Page 83 of Alpha
A few questions raced through my mind at that snippet of information. Cade had said I had alpha blood. Did that mean that my father had been the alpha of the pack that Kyle now ran?
But to me there was a more important question than why my parents had done what they had.
"Who raised you?" I asked, bracing myself. It had affected me deeply that I had grown up—even if it was just for a short time—with our parents while he'd been alone.
"Our uncle, Nate, Dad's brother," he answered.
Just when I didn't think there was anything more that could shock me, I had an uncle—another family member. Somehow, I knew there would be a few more shocks before this conversation was over.
I rubbed my hands over my face as I contemplated that the man who was my father had a sibling I knew nothing about. I wondered if they looked similar.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"I'm twenty-two," he answered. I was still trying to get used to the idea that I had brother who was five years older than me.
"How old were you when they left?" I asked, feeling nervous and apprehensive about the answers I was about to get.
In my mind, they had always been good and loving parents, but that image would change if the reason they’d left Kyle hadn’t been good enough. Even though he'd had our uncle to look after him, it still didn't make me feel any less sad that our parents had left him.
"I was four," he answered. Seeing my visible reaction to that, he pulled his chair closer and took my trembling hand in his. I hadn't been born yet. Was my mom pregnant with me when they left?
I still couldn't shake the feeling that the people I'd known as my parents felt more like strangers to me because of what little I really knew about them.
"I don't want you to feel sad that they left me behind," he began as he used his free hand to run it through his hair. "They did what they had to."
His words didn't make the sadness in me ease and I felt the sting of tears again. He squeezed my hand gently as I tried to keep it together.
"I can't understand how they were able to leave you behind. Why would they do that?" I whispered while struggling to hold my tears in again as an image appeared in my mind of Kyle as a little boy standing on his own as my parents walked away from him.
I felt Cade's hand rest gently on my shoulder.
"It was the only way to protect me," he answered. "Let me start at the beginning."
He had my undivided attention.
"Mom and Dad knew each other their whole lives. They'd both been brought into the same pack and when they discovered they were mates, they were deliriously happy. They were in love and as soon as they were old enough, they mated."
Hearing that made me more emotional and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying like a baby.
"Dad was the next in line to be the alpha and when our grandfather died, Dad took over. Then Mom fell pregnant with me. They were so happy."
What on Earth could have happened to tear them away from their families and son? What had made them run and never look back?
"One day an alpha from another pack came to visit. His name was Victor."
Kyle glanced up to Cade and they shared a look.
"What has he got to do with this?" I asked, growing impatient.
"Victor is an alpha of one of the most powerful packs in the country. He is ruthless and unpredictable, which makes him a very formidable opponent."
I didn’t like the sound of this guy already and I hadn't even heard the full story yet.
"He was mate-less. His mate died just after they met. He didn't take the death well and started to become emotionally unstable."
Ruthless and unpredictable added with emotionally unstable sounded really dangerous. But what did he have to do with my parents leaving?
"The day he arrived to meet with our father, he saw Mom for the first time," he began to explain and I could feel the dread beginning to grow inside of me.
