I just don’t get it. William has nothing to win in this. Me joining the Sapphire Moon has no benefit for him! The only thing is that he would tear Damian and me apart.
“That’s the place you belong to from the start. You are not part of the Blood Moon yet; you can still join us.”
“I am mated, William! Are you insane?”
“Aren’t you going to consider it? This is what you wanted, Nora. Returning to your family, avoiding war, and unifying the Clans.”
That’s true, but not at the cost of my relationship with Damian! I look at my mate, but his eyes have gone ice-cold with hunger. If a single glare could kill, William would be reduced to ashes by now.
“Nora is not leaving me,” growls Damian.
William turns to him with a smirk. “Are you so sure, Black? Wouldn’t it be best for the both of you, anyway?”
Damian doesn’t move an inch, still glaring at him with eyes full of resolve. I know there is nothing that could make him change his mind. My mate’s arm is holding me tightly against him. Yet, William’s smirk won’t go away. Bobo is growling at him, and Neal is frowning. The Beta probably also thinks there is more to it.
“Blue, are you talking seriously? You could forgive the Black Brothers?” Asks Clark Hamilton.
“Why not? As Nora said, they are not their father,” says William, very calmly. “After all, out of all of us, Nora should be the one who hates them the most.”
What does that mean? Why would I hate Damian, Nathaniel, or Liam? I was never involved with their father in any way, either! I spent my childhood in the streets before Vince picked me and Alec up to raise us in the Jade Moon Clan. Even before that, my roots are linked to the Sapphire Moon and Gold Moon Clans, I have never had any chance to even get close to Damian’s father, the Black King.
William tilts his head, with a little smirk on. “You look confused, Nora. Maybe I should have told you everything from the start, it would have been less cruel. Didn’t you want to know why we hated your mate’s Clan so much to begin with?”
That’s right. William never explained that to me. Why all of his pack had this deep hatred towards Damian’s father, to begin with. Aside from his father’s anger, we never really got close to the subject. To be honest, I sort of forgot this issue, things got too tense on other matters...
“The Mad King, Judah Black... Everyone hated him so much. He was a violent, crazy, only empowered by his brute force,” says William.
Nathaniel shakes his head. “We already all know what kind of man our father was, Blue! That’s the reason we went against him. Damian killed him to put an end to that madness. The Black Moon Clan ended that day, and our father’s deeds, too.”
“Really? Then tell everyone. Let Nora know what your father did,” says William.
Nathaniel gasps. He is reluctant to say it out loud here. We all know this will bring nothing good, reminiscing about the Mad King. For most of the werewolves here, this is nothing pleasant to hear.
To my surprise, Damian starts talking, in a very calm tone, despite still glaring at William. “Our father was a monster. He killed more than a hundred wolves. He banished three Clans out and eradicated another one. He was a man who would fight with anyone who opposed him, including his own sons. Our father was mad, ruthless, and paranoid. He chased any witches and vampires that lived here away from Silver City.”
Many people lower their heads. They all remember the darkest age of Silver City when it was ruled over by fear. No one knew when the King would unleash his wrath, where, or to whom.
What does this have anything to do with me? I was born far from there, in the Blue Moon Clan, in the North. After that, I lived hidden among the Gold Moon Clan and the Jade Moon Clan! What is William not telling us? When my cousin resumes talking again, I feel some uneasiness growing inside my heart.
“My pack parted with the Blue Moon Clan many years ago. As I told you, Nora, we were supposed to find a new place to settle in, somewhere our Royal Family’s children could grow in peace, far from any threat. It took years to find it, andwhen we did, it took many more years for us to properly settle down in Silver City. We lost contact with the Blue Moon Clan along the way.”
That’s not so surprising... Fifty years ago, the means of contacting another pack weren’t the same, and the original Clan stayed far in the North. William is continuously staring at Damian while talking, and my mate is doing the same with him.
“Do you know what happened to the Blue Moon Clan, Nora?”
I nod slowly. William never told me, but Elena did. When we met, she said someone had found her as a baby in the middle of a slaughter. No one from our original Blue Moon Clan had survived whatever attacked them.
“They were all killed,” I answer.
“It couldn’t possibly have been our father,” interrupts Nathaniel. “He never went that far outside Silver City, not even when he...”
He suddenly stops talking, and his face goes white. Damian and Nathaniel exchange a look as if they both suddenly understood something. I see William smirk, and Damian seems in shock. Moon Goddess, what is it? I feel my heart sinking, and for some reason, it’s harder to breathe. What is it they not telling me?
“Nate! When he what?” I ask.
After a few seconds, his eyes shift from Damian to me, and he answers with a blank voice.
“...When he chased all the vampires to the North.”