This chapter was edited on December 24, 2018
The man with the glasses gaped at Brent, his grip on the desk he was leaning on tightening in shock.
Lucas looked to Brent and saw that he wore an identical expression. Which was expected, seeing as Brent and this Alpha had the exact same face.
"Oh my god," the Alpha gasped, walking over to them and looking to his second in command for guidance, "Zaizen, wha-"
"You're my dad," Brent said, voice shaking, "I know for a fact you're him."
The alpha bit his lip. "Bradley," he said in his soft velvety voice, "How on earth-"
"My name is Brent," Brent stormed up to his father indignantly, "Don't act like you don't know who I am, you're the one that named me. And you're supposed to be dead."
Brent, being a full adult, stood at the same height as his father. Alpha Furray hardly seemed to notice the height similarity and patted Brent's shoulder as if he were a kid.
"I named you Bradley. That is your name," he said softly, "Your uncle changed it so that you wouldn't become a target in the continents."
"Why are you alive?" Brent smacked his hand away, "You've been alive this whole time and you never told me?" he grabbed his father by the collar, eyes welling up but he didn't let any tears escape.
"I couldn't let them know I was alive," Alpha Furray said, sadness present in his eyes. He put his hands gently on top of his son's, "Just liste-"
"You could've told me!" Brent interrupted, hurt evident on his face, "You- you... they said you were dead! They said you died heroically, that you were a hero! You're not, though! You're a coward!"
"Yes, I am a coward," He gently grasped his son's wrists and pried them off of him slowly, "But I'd rather be a coward if it meant keeping you safe."
Brent shook his head, tears finally falling, "I don't need someone to keep me safe!"
"Yes, you-"
"I needed a father," he choked, dropping his gaze to the floor, feeling defeated. "I'm an adult now... did you ever actually plan on telling me? Did you just not want me anymore?"
"N-no!" the alpha lifted Brent's head up, "Bradley, I love you more than anything else on the planet. You're the only reason I agreed to anything in my life."
"My name is Brent," The chef rose his head, glaring, "Stop saying you did all of this for me! Did all of what? Lie, pretend you were dead, abandon me? What part of that screams good parent to you?"
"Um, excuse me," Gina piped in, raising a finger. Alpha Furray turned to her with a raised eyebrow that reminded Lucas of his son.
"Brent doesn't know anything about his past," she explained, "I think it'd be best if you were to explain how and why you died... also, explain why you and Vandra became involved in the first place."
The alpha slowly shifted his gaze back to his son and realization hit him. "You don't know anything?" he practically whispered, "Your uncle never told you about me or your mother?"
"They showed me pictures and told me my mother was a vampire," he shrugged, "But other than that, nothing. I was forbidden to talk about magic or anything related to you."
Alpha Furray furrowed his brows and turned to everyone else in the room. Lucas felt a coldness waft through his body when the alpha's eyes racked over him. The father of the person he desperately loved, but could never say out loud. Lucas suddenly really wanted the alpha to like him.
"Would you mind letting me and Bradley talk for a second?" he asked, looking directly at Lucas as he regarded the entire group
Lucas was about to nod and head out when Brent stopped him.
"Absolutely not, these are my only friends now and they're gonna hear every word of this," the chef snarled, "And how many times do I have to tell you, my name is Brent. Not Bradley."
Alpha Furray nodded slowly, not wanting to argue with his already worked up son.
He sighed, "It all started long before you were born. The Furray Pack and the White Clan had an enormous feud," he said, leaning to one leg.
"The White Clan?" Lucas interrupted, "vampires?"
"Yes," Alpha Furray said, "Those blood-thirsty parasites. We had a feud with them long ago and it lead to a war. I was only 14 when the war began, and I was 17 by the time it was nearing its bloody end.
My father, the former alpha, proposed a plan: I marry the princess of the clan and unite the two groups. The princess of the clan was your mother, Bra-Brent, and her name was Vandra White.
We hated each other to no extent and figured we could just remain married and never have to speak with each other again.
But no, that wouldn't completely unite our people. The last thing we had to do was to have a child. We had to create a being with both families blood, the tie that would truly bring us both together."
"They forced you to have a child?" Diana's eyes widened, "That's got to be illegal, and crossing some sort of moral high ground."
"Oh definitely illegal and definitely immoral. But nevertheless, they forced us to make love and give birth to you, Bradley," the alpha spoke as if he had something stuck in his throat, "And I did name you as you said. Bradley Furray, a man that would do great things in the future." he smiled.
Brent didn't smile back, "So then where does it all go wrong?"
"Vandra got herself, uh-" he turned to Lucas nervously, seemingly hiding something but the prince didn't seem to notice or care, "involved with the royal family and in some deep trouble."
Brent paled at the mention of this, "So I've heard, but what does that have to do with you?" he wanted to avoid mentioning that his mother had killed Lucas's mother because the prince surely would not like hearing that.
"She was targetted by the royal army and," he sighed, "She asked me for shelter.
I agreed, of course. I didn't want to anger the clan, but we were no match. The royal army took her and executed her and the clan then went after my entire pack. I was injured very badly, almost on the brink of death.
