My Eternal Mate

ALEXANDER

Aspen appeared more interested in the drink in his hand than to tell his side. I watched him with curious eyes, slowly losing my patience. If it wasn't for my Luna, I would have him squared up already.

"This tastes quite sweet," Aspen commented, holding his drink up and eyeing it.

"Aspen," I growled, warningly, feeling my canines appear.

Lyra squeezed my hand in hers, making me glance down at her. She offered a weak smile, pulling herself closer to my side in a comforting manner. Within hardly a second, I was completely relaxed again.

"Sorry," Aspen mumbled, making me glance back at him, and as if Lyra's effort to calm me down had gone to waste, I was worked up once again at the sight of my so-called-brother. "Honestly, I'm purposely wasting time because I'm not sure if you can handle the truth."

I snorted. "If I did not know any better, I would say you are worried about me."

Aspen frowned, placing his drink on the trolley before he came to stand a couple of feet away from my Luna and I, with his back leaned against my desk.

"I can appreciate that trusting me will be a hard task," he stated, his eyes glistening and brows knitted together. "But like I already told you, I do wish for us to form a brotherhood. To you, I am a stranger, and I can't pin you down for that because you didn't know of my existence. But to me, you have been my brother since the day I watched you walk."

I raised a brow. "Tell me what the hell you are doing here," I warned, not interested in his soppy stories.

For all I knew, he could be making all of this up to distract me. Distract me from exactly what? That was what concerned me.

Aspen gave me a look that I could not quite decipher, before he nodded and crossed his arms. He stole a quick glance at my Luna before he pried his eyes away. I could feel her squirm under my touch, so I held her firmly in an attempt to comfort her.

"I already told you that I am a half-breed, and well, older than you," Aspen began saying. "Father was in love with my mother years before yours appeared. According to father, they had plans to marry. He really did love her, you know? The type of love, forbidden and painful, but he didn't mind that. In his own words, anything for her."

Aspen chuckled humourlessly at his own words, making me narrow my eyes at him. I found it hard to believe his words, when a wolf's mate was beyond what any human relationship could offer. There was no way that father wanted to remain with the human lover after finding his mate, my mother.

"It's like I can already read your mind and imagine you saying how daft I probably sound," Aspen continued, scoffing. "Which I completely get. Mated bonds are eternal, something humans can't ever offer, really. But there was something special between father and my mother, to the point that the Alpha thought the human was his mate, his wolf just didn't recognise her."

"If his wolf didn't recognise her, then clearly, she wasn't his mate," I retorted. "I get it. They were in love. Get to the damn point."

Aspen raised his head to meet my gaze, a sad expression coated his features. He gave me a weak smile.

"Love wouldn't even cut what they had, but let's call it that," he agreed, nodding. "They were together for years, about to settle, when father found your mother. He was confused because his wolf loved your mother, but he loved mine. At first, he kept both a secret and tried to see them, to figure out what he wanted, but then your mother found out."

"This sounds nothing like my father," I growled, not appreciating the speculation.

My father was a respected and good man. There was no way that he had been with two women at the same time, it didn't make sense.

"That's the irony, isn't it? Now, I'm not saying father was a bad person, he absolutely was not," Aspen replied, defensively. "He didn't want to hurt either of the women, I suppose, and needed time to figure out what he wanted. Your mother, now that I see it, it probably was the wolf in her, became furious. She threatened my mother and with all due respect, went a little loco."

"Do not speak of my mother in that manner, Aspen," I warned, feeling my muscles tense.

Lyra rubbed her hand across my chest, making me squeeze my hand on her waist a little to let her know her comforting gesture helped.

"If you are not ready to hear the story, then I will come back another day," Aspen advised. "I haven't even told you a fraction of the story and you look ready to rip my head off."

'He's right. Calm down,' Lyra chimed in, through the mind-link. Then she spoke loudly, "I will get you both something warm to drink. I think it would be more appropriate in this situation."

I tried to give her a smile but she was out of the door before I could react. My wolf whimpered when she was out of sight, and I fought the urge to follow her down to that kitchen and take her on that kitchen island. This was not the time for it. I would handle her later.

I was glad when Aspen didn't mind her but continued speaking.

"Father found out that my mother was pregnant and took us in to hiding. That must have upset your mother even more, because she knew father was sneaking around, protecting a mere human that wasn't his mate," he told me, looking slightly apologetic. "One would feel sorry for her until she began carrying out atrocious acts."

"Explain," I urged.

Aspen sighed. "My mother managed to stay in hiding for about fifteen years, before your mother found her. Lucky for me, I wasn't at home and my gift helped me remain masked."

I frowned. "What are you saying, Aspen?"

"I returned home to my mother lying cold on the floor in a pool of her own blood," he explained, through gritted teeth, his eyes black. "I wanted to go find your mother and kill her, but father came and had Jenna take me away. I didn't even have time to grieve my mother when I was forced in to the shadow."

"That's ridiculous," I snarled, my wolf growling loudly.

There was no way in hell that my mother had carried out such an atrocious act when I was only twelve. She had only became distant after my father's passing. Prior to that, she had been possibly the best mother that anyone could have asked for.

She had been quite the Luna. Always supporting my father, attending to events and claimed her spot like a natural. She lead many of the wolves as if she had been born an Alpha herself. I always admired her before my father's passing. Things had changed immensely after that. It was like a piece of her had vanished with him.

"Ridiculous to you, brother," Aspen corrected me, his eyes slightly darker now. "Did you even know her?"

"Don't be daft," I retorted, my voice hard. "Of course I knew my own damn mother."

"Yeah?" he challenged, his voice deep. "What exactly did you know? How she hid the truth from her own pups after what she had done?"

"Aspen," I said, warningly, not appreciating the speculation about my mother.

She was dead. I didn't need him to be speaking ill of her, even if I knew deep down that she hadn't been the best mother after my father. But that was how she had dealt with the loss of her mate.

"Don't Aspen me, Alexander," the wolf snapped, his eyes completely charcoal now, as he growled. "Fuck. I'm glad she's dead, because I was planning on killing her myself."

"Watch your words," I growled, making the boy slightly cower back when my Alpha tone appeared. "It's unfortunate what happened to your mother, and any wolf would have done the same for their mate."

Aspen chuckled, humourlessly. "Brother, she's not the angel you portray her to be," he said, lowly, pain evident in his voice. "Do you think my mother is the only person your so called mother killed?"

His words made me frown, and my wolf completely silence. "Be careful, or you might not leave this room alive," I warned.

"If I die revealing the truth, then I have accomplished the revenge that I have sought for years," he growled in response.

His words made me approach him again, this time I stood inches away from him, growling in his face. It was mostly to make him remember his place.

"Watch yourself," I reminded him, my voice husky. "I will not accept the disrespect that you are portraying right now."

"I'm not here to sugar coat the truth," Aspen told me, his voice hard. "It's up to you whether you wish to believe me, but I am not leaving until you know every detail."

"What you are telling me is completely invalid. Quite contrary to your words, prior to father's passing, my mother was a spectacular wolf, a fantastic leader," I sneered. "Things switched up slightly after the loss of her mate, and that is to be expected when one is grieving."

Aspen scoffed and tilted his head to the side, his brow arched as he glared at me. "You think she was grieving because of father?"

"I warned you," I spat, before I wrapped my fingers around his neck, ready to snap his head off.

"Little brother, so gullible," Aspen heaved, his eyes charcoal and sad. "How can one grieve a life they took?"