Chapter 15

Third Person POV

 "Ladies and gentlemen, please put your seat belts on. We have reached our destination and are about to land. Stay in your seats and prepare for the bumpy ride."

     Amaris reached over and touched Cqari's face. She mumbled a little and it sounded like Amaris' name. Amaris smiled and poked her cheek. "Baby, we're here."

     Cqari's eyes slowly opened and she looked around. "We're here?" She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked over at Amaris and noticed that Dominic was un-cuffed. Her eyes widened and she looked at Amaris.

     "Long story. He's harmless; but if you touch her, I'm still kicking your ass," he told Dominic.

     Dominic rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I understand that all of you werewolves could gang up on me and rip my limbs apart."

     Cqari laughed a little and the plane started to descend.

     As everyone boarded off the plane, Brad and Aaron decided that they would try and talk to foreign girls because 'American girls don't seem to put up with them'. "Maybe it's because they don't know hotness when they see it." Brad posed and leaned against the wall, imitating a model pose.

     "Or you just aren't meant to have mates?" Kenny suggested. "And I don't mean it in a bad way!" Mel gave him a look and pinched his arm. "What I mean to say is some wolves don't have mates, and it's not a bad thing. You can still fall in love and get married."

     Aaron shrugged a little. "Maybe. It must be nice for all of you to have mates, though. To feel that connection all the time." He seemed down. Every time one of them brought up something with mates, he felt like he was missing a part of himself.

     Everyone looked at him and felt his ache. Brad put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, man. Don't lose hope. We still have the rest of our lives. We're still young."

     Dominic cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt on your little mood, but we should be going before Brian sends out a search team."

     Brad frowned. "Who un-cuffed you anyways?"

~~~~

     Dominic led everyone through the cities. It wasn't far, where Brian lived, but it was secret. There was, like, a hidden door somewhere that lead to the roof of Brian's house. Dominic turned around and looked at everyone. "Follow my lead, don't get left behind, and don't get spotted. All the girls follow me, and the guys follow behind them. Got it?"

     Loren frowned. "Jeez, are you a vigilante or a criminal?"

     Ady laughed and began to follow after Dominic. Cqari went next and then Mel. All the guys followed after in a series of jogging and ducking and even jumping onto higher steps and climbing. "Goddamn, is your grandfather apart of Assassin's Creed or something?" Kenny looked at Amaris and laughed.

     Amaris shrugged and chuckled a little. "Seems like it." They finally reached a certain spot where no one was at. Amaris caught sight of Cqari and sent her a wink. She waved and blew him a kiss.

     Dominic touched the brick wall and it began to circle and open. Everyone looked at each other in surprise but didn't hesitate to follow Dominic before the door closed.

     "We're here."

     Amaris felt like he would break down at what he saw. This place was like a replica of his mom's old house before she went crazy when she thought his dad died. There were pictures everywhere of Carnell and Adeline. There were a few dusty pictures of Adeline holding a baby: Amaris. And then there were some pictures of Adeline and an older man. "Is that..."

     "Dominic, I was beginning to think you failed your mission," spoke a deep and old voice.

     Everyone turned and looked at a very tall and well-built figure. He had eccentric blue eyes that were covered slightly by his wrinkles around his eyes. His hair was blond and growing grey, and it was slicked back. He wore a blue button up and khaki pants. His hands were folded in front of him.

     He looked like Adeline, in a way. Which meant he looked like Ady.

     Dominic put his head down and stepped to the side. "Brian."

     Amaris stared at his grandfather and felt his hands ball into fists.

     Brian gave a smile. "Hello, Amaris. You look just like Carnell."

     Cqari must have known that Amaris was going to snap. She went up to him and took his hand. "Amaris. Try to get along with him, alright?" she whispered to him. Amaris pulled her closer and sighed long

     "Is this your mate?" he heard Brian say.

     Amaris' anger came back, and he covered himself in front of Cqari. "You don't know anything about me. Where have you been? And why did you send for me?"

     Brian sighed as if he expected Amaris to be angry. "Actually, I do know everything about you. Adeline spoke me to everyday about you. She loved you very much, should you know. And I sent for you because you deserve an explanation."

     Amaris frowned. "You sent a guy who initially tried to kill me! Did you know he hated wolves? What if he really killed me?"

     Dominic stepped in. "Now hold on. I wasn't going to kill you. I was just supposed to shake you up and knock you out a bit. Come on, we've been over this."

     Brian laughed an old, tired laugh. "Yes, I know he hated wolves, and I promised him I'd help him find Marissa."

     "What exactly are you explaining to him?" Ady stepped up and said.

     Brian looked at Ady and just stared.

     He stared for the longest time in history, and everyone looked at each other again in question. Loren got upset and covered himself in front of Ady. "Answer the question," he hissed.

     Brian blinked and then laughed. Like he really laughed. "You are a true doppelgänger."

     Everyone frowned and sighed in annoyance. This old man was already getting on everyone's nerves.

     He wiped a tear that had apparently fallen. "Amaris needs to know about his parents and why they separated. He deserves to know everything."

