My Eternal Mate
Chapter Nineteen

LYRA

"You seem quite surprised," Aspen commented, raising a brow curiously, before he gestured for Kai to read a book by the dining table. "Now, don't look at me like that. Things were a hot mess with Jess."

I narrowed my eyes as I watched him take a sip of the drink in his hand, once he had successfully dumped his pup on the chair with a book.

Curiously, I asked, "You had a thing with her?"

Placing the cup down on to the coffee table, he nodded. "Of course. She was hot, psycho but hot."

"Was she your mate?" I asked, hesitantly, feeling slight nervous.

Aspen scoffed. "Nah," he replied. "I met her years ago, at a party. She didn't have a mate, neither did I. We hit it right off, but then she became quite possessive."

In all honesty, I was surprised to hear that he had a past with Jessica, but I couldn't care less about the details. I was more curious to know why Alexander was involved with her and why there was a pup that looked like him.

"She moved on to Alexander because you didn't want her anymore?"

"I must have gotten really drunk," he said, shrugging. "And I told her about Alexander. It was all fine and dandy at first, until Alexander's mother found out about me. She saw me with Jessica, the night that I found out she was pregnant."

"What's wrong with her seeing you?"

Aspen frowned, before he swallowed. "The former Luna had been searching for me for years, to kill me, and found me right under her wing. Jess knew that the Luna wanted to kill me, so she had to replace a way to protect me," he elaborated, giving me a look that I could not describe. "Her plan involved sedating your mate and making it seem as though it had been him that she got pregnant by, because it wouldn't have been long after when everyone would have found out that she was expecting."

Gasping lowly, I narrowed my eyes at him. "You knew of her plan and you allowed for it to happen?"

Aspen growled. "Of course not. Do you think I'm that sort of a person?" he retorted, his eyes slightly darker. "I watched Alexander grow up. I protected him from afar as his older brother. You think I would let a dumb bitch do that to him if I was aware?"

Chewing on my bottom lip, I glanced at him, searching to see if there was any ulterior motive behind his words, but when there wasn't, I nodded.

Sighing, I said, "Fine. So, she got with my mate, did things to him, to convince others that the pup was his?"

"Yes and no," Aspen replied, his eyes softer now. "She wanted Alexander, regardless. Sometimes, I wonder if she knew about us being brothers and got with me to be closer with him, you know. She didn't think twice with the plan she had plotted, and she seemed quite ecstatic the day after."

Blood boiled inside of me at his words. My wolf was angry because we hadn't had the chance to kill the damn wolf ourselves. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had wanted Alexander.

"She was successful in what she did, though. I have to give her that," Aspen stated. "The former Luna was convinced that the pup was Alexander's, and Jess injected his, you know, stuff, in to herself, to even further complicate the DNA."

Squirming uncomfortably, I asked, lowly, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Aspen questioned, intrigued. "Kai looks like Alexander because of the DNA manipulation. It's a wolf thing, wouldn't really work on humans. Considering we are brothers, and combined with his DNA, the pup ends up with more of his features."

"What?" I screeched, standing on my feet, feeling my wolf at bay. "What did you just say?"

Aspen rose to his feet, holding his arm out. "Luna, I can see this is a shock to you, but please, try to calm down."

"Calm down?" I bellowed, scoffing, feeling my face heat up. "You've just told me that the pup basically also has my mate's DNA in him, and now you want me to remain calm?"

"I can see why one would be angry," Aspen agreed. "It doesn't mean the pup is Alexander's. If you were to take a DNA test now, it would state that he is 99.9% my pup."

"How does that make sense when the pup has my mate's DNA in him?" I asked, furiously, already feeling my paws ripping through my knuckles.

"The pup was already formed before your mate's sperm was injected, the DNA just altered the features, not really becoming a part of the pup," he elaborated, calmly. "I know it's confusing, and like I said, it's only possible for wolves. Doesn't happen very often, but it is possible."

