DYLAN ||

"I can explain." Gabe tells me as he gets off the couch.

"Where's Hunter?" I ask.

"He's safe."

"You fucking traitor! I trusted you! I thought you were my friend, my Beta and you betray me like this?!"

"I didn't betray you Dylan, I'm still your friend and your Beta... everything I did was for you, not against you."

"Bullshit!" I tried to break free of my cuffs, only to remember they were silver, I hiss as my movements caused the chemical to burn my skin even deeper.

How the fuck could he actually say he's my friend, he's my Beta, I can trust him, when he's clearly done so much. All this time I wondered how all of these attacks and messages and dead rogues could end up on my territory without me knowing about it and it's been the wolf I called my bestfriend the whole fucking time.

No, there's no way his actions were for me.

"It's not bullshit Dylan, it's the truth. I'm not against you, if you'll let me explain than I can-"

"Where's Maddox? Why can't I feel him?" I growled, completely cutting off the man I once called my friend.

"It's the effects of the sedative, Dylan... it's not permanent, it should wear off within the next few hours." He sighed, taking another step towards me.

"Get me out of these cuffs Gabe."

"I can't do that."

"I can always command you to release me." I narrow my eyes at him, then raise an eyebrow at the smile that tugged onto his lips.

"You can try, but Taj over there.." He points behind me, so I follow his finger and flinch when I seen Taj in the corner of the room. "Taj will inject you with another sedative the moment you try to command me."

I looked down at Taj's hand that sure enough, held another needle filled with purple liquid, no doubt some form of wolfsbane. I definitely didn't want to get injected with anything else and feel weaker than I already do without Maddox, so I nod to Gabe, telling him I won't try anything.

"I just need you to listen Dylan, listen to everything we have to say and take it all in before making any crazy decisions, trust me when I say, we are not your enemies."

"Why did you do it Gabe? Why the messages? Why kill the rogues? Why not just kill me? You were around me every single day, you could have easily just killed me and been done with all of this." I tell him, shaking my head at the stupidity of it all.

"My goal wasn't to kill Dylan, I love you, you're like a brother to me."

His words brought me pause. How the hell can he say that and he's been the one behind all of this?

"I wasn't the one to send the messages or kill the rogues Dylan, my only job was to get the messages to you in a way that would make sense without alerting the ones that started all of this."

I looked up at him before scoffing.

"So you weren't behind the messages, but they were for me?"

"No, I didn't write the messages and yes they were for you, the only thing I did was get the dead rogues on our territory to deliver the messages."

I stared into his eyes. Gabe said he brought the rogues on the territory, which made complete sense. That would explain why I never got sick or nauseous from a trespasser on my lands. It would explain why I hardly ever seen Gabe the moments before each message was delivered.

It would also explain why Gabe was the one to alert me to every message. The first message was delivered before he and Avery showed up with the Omega pack transfers, he was the one to tell me about the second message when Raiden and I were in my office, taking us to the location and never once, looked surprised or disgusted at the sights and if what he's saying is true, than he had to be the one who put the third message on the eastern portion of the pack gates.

Gabe approved the pack transfers, he's the one who brought Taj to me, claiming he was the strongest Beta, but in reality, he knew what he was and worked with him to betray our pack.

He wasn't alone the third time he brought a message though, Taj was with him that last time. We were all waiting at the packhouse for them to return from border patrol, when he, Taj and the warriors from the shadow pack came back later than scheduled.

I figured the blood on his hands was from border patrol, not delivering a message and Taj helped, but what's their relationship?

"What did Taj do? Was he involved?" I ask, glancing over my shoulder at his sudden movement out the corner of my eye.

I watched as he stood up from his chair in the corner and made his way in front of the table I was cuffed to, he stopped when he stood next to Gabe.

"Yes, I was involved, but not for the reasons you believe."

"Revenge? To kill me? To take over my pack? What did I do to you so bad that would make you want to seek revenge against me? I've never even met you or heard of the pack you came from. So what did you want from my pack? What did I do to you?"

"We didn't want anything from you Dylan, we wanted revenge on your pack for the things they've done..."

"My pack has never attempted an attack on yours Taj, you said your Alpha was using the Beta blood members in your pack to seek his own revenge, you should know as a wolf

that-"

"I'm not a wolf, Dylan."

I sunk back into my chair, trying to get as far away from him as possible now. What the hell did he mean he's not a wolf?

"I've seen your wolf Taj, you fought alongside me and Gabe when those rogues attacked outside that first camp." I tell him, but he shakes his head.

"That wasn't me Dylan, you had your back turned when you were shifting, one of the other warriors wolves took my place by your side, while I climbed the nearest tree until the attack was over."

