Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
He took it, and almost instantly, the program recognized the key. Before him, a floating transparent laptop appeared.
It asked him a few simple questions that Selene recognized as a security feature to verify it was him.
The laptop disappeared, and all around them, pictures, documents, and charts all appeared floating in the air.
Selene stepped forward to one of the pictures. She recognized it from the drawing and her father’s description, it was a fae mound. Beside it, she began to read a document. This was one of the mounds near Broken Crag that Clara had said was missing. Further in the report, she saw where Cain noted that he had successfully destroyed the mound.
“These must be his research pages, all his notes, his ideas….” Alexander whispered as he looked around him at all the pages and images.
“It’s amazing,” Selene said. “I wonder if we can download and print them out for Clara to help us sort through it all.”
Alexander reached out and touched one of the documents, and a menu popped up. After a few more options, he found what he was looking for.
“I just sent a full copy of this to my personal drive. We’ll be able to look at it all from there.”
“That’s great,” Selene said, looking around them. “But Alice said there would be a message.”
“It must be in these documents somewhere,” Alexander said, moving from one document to another.
Suddenly everything disappeared, including the forest and the Treant.
“What happened?” asked Selene looking at Alexander.
“I don’t know, maybe”
But he didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he stared silently with eyes wide behind Selene.
She turned around and gasped at what she saw.
A man who very much resembled Alexander, with glasses and a silver streak or two in his auburn hair, stood smiling at them.
“Hello, son,” he said in a powerful but gentle voice.
Alexander’s heart fell into his stomach. He took a slow breath as he stared at the image before him.
His father, precisely as he remembered him in the weeks before he went missing.
“Alexander…” Selene whispered.
She looked back at him and saw his confused expression. A mixture of sorrow and joy. His feelings touched the edges of their bond.
“Alpha Alexander of Summer,” the image of Cain said. “You are attempting to copy the files contained in this drive. Verify your identity, and the files will be released to you, as well as the message from the creator.”
“It’s not really him,” Alexander said softly, sniffling and swallowing down the rush of emotions. “It’s a message. A program.”
“Fail to verify your identity, and the files and message will be immediately destroyed.”
Alexander sighed.
“It’s not him,” Selene said, reaching her hand to touch his arm lovingly. “But it’s still a piece of him.”
Alexander closed his eyes and nodded.
“I’m right beside you,” she whispered, moving her hand down his arm until their fingers intertwined. “Always.”
Alexander gave her a gentle smile and took a deep breath. He stepped forward until he stood directly before the image of his father.
“How do I verify my identity to you?” Alexander asked.
The image turned to look directly at Alexander.
“A drop of blood will be enough,” it replied.
“Blood?” Selene asked. “How will a program be able to read your blood?”
“There are sensors all over this room,” Alexander replied as he pulled out a small multitool from his pocket. “They read everything. It’s how we monitor the teams and ensure that we aren’t pushing them too hard or putting them in real danger during the simulations.
“I’ve never tried to have a blood panel run from them, but my father designed a lot of the system. If he’s asking for blood as verification, I assume he included something for that.”
Alexander sighed. Flipping out the knife from the multitool, he made a small cut on his arm, just enough to bleed. He offered his arm up to the image of his father.
“Is this good enough?” he asked.
“Your identity has been verified. The files have been transferred to your preferred storage.”
Alexander pulled his arm back and licked his wound. It would heal within the hour.
“Preparing message for playback.”
Alexander licked his lips and swallowed. Selene stepped forward and leaned her head on his shoulder. Her presence warmed him and set him at ease.
“Alexander.”
Alexander drew a sharp breath as his father’s voice called out to him.
It wasn’t like the image, which was cold and unfeeling. This was his father’s voice. Strong but playful. Gentle but powerful.
“If you’re hearing this, I didn’t make it.”
Selene felt the quickening of Alexander’s heartbeat. She put her arms around him, and Alexander closed his eyes with a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, son. I never meant to leave you or your mother behind,” Cain whispered sadly. “I hoped I could do this quietly and come back to you both before Tomas and Gorn realized what was happening. But I was wrong. Very wrong….”
[Almost three years ago, Loki’s Fall, South Winter]
They had found him far quicker than he had anticipated. He knew destroying the mounds near Broken Crag had been a risk. He had seen the Autumn wolves scouting the area, but he was afraid they would set up defenses around them if he didn’t do it then.
