me. He didn’t have to worry. Valerie may be upset right now but she adored him. That was evident from all the stories she told me of the two of them. She just needed tonight to get over all of this and then he could work on getting her trust back. He just had to give her some space- we all did. David got up and excused himself; he needed to make the arrangements for their trip home. I turned to Robert, “Just give her time. She’ll come around.” I said reassuringly. He didn’t acknowledge that he even heard me. His head was down and he was staring into his hands. He’s really upset about what just happened and the state of his relationship with his daughter. “She only knows half of it.” he mumbled. “Not even David knows what else I meant to tell them today. That will seal the fate of their trust for me… When they find out about Kol they’ll never forgive me.”