Losing Hope

Chapter 7 - Somebody help me

(Him - Ryder) Now...

I spent the night reading Evelyn's diary. One of my history's teacher used to say History is written by the winner and she was so right. I knew when Tanner and Evelyn mated, two packs joined but Tanner's one was really small. Their fathers were close and when Evelyn had only sisters, they passed a deal if Evelyn, the oldest one, was not the mate of one of my great great grandfather's sons, then she would mate Tanner to join the 2 packs. At this time, it was inconceivable to have a pack led by a woman.

Tanner was not a bad mate. He was just not a mate at all, his heart already belonging to someone else, his true mate, Sapphire. His situation made me think about myself. How will I be if one day I choose a mate? Will I be like him? As my heart has never desired anybody else than Hope. The only thing I can't accept as an excuse is his grudge against werecats. Grudge that cost me my mate.

I'm walking toward my office, when I cross paths with my mom. She stops and puts her hands on both sides of my face: "You look tired? Everything is fine?"

"I just didn't sleep a lot last night." I explain.

"You really need to find someone to take care of you. You're doing so much for the pack, who is taking care of you? A mate-"

I cut her: "Don't start again mom. Not now!"

"Claire, leave our boy alone." Dad says in my back.

She sighs and leaves clearly annoyed.

"Thanks dad!"

"But she's right, you look tired. Everything is fine?" He asks me.

"Yeah, everything is fine... Actually, I have some questions about Grandpa. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Sure. Give me a minute and I will join you in your office." He replies.

Once he joined my office, I started to explain what I've discovered in Evelyn's Dairy. Dad was really surprised and we finished by having a meeting with mom, Ethan, his parents and his maternal grandparents, Leyla and Sam.

"I can't believe everything was a lie! That our grudge against Tiger's shifters was for nothing! Why would he do that?" Roman (Ethan's father) says, shaking his head. He took the news really badly. Or at least he took worse than the rest of us.

"Actually there are a lot of reasons: First for his honor and pride, secondly to make sure that my grandmother, or her true mate, would never come back for her son, third because he wanted to keep the pack and not split it in two as it was before their mating. Without her, he needed to establish his authority on both packs. Moreover he was an Alpha and even if he didn't love her, I don't think it took it well the fact she left him for another man. We're very possessive wolves, which is a good thing to unify a pack but can be a bad thing for our mates, even the chosen one." Dad explains.

"Still it's so unfair to make your father think that her mother was dead." Mom comments.

"I know and if I can understand why he did it, there is no way I can forgive him." Dad replies.

"Sapphire was my father's nanny. She took your grandmother's place so soon, now I understand why? Your grandfather had presented her like his second chance mate while it was actually his true mate. She never had the Luna's status though, the pack really loved Luna Evelyn." Sin, Ethan's grandfather and former Beta, explains looking at my father.

"Do you think grandpa knows?" Sam asks.

I wished we could have asked him directly but he and grandma are traveling around the world and right now not only I don't know where they are exactly but they're difficult to reach even by phone.

"No, he doesn't." Sin replies without doubts.

"How can you be so sure?" Ethan asks.

"He would have told me. He couldn't have kept it for himself. Also I would have never let me kill that Tiger nor participated in that kill. Never would he have made those rings and keeping the skin in his office. He couldn't have done that knowing the truth and if he had discovered it later, either he would have told the pack or he would have found a way to bury that tiger properly. A part of me wants it all to be wrong because we never killed for pleasure and only when needed except for this time where it was to avenge our former Luna. I can't accept the fact we had killed for nothing! ″ Sin says, putting his head on his hands.

"You didn't know." Tessa, his wife, tells him,caressing his hair.

"But there is something you knew." Ivy, her daugther and Ethan's mother, asks.

"I think Luna Violette (my grandmother) knew. One day, a few weeks after Alpha Aaron and she moved into the old house that Alpha Tanner and Luna Evelyn had occupied, she came home and she was panicking. While renovating the house, she found a book with a terrible truth that might destroy the pack and her mate. She was totally lost and didn't know what to do. She refused to explain what that book was about. A few days later, she came against and she ordered me to hide this book, to never read it and to no tell a word to anyone." Tessa replies. The Luna order is too old to be still active now this is why she's able to tell that today.

"That explains how Hope found it." Leyla says.

"And why she stole our jewellery and the skins. That kid always had a great sense of justice!" Sin says with a mix of pride and sadness.

"That she has, little mate!" My wolf comments. He still refused to acknowledge her death.

"If Luna Violette knew, she should have said something. How could she lie to her mate on something so important?" Ivy says.

"She did what she thought was the best for him and the pack." Roman explains.

"Still, you can't hide anything from your mate." She repeats.

"Maybe we should ask her, next time we have them on the phone." Sam proposes.

"No, we will wait for them to come back. It's not something you can discuss over the phone." I say and dad nods.

After that not a lot was said, we were all lost in our own thoughts. Fifteen later, they all left and I'm now working on the reports from the last patrols and training, which is even more boring when you're tired. It's so hard to keep my eyes open.

"Give up already! Nobody will come to rescue you."

I swear I heard someone whispering. I shake my head, I'm alone, it was just a dream. Again, after a few minutes, my eyelids are heavy and I can't keep my eyes open.

"Soon you will break and you will be mine!"" A man says, looking at me. I'm chained to a wall in a place that I've never seen before.

"I would rather die!" I reply aggressively.

"That's not the plan and you know that. You're too precious. But I hoped you would resisting me. I'm going to enjoy breaking you." He says licking my cheek.

"Ryder! Everything is fine?" Ethan screams through my door, waking me up.

"Yeah!?" I reply disoriented.

"Let me in! You were growling!"

"It was nothing, just a weird dream." I reply. I look at the clock on the wall, it's almost lunch time.

"Give me 5 minutes and I will join you for Lunch." I add.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asks, trying to open my locked door.

"Everything is fine!" I reply annoyed.

"Okay!" He mutters annoyed too before leaving.

I look at the report on my desk. "Somebody help me!" is written and I don't recognize my handwriting... Still I'm 100% sure it was not here before I fell asleep.

"What the fuck!" I mumble.