When my growl escaped, and I was about to shift, Jaxon must have heard the commotion inside of the house because next thing I knew, he was by my side, holding me close to him.

"Calm down," he urged, his voice low and hard, by my ear. "The pup is still here, you're scaring him."

My eyes travelled to the pup in query, who was currently stood by the dining table, clutching on to the book that he had been reading, glancing at me with wide, frightened eyes.

Softening up a little, I sighed, before I glared at Aspen. "I shouldn't have lost control like that," I stated, clearing my throat.

"Understandable, Luna," Aspen replied, a concerned look on his face. "Though, it does worry me."

I raised a brow at him. "What does?"

Aspen eyed Jaxon, a frown on his face, before his gaze returned back on me. "Never mind, perhaps, we can talk again another day."

Narrowing my eyes, I growled, "Aspen, whatever it is, you're going to tell me right now."

Aspen held my gaze for a moment, probably debating on whether it was safe to open his mouth. He then ushered for Kai to play outside, seeing how frightened the pup was.

"You were an orphan, right?” he questioned, once the pup was no longer in the room.

Frowning, I retorted, “I don’t see how that is any of your business, or why it’s related to anything that we are talking about.”

I felt Jaxon tense under me, he turned around to glare at Aspen, shocked to hear the words come out of his mouth. I placed my hand on his arm, to stop him from saying anything.

“Oh, but it does,” Aspen said, his eyes hard. “Do you think it was that simple for Lionel to leave this pack and join another?”

At the mention of the former beta from this pack, the mention of Jaxon’s father, the man that had killed my father for the Alpha title, I completely froze.

Jaxon growled loudly, and shifted to his wolf, but I remained still in my spot, my gaze on Aspen.

Aspen glanced at Jaxon briefly, before his eyes landed on me. His brows twitched. “I’m sorry for mentioning the past, I can’t imagine it being easy. I do think you deserve to know, though. If it was me, I would want to know.”

‘I’m going to kill him after you have said your words,’ Jaxon said through the mind-link, anger clearly evident in his voice.

I snapped out of my daze and narrowed my eyes at Aspen. “How do you know about this?”

Aspen scoffed. “Please, I was all eyes and ears for years in the shadows. It was the only thing I could do,” he retorted, angrily.

“What do you know?” I asked, my voice low, and I could already feel tears burn my eyes at the level of frustration that I felt.

“Well, for one, that the former Luna was a lot closer to Lionel than people thought,” he claimed. “What better way to get back at your mate who can’t choose you over a mere human, than to brainwash the beta, your mate’s best friend, to start his own pack and become your exact enemy?”

His words were spoken so fast that at first, they completely flew over my head. I thought Jaxon was going to attack Aspen with how furious he was. But the three of us completely froze when a loud growl echoed in the room, making me snap my head to where the sound came from only to meet my mate by the front door.

My eyes, tearful and angry, gazed at Alexander, who was glaring at Aspen, with dark and hard eyes. He was beyond furious, his canines visible and his paws protruded. I was relieved to have him here, feeling as though, I was going to black out.

“Alexander,” I whispered, wanting to go to him, when he stopped me by holding his hand up.

He turned his head enough for our eyes to meet, and I gasped lowly at his intense gaze. He was angry, that was for sure.

‘Don’t,’ he warned, through our mind-link, his voice angry. ‘You will wait at the pack house for my return.’

I wanted to argue, shocked to have him order me around, when Alexander paid no attention to me and strutted towards Aspen. Evan had arrived in to the house and was guiding me away. I tried to fight him off, but I couldn’t. Jaxon remained in his wolf form, and stayed with Alexander even when Evan was carrying me away.

I was still shocked at the tone that Alexander had used to order me around. I was the angry one, his mother had quite possibly started off the whole chaos that had affected us. But I didn’t have time to ponder when Evan forced me away.

The last thing that I saw was Alexander’s fist connecting with Aspen’s jaw, as he muttered, “This one is for being my brother.” With another punch, he said, “And this one is for hiding the truth from me.”