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{44}

Elisia POV

Twenty minutes have already passed since Emily left, I was anxiously waiting for Theo to arrive. I prayed our plan would work as well as we had hoped...

"Are you still at her house?"

I perked up at Theo's presence in the mate bond. 

"Yes." I replied.

"I'm only a couple minutes away, love."

I hopped off the sofa, relieved that he managed to leave the Manor without an issue. I walked to the front door, opened it and waited until his car pulled up in the driveway. I sighed in contentment once I saw him get out wearing a smile. 

"Hey you." I greeted him.

"Hey yourself." He replied huskily, with a cheeky grin. He held up two duffle bags, one in each hand, and grinned. "I got the essentials."

I gave him a once over, wondering what he had brought from my room. He handed over one of them for me to check what he'd brought. 

"I didn't handpick the clothes, just in case I came across your underwear or something." He laughed, watching me blush in embarrassment. "I dumped everything in there so I'm hoping there must be some in there..."

I appreciated his thoughtfulness about my clothes, glad that I was able to see several clean underwear. I felt even more reassured once I saw my washbag in there, it had my skincare, makeup, toothbrush and toothpaste as well as my body and hair products. 

"I packed two pairs of your shoes too; I put them in plastic bags before putting them in the bag." He told me, looking proud of himself. "Did I do fine?"

I placed the bag down and zipped it up before replying. "I'll be honest, you did better than I expected."

He broke into a smile, his dimple becoming apparent, before engulfing me into a bear hug. "I'm so glad."

"How did you manage to pack everything, without Kobi seeing or hearing you?" I asked with a frown. "And how the hell are we going to carry these bags when we shift? Our jaws will get tired."

He let go of me and said, "As soon as you left, Kobi left the manor to go to the Second Town. He had to resolve an issue concerning the finance of that town, so he went without complaint." 

I brightened up at that. "So that means we can drive to the Third Town?"

"You bet."

He looked down at my clothes and chuckled. "How was Emily?"

"She was so sweet!" I started to say, but then remembered something. "You failed to mention that you're cousins."

Theo scratched the back of his neck, and shrugged wearing a uncomfortable expression. "Yeah, so we're cousins."

I rolled my eyes. "No shit, sherlock. It's just that, you guys don't seem that...close?" I said with caution.

He put an arm around me and pulled me close to his side. "I'll tell you about it in the car."

To be fair, I was expecting him to avoid the subject so I was a little surprised. I grabbed the duffle bag, as well as the belongings I had brought with me, and followed him to his car. Apparently, Ethan is coming by soon and will be able to lock the front door when he arrives. 

I got comfortable and settled into the passenger seat while Theo started driving. It was then when I realised how exhausted I felt, today had been quite intense. 

I spent most of the journey slipping in and out of sleep. At one point, I felt Theo gently place my head on the headrest so I didn't wake up with neck pain. I was so out of it, I didn't even realise the car stopped. I heard Theo get out of the vehicle, making me stir in my sleepy state.

The passenger door opened, before I felt a strong pair of warm arms wrap around me. My eyes snapped open before he could do anything, I saw his handsome face right above mine. 

"Ah, you've woken up." He commented with a smile. He pulled away once I sat up properly and stretched my sore limbs. 

I looked around us, noticing that we're in the driveway of yet another unfamiliar house. "Have we made it to the other town?"

He held out his arm to help me out the car and said, "Yes, welcome to my Third Town. I hope you don't mind, but I drove straight to someone who I think could help us."

I nodded and let out a shaky breath, I really hoped we could find that hostage letter. 

Theo regarded me closely with a an expression I couldn't quite decipher. "This person knew your father very well..."

I took in a sharp intake of breath when he said that. "Did you tell them I'm coming? Wait, do they know who I am? Do they know I'm alive? Who are they?"

He chuckled at the endless questions I was flinging at him. "I called them to let them know I was visiting with someone, but I didn't mention who. Let's just meet them."

"Do...my pack members like you?" I asked curiously. We were approaching the front door of this large house.

