"Operation Break-up phase one is enacted," Lilly whispered, nudging me in the side. I grunted and swung my leg over another branch of the tree we were perched in. She'd decided that spying on my brother and his fiancee was the easiest way to go about breaking them up, but honestly, I didn't think so. I didn't think any part of this was a good idea, the main reason being that he was my brother and Lilly was trying to coerce me into breaking Julie and him up. Yeah, I wasn't on board, but I couldn't let her spy on him alone, that was a ridiculous idea. So here I was, sitting in a tree with my best friend, watching my brother and Julie sitting on the front lawn of the pack house, talking.
"Werewolves?" Julie whispered, her wavy brown locks swaying with the breeze. "You're telling me that werewolves are real?" Her voice was soft, but that was natural for Julie, she was a soft natured person.
"Lilly, I don't think we should be doing this. I mean, seriously? He's my brother and he's telling his fiancee about the existence of werewolves and we're spying on them. I don't like this, I don't like it at all." I hissed, snatching the black crusted binoculars from her hands.
"Just think about Leslie for a second! She deserves to be with her mate just like the rest of us. She was in love with Lance and-"
I growled, clenching my fist. "I understand that we promised we'd drop everything she tried to do and I've forgiven her, but please don't mention the fact that she was in love with Lance. He's mine."
Lilly rolled her eyes, "Sarah, seriously."
I groaned. "I'm not denying the fact that I think she deserves to be happy, Lil. But
Michael is my brother and if Julie makes him happy, who am I to break him up? Besides, Michael and Leslie have already met so I'm betting that he already knows Lilly is his mate and he hasn't acted on it."
"Sarah! Leslie is you friend! We have to help her." Lilly insisted, lowering her voice a fraction of an inch.
"And Michael is my brother," I muttered back, refusing to go along with this plan.
"You remember how you felt when Lance was with Jane, right? How that longing seeped into your soul and refused to let you go? You remember how much you wanted to be with him and yet you couldn't because he was so stubborn, right?"
I shook my head, "that's different."
"No, Sarah, It isn't different. That's called a mating bond and it's not something you just play around with. When two people are meant to be together, you can't break them apart. You of all people should know this."
I nodded and glanced down to see Michael and Julie still discussing the principle of werewolves, thinking about what Lilly was saying. She was right, of course. Leslie and Michael were meant to be together and no matter how hard either of them tried, they wouldn't be able to break that bond with each other. But this was still my brother we were talking about and for me to meddle in his relationship was absolutely absurd.
"This is insane, I don't agree with this, and I will most definitely deny any of this if Michael-"
Lilly squealed, "so your in?"
I sighed, reluctantly. "I'm in."
"Finally! Now what should we do first? Dig up some information on Julie? Or should we start with your brother? Oooh! I know, you could talk to your brother about it. You could discuss Leslie with him, tell him about how great of a person she is. Tell-"
"Lilly! I'm not talking to my brother about Leslie! I-"
My phone buzzing in my pocket cut my sentence short and I pulled it out to look at it. I smiled when I saw Lance's name flashing across the screen.
Had to take care of some pack business. See you for lunch. Love you.-Lance.
I smiled and replied a short response and then turned my attention back to my best friend. "Okay, I'll do it. On one condition."
"What is it? Anything!" Lilly whisper yelled, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Nathan. You are going to go out to lunch with him this afternoon and have a serious talk with him. No buts! Don't look at me like that, Lilly. You were just telling me how important it was for soulmates to be together....."
Lilly sighed and looked away, staring off into the distance. "I just don't understand what he's keeping from me. I don't know why he's deciding that whatever it is he can't tell me, is something I don't need to know. We're supposed to have trust in a relationship, you know? And he's obviously not trusting me."
"Lil, look. Whatever the reason is, you and him can work it out." I smiled at her reassuringly and she gave me a small, hesitant smile back.
So not only was I on a mission to get my brother and Leslie together, I was on a mission to get my two best friends back together.
