USELESS?

23

A man and a woman dressed in dark blue suits with a silver shield on the left arm just below the shoulder stand at attention in front of Anthony's desk. The man has short, light brown hair and bright blue eyes, while the woman has long, honey blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and warm brown eyes.

"Welcome to the Golden Moon pack, and thank you for coming." Anthony begins. "I am Alpha Anthony James, and this is my mate and Luna, Prince Hunter Steele."

"Nice to meet you both. From what the king told us, you have a potential shit storm on your hands," the man says. "Something involving your former Alpha? I'm Tristan Badgley, and this is my partner and Mate, Reine."

"That's putting it mildly." Anthony says with a grimace. "I recently learned that my parents were not true mates. Apparently, their fathers arranged their human marriage when they had reached the age of 20 without finding their mates, or so we thought."

"You thought?" asks Reine, "Was that not the case?"

"No," I said, "we've recently received information that Ty James DID find his true mate sometime prior to the arrangement with Angela. That's part of the problem."

"Why would finding his true mate be a problem?" Tristan inquires.

"My father was extremely homophobic. According to the information we received, his true mate was a man." Anthony explains. "We don't know if the boy was human or werewolf, nor do we know when or how they came in contact. All we know is we received a file full of pictures of the boy, saying that he was my father's mate, from a rogue leader just outside our pack territory."

Anthony picks up the letter and folder from his desk and offers it to Tristan with a warning, "Take a look, but I should warn you, they're extremely graphic."

Tristan takes the folder, and reads the note before opening it. He slowly flips through them, grimacing occasionally before shutting it, and handing them to Reine. As she looks through them, he looks between me and Anthony.

"Who is this 'Useless' mentioned in the note, do you know?" He asks.

"It's actually me," I tell him. "I was kidnapped as an infant and ended up being raised by that rogue group. I was forced into a mating ceremony with Dale when I was 18, but through the blessings of the Goddess, I was freed from that mate bond, rescued, and found my true mate in Anthony two months ago."

Closing the folder, Reine joins the conversation. "And the black wolf, do you know who it is?"

"We do." Anthony declares. "My father."

"You're k..k..kidding," Tristan stutters.

"I wish we were." I tell him. "We also discovered that his mother's engagement and wedding rings have enchantments on them that could only have been done by a warlock. In the absence of a completed mate bond, the rings block the pull of a true mate."

"How the hell did you discover that?!" Demands Reine.

"One of our younger pack doctors had recently found his mate, an Elder visiting from your pack to tutor Hunter. Joseph was in the office with us, and he and Hunter noticed something odd with the rings." Anthony explains "He put one on, and about ten minutes later, Victor was pounding on my office door, frantic because he couldn't sense his mate."

"Joseph is here? And he found his mate? That's wonderful." Tristan seems genuinely pleased with this news. "His older brother is one of my closest friends."

"They're planning a full, traditional mating ceremony, and are waiting until then to mark each other." I tell him. "Once we realized what the rings did, I put one on, and it had no effect, so we know it doesn't work on completed bonds."

"As for the boy the note claims is my father's mate, we don't know if he's human or werewolf," Anthony says, "We don't know how or when they met, or how my father managed to lure him to the rogues. That's where you come in. There's no one in this pack who can objectively investigate this, and report the findings to the king, and I know that there's no way I can sit in judgement on this. Especially with the addition of the possibility of further treason against the Goddess and Royal family."

"What do you mean?" Reine queries.

"When he found out about our mating," I tell her, "It seems he planned to have the same done to me as to his own mate. However, after my rescue, the new leader didn't trust him, but apparently got enough information to realize I was the one he was trying to arrange to have killed, before killing Ty and leaving his body in his car with that note and folder at the edge of our territory."

"Ok, that definitely sounds like treason against THIS pack, as well as the Royal family, but why would it be treason against the Goddess?" Tristan wonders. Reine hums in agreement with his question.

"Well, if you'd care to join us for training today, and our pack run tomorrow night, you can see that answer for yourselves." Anthony tells them. "In this case, it might sound unbelievable if we try to explain."

"It would have to be, given everything else you've just dumped in our laps," laughed Reine. "The next thing you're going to tell us is you're hiding a Guardian."

"We-ell...Would you believe me if I said you were right?" I ask.

Tristan and Reine pale, and toss their heads back and forth between Anthony and I, trying to see if I was kidding. Not finding any signs, they look at each other and visibly gulp.

"No offense," begins Tristan.

"But that we're definitely going to have to see to believe." Finishes Reine.

Anthony stands and heads for the door, gesturing for them to follow. As he opens the door, he looks over his shoulder and catches Tristan's eye.

"I'd appreciate it if nothing discussed in this office goes outside of it. We are letting the pack find out about Hunter in our own time, with this training and the run. We don't want them finding out about my father until your investigation is finished."

"We understand. Not a problem." Tristan assures as we head towards the training center.