Their traded family

14. Reunion

Hope's P.O.V

My blood ran cold, and uncle Knox stiffened.

"What did he do to you?" It was uncle Zane that asked, but we knew. All of us knew.

And somehow, after months of searching, after months of frustration over finding not even a trace of information on my sperm donor, he was right in front of me. He always had been.

This bastard had helped raised me. A tear slid down my cheeks. He'd painted pictures with me on the ground under the shade of our favourite apple tree. Followed by another tear. He'd danced with me under the moonlight as my cousins and I giggled when we eventually stepped on his toes. I was reduced to nothing more than a quiet, slowly breaking apart statue. I couldn't move, but I knew the rivulets of tears were painting my face with the tragedy of the situation. He'd sneak candy to me whenever my parents said no, and he always played with me and...

And it had all been a lie. A big, fat, lie.

Uncle Zane flicked his wrist, and warriors surrounded Julian. Julian, whom I had considered an uncle. Family.

"Ali," he prompted, "you can tell us. Tell us for the pups, what did he do to you?" My birth mother didn't stiffen, didn't freeze like you would expect a victim to when speaking of their abuser. As far as I knew, anyway.

"He was my mate," she explained, her voice back to being emotionless and cold, "and he didn't believe me when I asked for his help."

"What else?" Uncle Knox repositioned his mate, hugging her close to his chest as he asked the question they all knew the answer to but wanted to hear on their own.

"He forced himself on me," her gaze slid to me and her voice softened the tiniest bit; the hint I’d secretly hoped for, the one that told me that although she didn't love me like a mother should her daughter, she didn't hate me, either. "And he got me pregnant."

The tears continued to pour down my face, endless and as silent as her pain had had to be.

Before I could change my mind, I took quick strides to where the scumbag was being held, now completely restrained by warriors that until minutes ago answered to him, the males parting slightly from the circle they'd made around him to allow me access. He wasn't fighting them, nor their hold, and he had the decency to look ashamed, not that it would save him now. I was excited to see Hadley rip him limb by limb, to let Alana get the justice I'd promised her, even though she wasn't dead.

Unable to look at his lying, monstrous face, I raised my hand and brought it down onto his cheek, slapping him so hard the sound echoed all around us, and some of the females winced in response. The angry red mark of my fingers was the least he deserved for all he'd caused my birth mother, and for the shame he'd brought upon the Moon Goddess with the way he threw the mate bond to waste.

I turned to go back to my family, only stopping to spit on him, glad that the last time I had to look at him would be with my saliva dripping down his chin, his hands held behind his back so he could nothing about it.

When I stood next to my family members once more, everybody's gazes on me, millions of emotion flashing through everyone, I could only focus on one face - Alana's.

She stepped closer to me, slowly, as if I was a cornered rabbit before a pouncing wolf, giving me time to shove her away if I wanted to, to hide again, but when I didn't, she stepped in front of me until we were inches apart, and raised her hand tentatively to stroke my cheek.

I wish I could say I'd recoiled, that I didn't want her touch, but no matter how betrayed I felt at being abandoned by the one female that should have loved me no matter, how tough times became, the relief of not being hated by her, of her not blaming me for being born, was stronger.

Her hand, although full of calluses and burned off skin, was feather light as it touched my face, and I closed my eyes to savour the moment. If I was dreaming, waking up would be the toughest act in Hell.

Her eyes shone with tears she didn't allow to fall as she noticed the freckles covering my nose - the freckles I'd taken from her and shared with aunt Dali, the brown eyes that were hers, too, the hair that had taken his shade as a pup but had gradually lightened to a strawberry blonde, coppery mass.

"You didn't have to," she reached for my hand, the one that I had just used to slap her abuser, "but thank you." I nodded slowly, careful not to ruin the moment between us. The reunion. The air was so charged, the situation between us so tense, that I felt like if I breathed wrong, I would ruin everything. That she would disappear again. And I had parents, parents I loved, but that didn't mean that I would hate having her around, as hard as it would be to swallow the fact that she'd been gone from my life while still alive, and letting me, us, believe a lie.

