Hidden Royalty: The Wolves of Healy Lake

Chapter 12: Wolf Princess

After Rayne and Phoenix filled her parents in on everything that had happened so far, all the way up until they had arrived home. Neither of her parents had said a word the entire time, even when they described how difficult her first shift had been, or how Phoenix thought her heart was going to stop before she was able to complete it. She was getting rather irritated, didn’t the care that she could have died, all because they had kept her in the dark her whole life. She could feel the tears beginning to form when Phoenix entwined his hand with hers and rubbed soothing circles in her palm with his thumb. “Thank you” she said through their bond, “always my love” he replied. She could have sworn she saw her mom smile when watched their exchange.

Her father was the first to speak, “perhaps before we go to much farther you should call your parents and you Alpha, Phoenix” he had said “I’m sure by now they are wondering where you are and I think they will want to be a part of the rest of this conversation.” “No need, I contacted Elijah when I went to make the coffee, he and the others should be here any moment” her mother explained.

“Who’s Elijah” Rayne asked. “That’s my father” replied Phoenix “but how did you know his name or how to contact him” he asked her mom. “We should probably wait on them to arrive before we get into that” she replied. “OMG, haven’t I waited long enough to be told what the hell I am! Oh and by the way Mom, and Dad , yes I am fine, Thank’s for asking! It’s not like I haven’t had a day from hell or anything, it’s not like I almost died because you never told me I was going to turn into a GOD DAMN DOG! Oh, and let’s not forget the part where I was groped by some guy, who may or may not be a witch, but makes me lose the ability to control my own actions when he’s around but yes I’m fine” she shouted. She had finally hit her breaking point for the day, she was losing her temper and she needed to do something. “I need some air, I’m going outside” she said as she stood up and headed for the front door, pausing as she thought about the possibility of Storm still lurking around. She decided he was probably long since gone and went out anyway.

She didn’t bother closing the door, she knew Phoenix was right behind her the moment Storm crossed her mind, she had felt his tension at the thought and knew he wouldn’t leave her unattended. She didn’t care, she was glad for his company, at least he seemed to care about her welfare. “They do to Rayne, but you have been yelling all day about everyone being over protective and they are just trying to give you space.” “It didn’t stop you from ignoring my demands that everyone stop trying to shield me from everything.” “No, and it never will because I’m your mate Rayne, it is my job to protect you whether you like it or not, and our bond won’t allow for me not to. But they are your parents and you are nearly an adult, they have to start letting you make your own choices.” “They still could have asked if I was ok at least” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Yes, they could have, I’m sure they were just shocked by all of the bombs we just dropped in their lap at once.” “I guess you’re probably right but it doesn’t hurt any less.”

Their conversation was ended there at the approach of Alpha Winter’s car, followed by Phoenix’s parents. They stood from their seat on her front porch swing as they waited for them to make their way from the cars. Phoenix wrapped is arm around the small of her back to reassure her when her stomach began to knot up. She knew this is what they were waiting on but now that it was here she was nervous. “We will deal with it together” he reminded her as Alpha Winter, his wife, and “Aaliyah?” “What is she doing here?” “I don’t know” Phoenix answered “depending on how much your mother told them she may be here to greet the royals.” “Why would they greet us, isn’t the Alpha the leader of the pack?” “Yes, unless there is a royal, they are higher in pack rank than an alpha” he explained to her as the group headed inside.

