The True One

Chapter 40 Part 1

Alek

Val had had enough of my long pauses and blank stares. She shook my shoulders. "There's something wrong with you. If I had my medical bag on me, I'd shine a light in your eyes to see how your pupils respond. Be honest with me: are you on drugs?"

Having just promised Verity a rescue was imminent, I snapped myself back to the present, where I gave a not entirely convincing response. "Huh?"

"Drugs!" She looked to her daughter for confirmation. Flora shook her head no. "Fine then, let's make sure you're not having a stroke. Raise your arms for me please."

I pushed her to the side and headed for the door. "I'm not having a stroke. Verity's wolf connection is back. Time to get her out of here."

Rushing ahead of me, Val blocked my path. "How do you know that?"

"Well..." My stupid mouth had gotten the best of me yet again. "Verity and I can communicate telepathically."

Val's features melded into the face of someone witnessing a gruesome murder. Her eyes bulged like balloons until I feared they'd burst. "That means... that makes you... a werewolf!" She shot out an arm in front of Flora, as though that would protect her from a carnivorous shifter beast.

"Fortunately, it does not," I said. "Although I have to admit, transforming into a wolf would have it's benefits at the moment."

"He's right, mom," Flora said. "I've never seen him transform into or manifest a wolf. He never does anything even remotely that cool."

"That doesn't mean he can't, Flora." Val seemed frantic now. She continued to use herself as a human shield in front of her daughter. "This is why Norvin did it! This is exactly what he was afraid would happen!"

"What did Norvin do?" I felt just about angry enough now that if I was a werewolf, I would have breached the point of self-control.

Val hesitated, her breath coming in shallow gasps. "He..."

"Tell me," I hissed, "or I swear to God, I will grow fangs and tear both of your necks open!"

Behind her mom, Flora gave me the briefest of smiles. "He means it mom, you have to tell him or there's no telling what he'll do to us!"

"He did it to spare you!" Val sputtered, her eyes watering. "It was... the right thing to do at the time. That's what I thought, at least."

The room stilled. Her next words were certain. I braced myself for their impact. "What was the right thing to do?"

Val swallowed. "He killed your parents, Alek."

"No." Flora backed away from her mother and sank onto the couch. "Norvin killed them, and then blamed it on Verity's mother?"

Val nodded. "We'd already decided the gene therapy trials had to end. Including children like they did... I could understand it with Verity and Edward and the others because they all carried the genetic marker for werewolfism. It seemed an honest attempt at helping them. But, experimenting on you, Alek. Their own son. Someone who would never have gone on to become a werewolf by natural means... it was unconscionable."

How was I still standing? I'd been hit by a reality truck. It would be so easy to lay down, curl up, give up. "So, Norvin thought the best way to handle the situation was to make me an orphan, make me believe Verity's mom was their murderer, and lie to me my whole life."

"They were never going to stop what they were doing to you, Alek. You need to understand, they may have been your parents, but they were not good people."