"As in your best friend and not your scrawny boyfriend," said Ryker, as if he was trying to list down the men in my life and remember their names and roles. I would have laughed if I had not just experienced a mental breakdown.

"Ex-boyfriend. I broke up with Brett at your wedding, remember?" I corrected, still feeling slightly angry about Brett's betrayal and how he had stood for Alana instead of me. "But yes, Eros Adler, my best friend. My dad used to be Eros's Beta or something."

Eros did not pick up my call, he rarely did at this hour. I tried calling him one more time but to no avail. Sighing, I stared at my phone with frustration welling up. "He is not answering my call. I could try to go to his flat but he rarely uses it. Or I could leave him a message to meet me later."

"That is fine," replied Ryker, placing his hand on my wrist, stopping me from texting Eros. "I think I know where to find him."

I blinked, my brows lifted in surprise. "Where?"

"His name should have been a huge giveaway but I did not think much of it," he said, more to himself than to me. "He is probably out in the South, The Erebus, his pack rules that territory. Come on." He slid his hand from my wrist and held my hand.

I frowned, trying to understand his logic, as I followed him through the side of the house and towards his car. "What do you mean that his name would have been a huge giveaway?"

Ryker let go of my hand as he opened the door and held it for me. I got inside and looked up at him, waiting for his answer to my question.

"In Greek mythology, Erebus or Erebos is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities. The pack was led by a dickhead who wants every member of his pack named after Greek gods or goddesses or at least have their name mean something in Greek." Ryker rolled his eyes, clearly finding this to be ridiculous. "Other than that he also has every member of his pack whose surname does not start with the letter A change their surnames. And just now you told me that your friend's name is Eros Adler." He closed the door. I let that information sink in as I watched him walk over the hood to his side.

Once he got in and sat behind the steering wheel, I asked him again. "So my dad used to be in The Erebus pack too?"

Ryker nodded. "Yes, Leonidas is the Alpha, and ten years ago, your dad used to be his Beta, his second in command."

"But my dad's surname is Lancaster. It does not start with an A," I commented while wondering if perhaps Leonidas was being lenient to my dad because of his position as his Beta.

Instead of explaining to me, he leaned forward, closer and closer to me. "What're you doing?" I would be lying if I said I didn't expect a kiss, especially with this close proximity where I could feel his breath on my top lip.

But instead of closing the gap between our lips, his hand reached for the seatbelt, pulling the strap, then he looked down as he lined up the seat belt latch on the belt webbing with the slot in the top of the buckle, and inserted it fully. Once we heard a click, he moved away, then put on his own seatbelt, completely unaware of how hard my heart was beating. He started the car before giving me his answer to my previous question, "Lancaster probably is not your surname. I kind of guessed it when we first met."

Great. So not even my surname was real. I wondered what else wasn't real. "So what was my real surname?"

Ryker glanced briefly at me before focusing his eyes back on the road. "Ashcroft."

"Ashcroft," I tasted the word in my mouth. "Xyrra Ashcroft."

"Xyrra probably is not your birth name either," he commented silently. "Your dad probably has it changed." He took a small pause then added, "Or your mom did. Xyrra is of not Greek origin."

"What the—" I groaned in frustration and suddenly had the urge to kick something. Not even my name was even mine, to begin with. Everything was fake and none was real. I calmed myself down pretty quickly, not wanting to have another breakdown here. "Then what was my birth name?" I watched Ryker intently while playing a guess inside my head. The list was short considering I had limited knowledge when it came to Greek or Greek mythology of any kind.

"I don't know," he said at last. "I only know your dad's name."

"Okay, then what was his?"

There was a pause. "Thanos."

I knew I should not have laughed but I did. "Okay, that explains why he changed it."

"I suppose you are right." Ryker smiled as he watched me finally cracking up and less tense. "You should get some sleep. This drive is going to take a while."

I did not say anything but there was no way I would fall asleep right now. I still didn't trust him and I did not know him well enough to know if I could. After all, he had ordered people to bully me yesterday and I still was not entirely over that.

His forefinger reached for the in-dash stereo and in the next second, classical music was filling the car and we fell into a comfortable peacefulness. I was glad that he did not play a song and chose the kind of music which reflected the deepest stirrings of humans' souls, the speaking of the parts of our brain that predate language and teach us in ways words could not.

I turned and watched the passing trees bathing in the sunlight. I felt the movement of the wheels over the road, following the curves and greeting each slope in its smooth way. The car ride accompanied by the calming music was like a meditation, a balm for the throbbing pain in my heart.

"We are here," said Ryker as the wheels rolled slower each passing second until the car came to a complete still. "Xyrra, I have something important to tell you," he said, facing me as he pressed the red button on the seat belt receptacle and let the belt go smoothly into the retractor slot. "I know Eros is your best friend but The Erebus is full of nasty people. Their Alpha, Leonidas, is an arsehole." He let out a deep, exasperated sigh as if he knew something bad was going to happen. "While we are here, I am technically walking in their territory and they would not take that lightly so please—"

Whatever Ryker was going to say got cut off when a giant red-haired wolf leaped onto the hood of the car. Its sinister face was only a few inches away from ours, separated by the car's windscreen. And at that point, I was no longer sure whether we could get out of there alive.

* * *

The red wolf continued to stare at us with its piercing eyes, watching our every move and seemingly ready to attach at any given moment. I had zero doubt that if we walked out of the car, it would jump on us. I was probably dead meat while Ryker could put up a fight.

