Secret Identity

chapter twenty-three

        "Mother..." I gasped, my hands flying up to cover my open mouth as I gaped at the woman standing in front of me.

Why is she here? Of all the people who would want to speak to me.

I mean, I guess I can't think of someone who would want to speak to me that can't just come up and speak to me in the first place.

"Hello, sweetheart," she smiled at me softly. "It's been a while, hasn't it? How have you been?"

She looked almost the same except for a few silver-colored strings glittering in her caramel hair and she was sporting a few bruises and some cuts that paired with dirt smudges ripped clothing and dark bags under her eyes. She also seemed to be quite a bit thinner too.

Something seems off as well... but what?

"What... what happened to you?" I asked, hesitantly sitting across from her.

Victor stayed in the corner with his arms crossed, overwatching our interaction.

He doesn't want to take the chance of her attacking and him not being able to get inside the room in enough time to help protect me.

From the looks of it, I could easily overpower her (not that I couldn't have done so before). Victor just wants to make sure that I'm safe though, like if there were a possibility that I couldn't protect myself from her.

"Once you ran, the Alpha practically lost it. Alpha refused to stop searching for you and just choose someone else or wait to find his mate. Killing so many for failing to do so," My mother rushed out. "Alpha made your father and I lead the search, blaming your father for your disappearance because he was supposed to be watching you when you ran."

This sounds bad, but I'm honestly surprised that he didn't just kill him after I disappeared.

Not that I'm trying to sound insensitive about this, though.

"Oh..." I trailed off.

This is my only chance to truly find out. I can't let it pass by, not this time.

"Am I adopted?" I wondered quietly.

I don't know if she had more to say, but none of what she was telling me felt like it mattered to me much.

"Excuse me?" she huffed in shock.

I need to know. At this point, I don't care if me asking her this question offends her in the slightest.

"Am I adopted?" I repeated, putting as much emphasis on each word as I could.

"And if you are?" my mother raised an eyebrow at me.

"Just answer the question!" I bit out. "Please."

"Yes, you are," She whimpered. "How... how did you find out?"

"I had my first heat a little while ago," I explained. "I felt like I was freezing, not like I was on fire. But I knew way before that, I don't act anything like you guys, nor do we have any physical resemblance. I was always... different from the rest of the family."

"Oh..." my mother uttered.

She's refusing to look at me, she's just blankly staring at the table that separates us.

That answers my question.

I think it's time for me to leave...

I can come back and talk to her later.

        "Something seems off about her," I whispered.

We're leaving the interrogation area and headed back into the pack-house.

"What do you mean?" Victor inquired.

"It just, it felt like she was hiding something," I murmured. "And how did she escape with so little wounds? How did she know where to find me? How did she know I was here? How-"

Victor stopped my ranting by tenderly placing his lips on mine for a few moments.

"Calm down, darling, you're going to make yourself pass out if you don't breathe. Just calm down and breathe for me, alright?" he sighed, resting his forehead on mine, one hand cupping the back of my head gently as his other hand held mine. "We'll figure it out together. Just be patient, alright?"

Our breaths mingled together as we stood like this with our heads up against each other.

"Alright," I smiled softly after a few minutes of silence.

I took in a deep breath and nodded to myself before releasing the breath.

He's right.

I just need to calm down and breathe.

"Come on," Victor ordered softly, leading me in the direction of his room. "You need to get some rest."

"Do I now?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You created a plan for an attack and just saw your mother after not seeing her for who knows how long," He breathed out calmly. "So yeah, I think you need some rest."

        "So... um... what are, what are we going to do with my mother?" I asked as I stared at the ceiling as we lay on the bed.

We came here to get some sleep, but neither of us can seem to fall asleep.

"Well, what do you want to do with her?" Victor commented while wrapping his arms around my waist, bringing me closer to him. "She's your mother, so you get to choose."

I sighed, leaning into him.

"Honestly, I don't trust her. There are just so many unanswered questions and something about her seems off," I murmured. "I say we try and get as much information as we can and then put her somewhere she can't escape from till we come up with a better plan. Like a cell or something."

"Done," Victor whispered.

"Although," I hummed. "We are going to have to find a temporary way to block her mind-link to my old pack if that is still working. Just to be on the safe side."

"And, we're going to have to connect you to ours completely," He added.

"Right, that," I whispered.

I don't think I even remember how to use the mind-link anymore.

"It would be in the smartest interest to get you connected as soon as possible since we're currently at war," Victor said.

"Right," I mumbled. "When do you want to do that?"

"Do you want to do it tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure," I sighed. "Not like I have anything planned for tomorrow in the first place. It's so weird not having a filled up schedule for Little Flame..."

Victor started placing small little kisses on my neck.

"I love you," I breathed out before I could stop myself.

Victor's body froze, his lips hovering over his mark on my neck.

"I love you too, darling," He murmured, his warm breath fanning over the mark.