Three Alpha Princes for an Unwanted Omega

Kieran stared at the scroll spread across the table, his eyes moving over the parchment slowly.A litany of the dead, each one branded a traitor, each one executed for treason against his father.

"Why would your father execute them all even down to the children. As far as I know, we do not harm children for the sins of their fathers.Even when a family is branded traitorous, the children are usually taken away, imprisoned or stripped of their titles. So why would Grandfather decide to wipe out an entire bloodline?"

"I have no idea, son. I remember the Veyr name but I do not remember the deaths."

The frustrating thing was that during that year, he was well enough into his training to become Alpha but somehow he could not remember a time there was a mass execution. It should not be possible to forget something like this.

Damon shook his head slowly. "That is not possible. You would have been in your youth when it happened. There is no way you cannot remember any of it... except..."

"Except I was made not to remember." Kieran finished the sentence for him. The words tasted like ash in his mouth.

Ares’ jaw tightened. "Someone tampered with your memory of the event."

"Who would do such a thing?" Damon demanded. "And why?"

Kieran had no answer.

But if someone had gone to the trouble of removing an entire event from his mind, then whatever had happened that day was important enough to be hidden.

Ares slowly reached for the scroll.

"Then this is bigger than Lucius."

Kieran looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"We thought Lucius was simply carrying out an old grudge. His family was executed, he survived and he spent his entire life building an army to come back for revenge. Now I am wondering if you cannot remember his family being killed then this is something else enitrely."

A knock sounded at the door and all three men turned.

A guard entered and bowed.

"My lord."

Kieran looked toward him.

"What is it?"

"You have a visitor."

"Who is it?"

The guard hesitated, his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.

Kieran’s eyes narrowed. "Speak up."

The guard swallowed. "It is Soren, my lord."

The room went still.

Damon’s head snapped toward Ares who hands had curled into fists at his sides.

Soren? the fucking nerve, he thought.

"What the hell does he want?" Damon scoffed.

Kieran stared at the guard and for one brief moment, something painful twisted in his chest.

"Bring him in."

"Father..." Damon’s protest came immediately.

Kieran raised a hand.

"I want to hear what he has to say."

The guard stepped aside and Soren walked in.

He looked older.

That was Kieran’s first thought. Older than he remembered. There were lines around his eyes now, and his shoulders did not carry themselves with the same ease they once had.

But it was still the same man Kieran had once trusted with his life.

Soren stopped several feet away and his eyes moved over the room, lingering on his sons before they settled on Kieran.

Then he lowered himself to his knees.

Damon’s eyes widened at this and even Ares appeared caught off guard.

"What is the meaning of this, Soren?" Kieran snapped, rising to his feet.

Soren bowed his head.

"Do you really think getting on your knees and grovelling will absolve you of what you have done?" Kieran demanded. "You should have gotten on your knees before me the moment you knew I had figured out your secret but what did you do?...You ran like a fucking coward."

Soren raised his head, his eyes were red rimmed.

"I am not here to beg for acceptance from you, Kieran. I know that will never happen. I am only here so that I may look upon your face and tell you why."

"I do not care to listen to what you have to say."

"You will listen to me as my friend."

"Your friend?" Kieran laughed bitterly. "You and I have a very different version of what a friend is."

For the first time since entering the room, Kieran saw genuine pain cross his face.

Soren slowly rose to his feet.

"Isolde begged me on her knees that day."

"Don’t"

"I have to tell you."

"You have nothing to say that will make what you did acceptable."

"She looked broken, Kieran. You know what the people of the pack were already calling her." Soren’s voice dropped. "Dirty names that she could not bear. She was always fragile, our Isolde. You knew that and you loved her for it... we loved her."

"How dare you..."

"I fucked up." Soren’s voice rose over his. "I fucked up, Kieran, and I have lived with it every day since but I will not change what I did."

Damon’s expression twisted with disgust.

"How noble." he muttered.

Soren ignored him.

"They are your sons." he said. "They are your sons, and it does not matter whose loins they came out of. You have been their father. You have been a better man than I would ever be."

Kieran felt his throat tighten.

"Is that why you are here?" he spat. "To give yourself closure?"

Soren shook his head.

"No, just to see you one last time, dear friend," he said quietly. "And to tell you not to trust Lucius."

"We do not trust him," Ares voice.

"You do not understand." Soren’s eyes flicked to Ares. "I may be in his court, but he tells me nothing. He has something planned...something that has to do with Ayla and I do not know what it is. But you cannot trust a word that comes out of his mouth...or hers. He has her wrapped around his fingers, with the help of his witch."

"His witch," Ares repeated. "Amara. What do you know about her?"

"Nothing other than the fact that she is quite ancient." Soren’s voice dropped. "I hear she worked with the first Omega Dualis."

Damon inhaled sharply. "That cannot be possible. That would make her centuries old. She looks nothing more than a child."

"Like I said," Soren said, "she is dangerous."

He looked at Kieran again, and something moved in his face before he bowed low.

"I am sorry, old friend. I should take my leave."

He turned.

Kieran’s voice stopped him at the door.

"What do you know about the execution of the Veyr line?"

Soren turned back, frowning. "An execution?"

"All of them." Kieran said. "The entire Veyr family, down to the newborns. Rounded up and killed for treason against my father. We would have been just boys when it happened, you and I. Your father was Beta then, under mine. Do you remember anything about that time?"

Soren’s frown deepened as he searched his memory.

"No," he said at last. "I do not."

Kieran felt something cold settle in his stomach. He exchanged looks with both Damon and Ares.

It would seem it was not only Kieran’s memory that had been tampered with.

What did this mean?