The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 80

REMY

"I think we found a lead on how to break the curse," Scythe said. He shifted his weight back and forth, and he hesitated to say where the lead was actually from.

"That's good news, isn't it? Why are you acting like you have something you don't want to say," my mom said. She picked up on the same energy that I had. Whatever this lead was, it wasn't a simple solution.

"Well, I was talking with Percy, and he made a good point that we are not the only ones who have looked into how to break this curse." Scythe let his voice trail off again.

"Scythe, please just get to the point," my dad said.

It was just Scythe, my parents, Blade, and me in the room at the moment. Everyone else was busy with their daily duties and preparing for the war. Percy must have been off on one of his liaison missions again. Sometimes it felt like he spent more time away from the pack, working on relationships with other werewolf packs than at home. I wondered how Scythe and Percy made their relationship work when it was long-distance half of the time, but they always seemed perfectly in love when I saw them together. "Well, do you remember when people thought Adira was the Daughter of Moon and Magic?" Scythe asked. This time he didn't wait for a response. "Percy pointed out that there was someone who had done a lot of research about the prophecy." "No," my mom said instantly.

I still didn't know where Scythe was going with this, but my mom seemed to understand, and her demeanor changed instantly.

"Wait. Who is it?" I asked. I didn't want to write off a possibility of figuring this out.

"It doesn't matter. We're not going to him," my mom said.

"Why not? Who is it?" I asked. I could feel my mom shutting down, but I wouldn't let her get away with not telling me. Even if she thought it was best not to go to the person, I wanted to know who it was. I had the right to know. My mom sighed and pinched her nose. "He's talking about Cain."

"Cain?" I repeated. "Why him?" I didn't know much about the man, other than he was my mom's biological father, but he wasn't ever present in my life, even when I was a baby. From what I understood, he was barely in my mom's life too, but I didn't know the specific details about why. I just assumed he was a bad father, but now I was thinking there was more to it. My mom seemed absolutely against the idea.

"Cain tried to stop the prophecy at one point. He looked into different methods to stop it," Scythe explained. "He has the most knowledge about it of everyone we know. At the very least, he could point us in the direction of someone who would know more." "He tried and failed. We are not going to him," my mom said. Her words sounded final.

"Are there any other leads you have found?" my dad asked.

Scythe frowned. "No. This is the only one I've come up with. There is very little information about the prophecy, other than the prophecy itself. I will keep looking, though. Percy has been asking as many people as he can, but I wouldn't hold my breath for an answer. Werewolves seem to know the least about this."

"I don't understand why we can't go to this Cain person if he might have answers for us," Blade said.

I looked at him, a little surprised. He didn't get involved in discussions very often, especially like this. He would add to the conversation when it came to vampires, but he usually stayed quiet during pack affairs. My mom seemed a little shocked at his question as well.

"It's not worth it. Because of him, I nearly died, and I will not risk having my daughter around that man," my mom said. Her emotions were running high, and it would be hard to get her to see reason like that.

"What happened?" I asked, even though I knew it was a sensitive subject. She couldn't just say my biological father tried to kill her without going into details.

"I don't think I can talk about this right now," my mom said. "Just please trust me when I say that Cain is not a trustworthy person to go to." She left the room without saying anything else.

"Just give her some time to process this. She'll come around," my dad said before he followed her, giving me an apologetic smile. I stood there awkwardly with Blade still holding my hand. I didn't know what to say. She didn't lie to me, but she didn't really give me much to go off of either. I looked at Scythe with pleading eyes.

"I need to know what happened with my mom and Cain. If he is the only lead we have, I can't just ignore it, not when my happiness is on the line," I begged. I squeezed Blade's hand. Even if it was risky, I needed to try to talk to Cain.

Scythe sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Fine. Sit down, but you didn't hear this from me."

I sat as he ordered, and Blade took a seat next to me. Scythe took a moment to sit, and I could tell he was already regretting his decision.

