Their traded family

9. Access

Hope's P.O.V

"Stay still!" Beyla hissed as she chased me around my bedroom for the time being.

"You're getting it all in my mouth!" I whined as I ran from her and her awfully stinky perfume. Apparently, this was her favorite one and it was a huge honor that she was lending it to me, but honestly, I wasn't used to my senses being heightened yet, and all that sickly sweet vanilla stuff did was make my head throb.

"I wouldn't if you would just stay still!" She continued to pester me until I finally gave up and helplessly gagged as she sprayed half the bottle on my clothes.

I was burning them afterward.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked with a quirked brow, my lips set in a scowl. She was helping me, yes, but her methods for that were barbaric.

Beyla shook her head with a frown to match mine.

"Yes," she sassed, "how else do you want us to hide you from my dad?"

"I'm pretty sure he can smell me from further away now," I muttered under my breath, my cousin hitting my arm.

"Be grateful! I sacrificed my favorite scent for you!" She cradled the bottle to her chest as I sighed, then rolled my eyes, eyeing the thing as if it would jump into attacking me again on its own.

"Let's get this over with."

I was nervous, and although just a minute ago my biggest concern was not tasting and seeing Beyla's perfume for the foreseeable future, the nerves had come back ten times stronger than before now that there was nothing to distract me.

Initially, I was going to speak to my uncle alone, ask him for the files I needed, and pray to the Goddess that he would just willingly hand them over. Not the best plan, obviously, and one with very little consideration behind it, as my lovely cousin liked to remind me. Over ten times just this morning.

I didn't know what I was going to do if he said no. Steal them? I couldn't even imagine betraying his trust like that, let alone sneaking behind his back and lying to his face about it. Besides, even if I wanted to, if I was left with no other choice, I had no idea how I would even manage it.

Thankfully, my cousin was so loved by her father that I was convinced he'd do anything for her. My only hope now was that that anything extended to handing over private information about his pack to his favorite niece, no questions asked.

"Not even you believed that," Hadley huffed, my eyes rolling of their own accord.

"And how would you know? You've barely been here two days!" I scoffed at my wolf.

"Call it a careful observation."

"Whatever."

"Done arguing with your wolf?" Beyla sighed.

"How did you?" I trailed off, not needing to finish the question before she rolled her eyes.

"Just because I don't have mine yet doesn't mean I have no idea how they work." She explained patiently as if I was a pup and not almost four years older than her.

With another sigh on her part, she motioned to the door, the two of us quietly sneaking out of the Alpha suite before Aunt Sofia could question us. Being covered in Beyla's perfume was as much telling as if we would've just straight uptold her we were getting into trouble.

I exhaled a breath of relief as I followed my cousin downstairs, where Uncle Zane was already working in his office. She told me he didn't usually go to work this early, not before having breakfast with his mate and pups, but there was something important that had come up today.

Once in front of the office, Beyla gave me an encouraging smile, urging me to hide a few meters further down the corridor before knocking on her father's office door, his smile at being visited by his little bean, as he called her, soaking through his voice even as I stood away from the room.

My cousin didn't spare me another glance should she give us away before walking inside.

"Alright, Had, prove yourself useful," I urged my wolf, needing her to focus.

"I'm always useful, excuse you!" I ran a hand over my face, dragging it until I was positive I wouldn't lash out, more from nerves than anything else, but Hadley had already focused on her task, our task.

I closed my eyes and made sure I was putting in all of my efforts toward hearing better, nearly doing a happy dance when I succeeded.

I could hear everything now. I could hear footsteps from far away, the wind swishing through the half-open half-closedwindows, the smashing of doors in the distance, but most importantly, I could listen to my cousin and uncle as if I were sitting right next to them.

"You can tell me anything, bean." Uncle reassured Beyla, my heart warming at the sound of folders closing and hands being placed upon a hard surface - uncle's listening gesture of placing his entwined hands on the desk, no doubt.

"You know how I've never been interested in being Alpha? How I never liked the studies that came with it?" She began. I couldn't hear anything else, meaning he'd probably nodded, waiting for her to continue. "I gave the position up willingly, Dad, but there might be something I needed to take it for."

Wait, what?

I did all I could to stifle the gasp crawling up my throat. That was not what we talked about when we created our plan. Beyla sacrificing her happiness after she'd spent months wondering how to tell her dad her decision was not what we'd planned. What was she doing? I knew that if she said the words, that the position would be hers. That if she really wanted it, Uncle would give it back to her in a heartbeat, even if he loved his son as much as he loved her, but she didn't! She didn't want to be the next Alpha, and if she was doing this for me like I was certain she was, I was going to murder her.

