Blake watched her go into the pack house and then started for the stairs to head home. "Blake, a moment." Sean said, calling him back.
"What is it, Gamma?" He asked as he turned around to show he was listening. He looked just to the left of the other man's ear.
"I know you're in love with Victoria."
"What? No. We're just friends." It was true that they were just friends but it was also true that he wanted to be more. She was sweet and kind, everything that he had hoped his mate would be. But his mate had out right rejected him and mated an alpha from another pack.
"We both know that is because Victoria wants it that way. It's time you stop projecting onto her. Both of you will only get hurt if you keep going down this road."
"I don't understand? Why would it matter if I spend time with her?"
"I'm sure you know that Lancel, Erik and I are ten years older than her?"
"Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"The night her mother was killed Lancel found his mate. She was just a child at the time and when his father saw what was happening he gave Lancel an ultimatum to protect her. He could leave the pack and not return for ten years or lose his title in the pack." He paused. "Lancel realized that if he stayed he would ruin both of their lives and chose to protect his mate no matter how much it hurt him."
"Why are you telling me all of this? What does it have to do with the current situation?"
"Don't you think it's odd that the alpha would take in an orphaned child? Even if she was a member of his own pack. Why wouldn't he set the task of raising her to someone else?"
"Victoria had no other family outside her mother and the alpha realized that."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps it's because his son begged him to not send her away. Maybe even threatened to leave and never come back if he did."
"What are you saying?"
"Victoria is Lancel's mate and your Luna." He said in a clear voice. "Come this wednesday she will go into heat and he will mark her. Stay away from her. For your own safety Blake. It's time she took her proper place by his side."
Blake felt the blood leave his body. She was his luna. But then why had Lancel not visited her in the last ten years? Order or not he should have come back to visit her before now.
"So he hasn't marked her yet. It is still her choice."
"In this case she doesn't have one. I wish she did but she doesn't. It is my job to protect her. Both physically and emotionally. I am telling you to stay away from her for her sake as well as your own. It will only hurt her if you were to get yourself killed by doing something stupid. Like say, trying to protect her from her own mate."
"Some one had too!" He knew that the gamma didn't miss the accusation in his voice.
"There was no threat to her. You on the other hand were close to dying when he saw you alone with her." He paused to let it sink in. "You were the cause of his anger. Not her. And the only reason you are still alive right now is because he realized he was scaring her. Now leave and don't come around here anymore. I don't want to be left to clean up the mess when Lancel takes your life!" With that the gamma entered the pack house and slammed the door shut. He had made it clear that Blake was not to spend any more time with Vicky. He felt that he made his stance clear on this matter. But he almost regretted scolding Blake as he watched the young warrior leave the pack house porch and start for home in the gathering dark. 'Best for everyone.' Panic growled. He had never liked Blake hanging around but had allowed it even when Alpha Devin had shown displeasure at it. Victoria had met him when she entered junior high and they had been friends ever since. Blake had joined them on weekends and for special occasions like Vicky's birthday and celebrating her first shift. He had even been present in the changing room when she was officially presented to the pack as a full fledged member. Something that both the Luna and Alpha had tried to prevent from happening. It was Erik that had snuck Blake in to see her.
He was unsure of when Blake had fallen for Vicky but somewhere along the line he had blurred the boundary and now it was time it was brought back into sharp focus for him. Sean hoped that this dose of reality would be enough and that Blake would take his advice on the matter. "Why would you do that? You know how much he means to Vicky." Erik said angrily as he stormed out of the living room. Sean could see Lancel over His shoulder and he seemed to get angrier at the mention of how Vicky felt about Blake. Or maybe it was that Erik had called her Vicky and not Victoria as he should have.
"Which is why it had to be done." He turned away from Erik and started to the kitchen to talk to Vicky about Blake.
"You had no right to do that!" Erik hissed as he caught Sean just outside the kitchen door. They could hear Vicky's favorite cd playing as she hummed along cheerfully. She would be swaying to the beat but that didn't mean that she wouldn't hear them. Sean would have to be careful not to turn this into a shouting match. He remembered how Vicky had reacted to another argument outside this very door. That had been the day that Lancel had made the decision to leave the pack and had announced it to all of them. Sean knew that he had spent the night sitting next to Vicky's bed as he turned the choice over in his head. In the end there had not been a choice. If Lancel really cared for his mate as he said he did there was nothing he wouldn't do to protect her, even if it meant leaving her behind. "If it were anyone but blake you wouldn't care!" Sean was pulled out of his revierie by Erik's statement. "You never liked him!"
"She is not his mate, Erik. It was never going to end well. You never should have coddled him. All it did was encourage him to over step his place in this pack and blur the lines between what is proper and what he wants."
"Lancel left! Did you forget that? He made the decision to walk away from her! What was she supposed to do? Not live her life and wait for him to come back? Pine for someone that doesn't even want her?"
"Yes he did walk away and you have no idea how much it killed him to have to! Lancel never wanted to leave! He did it to protect Victoria!"
"He did it because he's selfish and we both know it! It took less than twenty four hours for him to decide that he would rather keep his title than her!"
"That wasn't it at all, Erik! You have no idea how hard it was for him! But he did it because he knew his father was right!"
"Alpha Devin never should have given him that ultimatum!"
"Alpha Devin was right to give it to him! He chose to protect Victoria in that situation! And don't you dare say otherwise!"
