~~
Trinity
~~
"I think so." I was nodding my head. "He didn't say as much, but I think he was."
"I knew it. This was why I always had you escorted whenever you left the house. You were driven to school, and half of your professors were wolves in either our pack or an ally pack. When you made your three friends that were also from our pack, I was relieved. I knew with them around, you could live a more normal teenage life. They would help to protect you."
"You thought I would be attacked if I was ever alone?" I asked him.
"I suspected it, dreaded it."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded. "Why didn't you tell me what it was you feared this whole time?" I was angry and hurt now. "Why did you make me miss out on everything as a child? Why did you treat me like an abomination, a pariah?"
"I didn't want you to worry." His face looked broken like he was about to break down, but his voice was sincere. "I didn't want you to look over your shoulder every time you left the house. And I didn't treat you like a pariah. I wanted to protect you."
"By making me avoid everyone? By homeschooling me so I couldn't have any friends? By making me skip halloween and all the other celebrations?"
"I didn't do that to be cruel, or mean. Please believe me Trinity. I didn't know what had happened to your mother. But I had you to protect, to care for. I didn't know if the enemy was close to home or not. I didn't want to give the man who caused all of this access to you if he was closer than I was expecting. I was scared and paranoid. I suspected everyone for the longest time. I didn't mean to hurt you Trinity. I love you." I didn't remember Grandfather ever telling me he loved me before. He had never said those words. I gasped upon hearing them, the sound unfamiliar and alien coming from him.
"You should have talked to me. As I got older at least, you should have told me. I have thought that you hated me my whole life." I was crying now, I could feel the stinging in my eyes and the wet trails the tears were leaving as they ran down my cheeks.
"I have never hated you, Trinity. I have loved you from the day you were born. I remember the first time I held you after you were born. I cried. I was heartbroken about what had happened to Lily, but here was this tiny little baby that was pure innocence. You were not to blame for what happened. You were the blessing that we got out of the curse." He smiled at me again as he cradled the side of my head once more. "I loved you so much in that moment that I knew I needed to protect you, to do a better job than I had done before. And when I lost your mother, when she was taken from this world too soon, it shattered me, I didn't know how to go on at first. I had lost my wife and daughter." He was looking at me intently while the tears flowed unhindered down his cheeks.
"Then, when you were taken, just a little older than your mother was all those years before, I thought I was being punished for not protecting you enough. I thought the universe was telling me I had failed again. When I heard that you were gone, Trinity,I sobbed. I refused to stay home. They had tried insisting that I was too old to help them rescue you, but I would not stay behind. I was going to come along, I was going to help, even if it killed me." I had never heard this type of conviction coming from him before.
"Grandfather." I said, my heart breaking from hearing the pain he had endured all these years. I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tight, trying to help him hold himself together.
"I love you, Trinity. I'm sorry that I ever made you feel otherwise. I have no excuse for how I treated you. I was just scared, and so very stupid." He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. It was something that I had longed for as a child, a loving embrace, a hug, from the only Grandfather I would ever know. To know that he loved me as much as I had always loved him, despite me thinking he had hated me.
"I love you too, Grandfather."
We talked for a few moments longer before Grandfather excused himself. He said he needed to check on something, but I think he just wanted to clean himself up. He had been crying a lot, something he wasn't used to doing, and his face was red and blotchy. And, as I could hear Reece coming back down the hallway, I think he just didn't want to feel embarrassed. He hugged me again before walking out the door just moments before Reece came back in.
"Did you have a good visit Little Bunny?" He asked me as he came back in. But then he saw my face. He could clearly tell that I had been crying. "What's wrong? Did he say something cruel to you? He told me before that he was going to explain himself to you." Reece rushed to my side and picked me up, holding me in his arms like a princess.
"What do you mean, he told you he was going to explain himself?" I asked, confused.
"On Christmas, when I talked with him. He said he was going to explain everything to you."
"So, you've known these things longer than I have?" I gave him a sharp look. He stuttered for a moment.
"W-well I-I th-thought I should t-talk to him." He seemed uncertain for a moment until I laughed. "Huh?" He was confused.
"I'm not mad Reece. Though I would like to know why you talked to him, that can wait. But to answer your question, no he was not cruel. However, we did talk about a lot of difficult things. We both cried today. And, not to mention I cried when I talked to Uncle Wesley. I feel like I have been doing a lot of crying since you left."
"Should I have stayed? Maybe you wouldn't have cried." He looked upset.
"No, then I doubt we would have talked so freely. It was actually good. We got a lot of things out in the open, it was good for all of us." I smiled at him.
"Will you tell me about it?" He asked.
"I'll have to, as I need to explain it all to you anyway."
"Explain what?" He was confused.
"What happened. Why I was taken, all that."
"I know you were taken to the Warlocks, and that you have a wolf and magic now. I've suspected for a while that you're father was likely a Warlock." His voice was so matter-of-fact that it shocked me to my core. "Am I right?" I couldn't form words after what he said so I just nodded my head. "I thought so."
"How did you figure it out?" I asked him.
"Well, there was the attack at Riley's for one. You were the only one who could smell the Warlocks even though they were blocking their scents. And remember when you were watching them retreat, following them with your eyes?" I nodded to answer his question. "Well, your eyes had begun to glow and the inner two rings of color were twisting back as forth. They looked like a camera lens trying to focus. You were zooming in on them from over a mile away."
"I had no idea." Then there was the fact that each subsequent attack seemed to have the aid of Warlocks in some way. I'm guessing even that first attack I saved you from when we first met was also aided by the Warlocks."
"So, you knew this whole time?" I asked him, the shock was plain in my voice.
"Well, I suspected at least. I didn't know for certain obviously."
"That's one hell of a guess." I told him as he sat down on the sofa, snuggling me into his chest.
"Well I'm not the alpha and head of a major corporation for nothing. I'm pretty smart myself." He smiled at me.
"Really? I never would have guessed that with all the stupid shit you've said to me." I laughed. He growled playfully at me.
"You rob me of all my good judgement and sense." He smiled joyfully. "But I wouldn't change a thing." He told me.
"Nothing?" I asked.
"Well, you could be fully healed and naked, but I can't change that right now, so no nothing."
"Perv." I laughed as I slapped his chest.
"Get used to it, you're stuck with me forever." He leaned forward and kissed me gently on the lips. I could still feel his repressed desire. He truly was holding himself back, but he didn't try to go any further.