But I lived, nonetheless, but never told a soul that wasn't in the pack.
I didn't want anything like this to ever happen to you, so I asked a friend of mine to take you in. I was told your mind would erase all of these memories, that the trauma would no-doubt block out all of the violence you saw and the sight of your parents dying. That was what I wanted, for you to grow up thinking that we were never a part of your life, that you didn't have such evil and bad blood running through your veins. I wanted you to have the world, Bradley."
"That's not my name," Brent said softly, glaring slightly, "Now I know that you really never planned on telling me you were still alive."
"I couldn't ruin your life at this point," the alpha shook his head, " I wanted you to be normal-"
"My life wouldn't ever be normal!" He shouted, " I was an orphan! An orphan who growled like a wolf and craved blood like a vampire! I was hairy and animalistic and singled out! I was different from everyone around me and the worst part was, I barely even knew what was wrong with me!"
"There's nothing wrong with you," the alpha continued to shake his head, not wanting to hear his son speak about himself in that way, "I just wanted you to not be in danger of all these things, Bradley. To grow up peacefully and happily, maybe marry a woman you love one day and have your own-"
"See, that would never happen, alpha!" Brent scowled harshly "If you really cared about me and you were a real freakin' father, you would know that I'm g a y!"
The alpha paled and didn't seem to have a response to this. He opened his mouth to speak and then promptly shut it again, so Brent continued,
"And I swear to god, if you call me Bradley one more time, I'm going to lose it!" He hollered at his father, "Say my name properly, dad. My name is Brent Lucas."
"Brent," the alpha put his hands up in a poor attempt to calm down his son but was still at a loss for words.
Something in Lucas's mind urged him to step forward and so he grabbed Brent's hand and pulled him to face the prince.
Brent's eyes softened at Lucas's face and now he, too, was at a loss for words. But not because he was ashamed, because the prince's beauty had completely thrown him off.
Lucas felt his face burn wickedly, "B-Brent, maybe you should calm down," he turned to the alpha, who was giving the prince another once-over. This made Lucas turn an even brighter shade of red, "Your father is trying his best. A-and despite the past actions he took, you mustn't forget that this was all a means to save and protect you. Not to mention, it's late and we need a place to stay." he said the last part lowly
"You need a place to stay?" the alpha perked up, "I can provide you all with shelter, of course."
Brent turned back to his father, hand still firmly in the prince's, "You'll give us each a room to stay for the night?"
The alpha nodded, "I can even get you a master bedroom," he turned to Lucas and their entwined hands, "If you wanted to share a room with your-uh- lover."
Brent's eyes widened to the size of tennis balls, "W-wha-," he looked down at their entwined hand and, without detaching himself, avoided the prince's gaze, "We're not... the... he's a prince!...and he's engaged!"
"I'm sorry," the alpha bowed awkwardly, "Um... you can share a room if you and your fiance if you-"
This whole back and forth was covered by the giggles of Gina and Diana.
Brent's eyes widened even more, finally unlacing his and Lucas's fingers, "He's not engaged to me!"
***
Brent stared up at the sky painted ceiling longingly. How he wished he could just disappear into the stars and forget all his worries.
How he wished he take Lucas by the hand and drag him into the galaxy with him. Without any Jenine or royalty. Without his mother or his father.
Just them.
The room Brent was staying was small, but only because he insisted Lucas have the biggest room. He suspected this room used to belong to a girl judging by the decorations. He liked the sky painted ceiling, but the rest of the room looked like rainbow and horses vomited right onto it.
He figured this was his dad's way of showing encouragement of his sexuality, but he actually hated rainbows to no extent.
Maybe the rainbows were the reason why he couldn't sleep, even though it was nearly 2 in the morning and that they had to wake up at 5 once again.
Then he heard Jenine's squeaky voice in the back of his brain and felt her long nails running down his face. No, she was the reason he couldn't sleep. Her and her stupid blackmailing.
He didn't have time to harp on how much he hated the woman because just then, his door opened and a familiar scent wafted into the room.
Brent promptly sat up and saw his father's figure through the dark, "Dad?"
The man froze for a second before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a match. He then lit the four candles that lined the walls and then the one right beside the nightstand, sitting down beside his son.
"I thought you were asleep," he said with a grin, "I had to give you something."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plain silver ring, "Zaizen gave this to you when you were younger but it would always slide off your little fingers," he chuckled softly, "You wear it on your right middle finger."
He took the silver band and slid it over the appropriate finger, looking at the dull thing oddly, "Zaizen... I remember him for some reason." he said
"Well I would hope so," Alpha Furray beamed, "He's your godfather."
Brent looked at his father incredulously and let a smile grace his face, "I know I yelled at you a lot, but it really means the world to be able to see you again. To hear your voice." he said softly "My life is actually the worst right now."
His father put a hand on his head lovingly, "The man you're in love with has a fiance?"
Brent paled, "Wha-no! I-I mean... yes," he dropped his gaze, "But that's not my problem!"
