Chapter Twelve

"I'm expected." A voice called as Sarise walked through the foyer. She turned, seeing Xander standing at the door speaking with Chuck.

"Xander?" Sarise called. Xander turned, smiling at her as he walked forward and kissed her cheek.

"Well look at you." He smiled, winking at her. "Nicely settled in I see."

"You're here to see Jacob" She said, wrapping her arm in his.

"No, I'm here to see the beautiful Luna of Intelligence Pack and hopefully steal her away." He said with a smile and Sarise laughed.

"Do you ever get tired?" She asked as she led him up the staircase.

"Of?" He questioned and Sarise laughed.

"Of being a sleaze?" She stated and Xander laughed.

"Why stop doing something your good at." He added, touching his finger to his nose. "But I'm here because Jacob mentioned before the rebellion that he had some information for me." Xander stated as they walked down the corridor towards Jacob's office.

"Obviously it took a back burner given the situation." Sarise stated.

"We had more pressing issues so to speak." He answered with a nod "But I'm assuming the information he wanted to speak to me about was in reference to our little border hopping friend and the meeting he had with Kimber."

Sarise grunted lightly, the meeting with Kimber had been less than helpful as far as she was concerned and she had stormed from the room when it became apparently the witches were unable to do anything about the failing spell.

"Problem?" Xander asked and Sarise looked at him, smiling sweetly as she pushed the door to Jacob's office open and walked in arm still wrapped in Xander's.

"Not at all." She answered, looking down the length of the room as Jacob looked up, his eyes flashing lavender as he watched the two of them walk into the room.

"Green suits you Jacob." Xander joked, unwrapping his arm from Sarise's and throwing her a cunning smile.

"Wait 'til you get a mate." Jacob grumped, shoving Xander when he gave him a light hip bump.

"Pray that Kahal is not that cruel." Sarise joked and Xander laughed.

"Yes, there is more than enough of me to go around. Why lock it down to just one woman." He joked, yet his eyes didn't reflect his words. Sarise wondered what secrets the Power Alpha hide behind his carefree façade.

"What on earth are you wearing?" Xander demanded, looking over Jacob slowly.

"What's wrong with it?" Sarise snapped, slightly pissed that Xander was picking apart his new look. "It looks sexy as shit."

Xander laughed as Jacob frowned at Sarise, leaning against the front of desk as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I'm just surprised to see those tattoos on show." Xander answered, looking at Sarise with a smile, nodding his head in approval.

"So," Xander added, walking to the couch, throwing himself onto it. "Have you figured out about how our friend is getting into the packs?"

"The border spells are failing." Jacob answered and Xander sat up quickly.

"You're sure?" He asked and Jacob nodded in confirmation. "What did Kimber say."

"A whole bunch of babble." Sarise growled, lowering herself onto the couch across from Xander, seeing he looked at her in an amused way.

"Kimber has that effect on those not used to dealing with her." He answered with a smile before turning his attention back to Jacob. "What did she say."

"Blood of six bonded to the blood of one. Only three we have." Jacob quoted "That our borders, like the lines of a pentagram; must touch. Six are required, only six will satisfy."

"She means the Alphas?" Xander stated and Jacob nodded.

"That was my conclusion." He replied, leaning against his desk. "According to Kimber, Caius was warned that dissolving the packs would result in the border spells weakening."

"Can they strengthen the spell?" Xander asked and Jacob shook his head. "Fuck!" He snapped, standing up and pacing. "Have you told Noah?"

"I wanted to bring it to your attention first." Jacob answered and Xander turned to him, his eyes flashing silver.

"Wanted me to smooth the situation over with him first more like it." He snapped and Jacob inclined his head.

"That is your job as Power Alpha is it not?" Jacob responded and Xander growled. "Don't growl at me Xander, you asked me to keep you informed if I discovered anything, you're being informed."

"Don't talk down to me Jacob." Xander snapped. "How the fuck do I explain to Noah that three-thousand-year-old spells are failing and there is no way to fix them."

"Much like that I assume." Sarise added and he turned to glare at her. "Honestly I don't envy your position." She shrugged, looking at her fingernails. "It's a shame the bloodlines of the Alphas were destroyed in The Cull."

Xander turned to glare at Jacob, seeing the him shake his head lightly before he turned back to Sarise.

"How do you know about The Cull?" Xander snapped and Sarise looked up at him laughing lightly.

"Fanciful stories passed down in the Zones." She answered with a shrug. "I was told them when I was younger, but never believed a word. The Cull is myth."

"It's not a myth." Xander answered, lowering himself onto the couch and glaring at Jacob when he hissed. "She's to be your Luna, she deserves to know the bloody truth."

"The truth?" Sarise asked, looking from Xander to Jacob. "But they're just stories."

"You seem convinced that it had happened?" Jacob pointed out and Sarise laughed again.

"I merely brought it up to have a dig at you, you'd pissed me off and I know it's a sore point with the Regulators so I figured it would be the same for an Alpha." She answered, leaning forward in interest. "I wasn't aware it was true!" Jacob sighed, glaring at Xander.

