Kassi

I glared at the old man

"What do you mean that my mother's fate was sealed the moment this guy set his sights on her?"

"Julian, David's father, has always been the man to get whatever he wanted. When he was a baby, he used to whine and whine until his parents gave him what he wanted. They gave him the world. As he grew older, that habit continued and gradually got worse"

"Until...?" I raised an eyebrow "He had to stop at some point, right? Didn't anyone put him in his place?"

"Someone did" the old man answered "For the first time in his life"

I groaned and rubbed my eyes "Mom"

He nodded "She was the first person to tell him no"

I looked at him "So you're telling me that no one in this whole entire messed up Hunter society ever told him no? Like ever?" "

He nodded

"Let me guess" I rubbed my temples "She told him no then he decided to pursue the one thing he couldn't have?"

The old man looked at me in surprise "Did your mother tell you this story before?"

"No," I sighed "That's just the most cliche thing that has ever happened"

"Sadly his obsession became worst once he found out she was Mated to the Prince of Wolves"

"What happened?"

"He started stalking her" the old man sighed "To the point where he would know exactly where she was at all times of the day"

"And you saw nothing wrong with this?" I gaped

He sighed "Hunters are very...aggressive when choosing a potential life partner. I thought he was just researching his right match"

"Researching?" I snorted "What? Was he buying a car?"

The old man ignored my comment "When I arranged for their marriage, I thought his obsession would die down but apparently I was wrong"

"Let me guess" I snarked "He became even more psycho?"

"Psycho wouldn't be the word I would use" the old man grimaced "He was an absolute terror"

"No wonder why she ran away and eloped" I muttered "Hell, I bet she would have done it anyway regardless if she met my father or not"

"You're probably right" he said

"So you're telling me that no one, not even his parents attempted to stop his behavior?"

"How could they? He was the Association President's son. Going against him would be like going against the President himself"

"WHAT!" I exclaimed "YOU ARRANGED FOR HER TO MARRY SOME EVIL CULT LEADER'S SON!"

"No one of my best choices!" He exclaimed

I started pacing

"So what now?" I looked at both of them "He's bitter because my mother didn't pick him? And thinks that's justification for him taking revenge on my whole family? I thought he moved on, you know, with his spawn and wife?"

"For a while after your mother ran away it seemed like he was over it" the old man grimaced "It seemed like he was happy. He managed to find a wife and soon they were pregnant with their first child"

"Well then, what in the hell happened?"

"He found out that Carrie was Pregnant" he said "While it looked like he was over Carrie, it turns out that he was keeping tabs on her. The moment he found out that she was having a baby, with a Wolf no less, he became deranged"

"Oh, so you're telling me he wasn't considered deranged before?" I replied sarcastically

I paused, suddenly thinking about a question that has been nagging me ever since I found out about Orion.

"Do you know what I don't understand" I said, looking at both of them "Why my mother never bothered to mention to me that she had another son and that I had an older brother"

I looked at Orion "And why you live here, with him, instead of with us"

I looked at the old man next "You know, when I was a little girl, I never understood why on one particular day, she would lock herself in her room and sob her eyes dry. Why I had to lie to my baby brother when he was old enough to understand why mommy was so sad"

"I thought that it had something to do with my dad's death" I said "But the more I think about it, she has cried on that day even before my dad died"

"Now I know why" I looked at both of them "She thought you were dead, didn't she? That's why she never told me about you and that's why you live with him. You're supposed to be dead"

Orion sighed and his shoulders slumped "Suppose to be, but I'm not"

"And why is that?" I questioned "Why lie to your own mother?"

"It's not like I had a choice in the matter" he sounded defeated "I had to do it. I had to protect my family at all costs"

"A family you didn't even know" I reminded him

"That's not entirely true" he stated "I did know you. Just not in the traditional sense"

I looked at the old man and he sat down, rubbing his temples.

"When Orion was born, Julian was the newly elected Association President. His father had recently passed and the Association thought it would be fitting to replace him with a man who shared his values" he snorted "And who would be a better candidate than his own son, a man he raised"

"Great, just absolutely blood freaking Great! The Psycho now runs this Crazy Cult!"

Orion laughed

"Anyways, after he found out that Carrie was pregnant with a Wolf's Child, his first official decision as the Association President was to execute the soon to be heir"

I choked on a gasp "He wanted to murder a baby?"

The old man gave me a look "He murdered his own father for the title. What makes you think he wouldn't murder the child of his runaway fíance and her new wolf husband"

My eyes widened "He murdered his own father?!"

"It was never proven" he said "But some of us knew differently. Julian has wanted to be the Association President ever since he knew what it was. When his father refused to step down the moment Julian turned twenty, he was coincidentally murdered the following week"

"Jesus" I muttered

The old man nodded

"So than...How is he still alive?" I pointed at Orion

He made a face

"For months they mapped out their plan on how to reach the couple" he said "They even went as far as posing as construction workers to delay the building process of their home"

"You see, it turns out that Carrie and Nico never actually left the state. They were just staying at the local Alphas house, which turned out to be Carrie's best friends Mate's house. The day Orion was born was the day they decided to execute their plan"

"When you say 'They', I'm guessing you were never part of their planning?"

"They didn't trust me" he said simply "They thought that because she was my daughter and that this was my first Grandson that I would betray the Association"

"And did you?" I asked "Betray them?"

"Yes" he answered "But not in the way that they think"

"What do you mean?"

"They had different teams in place to take care of particular problems" he began "They had three teams, a team to infiltrate the house itself, a team to hold back any defending forces, and finally an assassination team. Just because they didn't keep me in the loop didn't mean I didn't know what was going on"

"How did you know what was going on then?"

"I have my ways" he said mysteriously

"Let me guess" I said "One of those ways got you onto one of those teams"

He nodded "I was the one in charge of carrying out the assassination"

"But you didn't do it" I stated

"No, I didn't" he said "Although, I made it look like I had"

"How?"

"Right when Carrie gave birth, we attacked. The two teams went off to do what they were ordered to do while I went to save my grandson"

"But weren't their other men on your team? Surely they would have found out who you were and what your motives were when you didn't follow orders"

"The assassination team only consisted of two people" he said "Julian wanted it to be clean and hassle free. Anything more than two people makes it risky"

"So than, what happened to the other guy?"

"I killed him before we even made it upstairs" he said bluntly

I winced at his honesty

"So then, if you saved him, why does my mother think he's dead?"

"Because to her, he really is dead" he said "I never told her what really happened"

My eyes widened "You never told her that her son was alive!"

"She had to believe he was dead" the old man frowned "It was the only way for Julian to back off. Believe it or not but once the mission was accomplished, Julian did back off. He saw it as retribution"

"Mom believes that I died in a fire" Orion stated "She believes that a Hunter took me and sacrificed both our lives for the good of the Association"

"What she doesn't know is that what she saw was an illusion from a Witch"

"And how did you manage that?" I asked "Another one of your 'Ways" I air quoted

"Yes" he said

"But still" I paced around "Even after Julian backed off you could have told Mom, you could have actually had a chance to be apart of a real family"

"I wanted too" he said, sadness in his tone "You don't know how many times I wanted too but I knew I couldn't"

"Besides" he smiled "I think Grams and Gramps did a good job raising me"

I rubbed my temples "Why do you keep saying that you 'Couldn't' be with us? From what I understand, nothing was really holding you back except for yourself"

They were about to explain when a new voice sounded through the room.

"Now that's not entirely true" the haughty voice said "Now is it Max?"

My Grandfather looked at the man, his face impassive

"There was one thing in his way" the man grinned

An icy chill spread throughout my body.