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“Hm.” Marshall sat a little straighter, “I won’t hide anything from Sorcha. We aren’t together but I trust her.”
Aiden was still standing and clapped a hand on Marshall’s shoulder, “We all trust her. Whatever it is, we will tell her. She’s been with us, helping, this whole time. And she’s your mate, whether you are together or not. Mates don’t keep secrets.”
“Agreed.” Chris leaned back in the chair and crossed his ankle over his knee. It was almost a mirror of how Marshall was sitting. It made her giggle.
And of course, Aiden noticed, “What’s funny babe?”
“Look at them. Aren’t they cute?” All three guys looked around the room like there was someone else there, hiding behind the cat statues or something. They looked confused. Kenzie giggled again, then indicated Marshall and Chris, “You two! You both are so alike, it’s adorable. You stand the same way, sit the same way, cross your arms the same way. I just think it’s cute.”
Both men looked uncomfortable now, and at the same time, uncrossed their legs. Aiden snorted out a laugh, “Well she’s not wrong.”
Just then Raven came rushing back into the room, saving the men from having to reply. “Thank the Goddess you’re here. I found it, and oh my gosh it’s a doozy. Have any of you ever heard of Sebastian Olivier Beaumont?”
Raven looked around the room, when everyone shook their heads she continued, “So apparently, he is Marshall and Kenzie’s like, great- great- great grandfather on Rhiannon’s side. The timeline is a little murky so I’m not quite sure how many greats. Anyways. His mate is unknown throughout history, though it is said he had one. It took forever for me to find a reference to why that would be. All I could find was a short passage about how she was infected and because of that, they were cast into exile.”
“That’s a little harsh.” Kenzie thought packs were supposed to be a family, but it seemed like there was a lot of corruption and judgement in some of them.
“Yes.” Raven agreed, “Harsh, but perhaps with reason, at least in their minds. I have a journal from a witch who worked with the packs a long time ago. She used to travel to different villages offering her services as a healer. One day she was summoned by a man named Sebastian Olivier Beaumont. He told her that his mate had been attacked and she needed help. When the witch examined her, she found something extremely odd.”
Raven paused, and it was like the whole room was holding their breath, “The woman had been drained of a significant amount of blood, and her blood had started to change. It was no longer fully werewolf. The infection was spreading very quickly, but it wasn’t killing her. It was like it was changing her, mutating her blood cells. The witch found a type of hybrid gene in the woman. She asked the man what exactly had attacked his mate. When he finally answered, the witch was shocked and scared. For there was no cure for the infection spreading through the woman. There is no cure for vampirism.”
There was an audible gasp as the room fell completely silent. Kenzie didn’t think shock could cover her feelings at that moment. A vampire? But how was that possible?
Christopher spoke her thoughts aloud, “How is that possible? The line continued. Wouldn’t the woman have died? The vampire would have had to feed her his blood to turn her like that. Others have tried and it never worked, the werewolf always dies.”
Marshall’s jaw practically hit the floor, “What the hell Dad? That’s really happened before? Why don’t I know this? Shouldn’t that be information I learned when becoming Alpha?”
“It happened centuries ago. Before my father was even born. The last case I read about happened during the vampire wars. They tried to increase their numbers while decreasing ours and creating stronger soldiers, but it wouldn’t work. After that the council was formed and it was banned by punishment of death. As far as anyone knows, it hasn’t happened since.”
Aiden finally took a seat beside Kenzie on the couch, “Shit. This is bad, right?”
Raven shrugged, “I guess it depends on how you look at it. Now we know what Rhiannon and the prophecy meant by mixed blood. With your magic, obviously there is witch in there too. I haven’t found where it comes from yet, but I will. So, with that, we are a step closer to having answers. On the other hand, there is no research on werewolves who have this kind of mixed blood. We have no idea how it will affect you, your bodies, your health, or anything else.”
Marshall ran a hand down his face, trying to rub away the obvious exhaustion, “And so with the answers comes a whole list of new problems. It explains a few things, but it doesn’t actually answer any questions.”
Kenzie raised her hand, “I have a question. If our blood is so mixed, how are we able to shift at all? My mom told me about a wolf she met while visiting with Rhiannon that was half werewolf. I think it was a wolf dad and a human mom. She said the wolf couldn’t shift because his blood was diluted.”
Chris shook his head, “Megan must have been misinformed. Even half wolves can shift. Anything less than that would have a problem though. I don’t know who she could have met. If she was visiting Rhiannon, it would have been here. And we’ve never had any half werewolves here, at least not during my life span.”
“That’s weird. My mom was pretty sure about it, but I don’t know. Maybe someone lied to her for some reason. Though, I can’t see what that lie would accomplish.”
Chris looked thoughtful but shook his head again, “I don’t know. I will ask my father if he knew of anyone.”
“Wait, your father is alive? I thought someone only takes over as alpha when the previous one dies. Except with you and Marshall of course.” She still had so much to learn about this world.
“Actually no. We live so long that an Alpha will often retire from the position at some point to allow the next generation to take over. We do still tend to be a patriarchal society, so it usually passes from father to son. In the event the Alpha does not have an heir, he would have to choose a successor in advance.” Chris explained.
She understood, “So it’s just like a monarchy. Like in England with kings and queens.”
Chris smiled at her, “Exactly like that. A few Alphas might even claim they are kingly. Though most definitely are not.”
Raven spoke up now, “So speaking of kingly. I did find something else interesting. Apparently, the Blake line is a very old English name. It was a very common name among the nobility. I haven’t finished researching it, but I will. I’ll tell you all the juicy details when I’m done. I have a hunch the Blake line is the one with witch blood. I couldn’t find any on the other side, so we’ll see.”
“We may have started in England, but we immigrated from Ireland, so I would check there as well.” Chris stood up, “If that’s all, it’s getting late. I’m going to head back to the house.”
“You all are so calm about this.” Kenzie’s head was spinning. She was pretty sure her brain was running out of space for all the new info she’d learned.
Aiden shrugged, “We knew there would be something. Not this specifically, but I know I was prepared for something shocking. I guess I’m just glad it wasn’t something we couldn’t deal with.”