"He did it to protect his own reputation! He couldn't have Lancel doing something that would reflect badly on him! But it doesn't change that he walked away and we were left to pick up the pieces! Do you remember what a mess Victoria was after he left? How it took days just to get her to eat something, anything? How she barely spoke? Then she met Blake and all that changed! She was better and it was because of him! Now Lancel is back and you just kick him to the curb like he is some trash you found on the sidewalk!"
"It's for the best that he stays away from her. We should have put a stop to him hanging around a long time ago!"
"He can't tell her who she is allowed to spend her time with! She's not a slave!" Erik almost shouted, causing Lancel to come investigate what was going on. Of course Victoria was not a slave. It was much worse than that. She was Lancel's mate. Much like the three of them she was in the pack without being a part of it and it was wrong for her to associate with members of the pack as if she were equal to them when she out ranked them. What was worse was that Lancel had seen them together. He had seen the way Blake had tried to protect her from her mate and it had pissed off Chaos. He almost killed Blake on the spot. He would have if Victoria hadn't been there preventing him from completely losing control. Sean had linked Lancel when he had shouted at Victoria and called him back inside telling Lancel he would deal with the situation.
"You didn't see how close he was to losing it. Best Blake stays away for his own safety. Next time he might not get so lucky."
"Vicky has a life outside of him now. He can't just come in and expect everything to be the same as it was when she was a kid. That's not fair to her!"
"And whose fault is that? She needs to learn her place in this pack and what is expected of her! It is beyond time she knew!" Sean snapped back. He knew that Erik wanted to keep her in the dark about it all so she could live her life without the curse of life at the top of the pack. His mentality had led to him refusing to tell her the truth and stopping everyone else from doing so either.
"Both of you, stop! She's listening to your conversation!" They both fell silent as Lancel pounded towards them, a look of murderous rage on his face. It was that look that finally caused Erik to go over the edge and snap.
"Good! Let's go tell her everything right now!" He shouted and shoved the kitchen door open with all his strength. To their shock and horror Victoria was sent sprawling to the floor as she was just on the other side.
'Idiot!' He snapped at Erik through a mind link.
"Vicky! I'm so sorry!" Erik was on the verge of tears as he tried to scoop Victoria off the floor. She whimpered and backed away, terrified. How much had she overheard? Did she now know the truth?
'If she does she may not believe it.' Lancel linked him. It was at that moment that he realized Mist was in control.
"Mist, sweety. It's okay. We aren't mad at you or Vicky. You aren't in trouble." Sean attempted to sooth her by letting his gamma aura fill the room.
'Who the hell is Mist?' Lancel linked him.
'Victoria's wolf. Her name is Mist and she is in control right now. Do something to help calm her down.'
"Why don't you go to your room and calm down, bitty bit. We can Cook dinner." Lancel used his old pet name as if no time had passed at all between when he last saw her and now. Sean saw a look of pain on his face as Victoria rushed past him. He reached out to stop her and maybe pull her in close.
'Don't! Just let her calm down first.' Erik linked him and saw his fingertips just barely brush her arm. Once they heard her running up the stairs to her room he turned on Erik. "What the fucking hell is wrong with you?" He shouted.
"I'm sorry I want to protect my baby sister!" He shouted back.
"Look, Erik, I know you see her as a little sister but it's not your job to protect her." Sean sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He was starting to get a headache.
"I don't see her that way. She is my baby sister." He told them and there was silence.
"What do you mean, Erik?" Lancel finally broke the silence.
"Do you remember when my mom took me away when I was nine and we were gone for like three weeks?"
"Yes. We remember. It was the only time when we were separated. What about it?" Sean encouraged him to go on.
"I didn't know it at the time, but it was because my dad had an affair." He took a deep breath and continued. "My mom had lost another baby and they were told that if she got pregnant again she wouldn't survive. So she pulled away from him. Well one night he went to the human town not far from here and started to drown his sorrows in liquor. I don't know if he thought it was over or if he was just lonely. Or maybe he was just drunk enough not to care. Whatever the reason, he started to dance with some twenty year old human girl by the name of Olivia Smelton and then they were making out and he went back to her place with her and spent the night. Three months later she came looking for him. Alpha Devin met with her and she explained everything to him. Well my mom overheard and took me away. Dad was desperate. He told her he would do anything to get us back and mom told him that she would only consider it if he had nothing to do with Olivia or the baby. So he told Olivia she wasn't worth his marriage and Alpha Devin decided that he couldn't have a pup wandering around that was part of his pack without being watched. So he gave Olivia a place here and told her that she could stay until her child turned eighteen or found a mate if it turned out to be a girl. It was a girl and mom held dad to his promise to have nothing to do with her."
"Is that why your mom always hated Olivia?"
"Yes. But I didn't know it at the time. Three years after you left Mom died and Alpha Devin told dad that he could tell her the truth. He told him that it would do more harm than good at that point and refused point blank to tell her. I confronted him later that night about it and he told me the truth. I asked if I could see my sister and he told me it's Victoria and made me swear that I would never tell her the truth."
"Wait so when what's his face was stalking her you…"
"She told him she wasn't interested. He should have listened to her. Did you think I ripped his intestinal track out and strangled him with it just because she's mated to Lancel?"
"Yeah. I mean kinda. Just seemed like something you would do." Sean shrugged.