“Elijah, Adeline, it is good to see you both again” her mother told them.  “It’s been far too long Nora, so happy you are home” Phoenix’s mother replied. “Hello Layla, we were so sorry to hear about Gavin and Bethany, I truly wish we could have come home then, to be with you” her mother said as she embraced Aaliyah’s mother. “We understand Nora, you had to keep our princess safe” she answered. “Grayson, I have missed you so much. How are mom and dad doing” she asked Alpha Winter as he pulled her in for deep bear hug. “They’re fine, especially now that they know you are all safe. They wanted to come with us tonight but I thought it best we have our conversation with the children first” he responded releasing her from his embrace. “Yes, that’s a good idea. They were getting restless waiting on your arrival.” “Hello Liam, good to see you as always. Thank you for looking out for my sister and our princess, they are fortunate to have you” Alpha Winter told Rayne’s father. “No thanks are needed, your sister is my mate it is my duty to watch out for her, and my honor to be her husband. Raising Rayne has been a blessing to us both. Speaking of our princess, I think we have kept them waiting long enough.” “Yes, of course” returned Alpha Winter before taking Rayne’s hand and offering her a brief bow of his head “my apologies your Highness, we can start whenever you wish.”

Rayne looked around the room at everyone, trying to find an answer to why the alpha just called her his Highness and not sure exactly how she was supposed to respond. “Ummm thank you” she said questioningly. “I guess someone can start by telling me why you keep calling me your princess, and how you all know each other because I am totally lost here.” “You’re not the only one” Aaliyah stated. “Well, maybe we could start with introductions since Rayne would not remember any of you, and Phoenix and Aaliyah don’t remember us” her mom suggested. “It’s going to be a late night so I made coffee if anyone would like a cup.” A chorus of yes rang around the room and she stood to go to the kitchen “I’ll help you while they get started” Aaliyah’s mom had said, and the two left for the kitchen.

Rayne’s father started, “well Rayne, as you have figured out by now there are many things we haven’t told you. I know you are upset about figuring them out the way you did, and we can’t blame you, but we kept these things from you for a reason, to keep you safe. Some of what has been kept from you is about your mother’s family as well as my own. As you probably have put together by now, Grayson is your mom’s brother, he and his wife Layla are this pack’s alpha pair and Aaliyah is their daughter. Phoenix’s father, Elijah is Grayson’s beta, or second in command, and Layla is his wife. Your mother grew up in their pack that is how we know them all. Phoenix, Aaliyah, I’m Rayne’s father Liam, and this” he said nodding towards her mom who was just coming back in the room with the coffee “is her mother Nora.”

“Now that everyone has their coffee and introductions are out of the way, I think we should start by having Rayne and Phoenix tell the others about what has happened so that everyone is up to speed before we go into details about the rest.” 

Rayne let Phoenix tell them what had transpired that day; she was still stuck on the fact that Aaliyah was her cousin. Of all the people in the world to be related to she had to be stuck with her, how could this be happening. She hadn’t really been paying attention to what Phoenix was telling them but she knew he must have gotten to the point where they discovered they were true mates because Aaliyah jumped from her seat and started shouting. She was jerked back to the present conversation by Aaliyah shouting “No! You and I are the next alpha pair Phoenix, we are supposed to be having our mating ceremony after graduation.” Aaliyah turned her glare to Rayne and told her “he is my mate! You can’t just stroll into town and claim him as your mate, I won’t let you have him!” “Aaliyah, she isn’t claiming me, we are true mates, we already can sense the other’s emotions and hear one another’s thought’s. You know as well as I do that a true mate bond cannot be denied.” “How do you even know for sure it is a true mate bond? It sounds like she was denying the bond just fine when she was kissing Storm. Daddy do something, tell them we are to be mated” she insisted. “Aaliyah, sit down” her father told her “I apologize for my daughter’s outburst, please go on Phoenix.”

By the time Phoenix finished everyone shared looks of concern, she wasn’t sure why since they were both fine. She was starting to feel uneasy when her father spoke up “as you have heard these two had a very eventful day, and Phoenix has proven himself to be a worthy mate for the princess by ensuring her safety through her first shift and protecting her from a possible threat. We will have to find out more about this Storm boy in the meantime we must make sure he is not given the opportunity to get that close to her again. The mind link shared by her and Phoenix will help, he’ll always know if she needs him. Grayson, Elijah, I trust you can get the schedules rearranged at their school, we need to make sure he is not in any classes with her. I think might be helpful if we had both her and Phoenix in all the same classes as well, it will make it easier to keep them both safe and more easily guarded. With them being true mates, he will one day be our King and so he is to be protected as much as she is.” “Yes, of course we will make the arrangements first thing in the morning” replied Alpha Winter.