It was probably another reason why Ryker said "Stay inside" before he got out of the car like a brave soldier. I heard him say to the red wolf, "Technically I have not crossed your border, this is a neutral territory so I suggest you get back inside and simply find Eros Adler. I will be out of your way once my mate gets to talk to Eros. Plus no one wants to issue a pack war because you know that is what will happen if any of us gets injured."

Slowly the wolf backed away but still kept its distance. His eyes regarded us curiously, back and forth between Ryker and me which made me wonder if somehow he could tell that we were mates, something Ryker claimed we were. Then I saw the bushes behind it rustling.

"You're lucky young Seb and I are the ones doing patrol at this area. If it was Dimitrios or Stavros, you would probably be dead."

Ryker scoffed. "You speak as if they will have the chance to kill me."

Hearing Eros's voice, I unlocked the door and got out. From behind the trees, Eros was walking towards me wearing nothing but a pair of white boxers.

"It was pretty stupid of you to come here alone, Ryker Cromwell," said Eros, narrowing his gaze. "But again, I figure your Beta would not be too happy to accompany you here after your fallout."

"I am just being her chauffeur." Ryker shrugged, ignoring Eros's last remarks.

Eros turned to face me and his eyes turned kind. The corner of his lips tugged into a smile. "Miss me?"

I rolled my eyes, then raced towards him. "So, you are a werewolf, huh?" I asked him, throwing my arms around him. Despite the dirt and sweat mixed with his sandalwood scent, he smelled and felt at home. After what had happened today, this was all I needed.

"I am sorry you have to find out that way," he replied once we let go. He was still keeping his arms around my waist. "Did your dad finally talk to you? Is that why you are here?"

"No." I shook my head, tears pricking my eyes and I took a sharp breath.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, finally noticing that something must have gone sideways. "What happened?"

"He left," I breathed out. I bit the side of my cheek to prevent myself from crying. I had done enough of that and right now, getting answers from Eros was far more important.

"What?" Eros stiffened. I could see his jaw clench. "Is that why you're with him?"

I shrugged. "Dad turned into a giant wolf, they fought, and when I tried to find him, he already left."

Eros cursed under his breath. Some words were in Greek while others were in Italian. None of which I had the ability to understand. Even though I sniffed hard and tried to hold them back, I ended up crying—just a little. Silent tears slipped out of the corners of my eyes. Eros caught them with his thumbs and brushed them away. "Hey, it's alright, Xy, I am here."

"I need answers, Eros, I need to know everything you both have been keeping from me and I mean everything." I held his gaze, making sure that he understood how important this was to me. "No more secrets, Eros, or I would not be able to trust you anymore."

I saw a sliver of hurt in his eyes and felt a pinch of guilt but chose to ignore it. Eros nodded. "I will tell you but not here." He eyed Ryker who was standing several feet away from us. "Come on, I will take you somewhere else." Eros held my hand then looked at the red wolf over his shoulder and said, "Seb, keep an eye on him, Buddy. Don't let him go anywhere."

Ryker groaned in response, rolling his silver eyes.

"Can't you just tell your friend telepathically?" I whispered to Eros. "I mean, I thought werewolves' minds are linked if they are in the same pack."

My best friend grinned. "You have done your homework," he said, sounding impressed. "And yeah, technically I can but I want the dickhead to hear it too."

"For the record, that dickhead is your best friend's mate," shouted Ryker.

"Let's go, Xy, we need to go far enough so he can't hear us." Eros started to speed up into the forest, his hand was still holding mine, and I tried my best to keep up with him.

At last, he brought me into a huge tree where a treehouse was constructed among the trunk and branches of the tree. He climbed his way up the stairs with me trailing behind and once he had reached the top, he grabbed my arms and helped me up. He led me inside where a carpet had been laid on the ground. I brought myself down and crossed my legs. Eros took a seat in front of me.

"Where do you want to start?" he asked. His blue-green eyes were holding mine.

I started with the hardest one to believe. The one that up until now, I still wished was not true. "Did my dad kill my mom?"

"Yes," he answered with no delay and since he knew me so well, he continued by telling the story without me having to ask him what had happened. "My dad was on patrol that night with two other guys when they smelled blood. They followed it all the way to your home."

"As in the home I currently live in?"

Eros shook his head. "No."

"You used to live here, in the South, Xy. Although your dad chose to live around the edge, near the border because of your mom."

A frown creased my forehead. "What's wrong with my mom?"

"Nothing. It's just that she was a human, just like you." Eros cleared his throat, then continued. "So your dad moved out of the packhouse and to the outside of the town, close to the border so she could be left alone. It was quite a huge deal when he mated her. As you've probably heard, he was a Beta. Anyway, from what I heard from my dad, they found your mom lifeless and your dad unconscious but with her blood all over him." He hesitated for a second, glancing out of the window.

"There is something more, isn't it?" I felt this ominous traveling chill down my spine like he was about to tell me something horrifying. "What is it, Eros?"

He turned his eyes back to me. "You were there, Xy."

"What?" I did not understand and waited for him to explain further.

"When your father killed your mom, you were there," he said, and I gasped. But his next words terrified me more, "And you were the only one conscious, Xy, while your mom's slaughtered body lay dead and your dad passed out. You witnessed everything that happened that day ten years ago."