SHADOWS OF DESTINY - Season 3 Episode 45

~Leo~

I did not know how to feel about what Casper had just told me. I was in shock, and the room was silent.

Even David, who always had a joke, noticed a problem and held his tongue.

“Is anything the matter, Leo?” Sylvester asked me, and I knew it would be rude not to reply.

“I haven’t seen my parents in almost seven years. They left the moment they handed the pack over to

me. They weren’t even around for my wedding,” I said, and my voice cracked because of the emotions

that I was feeling.

“I thought they were dead until they called me a few days ago, telling me not to trust anyone and that

they are on their way. Now they are here,” I said, and David whistled.

“You are one lucky man,” He said, and I could understand him because he never knew his mother, nor

did he spend time with his father.

“Yeah, It would have been if they weren’t mixed up in this shit,” I said, and Sylvester was surprised.

“Andrew said they were a part of the cult and are recently on the run,” I confessed.

“Fuck Leo, hope they didn’t come with trouble. Those things are scary,” Dominic said, and I stood up

and shook my head.

“I guess I should go and see them. I hope they can lead us in the right direction,” I said, looking at

Sylvester.

‘Please do not let Andrew and Clay know my parents are here. I must know what is happening and if I

can trust Andrew.” I said, and he nodded.

He had concern in his eyes. I could see he understood my plight, and I was grateful none of them

pushed too hard for information.

“What if they are here to spy for the cult,” Vino asked, and I could understand why he would ask a

fucked up question like that. His mother was a traitor, after all.

I thought of many ways to answer him but decided not to. His mother was dead; there was no point

rubbing it in.

“I doubt they would harm their son, Vino. Not everyone is messed up like Jennifer,” Dominic said, and

we were all silent.

I wanted to laugh because Dominic took the words out of my mouth, but the situation was too sensitive.

I had indeed read some of the dairies the woman kept. Marcel and Theo often used them to crack

jokes, and I knew what Dominic said wasn’t an insult. The woman was genuinely sick. I honestly

wondered how Maurice and her husband coped with her.

“Go ahead. We will return to the pack house, and just like we agreed to do with Devin, we will brief you on our plans when you join us. I hope your parents have something good to tell us.” Sylvester said, and

I nodded.

I left the office and headed for my bungalow.

My heart was in my mouth while I walked.

A lot had changed over the years. I had married and gotten divorced. I had loved and lost. I had gained

power, land and wealth. I had increased what they passed to me and forged new alliances. I had new

morals and values. I had new friends, and I had a new family. A lot had changed in my life, and I knew

a lot had changed in theirs too.

I was angry that they had kept me in the dark all these years. I hoped what Andrew had told me was

not true, and if it were, they would have a rational explanation.

Above all, I hoped I could trust them and that they were not here to persuade me to act against

Sylvester because I would choose my friends over them. They were my new family now; they were my

support and backbone. I won’t team up with anyone against them.

I got to my house and opened the door.

There they were, sitting on the three-sitter couch in my living room.

My mother looked at the door with swollen eyes and stood up.

My father did the same. They looked sorry and ashamed. They looked sad. They looked afraid.

“Leo,” my mother said; she had aged a little since I last saw her.

She had grey hair in the front of her head now, thick and long, but her hair still had the healthy Volume

it had.

Her blue eyes were faded, and I knew age was the factor.

My father still looked like he did. But the lines on his face told of his age. His hair was thick and dark,

his brown eyes were brilliant, and he looked in shape. They both still looked in good condition. I believe

the years had favoured them until recently.

My mother left my father’s side and came to hug me.

She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head against my chest. She began to sob, and I

slowly wrapped my arms around her to console her.

I rubbed her back gently while she held on tightly. I looked at my father, and his eyes were misty. Words

could not be spoken. He had nothing to say.

My mother finally broke the hug, and My father approached me.

He looked at me with respect and nodded with approval.

“I am proud of you, son,” he said, not wanting to waste the moment. I pulled him in for a hug.

“You should have stayed in touch,” I said, and he hugged me tightly.

“I know, son; I am sorry. We both are,” he said, and he broke the hug.

I fought my tears while I returned to sit on one of the couches in the living area.

My parents sat beside each other, and my mother looked at the house.

“You and the Riverstorm girl had never been flashy people,” My mother said with a smile. Then she

looked at me as if she remembered something.

