Chapter 90

The two figures barrelled towards us.

“Ethan! Ava!” A girlish voice screeched as they got closer. I recognized it immediately as belonging to Olivia, and a rushing wave of relief flooded my body. I felt the fear roll from my muscles, tension melting away as the realization hit me.

Olivia tackled me in a hug, throwing her arms around me and digging her chin into my shoulder as she held me as tightly as she could. I hugged her back lightly, adrenaline still coursing through my veins.

Mars was the other figure, of course. He shook hands with Ethan and hugged in that overly masculine way that men typically did.

“What are you doing home?” I asked as she pulled away from me. Tears were streaming down her face, snot collected just under her nose. She had been crying for a while by the looks of it.

“We heard what happened,” Mars said matter-of-factly, but apparently that was not what Olivia wanted to say.

She frowned and looked between Ethan and I with mock fury in her eyes.

“I heard what happened from Mars - who kept it from me for a whole three days after he found out, by the way - who heard it from Tristan while he was looking for people who may want to hurt the two of you.” Olivia crossed her arms and stomped her foot like a toddler as she spoke.

I gave her a pathetic smile, “We didn’t want to tell you. You were getting ready to go on your honeymoon. I was going to tell you when you came back… next month.”

Olivia shot me an unamused look. Mars shrugged his shoulders, as if saying ‘This is what I’ve been dealing with all week’.

“I should have heard about it right away!” She cried out, “You both were injured. You were surrounded on a beach by gunmen! You thought you could just wait to tell us what happened?”

“We ended up being okay didn’t we?” Ethan interjected. Olivia didn’t listen to him, instead continuing her rant.

“And what if Ethan stayed in a coma forever? We were just going to come back to town and find that out? And you dealt with the entire thing by yourself with no one to help you!” Olivia grabbed my hands and held them to her chest.

Her eyes teared up again at the mere thought of it.

“I’m okay,” I pulled her into another hug. “We’re both okay.”

Mars was also extremely emotional, though rather than being sad he was angry. More than angry, he was furious.

“Andrew is going to get what’s coming to him!” Mars seethed.

Ethan tried to calm him down, but he was too amped up to settle. He paced around in a circle, waving his hands and muttering the hundreds of horrible things he wanted to do to Andrew if he was given the chance.

“We have a plan.” Ethan reassured him. “He called and threatened me earlier tonight. I recorded the entire conversation as part of our proof of what he’s been using his power and influence for. No one will vote for him for Alpha Chairman once the information gets out.”

Mars scoffed.

“He needs to be held accountable, not just taken out of the running for some power position. He needs to feel every bit of pain he caused you and your family,” Mars grit out.

I looked between Ethan and Mars, confusion clouding my brain.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Ethan’s family?”

Ethan’s eyes widened as he looked at me, almost like he forgot I was still there.

“Should I tell her?” Mars asked, folding his arms over his chest and shooting Ethan a challenging look. “I’ve told you you need to be honest with her.”

Ethan held eye contact with me, his chest rising and falling as he waited for me to say something.

“Tell me,” I demanded. “I have a right to know if this has anything to do with what happened on that beach.”

Ethan sighed and asked us to all have the conversation sitting down in the living room. Apparently, it was a long story.

Thirteen Years ago

When Ethan was just turning fifteen, his father was the alpha of his pack, his mother the luna. They were the most powerful and influential wolves in the entire world at the time.

The werewolf world looked up to them. They were the most sought after alliances, the most detrimental enemies. They were overwhelmingly adored by the public, but many people wanted what they had.

Ethan’s father, Geoffrey, had a beta who was extremely close to the family. The beta’s name was Andrew, he was believed to be extremely loyal to the family. Ethan even used to refer to him as an uncle. The company prospered, the pack reaped all the benefits of the success of the Velasco family.

As far as anyone knew, there was not a single person who had ill intentions towards them.

One night, Ethan and his parents went to the theater to watch an opera. It was supposed to be a simply elegant night for them. It was, afterall, Ethan’s mother, Gina’s, favorite opera. She was an avid fan of the theater.

The three of them were in attendance, they watched the entirety of the play from their balcony, and they stayed to mingle in the lobby until Ethan started getting tired and asked to go home.

His father chuckled and asked to be excused by their group of friends. Ethan’s mother ruffled his hair affectionately.

Leaving that early, as it turned out, was the worst mistake they would ever make.

As they walked down the street towards where Ethan’s father parked the car, a couple of men walked out of a nearby alley, guns drawn and aimed directly at Ethan’s parents.

“Give us everything you’ve got,” One of the masked men demanded.

Ethan backed away, unseen.

Ethan’s father glanced back at Ethan, subtly telling him to run. Ethan didn’t want to at first, he wanted to help and fight for his parents, save them and himself.

Ethan’s father shook his head and mouthed the word ‘run’ again. He was not a man to be denied, so Ethan started shuffling away and out of sight.

Even though Ethan’s father was trying to give the man his wallet, the rogue wolf got trigger happy and shot him in the head. There was no chance at survival.

Ethan heard the shot and looked back. He saw his father’s crumpled body on the pavement and heard the gut-wrenching screams of his mother. The men pulled at her, stealing her jewelry and the fine skills from her gown.

They shot her, too, leaving her body next to her husband’s on the pavement.

She screamed and gurgled as the men fled from the scene. Ethan ran back to his parents, sobbing and crying for help.

His mother was shot in the stomach.

Ethan instinctually called Andrew for help first. It took the man less than two minutes to arrive on the scene, and he dragged Ethan away from his parents’ bodies and shoved him in a car.

At the time he said it was for his own good, but Ethan thought it was strange as he was taken far away from them and back to Andrew’s house.

He lived at Andrew’s house for several weeks after the incident. Nothing of his parents’ could be saved from the crime scene except for a single earring that belonged to his mother.

When Ethan found the matching earring in Andrew’s office, he felt as though Andrew had taken parts of the story and changed them. He was hiding something for sure.

Ethan snooped through his computer and found email correspondence with a group of rogue wolves, coordinating the attack and killing Ethan’s parents so that he, as second in command, could take over the pack.

Because Ethan was not yet eighteen, he had no claim to his father’s empire. It would go to Andrew until Ethan was of age, but after learning about Andrew’s involvement in the murder Ethan knew he had to run away or Andrew would eventually kill him too.

Andrew murdered Ethan’s parents and stole everything from him.