What the fuck...

"Why would you do that Taj?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to see what I am while we were so close to your borders, we may have been out of your territory, but there's many things you don't know about the wolves in your pack and I didn't trust showing my true form while we were still close."

"And what is your true form?" I swallow nervously.

"I'm a leopard, Dylan... a black leopard."

FUCK...

My breath caught in my throat, my heart was pounding, beads of sweats started to roll down the back of my neck as I stared into the eyes of this man in front of me, that I now realize, I know nothing about.

It makes sense. Why he didn't have a scent, he covered it, he didn't want anyone in my pack to know what he is.

Taj must have been the leopard that someone in my pack reported, most likely Gabe, since he was helping him. Now the different timeframes made sense between Taj being spotted and my mate being spotted.

The sightings of Taj's leopard were always outside my borders and Raiden was inside the borders. Taj said he's been watching me, that made sense why he knew where my borders were and where to stay away from, versus my mate, who was just a drifter and didn't realize the waterfall was claimed territory.

Oh fucking hell..

That doesn't answer why they did what they did though. This doesn't help me understand why the rogues attacked my mate, maybe it was because they thought he was Taj, but I don't really know. I need the answers.

"There's been reports of a Leopard around my borders for months now, has that always been you? And have you been the one to file those reports Gabe?" I ask both of them.

"Yes it was me that filed the reports Dylan. I had to keep up the interest on the borders... all for you." Gabe says.

"And yes the leopard was me in the beginning and then I stopped because of another leopard entering the area, which I know now was your mate... He complicated things."

"Why?" I ask.

"The rogue attacks on your pack were never at random and they weren't rogue wolves, they were wolves from my pack, the shadow pack. We were attacking to get closer to you because our Alpha wanted you." Taj explains.

"I was scouting your borders, finding weak spots and then my pack would attack after my reports, but when your mate showed up, I had to fall back or we would have fought. I think you know by now, leopards aren't exactly friendly, social creatures."

"But when I fell back and reported another leopard in the area, we didn't know he was your mate at the time, so my pack members attacked him because we thought he was working with your pack. We thought he was protecting you all because he was within your borders so frequently... I didn't think the guy would be as huge and strong as he is, Raiden is not the normal size for a leopard.. like he's huge, so he was dropping my pack members like flies and because of that, our attacks had to stop."

Shit.. my mate was always the victim. It was Taj's pack members to attack him first and he defended himself, just like he's always said.

Raiden was never the instigator, he was the innocent one here, just in the wrong place at the wrong time and because of Taj and his pack members, my mate had to fend for his life constantly.

"That's why I was so shocked that day when we were building the gate on the eastern side of your border. I learned your mate was the leopard that we have been attacking the whole time, wrongfully and the last thing we ever wanted to do was hurt someone so important to you because you were our target to begin with."

I stayed completely quiet, holding all of my questions to the end. I wanted to see how much Taj would actually tell me if he thought I trusted him.

"So because of your mate showing up and being the knockout that he is, we had to stop the attacks and find another way to get to you. That's when the messages started."

"And that's where I came in." Gabe says, so I turn my attention to the fucking traitor.

"My relationship with Taj and the shadow pack is complicated Dylan." Gabe starts before running a hand through his hair.

"My dad knew the alpha of the Shadow pack, there were some serious issues that your dad, Dean, caused for the shadow pack alpha and when my dad introduced me to the shadow pack, I found out that their alpha wanted to get revenge on Dean because of the things he's done, so I was on board for helping my dad and his friend after learning the past with our pack."

"And what did my dad do to the shadow pack alpha?" I ask.

"Dean took something very valuable from the shadow pack alpha and that same thing that Dean took, was the cause of my mom's death." Gabe tells me.

That didn't make any fucking sense.

What problems could my dad have caused the shadow pack? Why would the shadow pack alpha want revenge on my dad?

There's nothing my dad could have done to a pack that we've never heard of and now that I know Gabe and Taj were involved in the messages sent for me, I had a few more questions centered around who the fuck hurt my mate that night and if they knew about it.

Once they answer my last two questions, I plan on finding a way to kill both of them.

"Since you're both being so truthful, who hurt my mate that night?"

"Two of our pack members." Taj says.

"Names." I demand.

"Nicholas Millon and Evan Freeler." Taj answers and I don't miss the moment when Gabe looks at him in disbelief before looking back at me.

My heart drops.

That makes so much fucking sense! Gabe was in the packhouse, so I knew he couldn't be apart of it. Raiden told me the men that attacked him said "now you'll feel real pain" and they didn't recognize him.

