Jason and Jacob arrived on the territory early, but were invited in nonetheless. They had been guided to the Alpha's office, where Alex was attending to the packs main functions, as the packs current leader was absent from their duties. When they were permitted entrance, they found him scouring archaic books with yellowed paper within their depths, some of the writing within the pages had begun to fade over time but the words within remained still legible for perusing eyes.
"Alpha Jason, Jacob." Alex said with a brief nod, his blue eyes lifting from the pages only momentarily before they drifted back down through the content.
"Alex." they both said and nodded back in unison, walking over to the desk and sitting across from the lean brunette who was absorbed in a large book at present.
It was an uncanny experience for everyone who surrounded the desk. There were no hostile remarks, no glares, no threatening auras emitting, as they all sat within close proximity within one another. There was a silent understanding that they had started out on the wrong foot, by actions of others, and now was the time that they would work together to correct the problem they all were facing.
"I've been looking through the historical documents... I spent all night doing so." Alex said flipping another page. "There are some documents that were created during his reign, which I now know were written falsely. What was detailed in the documents was nothing more than propaganda, a rose colored view on his actual reign, before his downfall." he said leaning back into the large leather chair, his fingers firmly depressed against the area where his nose met his eyes, where they began to soothingly rub at the the fatigue that laid within the area.
"And how did you come about this?" Jacob questioned, leaning forward to grab at another at one of the worn and weathered books on the table, and begin his own search of its contents.
"She told me.. She's never left." he said with a sigh removing his hands from his face and dropping his arm lazily down onto the arm rest, opting to break from his pursuits for a moment. "She just lingers back there, acting as a second voice." his head shaking, as his blue eyes drifted off to the side.
"How have you managed to control her?" Jason asked, interest laying heavily as he looked for a way to help Elizabeth.
"I had little to no control at first, but then her mate began to turn volatile. The more he acted against her, the more she shrank back. She is very weak, very submissive. She would put me in tense situations so she didn't have to handle them. Now... she seems to be contented just lingering." he said his voice carrying the depths of his own fatigue.
"She is always present?" Jason asked as a follow-up, obviously finding a concern with an apparent muted and weaker personality still being able to maintain constant activity within. This would mean in turn that Mathias was not truly subdued within Elizabeth, but laying in wait.
"She's not always willing to be present. But I would say yes, she's always in the background listening, always aware of the situation." he said with a nod.
"Is she talking with you now?" Jacob asked finding interest in the bizarre situation they were presented with.
"She was... and then you two showed up and she went mute. She is uncomfortable being around Alpha Jason, specifically." Alex said as he laced his fingers in front of himself, his eyes falling onto Jason.
"Is there a specific reason as to why that is?" Jason questioned in interest, as he leaned back in his own chair, his eyebrow arching in a curious manner.
"Well, obviously, the turmoil she has caused you with, Liz." he said with a soft shrug as if that much was obvious. "But she seems to think your name is Jonah, and that is what interests me highly."
"And why is that interesting? Enlighten me." Jason said with a hand going beneath his chin to support his head as his deep green eyes stared in complete undivided attention.
"As I said.. I've been reviewing the history of Mathias and his pack from their own words and it was filled with inaccuracies. The stories we have been told of him all of the sudden snapping from his benevolence and turning chaotic are not true. History is written by winners, his history written by his own pack made him out to be a hero. Righting wrongs and injustices, but really he was power hungry from the start, he wanted control of as much as possible. When he met Elena, she brought a peace and halted him for a time, but slowly cracks began to form and he resumed his conquests after forcing her into submission. The interesting part about her thinking you're Jonah..." he said unlacing his fingers and leaning forward as he sifted through the various books lined on the table, picking up a black leather book with crumbling binding and flipping through the first couple of pages. "Is this." he said pointing to a pack hierarchy tree from the year 1768. "Tell me what you see." he said pushing the book towards the alphas direction and returning to his leaning position.
