Chapter 26

Sven P.O.V

The girl standing before us had blown us away with her revelation. Rhea had said she knew all about Diana and I finally thought we were getting somewhere.

"Is there somewhere we can go to talk?" Gavin asked Rhea.

"We must leave, and quickly. If the Beta sees you talking it will be detrimental to you three." She gestured towards the car and made our way over.

"Act normally. You're being watched." She said as we looked around.

"Won't they see you then?" I asked genuinely concerned for her.

"I'm cloaked with a spell. Only you two can see me." She smiled as she climbed into the back seat with Gary.

"Who are you talking to?" a confused Gary enquired.

"The best lead we've got." Gavin replied before driving away from the pack house. Gary just looked confused before returning to look out the window. I didn't want to tell him about our guest just yet because Leo had a strong sense that Rhea was right. We were being watched.

We continued to drive out of the territory in silence. My heart was pounding. Rhea was the biggest lead we had, and I only hoped it would help Sophie. I wondered what she would be doing right now. I hope Eric and Tatiana weren't making her life to miserable. Looking at Gary I could see he was deep in thought as well. I only hoped we would get back to the pack within the next day.

An hour after leaving their territory Rhea removed her cloak. This made Gary cry out if shock. We all laughed while she introduced herself. Dusk was setting in, so we had decided it was best to find a motel to stay in. It would give us a chance to talk to Rhea properly and consider what to do with the information she gave us. We pulled into a motel in a human territory that Gary had used before. It was a decent little place with individual mini cottages. They were basically self-contained which would allow us privacy to discuss Diana. I secretly was eager to find out everything about her. Although he would never admit it Leo missed Diana's wolf as much as I missed her.

After settling into the little cottage, we organised something to eat. Gavin of course was starving, so I sent him to get us some pizzas. Rhea was intrigued by human civilization and opted to go with Gavin. This gave me some time to check how Gary was doing.

I went to the little kitchenette and found some plates and placed them on the table. Gary came from one of the bedrooms and sat down at the little rustic table, rubbing his hands through his hair.

"How are you doing Gary?" I asked sitting down opposite him.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I miss Mary and Sophie so much. I'm worried about them." He sighed.

"I understand." I said.

Gary looked at me. "Can I ask you something? It's been bothering me this whole journey."

"Of course. Always happy to help a friend." I smiled.

"Tell me if its none of my business but what went on between you and Diana?"

I hadn't expected that. I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat. "Do you mean were we involved?" Gary nodded. "Yes, we were. She was the ray of sunshine I needed after Marie died."

He nodded knowingly. "Do you think it's a possibility that your Sophie's biological father?" His eyes narrowed judgingly. I had feared he'd been thinking about it. I didn't want to take Sophie away from him. He was a fantastic father to her. But I couldn't help feeling a little excited at the prospect of being her dad.

"Honestly Gary, I don't know. Yes, Diana and I were together for a period of time. But I was shocked to learn Sophie was her daughter. She never told me. I would have hoped she'd come to me if she was pregnant with my child."

"It's just I see her like Gavin and you. Perhaps you're the family she needs." He looked down at his hands. "Maybe Diana didn't want to come to you because you had Gavin to deal with and didn't want to burden you with another child?"

"Gavin was never a burden. Yes, I found it hard to cope at times. Gavin was so young, but it was no excuse for Diana to just leave." I was a little hurt at his insinuations, but I also couldn't help feeling sorry for him. "Gary, you will always be Sophie's father. Whether I'm her biological father or not I would never take her away from you."

I got up when I heard Gavin and Rhea returning with the pizzas. They were laughing and joking. I smiled thinking how nice it was to relax without the stress of finding answers. However, when I looked over at Gary my heart twinged with pain for him. There was a lot that humans could never comprehend about werewolves even a skilled werewolf doctor like Gary.

"I never knew humans were so…naive." Rhea said as they entered the kitchen area. Gary looked up like he was going to say something but thought better of it.

"Oh my big mouth." She said looking at Gary. "I didn't mean all humans were naïve Gary." She smiled and he seemed to melt in front of her.

"What have you two been talking about?" Gavin asked grabbing a plate and four slices of pizza.

