Alliance of Shadows, Book 5: LEIF

Echoes of the Forgotten

Looking me over, she sighed, "If I can't change your mind, then I may as well sit back and watch the fireworks fly. Rowan may be the King of the Druids, but I'm his Queen. Those Sages are going to need to go through me to hurt any of my pups, and I'll be damned if I let the people who put you through hell off with a simple stripping of power."

"If I had it my way, I'd make them pay in ways they can't even dream of," Dreson replied, grinding his teeth.

I scowled, "I donnae think I like this violent side t’ ya, love."

His eyes narrowed as he crossed the floor in a few swift steps and kissed me—hard. Pulling back, he stared at me, his gaze burning with the promise of retribution. "Explain."

Wrapping him in my arms, I whispered, "It just scares me, love… that one of the most patient and loving people in my life is thinkin’ about torturin’ someone right now. I know you’d never do anythin’ on purpose, and it's not just ‘cause you were raised better than that. It’s ‘cause it tears you up inside, seein’ the people you love suffer."

Choking on her tears, Cece dragged me back into her embrace, pulling me away from my Mate. "What did I do to deserve an amazing son-in-law like you?"

"I'm not so sure about amazin’, but ‘e's the reason I'm still here," I said, sure that he was getting tired of the praise being thrown his way hand-over-fist.

Being one of the only people knowledgeable of such personal information, I understood that Dre couldn't stand the attention. He hated it with a passion, feeling like it made him seem above everyone else. In reality, he was, yet it bothered him something fierce when he had no choice but to own his title.

Dreson appeared to be calm all the time, but there was a darkness inside him. It was a violence he kept hidden from the world, fighting it on his own for years until I showed up. No one else saw the raw strength it took for him to hold back, and it left me in awe of his power. While playful, he held himself in such a way that told people he was dangerous and drew others in at the same time.

The same way he drew in the people who were his friends.

"Dre, ye need t’ tell her, or I will," I said darkly. "I'm tired of the secrecy now, too."

He smiled at me and sighed, "Yeah, I know."

"Tell me what," Cece asked as she sat down on the sofa.

I joined her and held her hand as he took a deep breath. "Kaden, Leif, Colt, and Neil all know about it, but I begged them to keep it secret from everyone else. Mom, there's a piece of Taint inside me that I can't overpower. It hits me whenever I think about anyone I love getting hurt. It hits me when I see the strong picking at the weak, and it's the hardest to handle when I'm frustrated or angry."

Walking around the office, he glanced at the picture of his biological mother and sighed. Cece shook her head. "No, baby. That’s not Taint. Those are emotions that were mitigated by your strength to form true bonds with others. They were what surfaced when you faced down bullies and problems that would have broken anyone else. You didn’t get a damn thing from your father. Everything about you is from your Mama, and I thank the Gods for that woman’s sacrifice every damn day I get to see you smile through the pain. Besides, it’s the reason your granddad is scared of you. He knew your birth was going to be his reckoning."

"I don’t understand," Dreson answered, though the tremor in his voice told me otherwise.

"Your mother knew about me, but there was nothing your father could do to protest your grandfather’s demand to ensure a strong bloodline. He's the one that arranged for your father to marry before he met his Mate. You see, when I accidentally met her in the park one day, I could smell him on her," Celestia said softly.

Dreson turned to her and blinked. "So you really met my mother? All that stuff when I was little, the prayers, the quiet thanks… that was all real? The stuff you said in the letter back when I was fourteen?"

"Yes, it was all real," she replied.

"You must have been so angry," he whispered.

Shaking her head, Cece told him, "I approached her, ready to fight for my Mate, but then I saw that she was in the late stages of pregnancy. She was so pale and weak, but she had this welcoming calm to her that put my fears and doubts to an end. She looked so much like you do now, actually."

"Did she talk to you?" He wanted the answers, craved them, but he wasn't sure he could handle them.

It was something that I understood completely.

"Tina was something special, Dreson. She actually looked right at me and said, ‘when I'm gone, take care of them. Rowan needs his Mate, and our child will need a mother. I see no better option than a she-wolf like you.’ I had no idea what she meant, so I asked her. Then she told me something that had me making a promise I spent the last eighteen years keeping," Cece said.

Patting my hand, she let a smile grace her features. Brushing her tears from her dark cheeks, she turned her eyes to Dreson. "She told me she regretted a lot of things, but she never, ever regretted you, Dreson. Tina told me that her greatest regret was taking your father's Goddess-given freedom to find his Mate from him. I asked her why she was telling me these things, and she told me that it was because she could sense my anger towards her and deduced the answer for herself. That her husband was my True Mate. Their union was never in their hands, but she gave me and your father a precious gift. You."

"I get that from my mother? I always thought I'd gotten it from dad's line," Dreson said.

Raising a brow, Celestia shook her head. "No, honey, you got her sixth sense, her personality, and her protective, accepting nature. That's the reason your father thought so highly of you even after you came out to us. You remind him so much of your mother, and I told him that if he ever hurts you, then he's tarnishing her memory. We've always tried our best to help you keep that darkness of yours at bay, you know."

Dreson's smile faded. "So, she met you, made you promise to care for me, then let herself die just so you and dad could be together. Mom, you could have beaten me every damn day, but you didn't. You could have thrown me out, but you protected me. How could I hate you after everything you've done for me? For our family? Without you, I wouldn't have a mother or a brother, and that makes me the most grateful of all."

Covering her mouth, Cece sobbed, her shoulders shaking as she tried to hold herself together. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I know it's been hard on you all these years, but I've always been in your corner. Even if I hadn't made that promise to Tina, I still would have raised you as my own pup. You were a sweet, innocent child, blameless in your grandfather's quest for a pure bloodline. Do you remember the day you and Kaden went with your father to see him?"

"You waited in the car because they wouldn't let you inside the building," he told her.

"Yes, cause I'm Black, honey," Cece growled. "They didn't want people like me in there dirtying up their shiny baubles. What did you say to him that changed his mind?"

Smirking, Dre slid his eyes over to me, and I knew that he'd probably done something that made everyone think. "I told him if he didn't let you in, I wanted nothing to do with him. He asked me about putting Kaden up for adoption rather than having competition, and I said I'd rather not because I love my little brother. I was four, and I made a room full of adults bow to me in shame."

Celestia started laughing, shaking her head as she leaned back against the sofa. "You didn't?! Dreson, as proud of you as I am, don't use your status as leverage unless you absolutely have to, okay? That's not who you are."

"I know, Mom," he replied, his tone softer now. "But you have to admit that four-year-old me had a head on his shoulders."

"There was never any doubt that you'd make an amazing politician," she murmured as she pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you so much, and I know that your mother is very proud of the way you turned out, too."

"Thanks, Mom," he sighed, resting his chin against her shoulder. "With everything that's been going on, I'm glad you never let me forget her."

Watching them, I felt my own heart soar with the undiluted parent-child love I was seeing. What I’d desperately fought for had been within my grasp the moment my darling, daring Mate walked into my life. Now we knew for sure that he was never Tainted – just… misunderstood in his methodology.