^^^ Alexander
A/N Hella long chapter..
Isabella stood there for at least a minute just appreciating what was happening in front of her, Jackson had finally found his mate but she quickly came to her senses by remembering exactly why they were here
"Look... we really need to speak to whoever is in there" Isabella says with a sigh feeling bad to put this girl in this position, this was the opposite to how Isabella thought she would have to approach this situation - she definitely didn't expect to see a young girl on her own - then throw the fact that the person protecting this person is Jackson's mate just made it ten times harder
"I can't" she says gulping nervously "They will kill me"
Isabella jumps when Jackson lets a large growl pass his lips in anger, the thought of anyone touching a hair on Hunter's head was enough for Isabella's heart to hurt and he wasn't in immediate danger where as this girl could be and Jackson now felt that it was his job to protect her.
"I won't let them but you need to let us see this person" Jackson says scooping her two small hands into his big ones, his eyes circle around her face trying to soak in every single feature about her like it was the last time he would ever see them... he didn't even know her name yet.
"Okay... follow me" she whispers nervously, Jackson places one of his hands on the small of her back with the other on her arm to steady her. The girl lead us to the back of the house and to a door with multiple locks on it, Isabella couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at this girl... was the person inside of there really that dangerous?
"It's just procedure, I have to follow all the rules set for me... I'm Molly by the way" she says with a hint of a smile as she speaks more to Jackson who is too shocked to say a word
Once the final lock is undone she swings open the door to reveal what looks like a simple bedroom, the curtains are still open and the beam of moonlight coming in through the windows lets us see a lump under the bed sheets which was moving up and down in time with their breathing, Isabella's own breath was caught in her throat, she couldn't control herself anymore, her legs would simply not move forward even though she was pleading them too.
"Alexander?" Molly says, she walks to the edge of the bed and pushes his shoulder a couple of times to wake him up which he does. As the man is stirring slowly both Isabella and Jackson do not move any further into the room, they didn't know what to expect and Isabella was having second thoughts about everything.
"Switch the lights on Moll, I can't see a thing" a raspy voice calls out, Molly nods her head to the light switch beside Isabella's head so she turns it on
"I have some people who want to speak to you Alexander" she whispers, she crouches down beside his bed, Isabella waited with baited breath as the man in the bed lifted himself up slowly his bones cracking as he stretches out his limbs
"Who is it?" he says before clearing his throat, he is finally sat completely up and lets Isabella and Jackson see his old and weathered face, he has graying hair and wrinkles spread evenly across his face, he must have been around 60 years old.
"Hello Alexander, my name is Jackson and this is..." Jackson starts
"...Isabella" Alexander butts in leaving everyone else taken aback, how did he know that?
"Molly send them into the kitchen, a pot of tea if you don't mind. I will be out in a moment" Alexander says in a nervous tone as if sensing the need to do exactly as he says, Molly starts to usher them out immediately.
-
Ten minutes later, Alexander entered into the kitchen with a sad look on his face, sad yet not surprised like he had been expecting Isabella for some time but now it had finally come he was having doubts about telling her what she needed to know. Alexander sat down at the final free chair beside Molly, Isabella felt bad about keeping Jackson from his mate but she had asked him to sit with her because she didn't want to sit next to a man she didn't know.
"What do you want to know?" he asks wearily, he takes a sip of the still scalding tea but makes no effort to show that it burnt his throat on the way down
"I don't even know what I need to know... I was hoping you would tell me" Isabella shrugs nervously and that's when it did actually hit her that she knew she had come for answers but she didn't even have questions for warrant answers.
"How do you know her name?" Jackson blurts out suddenly narrowing his eyes at Alexander
"I gave it to her of course... well, I made half of the decision" he says smiling slightly as if reliving a memory
"No... the Alpha at my old pack gave me my name when my parents abandoned me" Isabella says her head swimming in a million and one thoughts.
"Jax? That was your old Alpha, no?" he says knowingly making Isabella sit back trying to create as much distance between herself and this man without getting up from her chair
"How did you know that?" Isabella asks glancing over at Jackson, she wasn't sure she even wanted these answers anymore, she felt sick
"We were good friends and I knew he could be trusted with my biggest and most important secret" he explains staring straight at Isabella as if waiting for her to put the pieces together which she failed to do so he sighed frustratedly while rubbing his eyes "I had a daughter who needed to be hid, needed to be kept out of danger and I knew Jax was the man to do it without asking too many questions"
"... So you're trying to tell us..." Jackson starts with wide eyes after a long pause of silence
"You're my father?" Isabella asks now finally realising what he was getting at, he didn't reply with words but simply nodded at her "And my mother?"
"Maybe I should tell you the full story" Alexander says more to himself, the fact that he didn't respond to Isabella's question about her mother made the contents of her stomach churn even more
"That sounds like a good idea" Molly says rubbing his arm comfortingly, Isabella had forgotten she was even there.