"You know the story of Caius banishing Aeon." Xander said lightly, looking at Sarise and seeing her nod. "Caius was branded a hero for ridding the mortal realm of the troublesome Immortal and her endless games." He sighed lightly.

"There didn't seem to be any side effects from what he'd done, but it seems that the knowledge he'd banished an Immortal went to his head."

"He became egotistical?" Sarise asked and Xander laughed lightly.

"He became insane on power." Xander responded. "He was the king who had banished the strongest of the Immortals, The Immortal of Time herself. After Aeon disappeared the other Immortals left our realm." He laughed almost mournfully.

"Caius believed they had left because they feared him, that he was the most powerful being in the two realms and that all should bow down to him."

"Full of himself." Sarise snapped and Xander nodded.

"No doubt but in his insanity, he began to subjugate his subjects." Xander replied. "Those that would not bow to him were imprisoned or worse executed. He turned away from the

"The rebel packs." Sarise said lightly.

"They were only branded rebel packs after the war ended." Jacob said lightly "During the days of the war they were merely the opposing packs."

"The three packs that stayed to fight for Caius thought of switching sides many times." Xander added. "No one liked what Caius was doing, yet the packs that had aligned with him feared him, feared what he would do to them if they defied him."

"Chicken shits you mean?" Sarise snapped and Xander's eyes flashed silver.

"Careful." He chuckled, shaking his head. "The two in this room are descended of those chicken shits." He glanced at Jacob, noting his eyes had flashed lavender before he turned back to Sarise.

"The war dragged on for five years. Thousands lost on each side before Caius, totally insane by this point; ordered The Cull." Silence hung in the room for a while before Jacob spoke.

"I don't think he ordered it to actually end the war. It was merely a show of supremacy to boast his already overinflated ego." Jacob stated, looking at Sarise. "He ordered the Alphas of the opposing packs and their entire families be killed by whatever means possible."

"When we say whatever means possible, we mean by whatever means possible." Xander added as he crossed his ankles and threw an arm across the back of the couch. Sarise shuddered lightly.

"The Alphas who fought alongside the royal house refused to follow through with his orders and as punishment their heirs were imprisoned and set to be executed, supposed traitors to the crown." Jacob continued.

"Because the Alphas wouldn't do his bidding, Caius sought out mercenaries to do the job for him, finding nine men who would carry out his orders in the most horrific manner."

"In Immaculate Pack they set the Alpha mansion on fire, trapping the family inside and listening as they burned alive." Jacob said lightly, looking up and watching Sarise's face as she realised how the Alphas and their families had suffered.

"In Vengeance Pack the Alpha and his family were poisoned, their killers watching their slow painful deaths. In Independence they were stabbed in the stomachs and left to die slowly while their executors laughed over them."

"Those that survived." Xander added, looking at Sarise with sad eyes. "Uncles, Aunts, Grandparents, Nieces and Nephews were all hunted down and killed, until the entire bloodline of the Alphas was obliterated."

"To reward those who had followed through with his orders Caius gave them tracks of land from the dissolved packs, putting them in charge of the people who still lived there." Jacob added

"Regulators." Sarise breathed and Jacob nodded.

"The Cull may have won Caius the war and cemented his power as the Royal Alpha, but it also signed his death certificate." Jacob added.

"His son, so ashamed of what his father had done; suffocated him with a pillow while he slept less than a year after the war ended." Xander said lightly. "When Cullum came to power, he ordered that The Cull never be spoken of again. Anyone who told the tale was banished."

"The Cull tarnished the royal family and even though Caius was known to be insane when he ordered it, it was still a horrific act against our own kind. One that has never be repeated." Xander added and Sarise licked her lips lightly.

"I always thought that the Alphas had merely been stripped of their rank, that The Cull was a tale told to some of us in order to pass down a fable over how we lost the war." She whispered, looking at her hands.

"You said the story was passed down to some." Xander pointed out and Sarise nodded. "Was it told to specific people by specific people?"

"It was my mother that told me the tale of The Cull." She answered. "She said the story had been told to her by father."

"How many others know of The Cull in the Zones?" Xander asked and Sarise looked at Jacob, seeing that he wasn't making any attempt to stop Xander's questions. She turned back to the Power Alpha.

"I'm not sure." She answered. "My mother told me never to speak of what she'd told me and my sister."

"Sister?" Xander questioned and Sarise nodded.

"Younger." She answered. "She's seventeen."

"And she knows the story of The Cull." Xander asked again and Sarise nodded.

"We were told when we turned sixteen. My mother made us take a blood oath swearing we would tell none, but our children." She answered

"Have you told anyone?" Xander asked, frowning at her and Sarise shook her head.

"Other than try to bait the Regulator and Jacob with the tale, no." She said lightly.

"I'm surprised the Regulator let you live after mouthing off about it." Xander growled, turning to Jacob. "Do you think the story is told in the other Zones?"

"Possibly." Jacob replied, glancing at Sarise before he turned to Xander. "If the story survived in Zone Nine it would be safe to say it survived in the other Zones."

"Passed down through certain families." Xander pointed out, frowning lightly.

"You think some could have survived?" Jacob asked and Xander shook his head.