~~~

"Is it weird that he lives in a hideout? I mean, why hide? Who is he hiding from?" Kenny asked when they all got comfortable and walked around the place.

     Dominic grinned. "Brian is a bad-ass. People are looking for him."

     Brad frowned a little and looked at more pictures. "What kind of people?"

     "People from Carnell's old pack. He ran away with Brian's daughter, remember?"

     Ady, for some reason, just couldn't understand why she and Adeline were so alike. Amaris could see the thoughts surrounding Ady's head. "You know what a Doppelgänger is, right?" Amaris asked her.

     Ady blinked and nodded. "Like from Vampire Diaries, right?"

     Amaris furrowed his eyebrows. "While I have no idea what that is, I'm guessing you know. It could be true. That's the only explanation I can come up with."

     Ady sighed and nodded. She went over to some more pictures of Adeline and Carnell. "Loren is so worried about everything. Me, you, his sister. He won't get some rest. There's too much on his plate. Last year, Carnell killed my little brother, and Loren wasn't really the same. He kept worrying that that could have been me, or it could be me now. And now he's worrying about Cqari."

     Amaris looked at Ady. "I didn't want to bring Cqari into this. She's my mate, and the only thing I want is for her to be safe. If something does happen.." He glanced at Cqari, "I need you to take her and run. And Mel, too. Don't tell anyone. I do think a war is coming."

     Ady nodded. "Of course. Loren would want the same thing. Cqari, on the other hand, would want to stay."

     "Which is why you can't tell her," he whispered and looked at Cqari again. She sensed him looking and she smiled at him. He smiled back. "I just got her. I'm not ready to lose her."

Brian came back with a box. Everyone looked at him in question and got closer. "Here are more pictures of them." He opened the box. Surprisingly, no dust bunnies rolled out. The place was so old it looked like it was a set from the first Terminator movie.

     Amaris picked up a photo of his parents. Everyone gathered around to look at it, and there was total silence.

     They were lying in a field of flowers. Adeline was wearing a white sundress, and her blonde hair was spread out around her. One of her hands was wrapped around Carnell's hand. He was lying on his side, his eyes shining with happiness. He was looking at her with total adoration, and she was looking back at him with love evident in her eyes.

     "They look so happy..." Ady whispered. Everyone could only nod in agreement as they stared at the picture.

     "They were very in love," Brian said from behind them. "They were inseparable. To be honest, I've never seen love like the love they had."

     Amaris felt his heart quicken when Brian said that. His parents loved each other. He always thought Carnell wasn't good to her because he was never around.

     "They clicked in about 3 days. Seriously. It took 3 days for them to fall in love. Then it took the rest of their lives together to be inseparable and deeply connected."

     "What happened to them? Why was Carnell looking for her?" Cqari asked.

     Brian scratched his scruffy beard. "Carnell was in trouble. He was to be an Alpha, but his father didn't approve of Adeline. He said she was weak and couldn't contribute like a real Luna could. Of course, Carnell nearly died after hearing that. Basically, his father was saying that he could never see her again." He sighed, his heart nearly breaking to the story. He remembered it all too well.

     "Go on..." Amaris mumbled. He never did hear about this story. His mom hardly told him.

     "Carnell ran away with her the next day. He said to her, 'If I can't be in my pack with you, then I don't want to be in my pack at all.' Cute, I know." He chuckled. "They were safe for about 2 months until his father found him. That was their last night together. As in 'together', I mean making Amaris here."

     Everyone chuckled slightly.

     "Carnell didn't know, did he?" Dominic asked.

     Brian shook his head. "Nope. They took her away. He thought they beat her and raped her. Well, they beat her, didn't really rape her. They took him away, beat him too. The next day, Carnell was alone in the woods. For a moment, he thought she was dead. He claimed he felt emptiness, but he didn't see her body. And that's basically when all hell went loose with him and the two of you." He nodded towards Loren and Ady.

     Loren shook his head. "Wait. You knew about us? And how did you know Carnell was dead?"

     He gave a creepy smile. "News travel fast. I do have associates in America."

     Amaris rolled his eyes. "Of course he does. It's how he found out where I was. His people are really anonymous."

     Brian huffed a laugh and put all the pictures up back in boxes. Everyone's had enough of looking at them. It was honestly too much.

     "Now we go to Italy, right?" Dominic demanded.

     Everyone looked at Brian. He dusted off his hands. "Yes. We go to Italy."