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Trinity

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I thought that Reece would come back after our talk was over, but the next person to come to the room was not Reece, but Grandfather. I hadn't expected him to come see me. I knew he had been part of the rescue group last night, but I didn't think he would decide I needed a visit while here at another pack's territory. Uncle Wesley and the others would accept me, that's for sure, but I was pretty certain that Grandfather would call me an abomination. This could very well be the last time I ever saw him face to face.

Grandfather came into the room like he always walked, standing tall and straight, his arms behind his back, his posture perfect as always. I was still sitting on the sofa from my conversation with the others, but I stood when Grandfather entered the room.

"Grandfather, what a surprise, I didn't expect to see you today." My voice shook with shock and fear as I spoke to him. I just could not stop my emotions from leaking into my words right now.

"Trinity." He called my name in a much softer tone than I was expecting. To my surprise he hurried over to me and hugged me, awkwardly but tightly.

"Uh, Grandfather?" I was confused, I couldn't remember a time when he had ever hugged me before.

"I thought you were gone forever." Grandfather had leaned forward and pressed his face against the top of my head. These were all things I had never seen him do before. His posture and his perfect behavior were signatures for him, so what was going on.

"Trinity." He said, pulling away and looking me in the face. Grandfather put his right hand on my cheek cradling my face. "I've been so afraid of losing you the same way I lost her. I've done what I thought was best to keep you safe, but I couldn't protect you any better than I could her." His voice was trembling and he seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"What do you mean you tried to keep me safe?" I asked him, still so confused about everything.

"I know your mother didn't run away, she didn't leave that weekend intentionally. She was taken from us. For whatever purpose they had in mind, they took her. When she came home she had no memories of it at all, but she also had you growing inside of her." He gripped both of my shoulders tightly. "I was so angry back then, angry at whoever took her, whoever had hurt my daughter, and angry at myself for not being able to prevent it."

"But she was kidnapped, Grandfather, how could you be angry at yourself?"

"I didn't raise her to be a fighter. She was never that kind of girl. She was always soft spoken, sweet, and so very kind. She was never the kind of girl who would have wanted to fight. But if I would have just made her learn, the basics at least, maybe she would not have been taken, maybe they would not have been able to destroy my little girl." I saw the tears flowing silently down his cheeks. I had never seen Grandfather cry, not once in my entire life.

"They targeted her Grandfather. They chose her, they would have done anything they could to get her, even if she knew how to fight." I tried to make my words soft and reassuring. "Look at me, I know how to fight, but they were still able to get me." I reminded him. He pulled me to him again, squeezing me tightly. I could feel my muscles and bones protest the force of his hug, but I had never experienced this before and was in a bit of shock, so I did not stop him.

"They took you too. No matter what I did, no matter how I tried to prepare you. I'm nothing but a failure." He sobbed as he held me.

"You're not the failure, Grandfather, I am. I am the one who didn't have a wolf for so long, I am the one who could not protect myself." He just shook his head in denial as he released me, collapsing on the sofa beside him.

"No, Trinity, I am the failure. I didn't tell you what I was thinking, why I was doing all this for your entire life. I wanted to protect you, physically, but also emotionally. I wanted to spare your feelings as much as I could. I didn't want you to know what it was I suspected this entire time."

"That my mother had been kidnapped and raped? That my father is a psychopath?" I asked him. He just looked at me confused for a moment before he nodded his head.

"Yes, I knew she hadn't run off for those two days, so I knew someone had to have taken her. When she found out she was pregnant, I knew she had to have been raped. And I have always feared that your father would come back for you. I knew it was probably just paranoia on my part, that he would have no way of knowing about you, but I always feared that he would know and he would come back for you."

"He did." I told him in a calm voice, but he jerked away from me as if I had slapped him.

"What are you saying?" He asked me, confused. "Are you saying the man who took you was your father?"

"Not the one who kidnapped me directly, that was Caleb, Reece's cousin and beta along with some other undesirables from our pack."

"Wait." He held a hand up to stop me. "You were taken from our pack, to the man who took your mother all those years ago, by members from our own pack? And the beta no less?"

"Yes." My answer was simple but seemed to hurt him immensely.

"What is wrong with that man? A beta is not supposed to behave like that." I could guess this news hurt him so much because he was the former beta.

"Grandfather?" I attempted to get his attention.

"I'm sorry Trinity, I was just thinking." He smiled at me sheepishly, it was a look I never expected to see on his face. "Who was the man they took you to? What was he after?" He looked like he was both determined to find out, but terrified to know. This was what I was afraid to tell him, but I would not hide it. He was the one who had lost the most in this whole thing, over all these years.

"He called himself Edmond, Gannon Cornelius Edmond." I told him, trying to delay the part that would ruin me even more in his eyes. "He is the leader of the rogue Warlock coven that has been in our area lately." I lowered my eyes, afraid to see the disgust in his.

"Edmond?" He seemed shocked and appalled. "That son of a bitch." He snapped, confusing me. I looked up at him to see anger filling his eyes.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"I've met him, yes. When his coven was in our area years ago. He seemed emotionless, but there had been no harm coming to the surrounding community or our pack. They had already started to move on when your mother was taken, I did not even think he was behind it. Why? Why did he do it? What was his goal?" He was angry and hurt, but still he was begging me to continue. "Why did he take her?" He sobbed as he asked the last question.

"Me." I tried to hide my face as I spoke. I knew he would hate me forever after this conversation was over.

"What?" He hadn't understood, as I knew he wouldn't. I needed to explain more.

"He wanted me. He took her to make me. He's been making half breed Warlocks he can use to infiltrate other groups. He was trying to make a half wolf that would survive until adulthood. He said most are aborted or killed in infancy. I hope he is referring to a long time ago and not in recent days." My voice broke thinking about how many children he had caused to die or killed himself. "He said that half wolves never shift, that it's not compatible with magic, but he needed someone raised among the wolves, trusted by them, to bring about their downfall. I don't think he ever planned on me mating with one, and the alpha at that."

"He was trying to make a child the whole time?" Grandfather seemed like the information broke him further.

"Yes. They intended to get my mother with child and send her home with no memories of it at all. They hoped that I would survive until I was useful to them. He never thought I would shift into a wolf last night." I was looking away from him, unable to bear how he must be looking at me.

"I don't understand, why would he do that? Why take my little girl?"

"He said that she was deemed to be compatible with his magic. That I would likely be born with magic as well. And I was. I just never knew it."

"Was he behind all the attacks on you? Since the one when you first mated with the alpha until now?" He seemed angry now, insistent.