"...now it's time to make some decisions as a mate."
Ryan had told Ileana to stay with Selena and let him and Xavier know as soon Dr. Stevens said anything and he had followed Xavier and Connor. He's Selena's older brother and there is a high probability of him attacking Xavier for everything that happened to Selena here.
Will that be irrational of Connor?
No.
And Ryan knew that. But he was still loyal to his alpha, he knew that Xavier regrets whatever happens and most importantly, he knows that he loves her.
Moreover, there were so many things that were happening in the pack unbeknownst to the alpha and as a beta, he needed to inform Xavier.
He knocked on the door of Xavier's office and waited until his alpha linked him to come in.
The atmosphere inside the room was tense, just as Ryan had expected.
Xavier was sitting in his chair and Connor was on the other side of the table.
"What the hell happened here, Alpha Xavier?" Connor spoke first.
Generally, Connor calling Xavier by his title would be a sign of respect, but at that point, Xavier knew there was no respect in that.
He messed up, big time, he would have to earn the respect of his mate's brother, and his mate as well.
Xavier took a deep breath and he began talking. He narrated the whole incident from the very beginning.
He started with the attack on the Lunar Eclipse, he told Connor, as much as he knew about the one year when Selena was captured by the hunters. He told her how they found each other.
Xavier stayed for a while but then Connor kept his constant glare on Xavier and it wasn't hard to guess that Connor knew it wasn't the whole story.
Xavier stayed quiet for a while because he wanted to go check on Selena. He had wasted enough time being stupid and he knows that now. He still hasn't found any proof but he can bet his life on the fact that the emotions he saw in her face that day were not fake.
Xavier began again, this time, from the moment Stacy brought him the video. He told everything that he said, everything that Selena had said, he told how he had been going around every day trying to find some proof and failed.
His voice broke several times but he went on, Connor deserved to know why his little sister was on the hospital bed.
By the time Xavier finished and looked up at Connor, he had expected to be greeted with black, angry eyes. Surprisingly though, they were still the normal colour but the anger in Connor's eyes was clear.
This guy was a clear example of how much training one has to undergo to go live among humans for a long time.
His shoulders shook and his fists were clenched. Xavier felt ashamed of himself. His feelings were so strong that even if Connor had tried to kill him, he wouldn't have defended himself; in his eyes, he deserves it for treating his mate like that.
"Actually, that wasn't all," Ryan whispered, but they both heard him.
"What?" Xavier asked, looking straight at his beta.
"I tried to tell you, Alpha, but you were always out, but Stacy had made her life very painful here. They treated her like a slave, they bullied her, hurt her, didn't let her eat properly."
Before Xavier could say anything, Connor stood up, and went to his backpack and pulled out a couple of CDs and kept them on the table.
"Since videos seem to be the only thing you believe in, play them," he said, his voice cold. He was trying really hard to not lash out.
Not wanting to anger him any more than he already was, Xavier played the videos one by one.
The first CD was one of the memories of these guys recorded when they were little kids.
In the video, there was a young girl who was playing with her father. Xavier could easily recognize the older man as Robert and it wasn't hard to recognize his mate, even when she was around ten years old.
Xavier's heartbeat fastened as he saw how cute his mate was as a kid. She looked like a porcelain doll.
"Dad, mom sent me to get you," a rough voice said from behind the lens.
Robert nodded towards the cameraman, he kissed the little girl's forehead and before he walked out of the room, he ruffled the hair of the guy behind the camera. Xavier had a feeling it was Connor.
"Hey, Sel," Connor greeted as he sat beside her.
"Hey, Connor!" Her eyes had lighted up. It wasn't hard to see that both of them love each other a lot. "One of your time capsule messages again?" She grinned.
"I can't help it okay? I'm gonna go out to join the army once I'm eighteen and I'll be needing these memories." Connor said laughing a little.
"Why do you want to leave us?" she asks as her smile slowly turned upside down and her eyes glossy. No signs of the grin that lighted up her face just a few seconds ago.
"I'm not going forever, remember? It's just a few years, I want to live a few years of my dream life before I came and joined pack business."
She smiled and shook her head as if to get rid of the tears, "I want you to live your dream life, Connor. I love you!" and she jumped and hugged Connor.
"Woah!" he laughed and hugged her back before ending the video.
The room was dead silent as Ryan changed the CD and put the second one in.
It looked to be when Selena was fourteen or fifteen, the video started with her sitting somewhere and just reading a book.
"What do you think about mates?" Connor asked. His voice was way more recognizable now.
She looked away from her book towards the camera. One of her eyebrows rose and she smiled, "It's weird, to know someone was just handed the task of loving you. I would have liked to choose mine," she smiled.
Xavier's mind went back to the time, just a few minutes ago, when Selena told him she wished they weren't mates. A chill went down his spine but for now, he focused on the video.