____
"I don't know if I'm ready to actually meet them Lance. I want to meet my real parents, but.... I just..... I don't know. It's hard to explain." I moved my fork absentmindedly back and forth across the cheese ravioli that I was eating.
Lance touched my arm gently, forcing me to look up at him. His blue orbs were intently focused on my own and I found myself getting lost in the depths of his eyes, just like I always had. "Baby, you know I love you and I'll go with you when you meet them, that you should have no doubt of. Do you not want to meet them? I don't want to force you to do something you're not comfortable doing."
I shook my head, "of course I want to meet them. I want that more than anything, it's just, I don't understand anything that happened. My biological parents don't know where I am and the man I thought was my father...... Is a kidnapper, Lance. A kidnapper. And Claire.... She's my sister."
Lance nodded, running his fingers up and down my arm. "I know it's a lot to take in sweetheart, but aren't you the least bit curious. Your parents can probably explain a lot more to you then Michael or I can. They can answer any questions that you have."
I nodded in understanding. He was right. They could answer all of my unsaid questions and I needed answers to them. Lance and Michael had given me all of the information they could and I'd moved out immediately. I couldn't live with those people who claimed to be my parents. Lance had stood by me of course, even when my 'mother' tried to keep me there.
That was the hardest part, because no matter how much I wanted to convince myself that she wasn't my mother, she was in every aspect of the concept. She'd raised me, loved me, and given me a home. I loved her and I always would, but she'd lied to me. She'd gone along with his plot to kidnap me and Michael and I couldn't accept that.
"Okay," I agreed, looking at him. "I'll meet them. But how do we even go about doing this? All I have is their names."
Lance smiled, brushing a lock of my hair behind my ear. "That's why I asked you to meet me here." Lance pulled away from me and reached into the backpack that he'd brought. He pulled out a manilla folder with contents I had no clue of. "After the meeting I had today, I had Luke do some research on your parents and he found a lot your case."
I glanced at him warily. "Case? And Luke did research on them?"
Lance nodded, "Yes. I wanted you to know everything you could about your parents. And you do have a case,... Your sudden kidnapping.”
I nodded, understanding. "Okay, so what did he find out?" Lance handed me the manilla folder and I stared down at it blankly. I wasn't sure if I wanted to open it and reveal the contents of my parents.
"Open it," Lance whispered gently, his hand still running gently up and down my arm. I found it hard to concentrate with him being so close to me, but I knew that looking at the contents inside of my folder were important.
I opened it with shaky fingers and read the first line on the page, "'Lydia Morgan gave birth to two bustling girls, but her youngest daughter Macey was distinguished as kidnapped when she was born.’”
“Macey?” I whispered, knowing that was the name my parents wanted to give me. I entwined my hand with Lance’s and squeezed his hand.
"'Investigators found no trace of Macey Morgan ever being kidnapped and Macey's parents are now resorting to a Private Investigator'." I read down the page, skipping over the information about the Private Investigator they had hired. The date on the article was the day after my birthday and the articles that followed were weeks and even months after I was born.
"Lance, listen. This article was dated last week, 'After years of investigation, Simon Morgan was informed that his daughter had been found. A trace of evidence came forward when Lydia's first born daughter came back from her honeymoon a few weeks ago. With it came the evidence of Sarah Bratcher, Lydia and Simon's biological daughter. The two were ecstatic and hope to have more information on the girl very soon.'" I swallowed, looking up at Lance. "They've been searching for me since I was a baby, Lance. But why didn't Claire say anything when I met her?"
Lance toyed with a piece of my hair and looked at me intently, "I talked to Nick last week and he said Claire had no idea that her parents were even looking for you. She only found out a few days prior to our conversation. Lydia told her nothing about you, except that you were kidnapped at birth, which was what Lydia was told. But she knows that you're her half sister now."
I nodded,opening the manilla folder again and looking through the rest of the papers. There were dozens and dozens of photos of my parents and Claire, but nothing about where they lived. I couldn't possibly go see them if I had no idea where to even start and none of these papers were helping.