"No, The Cull was absolute." Xander responded.

"According to records yes." Jacob answered, glancing at Sarise before looking back at Xander. "But those records are a thousand years old and there are none alive that remember The Cull or can verify that everyone was killed."

"You discuss it as if it was nothing." Sarise breathed, glaring at the two men. "Three entire families were killed for what, to prove a point?"

"There is nothing we can do to change what happened Sarise." Jacob said lightly. "Think logically, you're letting your emotions govern your common sense."

"They were living beings!" Sarise snapped, glaring at the two men as her wolf tried to claw forward. She stood up, seeing their eyes narrow for a moment.

"Everyone in the Zones assumed that the line of the Alphas survived the war, hidden away. It gave us hope!" She clenched her fists. "Yet you stand here talking of their deaths as if it was a conversation over what you're going to have for dinner!"

"Sarise." Jacob called, looking at her as his eyes glowed lavender. "I think you should go cool down." She glared at Xander, seeing his eyes glowing silver.

She stormed from the room, tears pouring down her cheeks as she rushed through the house to her rooms, her emotions overloading at what she had just been told.

Both men looked at the door, watching as it slowly swung closed on its own, clicking when it closed.

"Is she...?" Xander asked, looking at Jacob as he closed his eyes, feeling Sarise's emotions through the bond. Eventually he sighed.

"She's upset obviously." Jacob said lightly, walking across the room and lowering himself onto the couch Sarise had just vacated. "What she's just been told is a lot to take in, it was for us when we were told." Xander nodded, thinking for a while before he spoke again.

"You saw it?" Xander asked and Jacob nodded.

"It's not the first time I've noticed it." He answered, glancing at the door. "It's only when she's fighting to keep the emotions of herself and her wolf separate."

"You know the Alphas of Immaculate Pack were known for the aqua eyes of their wolves." Xander pointed out.

"Yet her eyes are not aqua when she's calling her wolf, only when she's unable to control the emotional link." Jacob added, shaking his head.

"What colour eyes does her wolf have?" Xander asked and Jacob shrugged.

"I've not seen her in wolf form." He pointed out and Xander shook his head.

"She's been here three weeks and you've yet..."

"You are aware of my control over my wolf." Jacob pointed out, frowning at Xander. "Being around her in wolf form is not the best idea at this current stage of our relationship."

"And what of that flash of colour?" Xander asked, looking at the door again. "If she is..."

"It's an anomaly." Jacob pointed out. "Nothing more. Even you pointed out The Cull was absolute."

"An anomaly?" Xander asked, chuckling lightly. "I know you refuse to accept that answer, especially given who you are." Jacob frowned at him and Xander held up his hands in defeat. "Very well old friend we'll play this game for now, but you know as well as I do, that you'll look into it." Jacob nodded.

"Of course." Jacob answered. "Given who I am." Xander laughed lightly. "Besides if there is the possibility that one line survived there is the possibility that they all survived."

"Yes, and it wouldn't be the first time someone has told the king half-truths." Xander laughed and Jacob smiled lightly, remembering the number of times they had skirted the truth with Noah when it came to a variety of topics.

"What do we do about the border spells?" Xander asked, throwing an arm across the back of the couch as he threw a questioning glance at Jacob.

"From what Kimber has said there is nothing we can do." Jacob answered. "The spell will continue to fail." Xander growled.

"Fucken Caius." He snapped, standing and walking to the liquor cabinet, grabbing a glass and lifting it to see if Jacob wanted one. Jacob nodded, taking the glass of whiskey from him when Xander walked over.

"You said he was told this could happen." Xander stated and Jacob laughed.

"You honestly think he would have listened?" Jacob asked, tilting his head in question. "The man was insane long before he ordered The Cull."

"He probably executed the witches that told him as well." Xander added and Jacob nodded in agreement. "Still doesn't solve our problem."

"Nor how we explain it to Noah." Jacob pointed out and Xander groaned, running his hand over his face.

"Man is going to be livid." He grunted, taking a mouthful of the whiskey.

"Beyond livid I would imagine." Jacob responded and Xander frowned at him. "The border spells are the only thing that protects the packs from invaders, we've relied on them for three-thousand years to warn us when someone passes the borders."

"Only to find out they've been failing for a thousand years." Xander snapped, downing the last of his whiskey and standing, nodding at Jacob's glass. Jacob raised an eyebrow at him and Xander grunted.

"I refuse to stay sober today." He answered, watching as Jacob down his whiskey and passed him the empty glass. "I think a night on it may help me figure out how to tell Noah." Jacob laughed from the couch, raising his eyebrows at Xander.

"More a pretty set of legs for you to drown your sorrows in." Jacob responded and Xander turned, a glass in each hand as he held them out to this sides.

"Perfect distraction." Xander responded, walking across the room and handing Jacob a glass. "Shame you've found your mate."

"How so?" Jacob asked, pausing in raising his glass to his mouth.

"I've lost my bloody wingman haven't I." Xander laughed and Jacob shook his head, taking a sip as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"I'll have a room prepared for you." Jacob stated, calling Madam Hesson and asking the guest room to be prepared.