Jason shifted forward and grabbed the entirety of the book, and pulled it into his lap. It didn't take him long to see the name Jonah crossed out with a singular line with a notation, Beta Jonah - stepped down from position April of 1768, replaced with Beta Theodore in April of 1768. His deep green eyes raised from the page and looked at Alex's, his look was that of contemplation and wonder as he began to spin wheels in his head trying to figure out the significance that Alex saw. "She is under the assumption that I was his Beta hundreds of years ago?" he questioned, his voice sounding incredulous, as if this was far from logical despite them currently existing and treading in a world of unknown.
"That's what it appears. The date and time placement is also significant. Beta Jonah left his position a month prior to Mathias completely snapping and ending her life..." Alex said rubbing a tense hand at his stubble lined jaw as he pondered further on the matter.
"So did this Jonah fuck her or something? Why did he leave? Why did Mathias kill her?" the Alpha questioned in rapid fire, trying to get further information to shed some light on potential weaknesses that were available to him.
"She wont divulge anything to me.. I'm at a loss." Alex said with hands up in the air, and a miffed look clearly on his face. "It appears the closer we get to the end, the less she wants to talk."
"Can we speak with her? Can you try to coax her out?" Jacob asked, his brown eyes lifting from the book within his lap, to gaze now into Alex's.
"It's doubtful. As I said, Alpha Jason makes her uncomfortable." his voice also highly reflecting that he believed it to be improbable.
"Well you said that she made you front and center for tense situations... Can you not do the same?" Jacob questioned in his usual tone, his head tilting to the side as he was trying to wrap his head around the complexity of the situation.
"I've never really tried.. Losing control of my own body, is something that I do not actively seek out." he said in honesty. Clearly, they didn't understand and were unable to comprehend how uncomfortable the condition he was currently affected by was.
"Could you attempt it? It may prove to give us some information that could be useful in figuring out this situation, and bring an end to it." the Master Beta across from him suggested, finding the avenue through Alex the most promising.
No. I cannot face, Jonah.
"She just said she doesn't want to see Jonah." he said with an idle shrug. "I don't think you're going to get anywhere."
"But why? What did I do to her?" Jason asked, clearly playing along with the perception the other Alpha's mate had of him.
I cannot look at him and see his disappointment again.
"She said she doesn't want to see you disappointed in her again." Alex relayed the inner voice in his mind, finding her to be frustrating as she hid behind him once again.
"I would be the opposite of disappointed if she spoke with me." Jason said with a nod, as he prodded along knowing that she was listening in.
It is wrong what we have put him through, when he has been so kind.
"She says she feels you have been treated wrongly for how kind you have been." he sighed out, feeling as if she should be saying these things herself, and let him rest for a minute.
"If she feels I have been treated wrongly, then she should apologize to me in person." the alpha said leaning back in his chair, propping his chin with a hand and allowing a straightened finger to encase his jaw, adopting his usual expectantly waiting position.
"He's waiting." Alex said to himself with a roll of his eyes, beginning to shake his head and leave the other two out of the inner dialogue. "Whatever it is, its between you two. I have nothing to do with this...-- Well, it seems he would like to help. -- No, I'm not going to speak for you, put on your big girl panties and do it yourself." As the conversation with himself continued his tone grew more agitated, he obviously held a slight sympathy for the woman but found her entirely exhausting with having to constantly prompt and guide her to stand up on her own two feet. His blue eyes then locked back onto Jason, as he slowly began to nod. "She said she will only speak with you, if you're clear that she did not mean for any of this to happen. She never meant to hurt you and Tara." Alex's hands once again went up into the air as he was lost in the context of what she said, his face contorting in uncertainty to what she was referencing.
"Elena.." Jason said smoothly and softly. "I know that you would never do anything to purposely harm me and Tara." a gentle nod being made towards Alex's direction as if he was trying to bring comfort to her with his acknowledgement. "You're too gentle to hurt a fly." his lies flowing as smooth as a river as he attempted to draw her out.
Alex's blue eyes began to hold pupils unsure of whether or not they needed more light or if they should shrink away from it as they dilated and constricted rapidly. In less than a minute his casual lean shifted to a more straightened posture, and the confused frustration moved away from his face to hold a more relaxed and calm demeanor. "You have always been so understanding, Jonah." he said with a nod, his volume lower, hinting at a weaker disposition. "I am truly sorry for what Mathias has done."
