The Forbidden Mate
Chapter Sixteen – The Truth

Katy

Alex’s grandfather has summoned us. We are about to replace out if he will give us his support. I am so nervous. I am sure he will not want to help us. Our previous meeting with him had not gone well.

When I arrive at his house, Alex’s grandfather opens the door, his face is blank, his expression gives nothing away. He beckons to me to follow him into the living room. Alex is already there, seated on the sofa. Across from him I am shocked to see Miss Graham. I thought she hated her father but there she is sitting comfortably in his house, as if she belonged there.

I sit down next to Alex. I am a bundle of nerves. He senses how tense I am and grabs my hand squeezing it reassuringly. I immediately calm down.

His grandfather begins to talk.

“After our meeting last week, I decided to visit my daughter. I can see that you are both surprised by this, it is well known that we have been estranged for a long time, too long. However, in order for me to decide if I should support your mating, I needed to learn more about Katy. My daughter is the only person who could provide me with the information I need.

Katy,” he says turning to me. “You are a unique, unusual wolf. I was already aware of who you were. The fact that you had been allowed to finish school, and my daughters special interest in you, had brought you to my attention.

I knew that you were different, not an ordinary Omega, but it was our conversation a few days ago that really surprised me. You were dominant, you did not submit to me, even though I used my Alpha dominance on you. No Omega should be able to withstand the power of an Alpha, but you did.”

Alex turned to look at me questioningly.

“My daughter has confided in me; she has told me who you really are” he says.

He turns to Alex and says “Alex, you were surprised when you discovered that Katy, an Omega was your mate. An Alpha wolf from this pack has never been mated to an Omega before. It is a rare event in any pack. The mate bond between you is possible because Katy is not really an Omega wolf. The family she grew up with are not her real parents.”

I dare not look at Alex.

His grandfather continues “I know that my daughter has told you part of the truth, Katy, and made you promise to tell no one, but it is important now that you understand who you are. And Alex needs to know the truth too. That you both realise how important you are to wolves loyal to the royals.

“The missing princess?” Alex asks, shock written on his face.

“Wait, what?” I say.

“Yes. Katy you are not just the child of high-ranking wolves in the Royal Pack, as Ellen told you previously. You are the daughter of our late king and queen. You escaped the massacre that killed your parents and siblings. Ellen managed to take you from the royal nursery and spirit you away from the castle before anyone realised you were gone.

She brought you here and gave you to your parents to raise as an Omega. As you know they were sworn to secrecy. My daughter was convinced (and rightly so) that the more people who knew your true identity the more danger you would be in. No one could replace out who you really were.

She has dedicated her life to keeping you safe. But things have changed since you turned eighteen. You have your wolf now, and she is growing more dominant by the day. Your mate is an alpha wolf, and members of the pack are starting to guess that you have feelings for each other. Your identity will not remain secret for long.

Added to this, you have turned eighteen at the most dangerous time since the war ended. The Black Moon pack are attempting to restart the war. Their Alpha Lucius is convinced that you have survived and has launched a search to hunt you down.

The Royal Pack are also trying to replace you, to protect you from Lucius. Alex is one of the wolves that has sworn to replace and protect you.”

I turn to look at Alex, with surprise.

“Yes” he says “my two years away were not to search for my Luna, that was a cover for my real objective. My grandfather and I believe that this pack has lost its way, destroyed its reputation by remaining neutral during the war. I travelled to the other packs loyal to the royals, to convince them that when I became Alpha, I would not follow my father’s path and remain neutral. That they could trust me. A new war is coming, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Royal Pack.

I was able to persuade Joseph the commander of the Royal Pack that I genuinely wanted to help them defeat Lucius and the Black Moon Pack. He allowed Euan and me to spend two years training and fighting with their warriors.

When it was time for us to return home, I was given a mission to search for traitors within our pack. Joseph has spies in the Black Moon Pack, who informed him that there was a traitor hidden in our pack who was working to overthrow my father and bring the pack over to Lucius side in the next war.

I was also asked to search for you, the lost princess, but I didn’t believe that you existed. I thought it was impossible that you could have survived hidden from the Royal Pack and Lucius for so long.

It all makes sense now. I take it that you can shift into your wolf. That you just used the excuse of having an Omega wolf illness to stop people seeing her?”

“Yes” I say, “Miss Graham thought it would be best. My wolf’s fur is silver and too distinctive. There are no other silver wolves in our pack.”

“I have already seen your wolf, I followed you on the night of the party. But I am not the only one who knows about her existence, Carl does as well,” Alex tells me.

“You were not as careful as you needed to be when you shifted. I think you know that though, don’t you?” his grandfather asks. “Not only did Alex almost track you down, but a few nights ago Carl’s minions also lay in wait and attempted to capture you. I understand you only just escaped.”

I instinctively clutched my arm where the brown wolf had scratched me and nodded.

