Ever Cynical

Chapter 39- Parents Discovered

Anais POV

I rushed to the foyer to greet one of my favorite people in the whole world. Lady Hijikata was poised elegantly awaiting my presence, looking around the pack house with curiosity. As much as foxes often got a bad rap, Lady Hijikata, well, Riyoko, was one of the most honest, kind-hearted, loyal, intelligent, and insightful people I'd ever met.

Oh right, I forgot lethal.

My bad. Never get on her bad side, I'm telling y'all. That part about foxes eating livers? Probably true, with the added caveat of them being betrayers. Riyoko was always willing to be fair and balanced, but if you f****d it up, she was going after your ass.

"An-chan!" She exclaimed, enveloping me in an embrace fragrant of orange blossom and narcissus with a hint of sandalwood. It was classy and sensual. I wondered what other notes her mate, Munechika, smelled. It reminded me of Caron Narcisse Noir. "Oh my goodness it has been far too long since you came to visit me." Her eyes darted to my mark, as a smile began, which evolved into a full-on grin as she sniffed me and looked at my belly. "Seems that many things have changed indeed." She winked. "Good for you, An-chan. Does my nose deceive me, or is that troublemaker Ekezeic here?" She sang out as Ekezeic trailed in.

"Konnichi wa, Lady Hijikata." He said ever so politely, bowing at the waist. She waved a hand dismissively. She knew he was much older and wasn't interested in making him show that much respect. He grinned at her impatience.

"No need for such formality. We're all royalty here, aren't we?" Her eyes twinkled as they lingered on my mark. Great. I sighed.

"I don't know why there is a crown as part of my mark but... wait." My eyes narrowed on my best friend. "Why don't you seem surprised that I'm a wolf... or potentially royal?" I asked her, dumbfounded. She blushed and looked away, something that I think normally only her husband saw. Riyoko was not a shy woman, not one bit. There was a reason that the Queen was in charge of the Kitsune, and her mate was her consort.

"Well... The thing is, I always knew. I didn't know much about your people, but my sense of smell is never wrong, and I'd met someone of your kind once before. In fact, she looked remarkably similar, now that I think about it." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. Geoff had approached, bowing respectfully as we spoke. "Right!" Riyoko clapped her hands once, apparently remembering the woman she was referring to. "She had her mate with her. Their names were Céibhionn Mhic Colgáin and Rónán Ó Ciardha."

Geoff dropped his phone in shock, his face pale as she said their names. He scrambled to retrieve it. I tilted my head. From what I'd seen, Geoff wasn't really a clumsy guy. In fact, I'd never seen him fumble anything since I met him. He was a cautious man, normally.

"Beta Geoff, do you know those names?" I asked tentatively, and he looked nervous. "Riyoko seems to think they were possibly my true parents, right?" The Kitsune Queen nodded and tapped her nose. "Seems their scent is somehow similar to mine."

"Umm." He cleared his throat. "I think Kieran needs to be here for this." He whispered, then went silent, clearly asking his alpha to join us via mindlink. Moments later, Kieran appeared looking a little flushed and breathing somewhat harshly, like he'd sprinted to get to us. He pulled me in for a quick kiss before bowing to Riyoko and Ekezeic. Geoff continued. "Rónán Ó Ciardha and Céibhionn Mhic Colgáin." I felt Kieran's grip on me tighten. "Whom the Fox Queen thinks is your birth parents." Riyoko nodded. Ekezeic merely stood by, watching. Geoff cleared this throat again. "They are our long-lost king and queen of the Immortals. We thought Dark Witches had managed to capture and kill them centuries ago." I gasped and looked up at Kieran, whose face held both shock and anger.

"The bigger question here is, why did they leave you with humans, and why have they not rejoined us after all this time?" Kieran ground out, his jumbled emotions battering my own feelings through the bond. I needed him to calm down so I could bloody well think. Riyoko sighed.

"That part, I can't help you with. I just know for sure their smell and Anais' is familial, and that I saw them back, gosh, 485 years ago. It's been a very long time, and I've not seen them since." She said, quite flustered, and I could tell she felt bad about everything it had stirred up, which was even more mystery to unravel. I shrugged. Maybe I had their names, rank and ethnic background, but really, that was it.

It honestly left us all with more questions than answers.

"Well, at the least, we can confirm that I came from Irish Immortals, and I guess the crown must be because they're some sort of royalty, even if they aren't currently in charge of anyone that we know of. I'm not sure if it's better to be able to say I come from a royal family. Kier. They are going to seek me even harder than before... And our pups." I rubbed my belly, worried for my precious children.