“Can someone please fill us in on everything else now” Rayne asked. “Yes, of course” her father continued “we need to start at the beginning, and please remember Rayne, everything that has been kept from you and everything that we have done has been to keep you safe and hidden. Your mother and I are not your birth parents, though we couldn’t love you more even if we had been. Your birth mother’s name was Arianna, she was a royal wolf and a daughter from Malakai’s line. As the only living Royal and having been born from the most powerful bloodline she was our Queen and her true mate was my brother and your birth father Dylan. Once they were mated he became our King. Arianna was very powerful, and beautiful just like you, she also had visions. When you were born you already possessed great power, even as an infant, and Arianna’s visions confirmed what we had already suspected, that you were the child Malakai had prophesized about, but her vision also showed her that you were in danger by remaining with them. The witches had known the child foretold would be born this generation and they had increased their efforts to locate it by murdering any remaining royal, which were already few and far between. She knew that it wouldn’t be long before they found her and your father and they did not want them to find you as well, so they asked your mother and I to take you and raise you as our daughter. To keep your identity hidden from the witches your mother bound all of your abilities, including the ability to shift, until you were 18 and old enough to step in as our Queen and defend yourself from the witches.”

“But I’m only seventeen, how did I shift today then” Rayne asked. “We believe it was because you found your true mate already. That the bond was so strong it caused your wolf to fight to be freed from the binding spell and connect with Phoenix. You are the strongest royal ever born and the strongest witch as well, it’s not surprising that you found a way to break the binding spell, even unknowingly” her mother replied. “If I’m so powerful why couldn’t I break free from whatever hold Storm seems to have on me?” “Most likely because you haven’t accepted who you are completely yet, so your powers are still dormant, Phoenix awoke your wolf forcing it to come to the surface, perhaps that same bond will call to your powers. But until you are ready to accept who and what you are they will remain submissive until you turn eighteen” Alpha Winter explained “and if her is a witch he probably isn’t here alone so you need to access your powers sooner rather than later.”

“Ok, so let’s say for just a minute that he is a witch, you said they all wanted me dead, well he has had more than one opportunity to kill me today alone and all he has done is make me kiss him and grope, why is that?” “Rayne, I’m not sure he actually knows who you are. I mean he could just be obsessed with you and is using his powers to get you away from me” Phoenix told her. “Phoenix may be right or he could just suspect who you are and is trying get close to find out for sure, or maybe the witches want you alive now for some reason, but until we know for sure we need to keep him away from you” replied her father. “He won’t be getting anywhere near her again because I’m not leaving her side so I hope you don’t mind me sleeping on your sofa” Phoenix insisted. 

“So what happened to Arianna and Dylan” Rayne asked. “We honestly don’t know for certain but they have never been found since then so we can only assume Arianna’s vision came true and that the witches killed them” her father explained with sadness in his voice.

“We aren’t quite done” Alpha Winter took over “you see Rayne, Layla and I had three children, Aaliyah is the youngest. She had an older brother named Gavin and a sister named Bethany, three years ago they died in a fire at our home. We had originally thought the fire was just an accident, but a few weeks ago we found out it was intentional. We believe the fire was meant to kill you, see you and your parents were supposed to come for a visit, the plan was that you would all be staying with us at our home. At the last minute the trip had to be cancelled because Layla’s father had become gravely ill and we were not sure he would make it.”