“We suspect that Carl is the traitor and is working for Lucius. He knows of your existence and is trying to track you down and capture you. If he succeeds, he will most likely kill you.”

“But we won’t let that happen” Alex tells me resolutely. “I will protect you with my life.”

“Carl is a traitor?” I ask. I loathe the man. He has beaten up his own daughter, my best friend. He has always despised me, but I always thought that he was loyal to the pack.

“Yes,” Alex responds. “We believe that he used his influence over my father to ensure that we did not get involved in the war, that he is working against our pack, and now he is searching for you. You must stay away from him. No more visiting Lily at her house or accidentally bumping into him when he is at the packhouse. If you were to inadvertently let something slip, or if he was to see a display of your dominance, then he would not hesitate to kill you. We wouldn’t be able to protect you.”

“As long as I can still see Lily” I say. “I rarely go to her house, but she must be allowed to come and visit me at mine, and for us to spend time together in the pack house, as we have always been able to do.”

“It would be better if you didn’t” Alex’s grandfather tells me.

“Nothing could be more suspicious than me suddenly stopping speaking to my best friend” I argue.

“She has a point” Alex tells him.

“Yes, you are right, but you must be careful.” He warns me.

“Now that Alex knows who you are, and you are linked by the mate bond it will be easier for him to protect you, but you must not underestimate the danger you are in” his grandfather warns me. “There are steps that we must take to keep you safe.

The first is that your relationship with Alex must continue to remain a secret for now. You will stay working in the pack house as a servant, no one must know who you really are.

You must keep your wolf under control. I know she must be desperately trying to get out, to take over but you must fight for control, stop her when she tries to make you shift. If your mask were to slip, if anyone was to suspect that you are a more dominant wolf than an Omega should be then it would put you in grave danger.

Alex you must make sure that no one suspects that you are Katy’s mate. Your actions at the rogue attack, aroused suspicions among members of the pack who saw you or heard about how you protected Katy. Your behaviour recently going to her house in broad daylight was very suspicious.”

Alex opens his mouth to protest.

“I am not saying that you should stop seeing each other, but you must be careful never to be spotted by anyone. You will have to walk a fine line between protecting our future queen, and not drawing attention to how close you both really are.”

Queen, I think. I walked into this house as an Omega, who is not good enough to be the mate of an Alpha, and now I am being referred to as a queen. It feels bizarre and unreal.

“The next thing to discuss is how we keep you safe. Staying under the radar will not be an option for long. Lucius is determined to replace the missing princess, if he ever discovers that you are she he will come for you and try to kill you.

We need to take precautions. You need to be protected at all times, but it cannot be obvious that that is what is happening.”

Alex takes over at this point, “I will ask Euan to request that she is assigned to work for him, he will be able to keep her safe. He can tell Mrs Wilson that he needs a dedicated servant to look after the warriors. His brother Daniel is one of our newest warriors. He is trustworthy and because they are known to be friends, he can spend time with her without arousing suspicion. He will be her bodyguard.”

“Good, but you need to be careful. We suspect that Carl has recruited warriors to his cause none of them must suspect who you are” his grandfather commands.

The next thing we need to do is take steps to ensure your safety long term, and to enable you to rise to the position you were born to, to be our next queen and the Alpha of the Royal Pack. We need to inform Joseph that we have found you, but it will be dangerous. Lucius must not learn of your existence. Alex will you be able to send a message secretly to Joseph?” he asks.

“Yes, we have a go between in one of the other packs who we use to send messages. They are coded so that only Joseph will be able to understand what the message says” Alex replies.

At the same time, we need to select loyal warriors who will be trained and ready to protect you. Carl has created his own warrior group within the pack. We may need to do the same. It is imperative that we have strong wolves to defend you, while we work out how to safely move you to the Royal Pack.”

“Move me” I say. The last thing I wanted to do was move. For a long time, I have been desperate to leave the pack, go somewhere, anywhere, where I would be seen as more than just a lowly Omega, but now the thought of leaving, of not being with Alex, is tearing me apart.

“I cannot leave Alex” I tell his grandfather.

“You will have to, but only for a short period of time,” he tells me. “It is important that you are kept safe and that can only happen once you are in the Royal pack surrounded by warriors who are loyal only to you.”

“There will come a point when this pack will openly ally itself with the Royals but until this happens Alex cannot be at your side. For the moment, your relationship must remain hidden. Your safety is the most important thing. If the loyal packs replace out about your existence, only to discover that Lucius has killed you it would be a huge blow to their morale, it could destroy our cause.

You have to be kept safe” he declares.

“I think we have said enough for now. You both need to think about what we have told you and come to terms with it. We will speak again soon” he tells us dismissing us.

I cling to Alex’s hand as we walk out together. We may have to hide our relationship going forward, but not now, not today. I need him like I have never needed him before. I cling to him like I would drown if he let me go. After everything I have just been told he feels like the only constant, true thing in my life.