I pushed them away from me and shook my head. "Nothing in here indicates anything about where they live, Lance. How can I find them if I have no idea where to even look?"
Lance held out his phone to me and smiled gently. "Claire. She can tell you anything you want to know and I think..... I think you should talk to her, Sarah. She really wants to talk to you and she informed her parents about you and according to Nick, Lydia really wants to see you."
I looked at Lance, and laughed. "This is all so ironic, isn't it?"
"What is?" Lance questioned, his face turning into a frown.
"Think about it. Claire and Nick show up looking for our help and it turns out that she's my half sister." I took his phone from his still outstretched hand and stood to my feet, hesitantly.
"Sarah, none of this is coincidence. You were meant to meet your parents," Lance stood up and wrapped his arms around my waist. "And no matter what, I will always love you.” Lance murmured, pressing his lips softly to mine.
I felt the people in the diner watching us as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, but I pushed it out of mind along with everything else and I relished in the fact that I had Lance with me. He was mine and I was his, and together we could meet my parents and help Claire and Nick at the same time. “I love you,” I murmured against his lips.
“I love you more, baby.” Lance whispered against my lips, running his nose across mine. “And will you promise me one thing before you call Claire?”
I nodded, pulling away to look at him, “what?”
“Promise me you won’t go see them without me? I want to be with you when you go see them, but I want to make sure I get a heads up before we go meet them.”
I nodded. “I promise.”
“Okay,” Lance gave me one last lingering kiss before pulling away and smiling. “I’ll wait in the car.”
I watched as he walked out of the small diner that we had been eating in and I ran my hand through my hair. I was trying to determine what I should do. Call Claire and find out where my biological parents lived, or not call Claire and still have unanswered questions?
I knew the answer to my question, almost as soon as I’d asked myself, it was simple really and I knew once I’d dialed her number and the first ring hit my ear, I couldn’t hang up.
Claire answered on the fourth ring and I sighed quietly. "Claire?"
"Sarah," she breathed through the other end of the phone. "I'm assuming that since you called me, you know everything?"
I nodded and then realized she couldn't see it. "Yeah. My brother and Lance told me everything..... So, we're sisters?"
Claire laughed and it sounded nervous. "Yeah. It's unbelievable isn't it? I mean, I show up with my husband on Lance's doorstep with no clue that you were my sister and turns out we are and now it’s all so hard to process. I knew about you when I was a kid, but I didn’t know my parents had actually been looking for you. I thought once the Private Investigator had said there wasn’t any way to hunt you down, that that was the end of it."
I listened intently as she told her side of things and an image of Claire and I fighting as sisters and fighting over a boy we both liked and it made me smile. I could already tell Claire and I would be great friends and we’d get along really well. “I understand”
"Listen..... My- I mean our mother..... She's actually sitting in front of me right now.
I told her everything Sarah, and she really wants to meet you."
She was sitting in the same room as Claire? My birth mother was only a phone call away and I felt myself longing to know what her voice sounded like, I felt myself longing to know how much like her I was, but most of all I felt myself longing to know her.
"I know, and I really want to meet her as well Claire," I told her honestly. "I just need an address."
Claire gave me the address and I wrote it down on the napkin sitting in front of me. "Oh, and Sarah?"
"Hm?"
"Mom, she kind of wants to talk to you." Claire murmured and I heard the hesitance in her voice.
I frowned and clenched the phone tightly in my hand, "Oh."
"If you're not comfortable with it, she'll understand." Claire told me in reassurance.
"No, no. I'm okay with it." I told her, knowing for a fact that I was longing to speak to her too.
There was the sound of movement, the phone being passed from Claire to Lydia, and then a woman's voice filled the line. "Sarah?"
I swallowed, feeling tears in my eyes as I heard the sound of my mothers voice. It didn't sound like the woman who had raised me, the con artist who'd loved me, her voice sounded different. It sounded like the voice of a mother who loved her daughter and I couldn't help but feel a thrill rush through me at finally being able to talk to her.
