The Faults in Us (completed)

14~ Truth

We sat in the enormous mess hall of the packhouse. Ena, Luna, and I on one side of a large table while Claw, Kayden and Vamp on the other. There was silence for a hot minute until Luna said, 'Can someone explain what happened, exactly?'

'Yeah,' I said, 'Claw knocked us out and threw us in the dungeon. Sent his Beta to keep me calm so that I don't bite his head off when he entered. Didn't work. We had a short conversation but I was interrupted by Mr. Vampire here. And Ena suddenly woke up and we had to have a talk. The problem is, no one's talking.'

 I took a deep breath after my aggressive little rant. I didn't miss the smirk on Claw's face. 

'Did you know you rant when you're nervous?' Ena muttered under her breath. 

'Shut up, not now,' I breathed back, knowing every person present could hear me. Ena smirked and looked away. Even Luna held back a giggle. 

'What do you want to know?' Vamp asked. 

'What happened to me, all those years ago?' I asked, 'And my birth parents?' 

Vamp sighed. 'Your mother was a ghoul. Your father a werewolf. They were mates, the first of their kind. Alpha Claw, Kendrick's father, wanted you for himself because you would be a powerful weapon. He set out to capture you and kill your parents. Your mother was weakened by childbirth, or she would've killed him. Claw knew this, so he chose the perfect time to strike, minutes after you were born.'

I expected nothing less of that asshole... I thought, so then if this is the truth, my vision was correct. 

'They came after you. Your father fought to his death and gave your mother a few seconds to escape with you. As the wolves caught up to her, she cast a powerful spell with the last of her strength that made an ancient oak tree your protector and guardian.

'She left you in its care and soon after, the wolves tore her apart. But they could not defeat the tree. I thought it was interesting that a werewolf and ghoul had a child for the first time, so I decided to check it out. When I found out what had happened, I pitied you. 

'So I defeated the oak tree and took you in. I cannot decide whether that was the best or worst decision of my life. Perhaps we will find out.'  

I took a few seconds to process the story. My parents had died protecting me, and I didn't even know what they looked like. My vision was dark and full of shadows, so that gave me no information. 'What do you mean...' I said, 'when you say you took me in, exactly?'

Vamp leaned forward. 'I was your parent until you were three and a half years old.' 

I just stared at him open-mouthed. This man, who looked like he was only a few years older than me, my parent?! And he was an all-powerful vampire, who was centuries old?

'Thank you for the compliment,' he smirked, 'but I am not all-powerful. And I am obviously not as young as you think.' 

The mind reading's getting annoying. 

'But... why?' I asked. 'I don't understand, why would you just raise a random baby?' 

'Honestly, I still don't know,' he mused. 'It was quite interesting, to say in the least. It was the first time I felt a connection to a being of a lesser species.' I raised an eyebrow, not knowing whether to be insulted or not. 

'Then why would you hand me back to Claw?' 

There was silence. I felt his gaze burning into me from behind those dark shades. Not gonna lie, I was angry at him for giving me to Claw. He could've saved me from years of imprisonment and torture. But I guess he did save me, or I would've been in the Claw pack as soon as I was a year old.