"Just trying to figure out why Diana left." Gary said offering a plate to Rhea. She smiled and took the plate before looking in the pizza boxes. Gary's cheeks went red before he cleared his throat and passed me a plate. I chuckled at him and he shrugged his shoulders. It felt like the old days.

"Diana had to leave." Rhea said before taking a small bite of pizza. "Oh my goddess! This is sooooo GOOD!" She moaned as she took another bite.

"I take it it's someone's first time trying pizza?" Gavin laughed. She looked up at him with big round soulful eyes and then burst out laughing, licking her lips.

"What do you mean Diana had to leave?" Gary asked dulling the light-hearted mood.

"Diana had to leave because he was after her."

The three of us looked at each other. "Who's he?" Gavin asked.

Every mouthful of pizza Rhea took looked like an erotic scene from a porno. The way she moved her hair over her shoulders to licking her lips and moaning. I knew she wasn't doing it on purpose, but she was making three men very uncomfortable. We were all shifting around uncomfortably. Rhea looked up and could sense the tension. She smiled and we all relaxed. It was strange.

"I'll start from the beginning, shall I?" She said playfully taking the final bite of her pizza slice. "Diana was Luna of our pack. Her mate, Alpha Storm was a tyrant. He bullied her and manipulated her. He wanted an heir to possess unusual attributes. Diana was part werewolf, part witch. Alpha Storm was part werewolf, part vampire. He believed that if he and Diana had an heir, that heir would possess the abilities of werewolf, witch, and vampire. Alpha Storm wanted to breed Diana with other beings as well." She casually walked over to the pizza boxes and grabbed two more slices.

We were all in shock. Gavin's mouth was wide open. Gary's eyes were wide in shock. We knew that the Golden Sun pack had a notorious need for all powerful beings. But we never knew that their greed went as far as breeding. Anger boiled within me. Leo growled, his hackles raised with fury.

"I guess this is news to you?" She asked before taking her seat again.

"Did she leave because he was going to force her to mate with others?" I asked. Rhea nodded biting into her second slice of pizza.

"Irony is Alpha Storm couldn't produce heirs. I believe it was the Moon Goddess's way of preventing disaster."

"Then what happened?" Gavin asked as he resumed eating his pizza.

"She upped and left. No warning, nothing. Until he found out where she was."

"The war." Gary said under his breath.

"Yep. He found out she had taken refuge at Blue Moon. By that stage he'd gone crazy, almost rabid. He wouldn't even tell Blue Moon's Alpha why he started war with them other than calling them impure." She chuckled to herself. "My Father said he'd found her, saw she was heavily pregnant and attacked her leaving her for dead." She let that bit of information sink in. It tied up with Gary's story about the wounds that she had endured. "After he died, The Elders named my Father, Alpha Storm's brother, as Alpha. They made him swear there would be no more 'breeding' of sorts and to leave Blue Moon alone."

"The Treaty." Gavin said and Rhea nodded.

"If only Alpha Storm knew that no Werewolf could possess more than two being's powers." She sighed before beginning her final slice of pizza.

"How would you know that?" Gavin said. "It's never been documented."

"My brother's and I are the proof." She said, not looking up from her plate. "My Mother is a Siren-Werewolf, My Father a Were-vampire. Turns out none of us are Siren, Vampire Werewolves." She giggled.

"If this is true and Diana's mate is dead why is your father wanting to attack Sophie? I asked trying to comprehend what she was talking about.

"It's not my father who's trying to attack her." She shook her head and grinned. "It's my brother."

"But why?" Gavin asked almost panicking.

"I'm not really sure." She twirled a strand of her long hair between her fingers. "Johnathan and Blake never tell me anything." She sighed.

"Your brother is Beta Johnathan?" Gavin yelled. She nodded smiling. "He got the vampire traits. Blake and I got the Siren traits."

"This is very interesting." I said as I began to pace around the room. "We must go back and tell them what we know. Will you be coming with us?" I turned to Rhea.

"I'd love to meet my cousin!" she squealed. "But you can't go back just yet."

"What are you talking about?" Gavin asked collecting the plates.

"Blake is there. You can't go back just yet."