At this point, Clem didn’t know what to think about his sister, Claire.
He had thought that their parents had been her motivator to reject Curtis, to follow Curtis up and down, to join the meetings that prince Nathan held with the others, but from the thick astounded silence that dwelled in the room, it could be safe to say that his sister had been acting on her own, without any external influence. He didn’t know what to think of that.
He looked at his mother; she looked more shocked out of her shoes and mind than his father, quite expected since the mother and daughter duo were quite close, since his sister had no mind of hers, except put into place by his mother. As much as he was not happy with his twin, he was happy that for once his mother had no part to play in her recent escapades.
“What do you mean…Claire?” Caden asked, pushing himself ahead, his elbow resting on his knees. “What do you mean when you say that Curtis is your mate? When did that happen? When did you find out? Why didn’t you let us know?”
Claire sighed, refusing to meet her mother’s scorching gaze. Oh… she knew that she would have a lot to answer after this meeting. “I found out during Derek’s birthday party, and I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure how you would react.”
Caden shook his head, not pleased with the summary. He wanted the details. “I need more details than that, Claire Mignore…”
Claire sighed again. Her father was really angry. He didn’t call her by her full name, unless he really was. So, she opened her mouth, first resistant and tentative, but she did, and told him of all that happened that night, including her rejection of him. She also told him of her plan when she followed Jan, and how all that had come crashing down.
She told him of Zoe, the one that Arnold has selected for Curtis, despite the fact that she was his mate. She even mentioned that this might be the retribution for what she had done to Emma. When she was done, a stream of tears was already flowing from her two eyes.
Caden sighed deeply, got up from his seat, and walked to the sofa that Claire was sitting on. He dragged her to himself, consoling her, beating himself up mentally for not taking notice of this, for not pulling her back from chasing Derek even when he knew that they weren’t mates, for siding with Arnold to put Emma away. He was as much of a betrayer as his daughter was.
He knew that his children had been quite cozy with the Alpha and his recent visitors, and he had been happy about it actually. He had believed that they would fill him in soon on what was going on. But so far Clem had been elusive, and looking at Claire atoning for a lot, he doubted she would be keen on talking about the meetings, especially if the Alpha had demanded secrecy.
But first… Curtis? If he had known about this, he wouldn’t have gone ahead with Arnold’s evil plan. Did Peter know of his involvement with Emma’s banishment? From the way that his son had been avoiding him and Chyra these past few days, he wouldn’t be surprised if Peter was aware of his betrayal.
It didn’t help with the guilt assuaging him, for being a bad beta, and a bad elder to Derek.
He still remembered how foolishly he had behaved with the young lad, instead of supporting him like the gamma had, never mind that his mate had thought him not doing anything wrong, had actually pushed him to fire up the more.
He looked at Chyra now. She was glaring at Claire. Oh well… he needed to protect his daughter from the fire that was his mate; he was actually surprised that she hadn’t told her. He was as surprised as Clem.
“I love him, father. I was stupid to think like mother had conditioned me to think. But staying with the alpha, I couldn’t help but wonder how stupid I was. So, what if he isn’t an Alpha?”
Claire glared at her mother as she said this, but the older woman’s feathers weren’t ruffled.
“Well, thank the goddess that he is an alpha at least. I wouldn’t have my daughter settling for less. And don’t worry about that Zoe, I would make sure that Arnold understands that you are the best option for his son. Did he say why he didn’t want you, even though you are the fated mate of Curtis?” Chyra asked after a beat, not in the least affected by all the tears or the guilty look on her mate’s face.
For all she knew, she was trying to do what’s best for her family. Damn the pack. Damn loyalty. That wasn’t going to help her family to survive.
She watched as Claire shrugged her shoulders before speaking again. “He said that he didn’t trust us, that we wouldn’t fit into his plan…”
Chyra clapped her hands loudly causing them all to look at her. “Then that’s what we do, we work with him. We show him that he can trust us. Because, Claire, you need to be Luna of that pack. I think this is even better. At least Arnold wouldn’t want the union of the packs; you will be Luna…” She laughed as she said this, but no one saw the jokes or the humor.
Caden for one had his eyebrow piqued. Work with Arnold again? That left a bad taste in his mouth.
“You want to work with Arnold, at the expense of annihilating this pack, at the expense of the life and progress of other packs? You want to work with him, despite knowing that he is working with Leonarya and the Legardo, and a dark mage, to bring about a series of events that will cause the end of the world?” Clem asked, incredulity shining his eyes, whilst wondering for the umpteenth time why the goddess had put him in such a foolish family.