Of course they wouldn't! They were kicked out of the pack 7 years ago, so they wouldn't know who Raiden was and Taj didn't know either because he only seen my mate in Onyx's form.

Wait a second...

My mate said that night he heard someone's voice, he heard someone call his name, he asked for help.

"What happened to Nicholas and Evan?" I ask.

"They're dead." Taj says plainly, I look back at him. "I killed them because they harmed your mate, it didn't matter that they thought they were helping, they were given direct orders and they chose to take matters into their own hands, their actions could have killed you if Raiden would have died and then all of this would have been for nothing."

Oh thank Goddess that they're dead, but now this mission seems redundant.

"Who found my mate that night? Who tried to help him?" I ask thinking back to my mate's words.

"I did." Taj answers. "Nicholas and Evan called me for help because we all still shared a pack link at that point, I ran as fast as I could and tried to help Raiden. He was alive when I got to him, but then your dad and uncle showed up only minutes later and I had to leave him, so that they wouldn't assume anything. I prayed they would help him."

"So my mate was conscious when you left him?" I ask.

"Yes he was and your dad and uncle showed up and I figured they would help him, I hid in the bushes to make sure, but what I seen wasn't helpful."

I nod for him to continue.

"Your dad looked at Raiden on the ground and your uncle checked him for a pulse, which I knew he still had. Raiden spoke to them, he asked for help again and then said the men that attacked him went through the gate and instead of helping, your dad and uncle left him and went to look for Nicholas and Evan."

I shake my head in disbelief. My dad and uncle actually left my mate on purpose. Everything they told me was a fucking lie.

"I stayed in the bushes until you, Gabe and the rest of your wolves showed up. I seen you panicking about your mate, I seen your dad and uncle come back through the gate, I heard them lie to you about what happened and I seen you carry your mate off."

I scoff.

"If you don't believe what I'm telling you, my alpha will command me to tell you the truth, which will be exactly what I've said."

I shake my head again, pulling on the cuffs, hissing from the pain it caused.

I didn't want to believe any of this. None of this made sense, nothing.

Why would Gabe be helping Taj?

What did my dad do to the shadow pack alpha?

What did he take that was so valuable?

Why would my dad and uncle Jake lie about helping my mate?

What was the purpose of Taj being here?

"Get me out of these cuffs now." I tell Gabe, but he shakes his head.

"Dylan, I want to let you out of the cuffs, trust me I do, but I can't unless you promise you won't do anything crazy."

"Taj has the sedative Gabe, if I even tried anything crazy, he would just inject me again."

Gabe seems to think for a minute before he looks at Taj.

"Dylan, I'm going to take the cuffs off, but I need you to stay seated because we have something to show you, something that will make all of this easier to understand, something that might freak you out at first, but I promise once you see it, everything will make sense." Taj tells me as Gabe hands him the keys to my cuffs.

He slowly walks to the table and looks at me, I assume that he's waiting for me to agree to not do anything crazy, so I nod, letting them know I understood.

Taj made quick work of unlocking the cuffs and I rubbed my wrists as I watched him leave the room.

"Try not to freak out Dylan." Gabe tells me, so I nod, carefully watching the door.

Maybe 10 minutes passed before I seen it open again and a man I've never met before walked inside. He smiled at me before letting out a deep sigh, then taking a seat on the couch. He never took his eyes off me.

I looked back at the door when I noticed it open a little wider and I saw Taj coming inside with another man, Taj's arm was wrapped around the man's waist.

Looking down, he was limping on his right leg and my eyes travel up the length of his body, he was muscular, alpha built that's for sure, his aura screamed nothing but alpha.

The man tripped and Taj caught him by putting another arm around his chest.

"Steady, love." Taj tells him as my eyes travel up to his face.

Everything seemed to stand still when I finally saw him.

He had a deep scar across his left eye, which was white in color, almost as if he was blind in it, but that wasn't what caught my attention.

It was the fact that he looked so familiar.

So familiar yet older.

He smelled like him.

I would never forget that scent.

It smelled like. . . home.

He smelled like. . . . . . . home.

"Bennett?" I breathe out.

Fully questioning myself at this point, way more than I've ever done in the past. The confusion that seemed to swirl around my brain with every decision that I've ever made, didn't seem to exist in this moment.

Even after all this time, even with these differences, I would never be confused about this. About him.

Then the man smiled and I stumbled backwards as I sucked in a sharp breath.

I could never forget that smile.

That smile that only belonged to him.

"Bennett?" I ask again, my mind still not completely sure, but my heart felt like it knew.

Could it be?

Could he be?

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"Hi, little brother."

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