"I think so." He replied thoughtfully. "No doubt they hated Maxwell, but they all understand I'm nothing like him. Things changed dramatically once I came to power."

The front door was flung open by a beautiful, curly haired lady. Her dark eyes glimmered once she took in Theo and hugged him tight. 

"You've finally come to visit!"

Theo chuckled and hugged her back. "It's good to see you. How are the kids?"

A random boy's voice answered his question by saying, "The only 'kid' in this house is my baby sister and she's doing great, thank you very much."

The gorgeous dark-skinned lady rolled her eyes and mouthed, "Moody teenager."

I sensed a slight pull between us, I couldn't help but smile because of it. This lady was my pack member...

Her gaze finally rested on me and she smiled, "You look familiar, do I know you?"

"I'm Elisia Knight, a warrior." I automatically responded. I mentally face-palmed myself, I probably look familiar to her because she might've known how my mother looked like. 

"Just a warrior?" She exclaimed in disbelief. "You don't seem like one."

"You're starting to feel like an Alpha more than anything." Theo added in mate bond.

She shook her head, realising that we were still standing outside. "Come in! How rude of me."

With a grateful smile, we walked into the large hallway and was immediately greeted by the boy who spoke earlier. 

"Hi." He said with a charming smile.

He was tall and was wearing a basketball kit, showing off his caramel skin. I couldn't get over the fact that he had green eyes, it really complimented his skin tone. His face seemed to already be structured and defined despite his young age, and had luscious curly hair like his mother.

Just from his looks, I could tell the girls go crazy for him at school.

We greeted him goodbye once he explained he was leaving to play ball with his friends. We followed the lady into her living room and sat down on the sofas. She turned to me with an apologetic expression and said, "I didn't even introduce myself to you, my name is Anna." 

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, sweetheart. My son, whom you just met, is Isaac - he'll be turning seventeen soon. My second and the youngest, is called Nina. She's currently taking a nap, upstairs. She's two." 

Theo spoke up. "Anna, is Noah here?"

"Yes, he's upstairs in the study."

With a glance and a warm smile, she clarified that, "Noah is my husband."

"We came to talk to him about something." Theo explained, while she mind-linked her husband. "It's a heavy topic..."

She nodded, curiosity painting her features. Her gaze landed on me and frowned in confusion. "I feel like I know you..."

I opened my mouth to explain why she felt like that, but a creak from the wooden floor silenced me. Someone, assuming her husband, was standing behind us. Theo turned around first and greeted the man, who was heading to sit next to his wife. 

He sat by her, greeted her with a kiss, and finally made eye contact with me. 

He froze. 

His brow started to furrow as he took me in, analysing me from head to toe. He looked at Anna in shock and confusion, to which she shrugged back. He looked back at me, taking in a sharp breath and let his jaw hang. Various different emotions flashed on his face; shock, uneasiness, amazement, confusion and curiosity.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Anna asked, rubbing his hand. "Do you know her?"

His green eyes flashed with disbelief, denial painting his features. I could now see the features Isaac inherited from his father, two races came together to make him. 

"Hello." I greeted him with a shy smile. I assumed he knew Lily, so I must be quite a shocking sight. Although, I'm wondering if anyone from this pack wondered why I looked so much like Lily when I rose to fame...

He opened his mouth and closed it again, gaping at me in disbelief. "You look like someone I know." He finally spoke. "Sorry, someone I knew."

"Lily?" I asked cautiously. 

Anna's eyes widened at me, giving me a once over, while her husband put a hand over his mouth. 

"Recently, I found out I am the daughter of Lily and Alexander Gray." I started to say. "I was abandoned on The Imperial Pride Pack's territory, the leaders kindly adopted me into their pack and family. I discovered my heightened abilities at a young age, and took advantage of it by using them to become a warrior."

I glanced at Noah's shocked expression. "My name is Elisia Knight, Chief Warrior."

Silence. 

Everyone was watching him, waiting for him to say something.