Selena spoke again, "But seeing my fortune with choosing friends, I guess I shouldn't complain. The goddess is giving me someone who will love me throughout my whole life, my qualities and my flaws, someone who will love me for exactly who I am. I might not have chosen him myself, but I trust the Goddess will choose the best for me. I will love him with all my heart and stay with him forever no matter what goes wrong. He will be mine and I will be his till people start disliking ice creams."
Connor chuckled, "That was quite mature for a fourteen-year-old."
Selena grinned back, but then her face fell, "Don't die on me, Connor."
"Never," he whispered.
Selena smiled and then moved her head in another direction. Connor walked towards his sister but the video had already stopped.
Xavier just stayed quiet, Ryan remained where he was but Connor turned towards the alpha.
"Do you know what I had said to her after that?"
Xavier looked at him but didn't say a word.
Connor continued, "I told her that even though mates are supposed to love you, there's always an exception and that I will take my time killing the jackass if he hurts my sister."
Xavier opened his mouth to speak about Connor already had his hands tightly around Xavier's collar and had the alpha pushed against the wall.
Ryan was about to intercept but stopped when his alpha linked him to wait.
"Do you know why you are still alive?" Connor didn't wait for Xavier's response, "Because the simple fact that my sister went through all of that says how much she loves you. You are the alpha, and you didn't even know how your pack was treating your mate. Make this right, Xavier. Don't make me the long-lost Alpha who killed his sister's mate."
Connor had released the alpha and was about to turn and walk away but Xavier stopped him.
"Connor, help me."
Connor scoffed, and Ryan's heart broke on seeing his best friend and alpha like that.
"Something happened," Xavier continued ignoring Connor's reaction, "which made me lose my trust. Look at me! Do you think I liked treating my mate like that? You're an alpha's son too, you know how we are taught to think."
Connor stood with this teeth gritting, he hated how things were. His sister didn't deserve any of this.
"I tried looking for evidence but everything was a dead end. There was nothing that could help us. The video, the notes, it was all very strongly against her, I didn't know what to do. I did what I thought was best. I fucked up, but I had to do something! My pack is on the line here."
"You did what you thought was right, you did what you had to do. Now do what you know is right. As an alpha, you did your duty, Xavier. You made tough choices, now it's time to make some decisions as a mate."
There was still no news from the pack hospital and all of them were growing concerned now, but something else was also bothering Connor, "Can you show me the pieces of 'evidence'," he finger-quoted, "that you got against her."
Ryan instantly brought out the video and the notes.
"It's fake," Connor said calmly, "Look how they are checking every direction except where the camera is. The person holding the camera moved, with a clear indication of the crunching of leaves and branches and they still didn't look here. It was all planned."
Xavier and Ryan looked at each other and looked back at Connor whose attention was now on the note.
"I know my sister, Xavier. I have known her all her life. The mate bond was something that she wanted to cherish all her life. She was so excited when we told her and she had been since then. She wouldn't be with anyone who isn't her mate.
"Then you are saying that..." Xavier couldn't finish his sentence.
"I am saying that someone from your pack is framing her."
Rage hit Xavier instantly, who would like to believe the fact that the person they are protecting is a traitor? Xavier didn't say anything even though he wanted to, and Connor continued.
"I'm not questioning the loyalty of your pack members. Maybe their aim is not to hurt the pack but just to get rid of her. These are human hunters we are talking about. They would never keep their words about a deal that they made to us beasts. Hunters are cruel. Maybe someone who is dumb enough took it into their own hands to get rid of the outsider. As far as I know about this pack, it doesn't easily accept new pack members easily. Maybe it didn't sit right with this person."
"I screwed up big time, but I promise you I'll make things alright with her," Xavier muttered. He has a lot of work to get done now.
"It won't be easy, Xavier. I hope you won't give up on her. While I'm sure she still doesn't hate you, I don't know how much she trusts you now. Plus you have other reasons to be worried about as well."
Xavier had thought that Connor meant finding the traitor, but it turned out to be something entirely different.
"The hunters probably thought that on seeing the video, you'll banish her from your pack and they'll take her with them. But you didn't let her leave. As far as I can presume, they'll attack anytime soon."
Saying this, Connor turned to leave the room, he needed to see his sister. It was only then, that the three men saw the fourth figure standing in the door.
Ryan gulped and stood beside Xavier as the man moved to give Connor the space to walk out.
Xavier's dad was not someone anyone ever wanted to mess with. He has never been angry with his children ever, but this time, he couldn't hold it in.
"What have you done?"
His voice was too calm, and cold. The tone told these two enough about how angry Damien Martinez was.
For the first time in his life, Xavier didn't have the courage to look at his father's eyes.
____|~.~|____