Things were just getting more and more complicated.

Kieran POV

As much as I was initially confounded, I wasn't truly surprised. Anais was far too special to have a simple background. My own family came from Céibhionn Mhic Colgáin's aunt. We'd always been the second alpha of the pack, as they had typically run with two. The first was considered the king, or the queen's consort, while the second was like a prime minister. We'd served the main branch of the royal family with pride, and I knew my ancestors had been devastated when they disappeared during the attacks in Ireland around 925 years ago. Wait. I stared at Anais as at least few pieces fell into place, even if the picture was still missing some pretty damn important details.

"Your parents left when your mother was pregnant with you not long before Celtic Moon was attacked. There has to be some kind of correlation." I postulated. "I wasn't there, obviously, and all I have is what my grandfather put in his journals, things he memorized from the ancient library. Things his grandfather had desperately hidden and saved, but were lost when his father was alpha, and we were attacked again, this time in Scotland."

"Yeah it was what, 480 years ago when that happened?" Geoff supplied. I nodded, he was right, at least, as far as what information we did have. I was beginning to think that we had relied too much on memory rather than facts, and the accuracy of what we understood to be history might not be so exact.

"Correct. So the question remains, why? And are they still alive? I mean, technically my family serves them." I stated stiffly. "Though what I do wouldn't really change, since it was always a two-alpha pack back then. I would have been given the bulk of the at-home work while they were out gathering our people and doing negotiations with the council." I wasn't too keen on the possibility that if the old king and queen were alive, they had the option to try and take the pack back.

It just did not seem right or fair after their abandonment.

"Kieran, mon coeur." Anais said, sounding a little off, her voice almost hollow. "Can we please take this into your office?" Noting her pale face and trembling hands, I scooped her up bridal style and led the way, followed by Geoff, Riyoko, and Ekezeic. I had noticed Ekezeic's uncharacteristic silence. Since I'd met him at our ceremony, I'd noticed that the man always had something to say. I'd bet money he knew more about all of this than he let on. I was also certain that he had his reasons for staying silent.

Was he dangerous? Absolutely. Was my pack likely to have any issues with him? I could safely say, absolutely not. The man loved Anais like a daughter, and if my guess was right, his mate, the demon king, did too. How did I know they were mates? I might have walked around the wrong corner at the wrong time. Perhaps seen and heard things that were meant to be private. I just hadn't realized it was Ekezeic at the time, since nobody really saw much of him in his human form. The demon king I had recognized, even from behind. Can't unsee it, unfortunately. I mean... they're my in-laws, after all. My face heated as I tried to get my brain back on track.

"Beta Geoff, was it?" Riyoko asked. I was shocked to see Geoff blushing, but Lady Hijikata was beautiful, I supposed. Not more than my Ana, but that wasn't really a fair comparison. "Could you be a doll and go get Anais some orange juice, please?" He nodded and stood up, but Riyoko grasped his arm gently, smiling. "Would you also fetch my daughter as well? She should be waiting in the foyer now." After he left, she turned to me, brow raised. "I hope you don't mind that your beta will be the first Immortal to have a mate outside your race?" I just stared at her for a moment before the implication hit me.

She was nearly certain that her daughter was my beta's mate!

"Of course I don't mind, I mean, I thought Anais was human, so... yeah." I stammered. "How do you know, though?" Riyoko seemed to have one of the most sensitive noses in the supernatural world, to be able to identify so many different scents and remember them. I never bothered that much, unless it was an enemy. That sort of scent you could not afford to forget, after all.

"The way he reacted to my scent. I doubt that boy blushes often at all." She stated with absolute conviction, hinting only slightly at sarcasm. I felt my face break into a smile. It was true that not much rattled Geoff. He was more likely to roll his eyes and sigh at everything. He was usually my sounding board if I wanted practicality, or someone to punch holes of logic into my ideas when I got too fanciful.

My balancer, really.

"Guess we all better pretend to be shocked, huh?" I giggled. Anais shot me a glare, squeezing her thighs, and both Riyoko and Ekezeic's eyes snapped to mine, their eyebrows flung high in disbelief.

"Alpha, with all due respect. You already put five pups in her. Five. None of us need to smell how much she likes you. Seriously." Ekezeic huffed. "It's making me miss Mirgadok." He pouted.