Walking out, I say hello and we all follow Damien back into the kitchen where he opens a door. The draft hitting us in the face the moment he opened it. The air was thick with the smell of dust and paint. Damien reaches in flicking a light on which lit the stairs up. When he said it was full, he wasn’t lying.
Once down the bottom of the stairs he passed boxes up which we stacked on the kitchen counter and table. After about half an hour Damien had enough room to get to the back where he stored the paint and Tatum went down to help him. Trey and I waited in the kitchen with Natalia. I noticed Natalia eyeing one of the boxes, which read photo albums. Curiosity got the better of me and I could feel Layla wanting to look too. Walking over to it, I opened the lid, pulling a black album out.
Trey, also curious, walked over looking over my shoulder. Looking through the photos, most of the photos were of the pack before I finally found one of Damien as a little boy standing next to a dark-haired woman with a stern face. His father glaring down at the photographer, clearly not wanting his photo taken. Damien looked like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and only around six years old. He was also sporting a huge black eye and had on clothes that were too big for his tiny frame.
I could feel Layla stirring in my head. “What is it?” I ask and I hear her growl.
“I have seen that woman before” She growls, making goosebumps rise on my arms. I could feel anger bubbling but could tell she couldn’t recall where she had seen her. “I just remember her face,” She tells me.
“Is that Damien’s mother?” I ask, verifying it with Natalia. She tilts her head and nods.” Yes, that is Estella” She confirms. At her words, Trey looked up.
“Did you say Estella?” I looked at him confused and Natalia nodded. Damien and Tatum come up the stairs with two big tins of paint, and painting equipment. I thought he would be mad that I opened the box, but he said nothing. Trey walked over and peeked at the photo and gasped.
“What” I ask.
“I know her, is that the Alpha’s mother?”
“Yes, she is. How do you know her?” Damien asked, curiosity flashing behind his eyes.
“She was one of the rogues I was running from when I came here. She chased me over the border”
“Why were you running from her?” I asked, and I noticed everyone was now intently listening.
“Like I said, I stumbled into the Pack, I really meant no harm Alpha. I was trying to escape her and her Mate.” He says looking at the picture.
“Impossible my father is dead, I killed him myself” He says pointing to the picture of his father. Trey shakes his head.
“No, that isn’t her mate. Horrid man, he tried to recruit the rogues I was with into some fantasy he had about attacking the Blood Moon Pack, said he needed to take down an Alpha so he can take over their Pack. Has some vendetta against the Luna of the Blood Moon Pack apparently they had him jailed for twelve years”
“And you are sure he is my mother’s mate?” Damien asks.
Trey nods. “Positive, apparently he was going to help her escape her old Pack but went missing for years. When he came back, she was already a rogue. Now he is obsessed with taking over someone’s pack. Said he wants to start a war with the Blood Moon and Black Moon. Scary bloke too, gave me the creeps, and he isn’t a typical werewolf either, some sort of Hybrid. I can’t explain it. That doesn’t even accurately describe him and he was always injecting your mother and himself with some green liquid”
Alarm bells were going off in my head, ringing loudly, and I could feel the same coming from Damien.
“What was his name?” My stomach turning upside down and twisting in knots. I had a feeling I was going to regret asking that.
“Kane, or Kabe”
“Kade?” I ask.
“Yes, that’s it, Kade, that is your mother’s mate” Trey says and I feel the blood drain from my face. Damien instinctually, pulling me closer as he wraps his arm tightly around my shoulders.
“I am going to need you to recall every little thing you know about Kade and my mother,” Damien tells him. Trey nods before taking a seat at the table.
“Why, may I ask?” He says, looking up at Damien whose jaw is clenched tightly and I can feel how tense his body is, his muscles rippling as he tries to remain in control. I could feel Darian fighting against him, wanting to shift.
“Because the Pack he wants to attack belongs to Lily’s sister, the Lycan queen. Kade is also the man responsible for hurting Lily” Natalia makes some coffee. Trey tells Damien everything he knows, which really isn’t all that much and similar to what he told us. Said that as soon as he found out their plans he ran, not wanting to be involved in any war.
When they leave I kind of wander around not really knowing what to think. Walking upstairs, Damien starts laying painter’s tarps on the floor.
“Will you be right here, I will run you to the Hardware store and you can pick out the paint you want. I just need to speak to my pack and tighten border patrol, and I want to send some scouts out. I think I should also ring Reid and let him know”
“I can come with you” I tell him. Damien shakes his head.
“No, you stay and relax. I won’t be long promise.” He says.
“I can get Natalia to run me”
“Do you know what you want? I can send Max”
I nod and tell Damien, his face going pale slightly. “You’re not going to paint it rainbow, are you?”
Laughing, I shake my head. “No, I want to paint a mural on it”
Damien looks a little taken aback but says nothing.
He kisses my head when his phone beeps. “I gotta go, but Max will be over with what you want in an hour. I will only be gone for a few hours.” He says. Before walking out.