They shared a look and Felipe leaned forward. “The last werewolf king? Yeah. Why?”
“I think Maddy is his last descendant.”
“Fuck off,” Sebastian said, his mouth dropping open.
“What?” Luis asked. “How? His entire family was killed. All his children, all his grandchildren, all of them. Plus, it’s been three hundred years since he died. Wouldn’t we have some stories about heirs appearing over the last couple centuries?”
I went on to tell them about Maddy’s DNA match. The name Edemas being her sole connection, and the fact that his name vanished from the website a few days after she was attacked. I even told them about Javi stopping by the clinic and threatening me before Maddy was discharged.
“Her blood is part shifter, that’s not in dispute. Once you hear the story, the scent makes more sense. This is happening, guys. I think the hidden royal family is real as well. I think they’re the ones pulling Javi’s strings and going after Maddy,” I finished.
My three friends sat, shock and awe on their faces. I knew how they felt. It was like someone finding out the story of the Pied Piper had been real or that Hansel and Gretel had really happened. It was almost too much to take in.
Luis held his hands up. “Hang on. I know what you’re saying, but if that’s true, what the hell are we supposed to do? Javi will be the least of our concerns if this is all actually happening.”
I nodded and pulled my phone out again. Luis and the others looked even more confused until they heard me talking to my dad. I closed the phone and glanced up at them. “He’ll be here in a minute,” I said.
“What the hell is your dad gonna do?” Sebastian asked.
“He’s the one who told me the stories when I was a kid. If anyone might know more, it’s him. Plus, I know I can trust him with my life, with Maddy’s life. Once this info is out, it can’t go back. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, right?”
They had no argument for that, and we waited while my dad made his way over. His house was only three houses down. It was a blessing and a curse to have my family so close. In this situation, it was a blessing.
The knock came less than five minutes after I called him. He came walking in with a confused look on his face.
“Nico? I’m here. What was the big rush?”
I sighed, and for the third time in less than two hours, I relayed all my theories about Maddy and everything we’d learned about her. By the time I was done, my throat was sore from talking so much.
Dad took a seat and held his chin in his hand. It was the typical
Dad’s thinking look I’d seen from him all throughout my life.
“I was worried this might happen one day,” Dad finally said.
All of us froze, unsure what he was saying. Had he known all along? Was this something shifters had been preparing for? If so, why didn’t I know about it? I was the alpha, after all.
Sebastian raised his hand like he was still in school. “Hi, yeah, Carlos…er…Mister Lorenzo, Nico’s dad, sir? I think I speak for all of us when I so eloquently ask…what the fuck?”
Dad snorted a humorless laugh. “There have been rumors for as long as I can remember that Edemas had been warned of the coming attack. In one of his very few moments of clarity, he understood that there was no way he’d survive. He found two of his children, babies who had both been born alphas, and sent them with a servant into hiding. This story is less known simply because it is so damned dangerous. Even mentioning this story to the wrong shifter could get you killed. In many circles, there is almost a religious fear of the Edemas lineage. We all know what religious fanatics are capable of.”
That was true. Everyone knew of the Christian and Muslim attacks and the wars on shifters in the early centuries. To this day, there were certain villages in Asia where shifters were killed on sight due to the belief that they were demons. Religion was great when it helped the poor and needy. Once religious zealots started having opinions on things, it tended to get hairy pretty quickly.
“Anyway,” Dad continued, “the children were small, only a couple months old. A boy and a girl, both pure-bred from Edemas and his shifter concubine. If this story is true, it could explain how Maddy came to be.”
“There’s something else I need to tell you, Dad. All of you.” They all turned to look at me, waiting to hear what other bombshell I was about to drop. “I think Maddy is my fated mate.”
“Called it!” Sebastian shouted, standing up and pointing at me, a massive grin on his face. “I knew it.”
Dad ignored Sebastian and came over to stand in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders. “This explains everything. It’s why you’ve been so protective of her. This settles it. The Lorenzo clan is in full agreement. She is under our protection, regardless of who her ancestor was.”
“Thanks, Dad. I appreciate the support. I’ve got a bad feeling that this is gonna get messy.”
Luis cleared his throat. “Count us in, too. That was probably implied, but I wanted it on the record.”
Felipe and Sebastian nodded. I’d always assumed my friends and family had my back through thick and thin. Seeing it actually happening was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.
“We need more information,” Luis said. “What about her birth family? Does Maddy have anything to go on? Some way of finding them?”
I shook my head. “No. Her whole adoption seems sketchy as hell. Some social worker dropped her off, but there’s no trace of this guy before or after that day. Her adoptive parents were desperate for a baby, so they didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Dad cleared his throat to get my attention. “If Maddy is who we think she is, her parents may have known of their ancestry. Perhaps they gave her up to protect her. They hoped dumping her into the system with no connection to them would ensure she survived. I would have done the same for my children. Never knowing them would be better than seeing them killed in front of my eyes. It’s a God-awful choice to make, but I would have made it.”
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