Roo slamd his palms on the table, making everyone jump.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "No, I will not let them harm a hair on my mate’s head."
"Roo," Helena said in a soft voice as she placed a hand on his arm. "Maybe we need to take a break. The Alpha Rite has your emotions on a high."
Roo let out a breath and shook his head.
He knew that no matter what, he would still feel the sa. He would still want to protect Helena.
"I’m sorry, but what does your mate have to do with the Grand Warlock’s Heir?" one of the visiting Alphas asked.
Roo looked to Helena as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
When her father found out that he was mated to the then-daughter of the Alpha of the Stonehill pack, he’d left his family and joined the wolves.
He didn’t broadcast to the public who he was. He lived a simple life and even took the Stonehill na rather than asking his wife and daughter to take his.
Roo only knew of Helena’s father because of the one day when a wolf had attacked them, and Helena used magic to protect Roo.
"It’s because technically, if we go by bloodline," Helena said as she bit her lower lip.
’You don’t have to do this,’ Roo told her through mindlink.
’Our allies, especially our closest allies, need to know that they can trust us,’ Helena quickly answered him.
"The Grand Warlock is my grandfather," Helena finally said.
"And his heir? We never understood what happened or how he died," one of the Betas said.
"His heir died fighting for the wolves, protecting his pack and his family," Jeremiah answered.
"So the Alpha Heir’s father was the Grand Warlock’s heir?" the beta asked as all eyes in the room turned to Helena.
Roo held her hand. He knew this was a difficult topic for her, it was one she generally avoided.
Even with him and Rae she rarely ntioned her magic and going by their conversation earlier, she didn’t even use it anymore.
It worried him that she suppressed her magic. He’d read sowhere that suppressed magic had a way of getting back at its wielder. Sothing about wasting a gift the gods had given.
"Yes, he was my father," Helena said with a strong voice.
"He has passed, yes?" one of the Alphas asked.
Roo knew where he was going with this. Heck, all of them knew. The Alpha was just about to state the obvious, sothing they’d all picked up on.
"Yes, my father passed away years ago, hence my mother finding her second chance mate and my stepfather, Alpha Raul," Helena said as she gave Roo’s dad a respectful nod.
"You stepfather, your mate’s father. We haven’t even gotten into just how unusual your relationship is, Alpha," the visiting Alpha said to them.
"You will not disrespect my mate," Roo growled.
"I ant no offense, Alpha," the man said with a slight bow.
"I know where you’re going, Alpha," Helena said, standing up still with her hand in Roo’s. "If we look at my bloodline, then yes, that may make the Grand Warlock’s heir."
"Do you practice?" one of the Gammas asked.
Roo pulled on Helena’s hand, making her look at him.
"You don’t have to do this," he told her. He could feel how uncomfortable she was at the thought of using magic."
"I’ll be fine," she assured him.
Roo watched as Helena turned her attention back to their guests and smiled.
"I don’t practice magic as much as I used to," she admitted. "When my father, Vincent, was alive he would train , make sure that I never lost sight of the other part of my heritage even when he’d let go of it himself."
"And now?" an Alpha asked.
"If you are wondering if mate will use her magic to harm you and my pack, I dare you to ask that," Roo growled.
"It’s normal for newly mated wolves to be protective," Jeremiah chuckled.
"We haven’t," Helena whispered.
"I would protect her no matter what our status was," Roo growled.
The Alpha backed down and nodded. He knew better than to offend his host Alpha.
"Do you think he could be after her?" Roo asked as he looked to his father.
Raul and Vincent had been best friends even before his father beca Alpha. Actually it was through Raul that Vincent and Alyssa had t during a Bloodmoon ball.
"It depends," Raul said as he looked at Helena.
"Depends on what?" it was Helena that asked this ti.
"Depends on if he has any other children and it depends on how powerfuly you manifested when they tested you," Raul said with a shrug.
"Tested ?" Helena asked, confused. "So they’ll co here to test my powers? Why don’t they just send a ssage or sothing rather than attack?"
Raul looked at her, wided eyed and shocked by sothing.
"What is it Dad?" Roo asked as he suddenly started to feel nervous.
"She didn’t tell you?" Raul asked Helena.
"Mom didn’t tell what?" Helena asked with a bite in her tone.
"It’s not my place, but I feel you need to know," Raul said as he hesitated for a mont.
Helena looked at him and nodded.
"We don’t have to do this with an audience," Raul told Helena as he looked around the room.
Roo looked to Helena.
’If you want I can ask them all to leave,’ he told her through the link. ’Even I can leave if you aren’t comfortable. We will go about this however you want.’
Helena didn’t speak for a torturous few minutes before shaking her head.
"It’s already out there," Helena sighed. "Plus I think it’s wise that we have full transparency with our closest allies. If we will potentially asking them for help, I want everyone around this table to know what they’re agreeing to."
There were nods all around the table, Alphas and Betas agreeing with her decision.
Roo smiled at Helena, proud of how she was dealing with things, but he also couldn’t help but worry about her.
He knew this matter should be discussed in private first.
"I’ll be by your side no matter what," Roo swore to her as he lifted her hand to his lips and gave it a kiss.
She gave him a tense smile and nodded.
"I cannot fathom why your mother hadn’t told you, but I’m sure she had her reasons," Raul said as he looked at Helena with kind eyes. "About a month before your father passed, your grandfather paid Stonehill a visit."
Helena looked at her Uncle and glared at him.
"He used to visit all the ti," Jeremiah said as he raised his hands in the air. "Back when your father lived in the pack, it wasn’t odd to see warlocks and witches within the pack. We had an alliance with them because their heir was mated to my sister."
"And because they had a daughter," Helena said as she let out a breath.
"You were a hybrid, a daughter of two races, and everyone was curious if you’d manifest magic," Jeremiah explained. "I wasn’t curious."
"Because you knew," Helena said, laughing and shaking her head.
"You threw out the window without touching because you were pissed I took your doll," Jeremiah chuckled. "But that one always got special treatnt."
Jeremiah was pointing at Roo, who couldn’t help but smile as he looked up at his mate.
"Anyway," Raul said as he dragged them back on topic. "Your father approached asking if he could use a stretch of Blackmoon property for your assessnt. According to him, there were too many Warlocks and Witches in Stonehill for him and his father to do the assessnt in peace."
"Why don’t I rember this?" Helena asked Raul. "I would have been old enough to rember the assessnt."
"Do you think they could have blocked her mories?" one of the Alphas asked.
"Blocked it?" Roo asked the Alpha.
He hadn’t heard of mory blocking as a skill in a warlock’s arsenal of skills, but then again, his knowledge was pretty limited since they vanished after Vincent’s death.
"It’s not a common ability," Raul sighed.
"Only the strongest can do it," the Alpha said with a nod. "We had a witch in our pack. She vanished after your father’s death, but she told of a skill that only the most powerful of their kind could muster."
"You’re sure the assessnt happened, Dad?" Roo asked. "They could have asked you but never seen it through."
Roo didn’t doubt what his father knew, he was just exploring the possibilities.
"Oh, I’m sure the assessnt happened," Raul said with a grin. "I was there when all of it happened, and I saw the expression on the Grand Warlock’s face afterward."
"What was it?" Helena asked, hoping it would shed so light on their dilemma.
"He was pleased."
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