#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest

Gabriel

We all joined her for a late breakfast in the dining room. I mindlinked the rest of the crew who were all eager to see Harlow out and about. The girls, as predicted, were extremely on board to help Halrow plan the ceremony and my mother was already in party planning mode by the time breakfast was finished. We were just about to leave the girls to their party talk when Harlow grabbed my hand,

“Wait.” She said and I could tell that something was bothering her.

“What’s wrong, my love?” I pulled her from the chair and into my arms.

“I need to talk to you three and your parents.” She said, glancing towards our mom.

Mom cocked her eyebrow but stood up,

“What is it, dear?” Mom asked.

Harlow looked around the room and I sensed that something was very wrong.

“I have to tell you all something but you’re not going to like it and I don’t really want to say it.” She mumbled.

“You can tell us anything, angel.” Griff said, laying his hand on her arm. Ric looked at her with concern.

“What is this about, precious?” He asked her.

“Something I learned when I was being held captive.” She said in a small voice.

We all growled instantly, not at all ready to bring up those memories again. Mom took Harlow’s hands and guided her back down to her chair, sitting beside her.

“It’s okay, dear, you can tell us. What is it?” Mom said, still holding her hand.

“Christopher told me who’s bankrolling the rogues.” She said in a quick breath.

“He did? Who is it?” I asked, quickly sitting down on the open chair beside Harlow. Ric and Griff sat beside me.

“Did you have a brother?” She asked Mom, seeming to be changing the subject completely.

She blinked, seeming taken aback.

“Oh, well, yes I did. His name’s Daniel. The kids have never met him. We didn’t get along very well and there were a lot of wounds we just couldn’t heal. Then, when he found out about werewolves and Lukas, he lost it and started blaming Lukas for stealing me away. He wasn’t willing to accept my new life. We haven’t spoken since.” Mom explained, pain glistening in her eyes. Her brother was one of those off limit topics that no one ever dared to bring up.

“Why, angel?” Griff’s eyes pulled together in confusion. We all knew that there had to be a reason for this line of conversation.

Harlow was wiggling uncomfortably on the chair, her hands twisting together nervously on her lip, and I heard her heart rate increasing; she was a bundle of nerves.

“Christopher said that Daneil’s paying the rogues. He wanted to get revenge on Lukas and the pack, but he wanted his sister back alive. Christopher said he never planned to uphold that end of the deal, he just wanted Daniel’s money.” She spoke softly that, had it not been for our werewolf hearing, we wouldn’t have been able to hear her.

We all looked at each in shock and then our eyes landed on our mother. She was pale and expressionless, completely unmoving. Everyone else was frozen at the table, listening in on the conversation. Luckily, our dad was still there and he rushed to Mom’s side.

“Are you sure, Harlow?” Ric asked, but we all knew that Harlow wouldn’t have said anything if she wasn’t sure.

“I pushed him for information and he told me because he thought I was never going to leave. He was so confident but I knew you would come for me so I wanted to get as much information as possible.” She said,

I picked her up off the chair and sat her in my lap, cupping her face in my hands,

“You don’t ever put your life at risk for information, do you hear me? He could’ve killed you for asking those questions. You could have saved yourself some injuries.” I spoke to her in a stern and somewhat harsh tone.

“I was careful, Gabriel. Most of my injuries came from Cairo after Christopher left. Christopher was eager to talk and boost his ego.” She said,

I now had even more cause to hunt down that bastard and murder him as slowly as possible.

“I don’t care. You don’t put your life at risk, do you understand me?” I said again. She sighed,

“I thought you wanted a strong Luna? Wouldn’t a strong Luna get all the information she can when someone is threatening her pack?” She asked stubbornly.

I paused for a second when I heard her call this her pack.

“I’m proud of you, my little Luna, but nothing, absolutely nothing, is worth your life or your wellbeing.”

“Whatever you say.” She mumbled.

I knew she was only agreeing to make me happy, but I didn’t care. I kissed her quickly and rested my forehead against hers. Knowing that I was so close to losing the most precious thing in my life raked me with unbelievable guilt and pain, even after she made me promise to stop blaming myself. After all my worrying, she turned out to be so much stronger than me.

“Mom, are you okay?” I heard Ric ask and I turned around to see that Mom was still speechless and frozen.

“I just can’t believe that he would do this.” She whispered. Dad wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest.

“Do you have any idea where he is now?” I asked.

“I have no idea. Last I heard he kept his gallery open in D.C. but had moved back to New York and reopened his gallery there, too.” She mumbled.

“We’ll find him, my love, and we’ll make sure he pays for his crimes.” Dad said, stroking her hair.

“I don’t want you to. I don’t want anything to do with him.” She shook her head.

“Mom, we can’t leave someone out there who is coming after our pack. Even after we capture Cairo, there’s no telling that he won’t try something again.” Griff spoke carefully, rubbing her arm gently.

She looked sideways at Griffin and sighed before nodding.

“You’re right. I just….I don’t want to know anything about it.” She sniffed, drying her eyes.

“Okay, we’ll take care of it.” I said firmly.

“Mom, Harlie, let’s go do some party planning, huh?” Nova broke up the tension and grabbed Harlow’s hand.

She pulled her from my lap and offered her free hand to our mom. I kissed Harlow’s hand sweetly before letting her walk away.

“Yes, dear, that sounds good.” Mom smiled and took Nova’s hand.

“Are you okay, love?” Dad asked, standing with her. She gave him a kiss and we all looked away, not totally comfortable with watching our own parents’ PDA.

“Just fine, Lukas.” She smiled, patting his cheek, before following Nova and the rest of the girls from the room.

“We need to figure out exactly where that bastard is and end him.” Dad was pissed, “I never liked him.”

“We’ll find him, Dad.” I promised. Dad took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment to regain control.

“You need to focus on finding Cairo first, that’s the priority. Don’t divert resources from that search for Daniel. He’s not going anywhere.” He said,

“We have plenty of wolves, we can do both.” Ric said and I nodded in agreement.

“I know about where his gallery is in D.C. and New York, I can lead the trackers there.” Dad offered.

“You shouldn’t be away from Mom right now. Just give our trackers the addresses and, when they find something, you’ll be the first to know and the first on the scene.” Griffin said, always the most compassionate.

“You’re right, your mother needs me.” Dad nodded, realizing that Griff was right.

“We’ll get this done, Dad.” I said, determined to end these attacks on my family and my pack, once in for all.

“Let me take care of it. I’ll organize some trackers and warriors who aren’t on Cairo’s case and send out a team to each address. You three have enough on your hands.” Dad said,

I knew it was more to do with him needing to be involved in this plot against his mate and less to do with taking things off our plate. I didn’t really want him leading a mission out of the packgrounds and away from our mom right now, but I was fine with him handling the mission from here.

“That’s great, Dad.” I agreed and my brothers nodded. He was up and out the door before we could say anything else.