“Now, we have gone to great lengths to keep your identity a secret even from the pack, but somehow we think word got out about your mother’s plan to return, with her husband and their adopted child. Many of the pack members knew your mother was unable to conceive, it was the result of an attempt by the witches to keep you, the future queen, from being conceived. They attacked our packs women by making the infertile, however the day of the attack most of them had gone to a neighboring pack for a mating ceremony, those that remained including your mother, were never able to bear children. Many of the young females that were left baren took their own lives feeling as though they could never be mated if they could not give their mate pups. Knowing that your father’s brother was the King, we think perhaps someone connected the dots and guessed your identity. Since the trip had been called off you weren’t here when the fire took place and since no plans for a future visit had ever been planned and no other attempts have been made since then we can only conclude that you were the intended target.”

Rayne took in everything that she had just learned, so someone killed her cousins in an attempt to get to her. She had never even met them but she was the reason they were dead, they had to hate her for it, she hated herself. “I..I..I’m” she broke down in tears before she could continue. “Baby, it’s ok, it’s not your fault” Phoenix told her as he wiped the tears from her face. “What’s not her fault” her mother questioned as she came over and knelt down in front of her, trying to get her to calm down. “She is blaming herself for the death of her birth parents and Gavin, and Bethany. She thinks it’s all her fault, she was trying to apologize for the death of the alpha children and the females that were cursed and took their own lives. She’s taking it all on herself” Phoenix explained “she thinks you must all hate her for it, especially Alpha Winter and his wife.” “Well she’s not wrong” Alaiyah spoke up “if the witches weren’t hunting for her all of those people would still be alive. My brother and sister would still be alive and Phoenix and I would still be together. She has done nothing but wreak havoc on everyone’s lives!” “ALIYAH, ENOUGH” Alpha Winter scolded “Rayne is your princess and future Queen, you will show her RESPECT! None of this is her fault, she had no idea of what she even was until today. She was only a child when your brother and sister died, just like you, and she wasn’t even born when the others were cursed.” “She is supposed to be some super powerful witch and wolf and all she can do is sit there and bawl while all of you coddle her like she is the greatest thing to walk the planet. Well I won’t do it, and I sure won’t be putting my life on the line to protect her” Aaliyah shouted.

“Come on Phoenix take me home” Aaliyah demanded. “I’m not leaving Rayne’s side Aaliyah, she’s my mate, my place is beside her.” “I AM YOUR MATE, NOW LET’S GO!” “Rayne is my true mate Aaliyah, I never meant to hurt you but she is the other half of my heart and I couldn’t deny the bond any more than I could give up breathing. I am staying with my mate” Phoenix stated, with no room for argument.

“Yes, well I think we need to get Aaliyah home now” Alpha Winter announced before turning to Rayne and continuing “please accept my apologies for my daughter’s behavior, we will speak with her when we get home. Should you need anything please call on us, the pack will stand to protect you, your Highness.” “Please just call me Rayne, I’m still just me, besides it’s kind of weird having people say that to me.” “As you wish Rayne” he told her with laughter in his voice “it is good to have you all home again. Nora, Liam, please reconsider moving into the Alpha house, you would all be safer surrounded by pack members.” “Good night Grayson, and thank you but I think Rayne would be more comfortable at home.”

Phoenix’s parents rose to take their leave as well, and his mother told him “walk us out Phoenix, I have a bag packed for you in the car. After Nora called and explained the situation your father and I figured you would not want to leave Rayne tonight.” Phoenix gave his mom a hug and thanked her for his bag before returning to the house.

When he entered Rayne’s mom had told him he wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch, that they had a spare bedroom and he could just use it before they headed up to bed. “How are you holding up” Phoenix asked her. “I don’t know, I keep thinking it’s all just a really crazy dream and that I’ll wake up soon but it just keeps going on and on.” ”Yeah, it’s been a really long day, you should probably get some rest.” “I know but right now I just want you to hold me please.” “Of course baby, whatever you need” and he took her in his arms as they sat on the sofa in silence until they both fell asleep.