Veritas

Chapter 40

"This dude is literally your twin, mom. What's going on?" Ryan demanded of his mother.

Unsurprisingly, though, his mother was unable to respond. The shock that washed over her at the sight of her brother could not be described in words. It didn't take long, though, for the heartbreak to follow soon after, continuing to leave Rei mute.

"Not the time" Aislinn snapped, silencing Ryan before turning her attention to the Captain. Before she could address him, though, he continued to chew out the guards.

"You two have been warned before about delaying the lines for ridiculous reasons! Do you not value your jobs? Your family name? Your honour?!" He bellowed angrily.

The two guards were unable to look their captain in the eye, and merely stared at the ground with their heads hanging low in a submissive and vulnerable position.

The Captain scoffed, seemingly disgusted with the men. He then shifted his attention to Rei, Ryan and Aislinn; and, though he wouldn't admit it to the guards, he was shocked by the sight of the former two. After a brief pause, he motioned for them to follow him. "Come, I will allow entry and watch over you, since these buffoons are incapable of doing their jobs. Let us keep the line moving" he ordered.

Ryan and Aislinn exchanged glances, but didn't want to argue the free pass into the Royal pack territory. Aislinn followed first, with Ryan having to usher Rei along.

"Mom, what's going on? You know him, don't you? We need to know what's happening! You're not acting normal, and we're entering a potentially dangerous situation here" Ryan said to his mother, trying to reason her out of her silence.

Still, she did not react, nor respond to her son's reasoning. She merely followed along behind Aislinn and the captain, her head bowed and looking at the ground while she struggled internally.

"How could he do this to us?" Rei asked her wolf, her heart having shattered to pieces. "After what happened...After how we were treated...How could he turn around and side with these people? How could he protect them?!" She continued before Thaila could respond.

"I think we both know the one reason he would have come here, and the one reason he would have stayed..." Thaila responded as the voice of reason.

Rei was quiet for a moment, before replying. "I can think of many reasons he would have returned...I can think of none that would have made him stay. Even that one" she reasoned.

"Perhaps we should tell him who we are, then...And let him tell us the truth" Thaila suggested.

"We can't! How could we? He's the Captain of the Royal Guard, Thaila. He is surely hell bent on keeping unmated women out of the territory, per the King's command. How can we trust him? It's been over two decades now...He is likely an entirely different person now. We've only just been able to breach the walls, it's too risky to say anything now or we'll likely be thrown out " Rei argued back.

Thaila merely sighed, but didn't argue any further. She could feel Rei's emotions, and as badly as she wanted to reason with her human...She couldn't argue that their feelings were the same. It wasn't a guarantee that he'd even believe them, so...It was safest for now to stay quiet.

Once Rei began to pay attention again, she noticed that Ryan had been staring at her with a worried expression. Fortunately for them, Aislinn had taken the lead in keeping Reinhold distracted.

"—and running into the odd Rogue here and there; but, nothing we can't handle. I have great hand-to-hand combat skills, since I'm only fifteen" she lied, in case an event arose where she was expected to shift.

This caused to captain to stop suddenly in shock. He looked Aislinn up and down, clearly impressed. "You're still a child, despite your size? It's a pity they won't allow lone wolves to join the Royal Guard...I would imagine you'll be quite the force once you get your wolf, and we can always use more of that" he said sincerely. "Perhaps we should spar some time, I would love to see your hand-to-hand combat abilities...And what of you?" He asked, finally able to direct the conversation to the two individuals he was most interested in.

"Huh? Me?" Ryan asked, surprised to be addressed. He was wholly absorbed in trying to coax his mother into speaking to him through mind-link, and hadn't been paying attention.

"Yes, are your skills as good as his? You're the elder brother, yes? Surely you trained him" Reinhold reasoned, looking from Ryan to Rei. "Or does your father train the two of you?"

"Oh, yeah, dad trained me...Sometimes Ash and I train together, sometimes dad trains with us" he shrugged, not sure where this topic came from, or was leading to.

Reinhold nodded in appreciation, looking at Rei. "And you. What's your name? I cannot help but acknowledge that you, your eldest and I look...Quite alike. I come from a pack that was decimated years ago...The Titan pack, ironically" he said with a sigh. "Do you have any relation to it?"

Rei forced herself to make eye contact with those once-familiar eyes. Those eyes that had once held love and adoration for her, but now only held a cold curiosity. "I do not" she lied. "I was born a lone wolf, and am unaware of my parents' origins" she added, her lie difficult to choke out from an emotional side; but, delivered flawlessly on the surface.

"Interesting..." Reinhold hummed. "I don't agree with those idiots at the gates causing such a ruckus; but...I do agree that we have uncanny similarities in our appearance. I would be interested if we have any blood relation" he announced, causing Rei's heart to skip a beat.

"It would be interesting to find out, wouldn't it?" Ryan concurred, looking at his mother meaningfully. He merely wanted her to explain who this man was.

"Excellent, we should get a test done, then" Reinhold said, clapping his hands together. "I can't allow you entry to the palace, so the Royal medics won't be an option. Unfortunate, given they would provide the quickest and most accurate results" he said, beginning to walk once more. "There are pack doctors scattered throughout, though, so we shouldn't have too much difficulty finding one to help us."

"We can't do this" Rei finally spoke up, trying not to panic and alert Reinhold that something was off.

"Why mom?" Ryan demanded in frustration.

"I'll tell you later" she replied, also frustrated. "It's not something I want you to hear about in front of him" she explained a bit more softly.

"Let's try this one" Reinhold said, heading for a clinic they were approaching that was just across the street from them at this point.

"I'm not sure how we'll get out of it, but bloodwork may or may not reveal we're women" Aislinn chimed in, suddenly realizing that aside from whatever Rei was hiding, this could go wrong in other ways.

"Shit, what do we do?" Rei asked Thaila, not wanting the kids to hear the panic rising in her tone.

Fortunately, just as Reinhold had crossed the street and placed his hand on the door, a wailing sound in the distance gave him pause. He stopped completely, frowned, and turned around in the direction of the wailing. Soon after, another joined...And another. The sounds were getting closer.

"What's going on?" Aislinn demanded, frowning. The sound was becoming too loud for her sensitive ears the closer it got.

"It's an alarm" Reinhold explained calmly, beginning to take off his shirt. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to make your way to a safe-house. Follow any women or children you see, and you should find one." Then, turning to Rei and Ryan, he added "and I'm afraid I will have to ask you to fight...That signal means our walls have been breached."

Rei gasped in horror. Breached? How?! "Rogues?" She demanded.

"Worse" Reinhold said, shirking the rest of his clothes in preparation to shift. "Vampires."