"It's been so long since we have seen each other." Jason said with a nod, his deep green eyes staring into Alex's blue eyes that seemed to have regulated in their shifting. "There is much I am unclear on... What happened after I left?"
"After you left, there was no one to curb him. He only treated me worse... It got so bad, Jonah.. I should have listened to you..." he said softly, his eyes drifting down to his hands which were nervously folding within themselves. "Had I done it sooner, while you were still there, maybe it would have ended differently."
"I would have kept you safe." he said with a firm nod, having no clue what she was actually talking about.
"I understand why you left." his voice sounding more dejected as the blue eyes slowly rose to meet the Alpha's green eyes. "It's the same reason he," he gestured to himself, "gets upset with me. I am not strong... You must have been exhausted." he said with a small headshake as his eyes dropped back down once again.
"I would have come back had you asked..." he said gently, not knowing at all what type of relationship Elena and Jonah shared, but understanding that Jonah acted as a barrier to Mathias' callous hands by what she stated unclearly, as if he already knew as to what she was talking about.
"I'm glad you left.. When I finally had the courage to do what you had been telling me to do for years, he beat it out of me so thoroughly... I became even more of a prisoner.. I snapped Jonah." the blue eyes looked up at his green ones with such a firm intensity, showing a bit of their own instability. "I could have hurt you and Tara, and that is something I would never have been able to overcome. You two deserved to be happy, and you still deserve to be happy. You don't deserve this."
"Elena... Did you crumble the pack the night he killed you?" he asked, masking his shock with careful words.
"They deserved it..." his tone became lower. "Each and everyone of them were culpable with his misdeeds... and now I suffer the consequences for my actions.. Once again, I cannot escape him. Once again, I am unable to do what you insisted needed to be done... I am even weaker than before, he has taken my abilities with the bloodline we shared, and I am bound to him in ways I cannot explain. No matter how far I run, he always finds me..."
"Why are you unable to do what I asked of you? It's simple, is it not? I can help you." Jason said, keeping his words elusive so she would not detect his unknowing.
"My lips cannot utter the words.. He knows. He stops their progress. He wont allow me to. He wont let me go." his brows furrowed, and his voice faltered as the captivity forced upon her came to the forefront of her mind.
"Practice with me. It will strengthen you, and when you see him next you will be resolute with your statement." he gave a gentle nod, desperate to hear what needed to be said.
His blue eyes darted around the room as if looking for the possessive Alpha laying in wait for those words to present. Slowly, but surely they settled back on his deep green eyes waiting expectantly for those words to be spoken. "You have always supported and strengthened me, Jonah... I will give it a try." he said, his resolve seeming to strengthened as his body straightened a little stiffer and he cleared his throat. "I, Elena White hereby re-"
His words were stopped at the abrupt entrance of a squad of eight warriors led by Beta Cano. "Master Beta Alex, you're to come with us immediately. You're being detained and have been stripped from your position effective immediately." The Betas gruff voice caused once again the blue eyes pupils to dysregulate in rapid fashion and the woman lingering within Alex's mind slipped away promptly, leaving the true Alex to deal with the situation.
"Under whose orders and what's the reason for my detainment?" Alex sharply questioned, standing up and going rigid, his tone deep and dominant.
"Detain him." Beta Cano said back to the group of warriors who began to rapidly fill into the office. Gloved hands reaching for Alex who put up no struggle, and allowed silver cuffs to be wrapped tightly around his wrists with only a wincing expression as they began to burn at his flesh. "Alpha Jason. Master beta Jacob." the beta said firmly with a sharp nod. "The meeting has been cancelled and you must leave the territory at once. Your allies have been notified as well."
"Do you care to clarify the reasoning behind this?" Jacob asked coolly, as he began to stand. His eyes flickering over to Jason for a second as his cellphone began to ring to a specific rhythm indicating that Mark was calling.
"I am under no obligation to do so. If you please." the Beta said, with a hand extended to the open door gesturing that they proceed to make their leave.