Protecting Them (Only His Series: Book 3) *OLD VERSION*

Chapter 21

Alex's P.O.V

I was near a lake at the edge of the woods where I was skipping rocks along the water. "You scared me." Jackson said and I jumped, startled, before turning back to face him. "I was worried you ran off in the middle of the night."

"No. I was just out here, thinking..." I said and threw another rock into the water, and Jackson picked up a stone to skip as well. "Jack, I know I'm supposed to divulge my great secrets to you and Hayley, but I - I can't. I can't even tell you why I can't."

"Alex, do you really think there's a secret you have that's so bad you can't tell us?" Jackson asked me and I nodded. You'd be surprised at what I know.

"You be surprised, Jack. It's not safe to even know me sometimes." I said and looked at him.

"When have we ever been safe, Alex? Now, our people have been cursed, haunted, exiled. But you and Klaus, this wedding? You two can change all that. We can create a new pack, one with your ability to turn at will! So, we give each other our secrets. If we don't, then the transfer of power won't work, and we're back to where we were." Jackson explained to me. I bit my lip anxiously, still feeling hesitant.

"Look, even if you call off the wedding, there's still something that I have to tell Hayley." Jackson said and I looked at him confused.

"Jack, I'm sure you've lived quite the life, but I can't imagine that your secrets are anything like mine. Mine are 173 years old." I said to him and he looked somberly.

"There's one." He took a deep breath. "That has to do with... how her parents died." Jackson said and my face fell.

We came here to figure that out. I promised Hayley the first day we got to New Orleans that we would find her parents. That we would find out what happened. Then we found out they were dead and she promised me to help her find out how they died. I have to keep that promise. I turned to face him, both eager and worried to hear what he had to say.

~

Jackson had brought Hayley and I to a makeshift graveyard. "What is this place?" Hayley asked and I looked at Jackson. I told her I had a lead on what happen to them and told her my lead was Jackson.

"It's where wolves bury those who walk away from the pack. Traitors, murderers... like this one." He explained to us and showed us a rudimentary grave marker made out of wood. It has the initials RXD carved into it above a crescent moon.

"Richard Xavier Dumas. He was Mary's husband... my grandfather. He was an Alpha of his time. He was a militant radical hell-bent on raising war with vampires. When he found out that your parents and mine planned to join the packs or to try and find you, Alex, try for peace with Marcel and his crew, he... he went ballistic." I looked at Jackson shocked and horrified.

"...It was him, wasn't it? He was the one that killed Hayley's parents." I said to him and Jackson looked at Hayley sadly.

"He wanted to stop them and everything they stood for... and he did." Jackson said to her. Hayley was nearly in tears and I placed a hand on her shoulder

"I have spent my entire life wondering what happened to them." Jackson gulped anxiously and looked guilty for his association to his grandfather. "Why did you wait so long to tell me?" Hayley asked him.

"I didn't know until Mary told me. She said she'd held onto the secret about what my grandfather did for two decades, and knew it was time for it to come out." He bit his lip anxiously. "And I knew I had to be the one to tell you. Truth is, I didn't know if I could." Jackson explained and Hayley shook her head. She walked away from us and Jackson looked at me worried.