He finally sat across from me and interlaced his fingers. "Look, I'm only telling you because you deserve to know this, especially since it directly affects you. You have to promise me two things before I say anything more though." "What is it?" Blade asked. He was on edge, ready to get some answers.

Scythe held up his pointer finger. "One. You will not go after Cain in secret or on your own. Even if your mother won't agree to it, bring others with you, even if it has to be me. You will not be stupid or irrational about this."

I nodded my head, knowing that was a reasonable request. I didn't want to go running off by myself without others knowing about it, especially with Draven's threat hanging over my head. "Okay, I can agree to that."

He held up another finger. "Two. Don't hold this against your mother for not telling you sooner. I know you two have been on rocky terms, but this isn't something that's easy for her to talk about. In fact, I'm not sure if I have really heard her mention it to anyone since it happened."

I knew Scythe made a good point, but the second condition was a little harder for me to accept right away. I took a deep breath to keep myself calm, and then I nodded in agreement. Holding it against her would do neither of us any good, and I needed this information.

"I'm sure you know that Cain has never been a part of Adira's life, right?" Scythe began.

"Yeah. I don't know why though. I just assumed he wasn't a good dad," I said.

"That's a very simple way of putting it. Cain and your mother's mother, Freya, fell in love, despite being from two completely different groups. It was unheard of-a werewolf and a sorcerer getting together. Well, your grandmother accidentally got pregnant with your mother, and then they found out about the prophecy. They were scared of what kind of life that meant for your mother, so Freya returned home and married Alpha Reyland, pretending your mother was his child. Cain chose to stay away, because they thought it was the best way to protect your mother.

"She didn't even know Cain existed until after she turned twenty-one. Then Cain decided it was time to get involved in her life again, because the Council of Magic was threatening her. Long story short, he kidnapped her, erased the mate mark from your father, and almost killed you and your brother in the process. He thought he was protecting her by taking her away from werewolves, but he was just crazy."

My stomach felt like lead after hearing the story. If my own father forced my mate away and even went to the extent of k********g her, I didn't know if I could ever forgive him. I couldn't imagine my dad ever doing something like that, though. He was very loving and a good dad. No wonder this was a difficult subject for my mom.

"What happened to Cain after that?" I asked. Blood related or not, he deserved to be executed for doing something that extreme, and I was sure there were gruesome details that were left out of this quick retelling.

"Your father had him locked up, but Freya broke him free. They ran away together, but not before Cain passed his magic to your mother as a sort of apology-not that it did much of anything. He just wanted her to be able to protect herself better from those who were trying to kill her or use her," Scythe said.

"I had no idea Luna Adira had gone through something like that," Blade said. "No wonder she is so protective of Remy."

"Adira and Mark had to fight hard to get their happy ending, and it nearly broke them in the process," Scythe added.

"Thanks for this information, Scythe," I said, standing up. What Cain did was horrible, and I understood why my mother wouldn't want me to go near him. However, if it was true that he didn't have his magic, he wouldn't be dangerous, and he was the best shot Blade and I would have at breaking the prophecy and living our happily ever after together.

"Just remember, you didn't hear any of this from me," Scythe emphasized. "I don't want to be scolded."

-

CAULDER

Winslow had me strapped to a chair. I tried to break myself free, but it was no use. There were too many others pinning me down, and I couldn't overpower them, especially without my magic. I knew what they were about to do to me, and I couldn't take another day of it. "It's for your own good," Winslow said. "Once we break your magic free, you'll be able to help us keep that creature contained. You'll be able to protect your sister."

"I don't care. Don't do this!" I begged. I didn't believe anything Winslow said. He was just trying to manipulate me. He just wanted to use my power to his benefit, but I still didn't understand why he needed me of all people.

Once I was strapped down, the sorcerers stepped back. The eldest with jet black hair held up her hands and unleashed a lightning bolt into my chest. I screamed as the pain radiated throughout my body. It was the worst pain I had ever been in, and my body hadn't even fully recovered since the last time Winslow had put me through this. He said I would have to continue to endure this until I hit the point where my magic fully emerged. I was starting to wonder if that would ever happen before they accidentally killed me.