The Captain's Forbidden Mate

Episode 31: A DIFFERENT KIND OF WARNING

LENA

I couldn't sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that picture. My mother standing next to him, young and unafraid.

Around two in the morning my phone finally stopped buzzing. A call. Unknown number again.

I nearly didn't answer. Then I did.

"Lena," the voice on the other end was nothing like Cole's. Older. More careful. "This is Elias Thorne. I believe Cole told you about our little meeting in the woods?"

My whole body went numb. "How'd you get this number?"

"I have my ways. I wouldn't waste your time by telling you." A pause. "I'm calling because I think you deserve better information than either pack is giving you. Or rather, you deserved better information before this call." A pause. "That was not me, was it?"

"No. And that concerns me more than it should." His voice was calm, but I could practically hear the gears shifting beneath the surface. "I've had twenty years to be patient. Whoever called you tonight, they do not have twenty years. You should be concerned, Lena, not surprised. This concerns me far more than it does you. I believe I've wasted enough time talking in riddles. Answer me honestly, Lena: do you think I'm telling you the truth?"

"You could have easily killed Cole."

"I don't have to be honest to the people I kill." Another pause. "However. I believe I'll grant you one piece of information. Straight from me, no riddles attached. That man standing next to your mother in that picture was not your father." I sat up, wide awake. "That's not Damien's father, that's his uncle. His father's older brother to be precise. He went missing the night of the m******e and was never seen again. Most in the ridgeview believe he died that night along with the Corwins he'd been trying to protect."

"Protect?" I blinked in shock. "He wasn't a spy for Ridgeview, was he?"

"No. He'd been spilling the information the other way around, trying to get it to the Corwins so that they could protect themselves before the m******e. He failed, of course. Whether he died trying or ran off in shame, nobody knows for certain." Thorne's voice softened. "I tell you this because I think the less people know about this, the better. And it's far easier to keep secrets from others when those secrets seem simple, rather than complicated. If you excuse me, I'd like to think my motivations tonight are far less complicated than most." A pause. "At least you're honest about that much."

"I try to be, where it doesn't cost me much." Another pause. "The council convenes in three days. Whatever you decide regarding the claiming, I hope you'll consider this: my people are not your enemies. But we also do not intend to let the actions of the council go unanswered, as much as many in my ranks would like you to know. I would rather you have that choice, rather than not have it at all." The line went dead.

I sat there staring at the darkened phone for a long time. His words echoing in my head. Three days. A long enough time for someone to kill someone else, to disappear forever. If he was telling the truth. I wondered how much truth there really was in it, and who exactly was lying to me, and why.

Somewhere in this apartment, Cole was sound asleep on the couch, only a few feet away from where I was currently sitting.

I didn't wake him up. I wanted to think first. I needed to think, now more than ever, about what it meant that the few people trying to help me, couldn't even seem to agree who was actually helping me.

My phone buzzed again. It only happened once. My fingers hovered over the glowing screen as I read the message.

Ask Damien what happened to his uncle. Watch his face when he answers. Then you'll know who's been lying to you.

I stared at it for a long time, my thumb slowly tapping against the text. Whoever it was, they knew things. Things Cole didn't know, at least. That was obvious. This was another unknown threat, one far more insidious than Thorne's people. Thorne's people wanted something slow and steady. This threat was fast and immediate. I took a slow breath and my fingers flew across the keypad.

Why?

A response almost immediatly, as if they hadn't been waiting for me to ask this.

Because someone needs to force out the truth before the council meets, and neither pack intends to do it, as much as they might have wanted to.

Ironic, isn't it? I'm not your enemy, Lena, I'm just tired of good people getting hurt by men who only wanted silence to be considered kindness

I read it over and over again, twice. It simply didn't sound like something Thorne would say. Nor did it sound like something Damien would say. It sounded like it was coming from some angry man who was tired of all the bloodshed, and angry at himself for not doing enough to stop in in the first place.

Who are you?

I didn't recieve an answer, of course. I waited ten minutes after. Then twenty, only to finally set the phone down and lean back against the cushions, staring up at the ceiling. Wondering who exactly it could possibly be. Not Thorne, certainly. Not Damien. Not Cole's father. Someone else altogether. Maybe even one of my allies. A fifth wheel trying to muscle its way into the middle of a much bigger fight.

I closed my eyes, exhausted beyond belief. And finally fell asleep with just one thought running through my head: that I would ask Damien about his uncle, and that I would watch his face very closely.

It was a long time before I finally drifted off to sleep, my mind circling around everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. About that mysterious stranger and the long held secret that had been quietly doled out to me. About that father figure who spent years lying to his children about something much bigger than he let on, something more important. Something so important, in fact, that it might have cost him his life. I was tired, of course. But some part of me still lingered on the idea that whoever had sent me this message, someone had something real to say. Something that needed to be said, if only for the right person to hear it.