Escaping Rejection

43. More secrets and stones

It's been some time and hence the long chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. Happy reading!

Ionora's POV :

It was evening by the time I was ready to come down to the living room where everyone had already gathered. And by everyone, I mean EVERYONE, including my ass of a grandfather and his royal entourage. I could feel him glaring at me but I just looked away, not giving him the attention he was begging for. Pompous Prick.

"What took you so long?" Ian asked, casting suspicious glances at Zayden and I. Zayden only smirked at him, pissing him off further.

"Oh, so you're keeping tabs on my daily activities now? I don't think we're there yet, Ian." I walk up to him and ruffle his hair, which results in him smacking my hand away.

"Yes. I am when it comes to you being alone with him. Are you forgetting that this prick tried to negotiate with you as the bait? And you're willingly allowing him to be near you?"

Zayden growls, warning Ian to not to overstep his boundaries. Even my mother leaves her father's side to come next to Ian, in case they start fighting.

"No. I am not forgetting anything, Ian. But can you blame him? I look too much like the man that killed his parents and destroyed his pack. If you were in his place, you would do the same." I retaliate, not wanting to hurt his feelings but wanting to defend my mate at the same time. He was only looking out for me.

Hearing this, Ian gives out a defeated sigh and sits down on the recliner besides him. He knew that none of us were to blame for the actions of our father. We all were stuck in this shitty situation because of the actions of one greedy bastard.

Zayden too relaxes and comes closer to me. It still amazed me of how aware I was of his presence and every action in spite of not spending much time with him. I thought I would be able to feel this way only when he marked me. Subconsciously my hands reach towards my neck and caress the spot where his mark would be. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Zayden lets out a husky growl and winks at me, mouthing "later". I flip him off.

"How are you dear? You seemed exhausted when you fainted." Marrise questions, concern pooling in her eyes.

"I'm fine now. There has just been too much going on and I guess my body couldn't take it anymore. I did have a good sleep though, filled with dreams." I tell her pointedly, hoping that she gets the hint that I needed to talk to her, but not in front of all these people. Especially the King. I didn't trust him yet.

"You can tell me more about these dreams later, Nora. But I'm afraid we have more urgent matters to discuss right now." She answers, making me worried.

My worry was justified when I feel another presence in the room, a stranger who I had never seen before. Turning around, I'm met with a pair of purple eyes that seem to flicker from light to dark in the light of the room. The owner of the unique eyes is a dark-complexioned exotic looking man, every inch of his skin except his face was covered in tattoos. He was intimidating to see the least which was why I was taken aback by the warmth in his eyes and smile. Something in me remembered this man, he seemed so familiar, yet I was sure that I had never seen him before.

"Do I know you?" I ask him, confusion lacing my voice. His smile falters at my question. He looks to Marrise and she nods at him, choosing to answer my question instead.

"Do you remember that when you were born, we let your brother stay while we had to take you away to safety?"

I nod, and she continues, "This is Denzel, a friend of mine, who agreed to adopt you and keep you safe and away from Jordan. He took care of you for six whole years but Jordan had managed to track him down by then and he had to leave you behind and run as Jordan only had information on him and not you. So he contacted me and I took you away, just in the nick of time as Jordan found him almost some time after. Daniel managed to escape but his mate, your adopted mother, Jewel was severely injured and they took off to Alaska where she could recuperate."

She paused for a minute to catch her breath and looked around the room. Everyone had stunned looks on their faces, even Violet and Ian which led me to believe that they didn't know all this either. Realizing that everyone was urging her to finish off the story, she continued with it.

"I took care of you until you were 14, hiding you away and running off with you when Jordon caught your scent. I knew you weren't safe with me, and now that Jordan had your information, he was bound to find you no matter where we hid you. So I took the risk of wiping away all your memories and sending you off on your own. No one would suspect that a young rogue girl wandering all alone openly would be the key to a dangerous weapon like the moonstone. I promised to always keep an eye on you and protect you until you could do so yourself."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I could feel all the missing parts of my memory piecing back together, leaving me overwhelmed with emotions. This only proved that what Marrise just told me wasn't a lie. Another thing that my brain caught on to, was that this man standing in front of me had just put his and his mate's safety on the line to take care of a misfit kid, the spawn of the Devil himself. I did not know what to feel about this fact.

Zayden, sensing my inner turmoil takes me into his embrace and his scent helps calm my emotions and my whining wolf. I slowly remove myself from his arms and face the man who was more of a father to me than my actual father.

"I remember you." I tell him, a lone tear slipping out of my eyes. That was all the push Denzel needed to come forward and hug me, the first ever fatherly embrace I had experienced. I let myself relish in the warm feeling before he pulls away and looks me in the eyes.

"You're as beautiful as I remember, Sweetheart. But I'm afraid I have to cut out the pleasantries as we have more pressing matters."

I nod and turn back to the others, who immediately sober up from the emotional moment and huddle closer. "We have a whole week until the Blood moon and that's enough time for a powerful warlock like him to get what he wants. We must act fast and take him down before he can get to us."

"But how do we do that? We don't have a clue as to where he is. He could be planning to attack us right now." Zyrah, speaks up, bringing light to our biggest worries. Jordan's location.

Marrise claps her hands, catching our attention once again. She has a smirk on her face which only lights up when she says, " That's where Denzel comes in. Danny, would you like to do the honors? " She gestures him forward.

Denzell obliges, pulling out a small bag and placing it on the centre table. Everyone peers in, curious as to what could be inside the tiny bag. Our curiosity is answered when he opens the bag, pulling out a white pebble like stone which glistened in the light and looked like it held magic inside. Zayden lets out an animalistic growl and within seconds, he's pinning Denzel to the wall in a chokehold.

I immediately move towards them to break them apart but I freeze on hearing my mate's next words.

"How the fuck do YOU have the moonstone?"

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Dun Dun Dun.

The story is slowly coming to an end and I am on the edge lol.

We're almost at 75k and I'm still Sister Shook at how much this story has grown. Like I seriously can't thank you guys enough.

Please do comment and vote if you liked it. Hope you guys have a nice day!

-Pk <3

Edited - 15/01/2019