Of the twenty mounds he had discovered across the territories, he had destroyed seventeen of them. Once he took care of Loki’s Fall, only two would be left.
He always knew that the first mound in Spring would be a problem, but he was sure that getting back to Moonguard wouldn’t be an issue.
But now, there was no way he would make it that far.
Cain looked down at the cut on his arm. It was infected, and his veins beneath the surface were already darkening.
It had been three days since the Autumn wolves had found him in the pass. He was too weak to run. It was the only reason he hadn’t already blown Loki’s Fall and started his journey back to Moonguard.
He grabbed his computer and the USB he had been loading his research onto during his mission. He transferred the last data onto the drive and opened the recording software.
Cain took a deep breath before selecting the record option.
“Alexander, if you’re hearing this,” he paused. “I didn’t make it.”
Cain closed his eyes and swallowed.
“I’m sorry, son. I never meant to leave you or your mother behind,” Cain whispered sadly. “I hoped I could do this quietly and come back to you both before Tomas and Gorn realized what was happening. But I was wrong. Very wrong.”
Cain looked into the darkness of the mound. The soft glow of the crystals surrounding the tree was the only light aside from a small lantern and his laptop.
“I don’t have a lot of time. The space on this drive is limited, so you won’t have to suffer through one of my long-winded explanations of the science behind my project,” he chuckled.
Cain closed his eyes and clenched his jaw before taking a deep breath.
“But, even more than that… I was stabbed. Autumn wolves followed me here; they were trying to capture me, but I killed them. There was some kind of poison on the blade. It’s slow but very effective. There isn’t much time left.”
Cain paused the recording, a heavy sob escaped his lips, and a flash of anger and regret flowed through him. He couldn’t imagine how Alexander would feel listening to this message.
He took a deep, cleansing breath and continued the recording.
“My office has a box hidden behind all of my files and old research. Inside that box, you will find a journal and a necklace. The journal holds a record I have kept over the years concerning my research for Gorn. It all relates to a mysterious power source from deep within one of the mountains within the Spring territory.
“That power source… it’s fae in origin. The chamber that it comes from is a mound. But it’s not like the rest of them. All the mounds that we have read about, found and studied. They were formed from the death of many fae in the same spot. Like now, I sit inside Loki’s Fall. The most well-known of all of them. But this place is not filled with power.”
Cain looked around. The chamber was very similar to all the others. Perhaps more crystals surrounded the tree.
If he hadn’t seen the mound in Spring or explored and studied the one in Moonguard, he would have thought they were all the same. But they weren’t.
“The necklace, it’s a puzzle box. Inside it, there is a bone. I found it at the mound in Moonguard. This mound was very different from the others. Like the one in Spring, it held a strong natural power source. But there was something else. Bones. In every other mound, no bones were found, but this one, bones were scattered among the tree roots. I took that piece, and I studied it.
“I was able to pull DNA from it. That was why I took that year in the human world to learn more about processing and studying it properly. And I wish I hadn’t.”
Cain sighed.
“I didn’t realize yet that Gorn and Tomas were trying to harness the power from the mound in Spring. I made the mistake of telling them not about the bones or even the mound’s location but about what was inside of it, about the fact that werewolves and fae are related.
“They started asking about how the fae were able to use magic, how they could pull from the power source. They became obsessed with finding a way to awaken the fae inside the wolf.”
Cain paused the recording again. He let out a hiss as his arm burned. He looked down at the wound; the poison was spreading even faster. He knew he wouldn’t survive more than another day at most.
He took a drink of water and then continued his recording.
“For years, I tried to throw them off, giving them only little bits of information while I tried to solve the mystery myself. I needed to know how the werewolf and the fae were connected and whether or not the powers of the fae could still be used.
“I kept hitting wall after wall. I knew the wolves were related to the fae, but I was missing something important. I couldn’t figure it out until you unintentionally brought it to my attention.”
Cain smiled, thinking of Alexander, his honor, and his passion for doing the right thing.
“You’re the reason I solved this mystery, Alexander. If you hadn’t discovered the Autumn blood trade, I never would have thought to go down this path. You also freed me from my debt to Tomas. Because of what he had done to you, I was able to back away from the deal I made with him to continue working on the research.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?