"Yeah?" Uncle asked, the movement reaching my ears making me believe he'd sat back in his chair. s**t. Was he considering this? He always knew when she was telling the truth, so why was it that the only time I needed him to know, he didn't? "What's that, bean? Is it perhaps Hope behind the door that led you to this decision?"

My cheeks heated at being called out. Of course he knew. He always did.

"Come in, redhead, it's rude to eavesdrop!" Gingerly, I wrapped my hand around the knob and pushed it open, wishing the door or the ground or anything could swallow me whole so I wouldn't have to face him right now. "Did you ask Beyla to do this, Hope?" He asked calmly, though I knew the second I said yes, the calmness would be all but gone.

Thankfully, I had nothing to do with that decision particularly.

"No. I had no idea she was going to ask that," I threw a glare at my cousin, "but she is here on my account." My uncle scowled, then turned his gaze to his daughter, who shrunk in her seat at the reprimanding look in his eyes.

"So you lie to me now, Beyla, is that how it is?" She shook her head, my heart hammering in my chest at this wholesituation. I didn't want to cause any more problems than I already had. "I thought you knew that if you asked me something, talked to me like an adult, that I would never turn you down?" My cousin nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, dad!"

"It's my fault, uncle! Don't be mad at her, she was just trying to help me!" Beyla lifted her head, gaze pinned on me.

Uncle Zane shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose before turning his attention back to Beyla.

"Don't lie to me again, bean, especially not when you're trying to help a friend or a family member." He ran a comforting hand down her head, smoothing down her hair. "Get to school, I'll see you tonight." My cousin threw a quick glance at me, and once I silently let her know that I'd be fine, was only too happy to kiss his cheek and run out like the room was on fire.

And even if wasn't, it certainly felt like it now that he and I were alone. Goddess, if he sent me back to my pack today, I'd never get the opportunity to find out what happened with my birth mother again.

"Sit down, Hope," Uncle muttered, running a hand through his hair, "I know exactly what you've come to ask. I just wish you would've done it yourself."

"I-I was going to," I mumbled, "but Beyla comforted me after I heard my parents arguing over, you know, and I had to tell her what was happening. She just wanted to help, and honestly, I had one chance of finding out anything, however small, of where I come from, anything about my life that I don't already know, and I was worried I'd blow it." A heavy sigh tore through my lips, and I could already feel the tears burn my eyes. I'd screwed everything up before it even began.

My uncle sat in his chair and leaned his head back. He stayed silent for so long, or at least it felt long, but was probably only a minute, that I thought he wasn't going to answer when he finally did.

"I get it," he murmured comfortingly. Contrary to what I expected, however, there was no but following his statement. "I won't lie and tell you I know how you feel, but I can try to understand, and when I put myself in your shoes, not knowing would kill me." I nodded slowly. I was still expecting the other shoe to drop. "But even if I understand, I can not give you the files." The tears of embarrassment and disappointment I'd been holding back quickly turned into tears of helplessness and frustration, falling down my cheeks. "Hope," his fingers gently lifted my chin, and I found that I hadn't paid enough attention to when he'd crossed the room and reached me, "Just because I can't, redhead, doesn't mean I won't."

That stopped the tears, my watery gaze sliding to his face. I'd felt too much in the past few days, without mentioning the heightening of every sense and emotion in my body by getting my wolf, so admittedly, I was on the verge of losing it. I wanted to know if I would or wouldn't get the files and nothing more, because this whole conversation was exhausting and I didn't have the energy for exhausting right now.

"What does that mean?" I finally broke the silence by asking.

"It means," Uncle began, "that I will give them to you because I never want to know what it's like to be in the dark, to not know if something is a threat to you or your family, our family, and I'll do anything to keep that family safe, redhead. I'll give you access to the files and the properties bought around the time frame that you need so you could at least try to find out, because I'd rather be able to keep you safe while you do your research. Because I trust you won't take advantage of my trust in you, and because I know that if I tell you that this is to all stay a secret from anyone but my family and your parents, that you'll keep the secret."

Unable to help myself anymore, I jumped up from my seat, wrapping my arms around my uncle.

"Thank you," I sniffled into his neck, his hand gently caressing my back until I calmed down.

"You can't tell Dali or Knox what's really going on. Not until you know for sure, you hear me?" I nodded. "This is going to be very hard on your aunt, redhead, and if she knows before you have facts, it'll be even worse. And your uncle can't keep secrets from her, neither can your cousins, and especially not anyone outside of our family, youunderstand that, right?"

"I do," I confirmed, promising to keep the secret.

I understood that he was meant to be the only one with access to that kind of information, he and his mate, and the fact that he was giving it to me, that I was one step closer to figuring out all the missing pieces, to getting justice and revenge, was everything I could've asked for.

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! We're another step closer to figuring out all the secrets that come with Hope, buckle up, friends!