"Mrs. Morgan," I murmured, not really knowing what else to call her. She was my mother, yes. But did she want me calling her mom? Did I want to call her mom?
"You sound so beautiful," she whispered and I could hear a crack in her voice. "Forgive me Sarah, I just haven't seen you since you were born and hearing your voice.... Oh how I wish I could see you!"
I smiled. "You can. I was intending to come meet you, but the drive is a ways away, so it might not be for a while. I'm still in school and I've just moved out of my original home, so I'm not really settled yet."
"Moved out?"
I flinched, "yes..... the people who I was raised calling mom and dad were con artist. I couldn't stay with them, anymore. My brother and I both moved out." I explained to her, not knowing if she knew anything about the people who’d raised me.
There was the sound of murmuring and then I heard a man's voice quietly in the background and his voice was anything but gentle. He sounded angry and I wondered if it was because of something I'd said.
"Simon," I heard Lydia whisper harshly.
That was my father's voice and I longed to hear his voice again, but he didn’t speak after that. I knew Lydia wanted to see me and I know Simon wants to see me, but what did he look like? I’d spent a lot of time pondering what both my mother and father looked and sounded like and I was finally going to be able to get my answers. "Hello?” I questioned.
“We’re here!” I heard Claire call over the sound of Lydia whispering something back to Simon..
"Sarah, I'd like to meet. Maybe your fath- I mean Simon and I could come to you? We could make the trip tonight and be there sometime tomorrow if you'd like?" Her voice was soft and motherly and I savored the moment.
I hesitated before answering. I'd have to ask Lance before I could tell them to come, considering I was living in the pack house, which he paid for and I knew he wouldn’t care, but I felt like I needed to respect him and ask.
"Sarah?"
"Sorry, It's just..... It would be so much easier for me to come to you, because I'm not exactly living at a permanent residence," I replied honestly.
"Who are you living with, Sarah if you don't mind me asking?"
"My brother and I are staying with my boyfriend. But he lives with a bunch of his friends, and we all sleep in separate rooms." I told her, trying to keep my tone light, I didn't want to have to tell her about werewolves.
She laughed gently. "We know about werewolves and pack houses. So there's no need to keep the secret."
I nodded, "okay. Well anyways, I'd have to talk to the Alpha before I can just invite you into his home."
"Of course, you can come to us then. Maybe this weekend?"
I smiled. "It's a date."
______
"Lilly..... what's wrong?" I'd gotten a text from her a few minutes prior, saying to meet her outside of the restaurant she and Nathan had been at in 15 minutes.
Lilly looked at me, her eyes filling with tears and falling freely down her face on her now tear streaked face. “Nathan.....” She broke off, wiping her face and sniffling in an attempt to stop crying.
“Did he tell you?” I questioned softly, pulling her to a table that was under an awning outside of the restaurant, where people could eat outside if they wanted too.
Lilly nodded, “yeah. He explained everything to me this afternoon. Nathan and Sam.... Their engaged.”
“They’re what?” I asked, bewildered. Nathan was engaged to Sam, but he wanted to be with Lilly?
“Nathan’s mother..... She had an arranged marriage with Sam and her pack, and now-”
“Wait! Sam is a werewolf?”
Lilly nodded, “yeah.But anyways, Nathan and Sam have an arranged marriage and neither of them can break it.”
I pulled her into a hug and hugged her tightly. “Nathan loves you, Lil. He won’t marry Sam. He can’t.”
Lilly nodded. “I know.”
________________________________________________
A/N: Hey guys! I just have a few things to add, first regarding this whole plotline combining my two stories. YES, I did change the plotline a little bit. Lydia and Simon (Sarah’s biological parents) both knew that she was kidnapped when she was a baby and they have both been looking for her ever since. I changed what I needed to in Becoming Female Alpha and I do have a lot to edit, so please bear with me! I hope you guy enjoyed this update. I hope it’s longer than my normal ones!
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