"I knew you hadn't died, I just knew it." He said, his voice cracking from sorrow. "You and your mother were nowhere to be seen. Everyone had lost hope in finding you once we felt Lily die, you were a new born baby after all."

"I was brought to another territory by a MoonKnight warrior, on the orders of my mother before she was abducted." I explained, remembering what Ms Williams told me. 

"Why weren't you returned?" He asked with a frown. "I know that by the time the warrior reached The Imperial Pride Pack, Lily and Alex had died, leaving you with no scent. However, it shouldn't have been hard for your leaders to connect the dots and realise you came from The MoonKnight Pack."

I shrugged, feeling uneasy. "I don't know, I'll ask them when I can. When you said you knew I hadn't died, why did you think that?"

"The Beta family as well as the Gamma family had been slaughtered in the attack so once Alex died, the Alpha power should've been passed onto me. It was expected of me to possess Alpha abilities, but I felt nothing - no shift in power. That's when it dawned on me, the child of Alex was still alive."

I scrunched my nose him in confusion. "Why would the shift in power go to you?"

Was he related to me?

"Alexander was my brother." 

My breath hitched in my throat as he said that.

"I'm your uncle, Elisia." 

There was a moment of hushed silence as everyone processed that. This guy is my uncle, like he is an actual relative. 

"I don't know if my family has been introduced to you, but we are the Gray family." He goes on. "My name is Noah Gray, my beautiful mate here is Anna and I have two lovely kids - teenage boy called Isaac and a baby girl called Nina. We're your family."

"Oh, sweetie. I didn't know Lily very well, that's why I couldn't see the resemblance quick enough." Anna explained. 

"Many people in this pack didn't know Lily very well, the period of time she was our Luna was very short." He added. "So no one from this pack would be able to see the resemblance between Lily and you, they simply don't remember how she looked like. I recognise your name, you're quite famous aren't you?"

I nodded with a frown. "If you've seen me, surely you would've recognised me. Why didn't you reach out sooner?"

He shook his head tiredly. "I tend to stay away from social media, I've never seen your face until today. I only recognised your name because there was a lot of buzz around you."

Right, I guess that made sense. 

"I can sense the Alpha aura emitting from you." He observed with a nod. "I have to say, I'm so happy to see you. However, I feel like there is a specific reason as to why you've visited us."

Theo spoke up for the first time in a while. "The reason has to do with the attack on the Alpha Manor that happened nineteen years ago."

"More specifically about the claim that Alex murdered everyone." I added. 

Noah shook his head sadly. "Don't tell me you believe that...?" 

"Not at all. In fact, I know he didn't do it." I replied. "It was Maxwell's doing, with the aid of The Rogue Force."

"Maxwell might've been a asshole, but he took us in when The MoonKnight Pack collapsed." Anna breathed, her eyes wide.

I shook my head. "He was the reason the pack collapsed in the first place. Lily and him were lovers at one point, before she left him for her real mate. He became angry and bitter, and started to plan revenge against Lily and Alex. Once he heard she was pregnant and had just given birth, he carried out the plan to attack."

"Oh, my God."

"Lily was lured to the border, she felt intruders and went to investigate. She was ambushed and injected with an unknown substance that tampered with her telepathy and knocked her out. Luckily, she had ordered a warrior she trusted to take me to safety if anything happens."

"A Luna's instinct is always right." Noah murmured.

"Highly trained Rogue Force warriors were able to infiltrate the borders and get into the territory by masking their scents. They murdered everyone in the Alpha Manor and everyone around the area to ensure there were no witnesses."

"Everyone except the Alpha. Alex was found with corpses decorating his house." Noah growled, sadness creeping in his tone. "I knew he didn't do that, no way! I had the forensic team look for any pieces of DNA, footprints, tracks - just something, anything! They couldn't find anything, and just when I was about to do a full investigation, Alex turned himself in."

"There was a hostage letter with conditions written on it." I breathed, once again realising the unfairness of it all. 

Noah rubbed his temples in frustration and anger. "Oh, damn it!"