"I knew Jax by accident, we were from neighboring packs and he had gotten in trouble with the King, even to this day I don't know what he did but he had run into the forest with the King himself running after him trying to chase after him with silver arrows and bullets" he starts to shake his head and avoid eye contact at the scary memory
"So, I was unlike most wolves, I didn't like being in a pack, I was happy on my own so I often went out into the forest on my own and that particular day, I ran into Jax who asked me to hide him, I pointed him the quickest way home as I knew all of that forest like the back of my hand but in that process I was shot with a silver arrow and although yes it injured me the fact that it wasn't the silver that caused the issue and I knew I could pull it out without it causing further damage told the King about my.. condition"
"I'm guessing he didn't let you go home after that" Isabella asks wondering where in the hill this was going
"No he didn't and at first it felt worth it, Jax was a little bit younger than me, I was already 43 at the time so I felt I had done something good... In regret it completely now of course. I was taken back to the palace, my pack was told I had murdered a King's guard and that I would spend my life in the dungeons so they should not come looking for me. In reality, they had a young girl waiting for me, she was 18 years old and was also unaffected by silver but after testing they knew that both of us were only 50% unaffected by silver meaning that the initial impact wouldn't hurt and for a short time afterwards it would be okay but eventually it would have the same effect as it would on normal werewolves. They weren't sure what would happen if two people like this reproduced, would the child be even less unable to fight the effects or would they be 100% unaffected by silver" he explains shuddering slightly
"They made you have a child together didn't they?"Jackson asks as everyone watches Alexander's head drop to his chest as he nods sadly
"But you weren't mates, that could be so dangerous!" Isabella cries out with tears pooling her eyes
"They didn't care about the danger, they just wanted to run more tests especially if they had a fresh specimen and especially if that baby was fully unaffected. They thought they would be able to find a cure through our genes and blood to stop all werewolves being affected - they thought stopping that hindrance that werewolves would become the strongest species in the world" he shrugs like this was the most normal piece of information in the world
"So you just did what they said?" Isabella asks leaning forward on the table now fully aware that she needed to hear everything that he said
"They had only ever found one other man like me before and he had managed to kill himself while unattended so I was definitely treated better because they couldn't afford to lose me but they said that if we didn't do as they asked they would kill, Betty"
"Betty is my mother?" Isabella says the breath once again getting caught in her throat
"Yes and once again, I couldn't let anything happen. Betty was so young, she was 18 for god sake and the things they told me they would do to her if we didn't do as they asked... I thought it was the lesser of two evils to do it" he says with a haunted look on his face
"So what happened next?" Jackson says suddenly aware of the time now too, we really didn't have long left
"Betty got pregnant of course, they forced us to... you know everyday for 3 months before she even got pregnant - we just were not compatible but those 9 months were okay, we got to know each other because we didn't need to do the things like before. It was more of a father/daughter relationship despite everything else... I just wanted to care for her, she was so innocent. I still remember the first time we felt you kick and that was when we knew we had to get you out of there when you were born" he says rubbing his eyes again feeling tired
"How did you manage that?"
"I had noticed there was one guard who was our weak spot, he didn't like the job he had been given and didn't agree with it - everyone else detached themselves from what they were guarding but every time I saw this man looking at us he had pity in his eyes so I knew our only chance to get out was through him so I worked on him begging him to let us leave and the day after you were born... they had already started tests on you and found out you were 100% unaffected but they wanted Betty to breastfeed so you were returned to us each night and one night, we didn't know what gave him the confidence but he let us go and I knew the three of us couldn't stay together... Isabella - we had decided that name together for our baby girl - wasn't safe with either of us and the one person I knew owed me was Jax, it was one hell of a long shot but he told me that he never liked to owe someone and even though this was a big ask he said he would do it, I even explained the situation"
"That's true... he would do anything for anyone but he never liked to owe anyone" Isabella nods sadly remembering the only father figure in her life
"I gave him a brief over view of what had happened but I also wrote him a letter with every single detail in and Betty also left her necklace that she told me she had worn every day of her life" he says smiling softly
"This?" Isabella asks pulling the necklace out of her pocket and places it on the table, Alexander stares at it with wide eyes but makes no movements to pick it up, he nods slowly
"I didn't know if he would give it to you" he smiles "I'm glad he did, you deserve something to remember her"
"What happened?" Isabella asks
"We were caught while we were on the run, they got us within 5 days and they tried to torture us to reveal where you were but neither of us gave it up.. she was... raped by... well she never told me who by but I had my suspicions it was the King" he explains anger lighting up his eyes while Jackson's jaw drops and Isabella audibly gasps
"Please tell me he didn't kill her" Jackson says placing his large hand over Isabella's shaking one, Molly who had been mostly silent looked over and glared but Jackson kept his hand there with a sorry look in his eyes, his friend needed him and he would make it up to her later
"Not directly but she was tired, she hadn't long had a baby and they were torturing and raping her... she got pregnant again very soon after but I wasn't the father, it wasn't possible but we stayed together again for those 9 months but it was during childbirth, we received no medical care for Betty because they didn't care about this baby as it only had one parent who was unaffected by silver and then during childbirth something happened, I think it was because she was having a child with a man who was a normal werewolf and wasn't her mate and it killed her, they took her body away and the baby... I never knew what happened to the baby" he shrugs
Isabella can't hold it in anymore and she leans over and is sick onto the floor, she can't stop it so had to let it happen as Jackson awkwardly rubs her back.
"I'm pregnant with twins...am I going to die?" Isabella says now also letting a couple of tears leak out of her eyes
"With your mate? Who I am guessing is affected by silver?" Alexander asks, Isabella who had seemed to lose her voice simply nods "Just be careful, he's your mate so you're made for each other despite your differences" he says with a not so sure note in his voice
Something makes Isabella's head snap up, she can hear a car door shut and she can smell that oh so familiar scent that she loves so much but for once it almost fills her with fear - she could never truly fear him but everything had changed since she had last seen him and she had no idea how she was going to tell him especially when he was going to be so incredibly angry
"Hunter..." Isabella and Jackson say at exactly the same time.