He then proceeded to tell his father about Jenine and everything that happened so far. He told him about the Oracle choosing him, their journey to Yawa, meeting Gina and Diana, playing truth or dare, how Jenine is blackmailing him using his past, and then finally how they ended up here.
"I just don't know what to do," Brent sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hands, "If only my mother weren't so evil. If only she hadn't-"
"You know something," the alpha sighed, looking into space, "Your mother and I might've loved each other in a different life."
Brent blanched, "What?! But you said you hated her!"
The alpha nodded with a smile, "Yes, and she hated me" he looked at his son, "But we only hated each other because we were forced to do things we didn't want to do. They never let us fall in love.
You see, I didn't hate your mother because she was an evil parasite that sucked blood and always beat me in chess. Truth be told, there's a lot more to your mother than you might know.
Problem is, it all depends on if you believe in her or not"
"What do you mean 'believe in her or not'?" Brent dropped his voice, "Are you saying there's a possibility that my mother didn't kill the queen?"
The alpha leaned back on his hand, "Vandra told me something that night, the night before they came and executed her. She told me what I believe to be the truth because I believe in her, and I do believe if we had more time... I could've loved her" his face saddened, "But I promised to keep what she said to myself and to never let another soul hear of it again. The only ones that know of the truth are Old Lady Grimhilde, myself, Vandra, and Lily Charming herself."
Brent didn't even bother asking who this "Olf Lady Grimhilde" was, because he knew he wouldn't get a straight answer.
Brent looked at his dad, seeing the pain in his eyes, "You actually did love my mother, didn't you?"
The alpha smiled, "The answer to that is something I swore to never reveal to anyone as well." He closed his eyes, head leaned back against his shoulder, "As far as the world knows, we were two horrible people forced to marry each other... and you never existed."
Brent tried to take all of this in. Could his mother be innocent?
Absolutely not. She terrorized villages, she killed the queen of the Southern Kingdom, she's a vampire for Christ's sake. But there was something in his father's voice that made him question this.
"Do you think you'll ever fall in love again?" he asked randomly
His father shrugged, "I don't think I've ever stepped out of this house long enough in the past twenty years to even think of the possibility," he opened his eyes and turned to his son, "But you, on the other hand, have your whole life ahead of you."
"Meaning?" Brent raised an eyebrow
"Prince Lucas," the alpha grinned, "You can't deny that you're in love with him."
There was a silence that graced them for not even 30 seconds, but it said a lot.
"That hardly matters, dad-"
"And he's in love with you," his dad interrupted.
Brent didn't even want to entertain the thought. He shook his head with a sad expression, "Lucas is... a prince. He would never fall in love with someone like me."
"Say what you will," he grabbed his son's hand and looked at him like he was the most valuable thing in the world
***
"He's your chef?" Alpha Furray rubbed his chin, "Wonder where he got that from? I thought you two were friends."
Lucas nodded, "yes, well we are friends" he smiled, "I wouldn't have taken him on this week-long road trip with me if I didn't want him by my side."
It was about time for them to depart and Brent was helping the werewolves prepare a new carriage and find a new driver.
Lucas and the girls were kept company at the foot of the packhouse by the alpha leader himself. It was obvious he was not used to being outside, by how he squinted at the sun with inexperience and flinched at every little chirp and squeak he heard.
"Not to mention, Brent is the greatest chef I've ever had," Lucas continued, "He can make even french toast taste like the greatest thing on the planet."
"Is that so?" the alpha grinned, "Cooking, huh? Yeah, he definitely didn't get that from me or Vandra, I can tell you that"
They both laughed and Lucas couldn't shake how much his father looked like Brent. "Brent really is the spitting image of you, Alpha Furray."
"Call me Daniel," the alpha beamed, "It really does brighten me up to hear you say that. I've always wanted a son just like me, you know. Someone to carry on your legacy."
"Well he does a fine job in capturing your kindness," Lucas bowed regally, "On behalf of the whole Southern Kingdom, I thank you for everything you've gone through"
The alpha snorted, "Are you trying to get brownie points with me?"
Lucas flushed, "I- wh-wha-"
"Impressing your crush's father, eh?" he raised an eyebrow with a teasing smirk, "If you two would just realize your feelings for each other, everything would be solved."
"I-I don't know what you mean," Lucas avoided eye contact
Alpha Furray sighed and bent down so that he was eye level with the prince. "Prince Lucas, how do you feel about my son?"
"H-how do I..." Lucas gulped, face growing red.
"Answer me honestly," the alpha's face was now very serious, "How do you feel about my son? From the deepest part of your heart, what are your feelings for Bra-Brent?"
"I..." Lucas thought to himself. This was not the time to dodge around, the seriousness in the alpha's eyes gave him some sort of courage to say the words out loud.
"I..." he took a deep breath, "I love Brent terribly. I think.... I've fallen deeply in love with your son."
The alpha's face broke into a smile and he held out a hand. Lucas promptly took it and let the alpha shake his entire arm. Lucas saw that the alpha's giant emerald eyes were shimmering.
They danced the same way Brent's did, gorgeous and full of so much passion.
"Prince Lucas," he smiled fondly,
"You have my blessing."