“Leo, is she the same Tamia that married the Dark Alpha? We heard a lot of rumours about that

bastard stealing your luna?” She asked me, and I sighed.

It was easy to judge people when you were not in their shoes and not there for most of it.

“Yes, but it didn’t happen that way. No one stole Tamia from me,” I said, and there was a rage in my

mother’s eyes.

“I heard of it but did not want to believe it was the same person.” She said, and I wondered where they

were staying. Tamia had been in the news for over a year now.

“You should have seen her on television,” I said, and my father bowed his head.

“We have been in a cell for two years. It was our friends that helped us escape recently. That was how

we were able to come home.” My father said, and I was in shock.

“What happened?” I asked them, and my father bowed his head. Whatever he had to say might be

shameful. I did not speak a word, but joining a psycho cult was disgraceful. I would leave them to

confess and pretend not to know anything.

“Son, it is a very long and complicated story, and I do not know what you think after I share it with you,”

He said and sighed.

“Do you want tea?” I asked them, knowing that was their favourite refreshment.

“Water would do for now, and I can get it myself,” My mother said and stood. She did not want me to

interrupt the discussion with my father.

“Son,” my father said, and I could see the difficulty in his eyes.

“We kept you in the dark because we hoped you would have a great life. We did not want you

burdened like we were, like my father and his father. I wanted to keep you innocent. I wanted you to

raise your family innocently. I did not want you to be part of an agenda or a crime.

That was why we did not kick against your relationship with the Riverstorm Delta girl. Typically you

should have mated with an Alpha like all of us, but I wanted to cut that chain.” He said and sighed. I

was silent because interrupting him with questions won t help.

My mother returned with three bottles of water and handed one each to us.

“Tell him, Richard. He can handle it, darling,” my mother said, understanding that my father was beating

about the bush.

My father sighed and looked at me.

“Do you know of the two ruling houses?” he asked, and I did not answer; I just stared at him. I did not

want to say anything that would make him digress. So I remained silent.

“Okay, the original family were the Stepanovs, then the Volkovs came from the Stepanovs,” he said. I

nodded, indicating I knew that already.

“Very good,” he said and sighed.

“When the ruling family was overthrown, and a council was placed in their stead in the name of

democracy, both bloodlines decided they would find ways to strengthen their race to take back what

was rightfully theirs. Volkovs isolated the Alpha genes while Stepanovs took to Alchemy.” He said and

sighed.

“Both families gained, but the Stepanovs lost their Alpha genes because their method was extreme. It

had to do with mutation.

About three hundred years ago, there was a failed experiment in the East.

A Stepanov, a first cousin to the ruling line, came to the East to mate with an Alpha and ended up

birthing a useless beta breed.

He left her and returned to the North.

This experiment made Stepanov believe the Alpha genes were gone forever.

But Sophia Stepanov, a distant relative to the ruling Stepanov line, did not think so, so she decided to

break their rule.

She had an affair with the lead Alpha of the Volkov bloodline, Patrick Volkov, the grandfather of

Gregory Volkov. Patrick knew she was a Stepanov, but the dairy accounts said he loved her so much

that they had a child together.

But because he was married then, he could not take her as his wife, so he sent her with her child to the

East and bought her land.

He also sent her with servants and people to take care of her and her child. He would often visit them

secretly. They never thought their son would be an alpha because she was a Stepanov.

Their genetic mutation always destroys the Alpha genes.

When their son got his wolf, he surprised them.

Whatever the mutation took away, the Alpha gene had been corrected by the Volkov concentrated

Alpha gene. They had a son, and he was a strong Alpha. He also had Stepanov abilities, but his ability

wasn’t like the full Stepanovs; his ability made it possible for him to tolerate silver better than other

werewolves.

Silver couldn’t keep him down for long. Seeing this, Patrick decided to hide him because he knew if the

Stepanovs found Sophia and his son, they would take him and try to run experiments because that was

what they did.

He left them in the East but made sure they would never lack for anything.” He said and looked at me.

“That boy’s name was Rudolph Albert, our ancestor. It was Patrick Volkov that bought the land that we

now call Mountain. He bought it because Sophia loved the peaks in the North, and he did not want her

to miss home much,” He said, and I remained frozen and shocked. I gulped the water a few times and

blinked.

It would have been easier to handle if I was dreaming, but I knew I had heard my father right. We were

Volkov and Stepanov, descendants.