Chapter 102
[ 736 words ]
Thirteenth generation
102: 102.
Thirteenth generation Aria
“I’m sorry I never told you about my family,” Hazel says, sitting across from me on one of the benches in the garden.
I wanted somewhere private to have this talk.
Somewhere where we can sit down and hash things out so I can understand.
So I can work on trusting her again.
Of course, my mates and Liam don’t seem to know what boundaries are.
Ronan had to be told to move back three times until he finally huffed and moved over a few benches.
Barric was coincidentally busy planting basil seeds three rows down, Theo was over by the entryway on “Guard duty,” a duty I knew only the junior warriors did, and Kade and Liam were harvesting potatoes.
My wolf rolled her eyes at their obvious antics.
I know they are still a little overprotective after what had happened, but I still can’t help feeling irritated by their actions.
I focus on Hazel, on the apology that feels and smells sincere.
I want this to be it.
To just believe her, but the skeptical part of me needs more.
“So you’re a Hunter.”
She looks out over the garden, her green eyes glowing like peridots in the soft morning light, and sighs.“Thirteenth generation.”
“Generation…” I repeat my stomach rolling.
I think of our time in the city and can’t stop myself from blurting out.
“Did you know? About my family, when we met?”
She looks at me, not shying away from my eyes.
“No.
Everything I told you was real.
I left my family.
Well, I guess the politically correct term was, I ran away, but you know, details.”
“Why?”
“Being a hunter isn’t a choice in a family like mine.
It’s expected.
Trained into you.
My family, in particular, is one of the five founding families.
We can trace our lineage back to the 1700s.” Someone growls behind Hazel and us, and we frown, roll our eyes, and then continue.
“My life wasn’t my own. From the moment I was born, they had what I would study, what role I would take, and who I would marry chosen for me.”
Another growl, this one more vicious than the first, and my eyes snap to Liam, giving him a warning look.
He blinks and goes back to his digging.
“Sorry about that,” I say honestly.
Hazel shrugs, but I can tell the reminders that we aren’t alone have closed her off.
“Anyway, it wasn’t what I wanted.
So, Ransom helped me leave.”
“He didn’t go with you?”
“He couldn’t.
They used me as leverage.
My father considered my leaving a small act of rebellion, a teenage thing.
He was sure I would come to my senses when life got hard and come back with my tail between my legs.
Ransom was his insurance.
He promised he wouldn’t send people after me as long as he stayed.
So he did.
We kept in contact over the years, but it was clear he was going to kill him if I didn’t come home, and my time was running out.”
Shock, hand my wolf stock still inside me.
For a Man to be that cruel.
“Would he have really killed him?”
“Yes.” The word is delivered with absolute certainty.
“The hunters are not a family.
We’re an organization.
Status and reputation, use, means everything, and my father is the top of that pyramid.
I was an asset he wasn’t willing to lose.”
“When did you go back?”
“When you stopped responding.” Her eyes flick back to where Liam and Kade are.
“Ransom told me about the female wolf being held by the Assembly, and I realized it was your mother. He did some digging for me, and when you stopped responding, I figured it was time for the prodigal daughter to return home.”
My heart squeezes.
She did it for me.
Returned to those horrible people, faced the very real possibility of not surviving, for me.
I grab her hand tightly, and she holds mine back.“And then you blew it all up?”
“And then I did what my father taught me to do, I learned my enemy and used what I knew, only this time I took Ransom with me.”
I stare into her eyes.
“You’ll be hunted now. You both will. You both put yourself at risk for me.”
Hazel rolls her eyes as I should know better.
“Isn’t that what you do for your family, whatever it takes?”
My eyes fill with tears.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” she opens her arms for me, and I go into them like I’ve done so many times in the past.
“You know I’m shit with tears.”
All the tension from my body melts away.
With all the changes, at least I know who I can trust.
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