"You killed them?" Marianne chuckled. "That doesn't sound right. You would've only been ten or eleven years old."
"I was twelve." Niklaus stood from his seat and placed a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Hey buddy, can you let the grown ups talk?"
Oliver looked at his aunt and Olivia, they both nodded and Oliver ran to his room.
"Is there a reason he needed to leave?" Olivia looked haunted.
Niklaus took a deep breathe and turned away from the table. He unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, revealing all of his scars. He could hear a gasp escape Olivia's lips, it pained him.
"Niklaus.." Marianne rose from her seat. "What is the meaning of this?"
"When I turned eleven I was taken from a park and became a captive for a group. Their boss was, is, demented and ruthless. When I first arrived, everyday he would send someone to beat me. Once he realized the beatings weren't working he turned to torture. He'd let his goons burn me, cut me, and.." Niklaus gulped. "R-rape me. When I turned twelve I had my first shift and he placed some sort of brainwashing drug in my food. He forced me to show him where my pack was, forced me to let his pack inside, and forced me to slaughter my entire pack, my family. Starting with my own parents, my father first then my pregnant mother. My brother escaped with some help but the rest of the pack didn't survive. I woke up a week later with no recollection of the events that happened and no wolf to remind me. After that, for the next eight years that I was there, it was just beatings and torture."
Niklaus reached for his shirt and put it back on. He turned back to the table and saw a tear falling from Olivia's cheek. Marianne looked both stern and expressionless.
"Who was this man.." Marianne finally spoke after a moment of silence. "This man, who abused someone so... defenseless."
"I've only ever referred to him as Blink but after a lot of research I found that his full name is Benjamin Arnold Blink."
Olivia jumped from her seat and rushed to the sink, vomiting into the disposal.
"Uncle Ben." Olivia whispered and wiped the saliva and vomit from her lips.
"What?" Niklaus furrowed his brows. "Uncle Ben?"
"Benjamin Arnold Blink.. he's my uncle." Olivia's eyes started tearing again. "My mother was Amelia Hera Blink, she had a child with a kitsune, my father, who was the alpha of the Chie Pack. My name is Olivia Ophelia Blink, I am the direct niece to Benjamin Arnold Blink."
Without saying a word Niklaus walked passed Olivia and out the front door. He could hear Olivia calling after him but he didn't want to face that right now. He needed to clear his head, he needed to think everything over. How could this be his life, his mate. She's the niece of his abductor, his abuser, the niece to the man who's ruined everything Niklaus has ever had. Niklaus ran as fast as he could, he didn't want to stop until he reached the Red Vine's doors, but he had to stop. He had to stop and eventually he would have to go back to the Chie pack, he'd have to talk to Olivia.
***
"I told you!" Neil laughed and reached for the phone. "Hello?"
Neil Listened for a while before speaking again. "Wait, what!?" Niklaus spoke on the other end. "Jesus! Okay, yeah. Let me fill Harper in and we'll drive over there as soon as we can." Neil jumped from the bed.
"What's wrong?" Harper stared gravely at Neil.
"I'll fill you in on the way, we need to get dressed. Now!" Neil scrambled around the room looking for his clothes.
As they rushed from the door the heard Scarlett call after them.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Scarlett followed them to the car.
"It's Niklaus." Neil was in the drivers seat. "We'll fill you in when we get back but right now we need to go."
Scarlett nodded her head and stepped back from the passenger window. She waved as they drove from the house.
"Are you going to fill me in now?" Harper's face still had a worried look, he didn't know what was happening."
"Okay. So apparently Olivia is Blink's niece."
"What!?" Harper stared at Neil in disbelief. "How is that even possible?"
"I don't know but Niklaus told her about his scars and Blink, then she said that Blink is her uncle and Niklaus ran out of their house because he couldn't process it."
"Jesus. So where is he now?" Harper could see the speedometer, Neil was speeding.
Harper watched the slick road race by, it had started raining a little bit ago. Thunder clapped in the distance as lightning flashed in the sky.
"When I spoke to him he said he had ran from the house, I'm not sure exactly how far he ran."