"The hostage letter was from Maxwell, ordering Alex to turn himself in as the murderer of his own people. That condition was important because once he turned himself in, all investigations of the case was closed - thus making Maxwell in the clear." Theo explained.

"The other condition was that Alex had to keep quiet about the hostage situation, or he'll torture and kill Lily. So he chose to stay quiet, for the sake of his mate's life." I elaborated.

Unshed tears formed in his eyes, as he looked up with a pained expression. "You should've told me, damn it! You should've told me, Alex."

The emotion he was displaying became too much to bear, I found myself tearing up. No one could believe what his brother had to endure, his mate was taken hostage by a psycho, was wrongly accused of murdering his own people and was locked up.

The pain and ridicule he had to suffer, his own pack members felt angry and betrayed because of an act he never did. And to think, he never uttered a word about the hostage situation.

"I have papers, journals and a witness as evidence to back up our story." Theo added, backing me up. "However, it isn't enough to clear Alex's name."

Noah hastily wiped away his tears. "The Hostage letter?" 

We nodded grimly. "That is the only piece of evidence that will be able to change everyone's mind."

Noah shook his head, looking remorseful. "I didn't even know a hostage took place, everyone thought she fled and abandoned the pack when 'Alex derailed and killed everyone.'"

"Unfortunately, your parents were painted as horrible people." Anna spoke up. "No one knows what really happened, even we didn't know until now. If you can clear your parents' name, that'll change history."

"I was hoping maybe you know where Alex's stuff was transported to?" Theo asked hopefully.

"Well, his stuff was going to be burned along with the Alpha Manor." Noah started to say, thoughtfully. 

My blood ran cold when I heard that, it hadn't occurred to me that his stuff might've actually not have made it.

"But something made me go back into that Manor and haul his stuff back to my place." He carried on, making me sigh in relief. "Once we were informed we were going to temporarily merge with The BlackShadowed Pack, I contemplated on whether to bring his stuff here or not."

Oh, no...

"I convinced him to not leave it behind." Anna smiled. "He was attached to Alexander's stuff, so I said, 'why not? We have the space'."

I let out another sigh of relief. 

"His belongings are upstairs in the attic, do you want to start looking through it?" She asked. "Meanwhile, I can make us all dinner." 

I glanced out the window, surprised to see the sun had already set and it was dark outside. She was already out the room, on her way to the kitchen. 

"I'll join you guys." Noah said, standing up. "I haven't had the courage to actually go through his stuff."

He led us upstairs, walking up two floors to get to the attic. He turned the light on, illuminating the dark room. A large wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, making me gasp quietly. 

"Is that..."

"Yes, that's your father's desk."

I walked over to it, noticing a picture frame faced down on it. I picked it up, turned it over and looked at the picture. 

It was a picture of Alex, Lily and...me?

The picture was taken by someone else, in what looked like a hospital. Alex sat by Lily, who was sitting up on the hospital bed holding a new born baby. The both of them wore happy smiles as they posed for the picture. 

"I took that picture." Noah commented behind me.

I couldn't stop staring at my father, I hadn't seen how he looked like. He had dark brown hair and striking green eyes - very similar looking to Noah. 

"You guys really look alike..." I retorted, with a small smile.

"Once I reached his height, people used to do a double take because of how similar we looked." He chuckled at the bitter-sweet memory. "The main difference between us was that I was a lot paler than him."

I placed the picture frame back onto the table, making sure it was standing upright. I took a deep breath in as I looked around, noticing the piles of files on the floor and desk. I even saw a couple of boxes which seemed to have clothing in them.

"Let's do this."

--------------------------------------------------------

Well, well... ><

The Emily situation will be addressed soon, don't worry ;)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, what do you think of the characters? >< 

I had been meaning to introduce family members of Elisia for a while now, this seemed like the best way to go about that. I hope the new characters do not overwhelm you ><

Please remember to VOTE and COMMENT!! <3

P.S. You guys' comments make me crack up so hard, ya'll are actually too funny omgg ><