We stared at each other for a few more seconds as I continued to cry softly, and she only attempted to brush the tears for my cheek for so long before giving up and simply... smiling at me. The action seemed awkward and like she hadn't had very many uses for it, but it was mine anyway, that tentative, careful smile, and I wanted more than anything to hug her, to ask her why she left me, although I knew the reason, then to scream at her and hope she would scream back but wouldn't leave, but I stayed still, and eventually, she let go.

Turning her back to me, I reached out for her again, Alana spinning back around so fast that for a second I thought she was going to attack me.

"Will you stay?" I asked sheepishly, wanting to know more. More about her, about where she'd been all these years and what she'd been doing. Wanting to know the how’s and why’s and everything in between. Everything she'd be willing to offer me. "Now that, um, we know you're not, you know," I stammered, because how does one prepare for such a conversation?

"There is not a single power in the world that could keep me away from you and my sister anymore, Hope."

Goddess, she'd finally said my name.

I really wanted to hug her. I didn't know why, I just did, but she didn't look like the type that liked hugs and asking would make the awkward situation even worse, so I hugged myself, instead.

"If you would like that, of course." Slowly, I nodded, and then she was turning around again, but this time I didn't stop he as she reached for her sister, my aunt still passed out in her mate's arms and as pale as she had been before she lost consciousness.

My birth mother looked at uncle Knox for permission, my uncle nodding before she slowly reached to touch her sister's face, as carefully as she had touched mine. She placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before pulling away, but her posture seemed calmer now, more relaxed, if only slightly.

It was only then that I noticed uncle Zane had sent his pack members away, the crowd gone along with the bastard.

"Where?" I started to ask, uncle interrupting me with a coldness to his voice that even today when I'd insulted his situation, he had not used.

"Rotting in prison like he deserves." My head bobbed up and down in a nod and I was about to apologies when Alana's voice drifted to my ears.

"I'm glad she no longer has to use her strength to save someone else. I'm glad she no longer has to be brave."

"And yet she is both of those - strong and brave." Uncle Knox looked down at his mate, adoration shining in his eyes as her sister nodded.

"Yes, but I'm thankful you've kept her safe enough that she shouldn't have to be. So," she gulped, "thank you."

"She's my mate," uncle reminded her, "a fact you would've know had you not let her grieve your death."

Those two still didn't like each other, then. It was a surprise when aunt had told me all those years ago that her sister and her mate hadn't liked each other, hadn't liked sharing her, perhaps, but it was no longer a surprise now. My uncle loved nothing and no one more than his mate, and hated nothing and no one more than whoever caused her pain, of which Alana had caused a lot.

"I did know," Alana mumbled quietly, though we all heard her loud and clear. My uncle didn't want to know to know anything more, however, as he readjusted my aunt and turned to me.

"I'm taking your aunt to the medical wing. I'm getting worried since she’s not waking, you're free to come with us."

The decision was quite easy - stay here and deal with a birth mother I was meeting for the first time after thinking her dead, deal with the awkwardness between us knowing I already had both a mom and a dad and she wasn't of them, as well as deal with a new mate, who had not stopped staring at me, the harshness in his gaze not intended for me but there nonetheless, or go the medical wing to be there with my aunt once she woke up, where it was quiet and no one was staring at me, no one's whispers of what I was going to do and how, watching my life like it was the newest tv hit, would reach me.

Obviously, I chose the second option, thanking my uncle for taking me with him when I knew he was crawling out of his skin to make sure his mate opened her eyes and was okay, healthy. He knew she was, of course, his wolf senses hers, but the mate bond, aunt had explained to me, was a complicated, albeit beautiful thing.

The thought that I would get to find out soon both thrilled and terrified me, so I walked ahead, even when I heard my birth mother hold Owen back so he would give me a minute, and even after uncle Zane began to show them the way to the pack house, explaining where they would stay during their visit.

A/N

Hi, Treasures! Make sure you join my F-a-c-e-b-o-o-k group Teddy's Treasures for extra content and discussions! What do you think about Owen? And what about Alana and her actions toward her sister and daughter?