"I need to know, you can't leave me out of the loop alright? Why was there another werewolf watching me last night?"
By now we had reached the main house and Blake put the truck in park, "You're right, I'm sorry for doing that. You deserve the truth.....I guess I'll start at the beginning....."
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"I know Helen already told you about both of my parents passing away when I was a teenager and how she and Matthew officially adopted me into their family shortly after that." Blake paused for a moment, "The thing is, I know Helen wouldn't have told you this next part because, well while the rest of the pack knows, she doesn't tell anybody new this part.....she and Matthew have another son. "
I turned to face him, "What? They do? Why haven't I met him or heard anything about him?"
"Helen typically doesn't talk about him. It's too painful for her."
"Why? What happened?"
"His name is Jason, he's a couple of years older than me. He and I had always been friends growing up but after they adopted me, I'd like to think we became as close as brothers. He and I were always getting into trouble growing up, he would convince me to join him in doing something stupid which typically ended with us both at the doctors.
Anyways, Matthew had always made it very clear that he wanted Jason to be Alpha after him but, uh, always worried Jason wouldn't be able to handle the job properly. We didn't really worry about it too much because we figured it would be years before Matthew would pass the torch on so we continued to be idiots and who would get into trouble at any opportunity. Unfortunately, Matthew passed away a lot sooner than we ever expected.
One day he suffered a massive heart attack and when we got him to the hospital they said his heart had just suffered too much damage. Thankfully we had a little time to say our goodbyes before he passed....." Blake paused and took a deep breath.
"While we said our goodbyes to Matthew, he told us that he wanted me to take care of the pack as Alpha. I don't think you could even imagine my surprise, asking me to do something like that at the age of 19...with his own son standing right there. I didn't know what to say so I just stayed silent. I felt like a traitor. If I said 'no,' I'd be refusing a dying man's last wish and if I said 'yes,' I was taking something huge away, a birth right basically, from someone I viewed as a brother. I was confused too, why would he pick me? Why did he think I could do a better job than his own blood?
The next couple of weeks after that are a blur. I had to bury yet another father and Jason was so mad, he wouldn't even speak to me at the funereal. Then I had to immediately start taking care of the pack and I didn't have a single clue where to begin.
Fast forward a few weeks and Jason is finally talking to me again. He came to me to inform me that he decided that he wasn't going to stay in the pack, that he was leaving. Helen and I did everything we could to try and convince him to stay. We begged and pleaded, I mean, it was breaking her heart to lose her son like that but he was still so angry. Even to this day I can't blame him for hating me."
He paused again so I decided to ask a question, "So was that Jason? At my window?"
"No, no we haven't seen or heard from Jason in a couple of years. No, the person at your window, that was Shane." He stated in a matter of fact tone. "We couldn't convince Jason to stay in the pack and the thing is, werewolves don't do well on their own, it's in our nature to be with other wolves. Jason needed a new home and pack and Shane took advantage of that."
"So...who is Shane?" by the look on Blake's face, I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to my question.
"Shane is, I guess you could say, the self proclaimed Alpha of a rogue pack. Mostly full of criminals and questionable people. Most of them have been banned from their original packs and are nothing more than scumbags. I'm guessing Shane got wind that the son of a late Alpha was looking for a new place and saw an opportunity to get a high ranking werewolf. Jason was no criminal, he was a good guy but somehow Shane convinced him he would be better off as a member of his pack. I'll always remember Jason telling me that Shane had promised that if he joined he could be his Beta and one day become Alpha. He used Jason's anger to manipulate him. I tried to tell him but he wouldn't listen to reason."