Harper and Neil pulled into the Chie Pack's driveway and found Olivia crying in the steps.
"Neil!" Olivia jumped up. "Niklaus told us about what happened to him and-"
"I know." Neil grabbed Olivia's shoulders to calm her down. "He called me. Where is he, right now?"
Olivia didn't say anything. She raised her hand and pointed to a large white oak in the distance. Neil took a breath and looked at Harper. Harper gave a slight nod and took over trying to calm Olivia. Neil started running towards the oak, as he got closer he could see Niklaus pacing under the branches and ranting to himself.
"Nik, you okay?" Neil stood at the edge of the tree, soaked from the rain.
"I don't know!" Niklaus continued pacing. "I don't know what to do! She's his niece! Neil, tell me what to do! What do I do!?"
"Okay, calm down!" Neil gestured with his hands as he spoke. "Let's think this through."
"Okay. Yeah, okay." Niklaus stopped for a moment before the pacing continued. "Keep talking."
"Okay. When you were in captivity, did you ever see Olivia there?"
"No, I don't know. I was kept in the dungeon most of the time."
"Right." Neil rubbed his neck. "Did Blink ever mention her?"
"No. Never. Not until I asked about that week that was missing."
"Okay." Neil walked closer with his hands open. "So, I think it's safe to assume she never knew about the stuff he was doing. Right?"
"I don-"
"Niklaus, think about it."
"Right, she didn't know." Niklaus stopped pacing and took a few deep breathes. "She didn't know."
"Exactly." Neil pulled Niklaus into a hug. "She didn't know. Let's go back."
Niklaus nodded and released Neil from the hug.
***
Niklaus had chewed his lip the entire walk back to the Chie's pack house. Olivia and Harper were still sitting on the steps.
"Niklaus!" Olivia jumped from the steps and threw her arms around Niklaus.
Niklaus looked down at Olivia's small frame wrapped around his waste. He wanted to hug her back but they needed to talk and he couldn't do that in this position. Niklaus gently removed Olivia from his waste. She looked up, the pain and understanding written on her face.
"We need to talk.." Olivia's eyes traced Niklaus's face. "We can talk in my room so everyone isn't listening in."
Niklaus nodded and followed Olivia inside. Olivia shut the door behind them. They stood awkwardly. Neither of them knew how or where to start.
"So.." Niklaus ran his hand through his hair. "Your uncle.."
"Yeah.." Olivia sat on her bed and sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Did you know?" Niklaus tried to make his features soft. He hated the accusation.
"No! I swear I didn't."
"Okay." Niklaus groaned, sitting next to Olivia. "Do you know where he is?"
"Not anymore." Olivia shifted her eyes to Niklaus's. She had seen the darkness and pain behind them the first time she noticed their dark coffee coloring but now she knew why that darkness and pain was there. "He showed up here a few months ago, he said his house had been destroyed by some other pack."
"A few months ago?" Niklaus filed through his mind. "A few months as in seven months?"
"Yeah, almost exactly." Olivia's brow furrowed. "How'd you know?"
"Roughly seven months ago Blink had recaptured me but he took Neil too. Which made it a pack dispute, so ten of the Red Pack's best, including Atlas, came to rescue us. We managed to defeat most of Blink's goons but Blink escaped and took the remaining goons with him."
"Oh. I kind of wish you would've captured him." Olivia tried to make light their current conversation.
"Why would you want him captured?"
"He's coming after us, after my pack." Olivia's face changed to doleful. "I have to complete the bond with my mate then take over as the Alpha and Luna, or else my uncle gains control of the pack."
Realization spread across Niklaus's face.
"That's why he wanted me to find you." Niklaus spoke under his breathe. "He wanted to find you because he's scared that you'll find your mate." Niklaus got up and started pacing. "He didn't realize that I'm your mate which is why he sent me or he does know and there's another plan in play."
"Oh my god!" Olivia jumped up and paced with Niklaus. "Niklaus, what does this mean?"
"This means that we need to do more research about our mate bond because if Blink knew and he sent me to find you. Then that means that he has a bigger plan than just taking over and ruling everything."