Caleb's Point of View Alpha Clint’s words stunned me. How could Axle not be his son? The man was softly sobbing in my office chair with his head in his hands. Daphne | could see was shocked as well and still standing by the door. | swiftly went behind my desk and pulled out my Brandy and three tumblers, pouring us each a glass. | then grabbed the tissues and nudged Clint’s arm with them. He gladly accepted my offer and when he was done wiping his face, | handed him the glass of Brandy.
“Now that you are a bit calmer Clint, | am going to need a deeper explanation. | have met Axle before, and the man that is here appears to be him.” In truth it had been a little while since | had seen Axle, but overall, his looks have not changed much since then.
“| noticed the change shortly after Axle took the reigns as Alpha of our pack. At first, he was my son, dutiful in his leadership, proud of our pack and strong. Then he and Corey along with another warrior went away for a weekend camping trip, they had all been good friends since they were pups.” Clint takes a deep breath, fresh tears forming in his eyes. “The boys cback a day late, saying that they were attacked by a group of rogues. Axle, and Corey both stated that their friend had been killed, and that they had narrowly escaped.” “Did Axle and Corey look as if they had been injured?” This tDaphne was addressing Clint.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“Axle did have swounds on him, and Corey had a few scratches, but nothing that appeared life threatening. | questioned both boys extensively about the attack, and then formed a few hunting parties to catch the rogues responsible. None of my warriors could catch any scents that were unfamiliar. They did locate a spot where it looked as if the boys had been attacked, but we could still find no traces of rogues and we never recovered our fallen warrior.” Clint heaved, obviously deeply affected by not being able to recover his fallen pack member.
“l know that we heal fast, but | would think that after an attack that claimed a life, they would have significant wounds.” Daphne pointed out.
“l knew in my gut that something was off. Axle was never raised to leave a warrior behind. Corey and he tried to convincethat there were a lot of rogues, and that our warrior sacrificed himself so that they could get away. Although it is believable that our warrior would do so, | still cannot stomach the fact that Axle did not recover the warrior’s body. To us that is disrespectful, and the parents have not been able to properly grieve. | sent both of the boys to our pack hospital when they returned.” Clint paused as if he was done explaining.
“l understand that you believe the behavior to be unlike him, but people do act differently when faced with life-or-death situations.
Perhaps Axle truly believed his life in danger. This one incident though does not mean that he is not your son.” | was growing impatient, something seemed very off but Clint was dragging his feet getting to the point.
“No this is the incident that placed doubt in my mind regarding my son and madeexamine him more carefully. After we could not find the rogues, | told Axle. He brushed it off as if he had no worries in the world. Since that night he has decreased our warriors training, he has thrown lavish parties that are depleting our supplies, and his behavior is erratic bordering on volatile in ssituations.” Clint takes a deep breath, and | can see that he is contemplating whether or not to tellsomething.
“What do you mean volatile?” | was genuinely curious, because Axle has presented himself as a fun loving, rambunctious, and slightly immature teenager. He had handled himself very well in the meetings though.
“At one of the parties he threw there was a woman that claimed Axle was her mate. She said that she felt the mate bond with him and announced it loudly. He denied it saying that he felt nothing and demanded that she stop her nonsense. Axle claimed the woman was simply after him because he was now the Alpha. When the woman refused to back down on the matter Axle ordered her imprisoned. | discovered that since she still claimed to be his mate, he had her beaten. | fully believe that he would have taken her life, but | snuck her out, and away from his grasp. When he discovered she was gone, he trashed his bedroom, shattering his bedframe, a few windows, and put holes in the walls.” Clint took a deep breath to steady himself. “There is also the issue that | have not seen my son shift once since that incident. This is not normal for him or any wolf.” “Are you aware that Axle has claimed that our Hannah is his mate? He practically jumped at her when he first seen her, it took his Beta and a strong order to get him to back away.” | explain to Clint slowly.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Perhaps she is his destined mate, and Clara lied. Although from the hell that | witnessed that was rained down upon her body | have idea why she would continue with such a lie.” Clint hangs his head again, although this tit appears in defeat.
“There certainly have been a few strange things happening lately.” Daphne mused out loud. “I have never heard of someone having two destined mates, but perhaps this is something we should check into.” | love that she was already looking for solutions amongst the chaos that seemed to be piling up rather quickly.
“Alpha Caleb | know that | sound crazy. | know that | am throwing a lot at you. | know that the person here looks like my Axle, but | swear on the Moon Goddess that he is not my son. | am begging you to please helpinvestigate the matter.” Clint drops down to his knees in front of my desk. | am shocked and stand quickly trying to pull him up. For another Alpha to show that kind of submission to another Alpha | knew that he was beyond desperate for help.
“1 will find a way to help you figure out this mystery Alpha Clint.” | clasp him toin a hug. Daphne then quickly explains how he will have to stay hidden in the nursery attached to our room so that his presence is not detected by anyone. Clint happily agreed and was beyond thankful for our help.
Just when | thought that life could return to normal, the Moon Goddess throws us another twist.