21

I tried calling my dad back. His phone was switched off. I tried again and again not wanting to believe something could have happened to them. I knew these two wanted an explanation of the message I received, so I started with it.

"You have seen the Godfather right?" I still hadn't come across a person who hadn't seen that movie. I waited for their answer before continuing. Both of them nodded.

"Then you must remember that famous dialogue 'I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.'" They nodded again.

"As a kid my parents and I have watched that movie several times to the point where we could narrate the dialogues by heart."

"Okay." Adrian added and patiently waited for me to continue. They must be wondering where I was going with this but did not cut in.

"As a kid I used to play cop versus criminal game with my neighbor's kids. I always used to get caught when I was a criminal. I didn't have a criminal bone in my body and couldn't hide myself or crack the fake crime scene with fake breadcrumbs. Losing made me cranky and sad. My dad observed that and in his own way would warn me that the cop was nearby. My friends used to cry foul when that happened. So dad and I came up with an innocent word phrase - 'I'm gonna make you an ice-cream you can't refuse' - which wouldn't be questionable. He used to tell that out loudly to warn me of danger. He also helped me pick good hiding spots and I got better at that game. Eventually, he stopped with the warnings." I took a deep breath and continued. Both of them had their complete attention on me.

"So, for him to send that now after all these years means something. He is warning me of danger. And, I strongly believe that they are in danger as well." I took another deep breath and finished. They accepted my explanation without any questions. They didn't doubt my worries.

Adrian, through the mind-link, ordered for the pack to stay alert and report any information or sighting of my parents. He ordered Paul to track my father's phone. I then texted my father's number to Paul. They both went inside the house and I followed. They started scanning the house inch by inch. Upon entering my father's den they stopped. My father's den has never been a clean place but today it looked messier than usual. I told them about the safe and I cracked it open in no time. Immediately we divided the files in the safe and started reading.

Two hours had passed and there was no trace of them. The pack members had nothing substantial to report. Paul could still not pinpoint the location of my dad's phone.

"Your parents definitely knew about werewolves. And Alex, your green potion is not the only one which he had." Ronan was reading a file and was talking without lifting his head.

"How can you be so sure?" Adrian asked. He was pacing around the room with a document in his hand. He was also reading and talking without lifting his head.

"He was doing some kind of research on werewolves. Look at this, 'to give to rww when out of control'. After reading this whole paper I can confidently conclude that rww means rogue werewolf. There is a detailed chemical composition to make this potion. Looks like he has been working on this for many years. There is also explanation about what happens after this potion is administered. This paper is thorough. I wonder who he was working for. What happened?" Ronan suddenly stopped his talk about the paper and was asking Adrian. Adrian had stopped pacing and was looking at the floor.

"Hear this." He tapped with his foot on the place where he was standing. Next he tapped on the spot a little to the right. The sound was different. I went to the garage and got the toolbox. We began working on opening the floor where the sound was hollow. The tile gave way and inside there was a chest which was locked. We didn't bother to crack the lock open. Instead we broke the chest with other tools. There were more files inside. We kept aside the files which we were previously reading and took the ones in this chest.

Ronan discreetly tried giving a file to Adrian but it couldn't escape my notice. My senses were heightened now.

"What is it?", I asked them. They hesitated. Something in my expression must have conveyed them not to deviate.

"There is a birth certificate here", Adrian told. I extended my hand and he gave it to me. The birth certificate was of a girl named Alessandra Bennett, daughter of Alexander Bennett and Illiana Bennett.

"Do you think this is yours?", Ronan cautiously asked.

"No, I don't think so. Look the birth date is different than mine." I replied without thinking. Bennett- the name was ringing in my head. I was trying to think if I had heard it before. Though I replied in negative I knew that it had to be mine. I finally knew my birth parents' last names. There was silence for sometime. I was chanting Bennett again and again when the other two broke it.

"I have heard that name before", Adrian told to which Ronan added me too.

"Let's go back to the pack house. Dad must know something about the Bennetts", Ronan suggested and we regrouped at the pack house along with other members of the pack.

There was still no trace of my parents but Paul was confident about finding the location of the phone in a few more hours. Adrian and Ronan were filling others about our findings. They had finished telling about my father's research. Mr.Black was listening to everything without interrupting.

"We found a birth certificate which we are sure is Alex's. The name listed in there is of a Alessandra Bennett." Adrian told to which Mr.Black looked up at me. He recognized the name.

"You know", I told. It was not a question. The look on Mr.Black's face clearly told that he knew something.

"I have heard of the Bennetts. Alexander Bennett was the last known alpha of the Mystic Shadow pack." Mr.Black was thinking intently and was about to continue when Ronan asked the question which was on top of my mind.

"What happened to the Mystic Shadow pack and their alpha?"

"The widespread story is that there was a gathering in their pack house when a fire broke out. Most of the pack members along with their alpha and the complete Bennett family were wiped out in that tragic accident", Mr.Black told.

"But?", Adrian added.

"But, that story has a lot of inconsistencies. I have met their alpha and have visited their pack once before. Their security was top notch. That a fire could kill so many people at once somehow doesn't sound to be a satisfactory explanation to the whole incident. Also, there were other rumors."

"What rumors?" I asked though I knew he was about to explain that very same thing.

"Before the accident happened, there was a rumor circulating that their beta was a power hungry mongrel who wanted to be an alpha one day and would do anything to achieve it. But, when I went to visit, I met their beta. He was very dedicated and loyal to their alpha though I felt all that dedication was for show. Maybe, because of the rumor I had heard, I was prejudiced and formed his character in my head even before meeting him. Anyway, he is reported to have died in the fire accident."

"What happened to the survivors?", I asked wanting to know everything about my birth parents. How did I come to live if the others died? And, where did my human parents fill in this werewolf picture?

"They joined other packs", Mr.Black replied and he didn't have anything else to add. I looked at Adrian. Through our mind-link I started speaking to him.

'This leads us no where. We still don't know where my parents are.'

'Also, we don't know the motive for your kidnapping', he added.

"Okay, you two lovebirds can't leave us in the dark and have conversations in your head." I was sure Ronan told that to lighten the mood.

"You are right. What we need is a brainstorming session. We are missing something. Let us all state all the facts and theories which we have. Probably that will fill in the gaps of the puzzle as much as possible." Adrian told in a serious tone. Everyone looked at me. It totally made sense to start with me. I took a deep breath and began talking. I explained the robber incident and how we moved a few days after that occurred. I told them about the green potion and all those cryptic conversations of my parents which made me suspect that I was adopted. I also narrated the honor killing story which my parents told when I confronted them about me being adopted.

I took a breath and looked at Adrian. He gave a smile and nodded his head encouraging me to go on. Then, I went on to tell about how I met the wolf Adrian and the man Adrian. There were a few chuckles when I was narrating this part. I glared at everyone and continued. I told about how I suspected Adrian to be behind the crimes involving Alexa and Alyxandrina. When I told about my realistic dream on the day Alexa went missing Mr.Black interrupted.

"You were unconscious when I found you. I took you back home without anyone being the wiser. I didn't want to complicate things by you being there." I didn't know how to respond so I just thanked him. I went on to tell about Caleb and the perfume which apparently, according to Caleb, did not work on me. I suddenly remembered something.

"Wait, I vaguely remember hearing my parents telling that they had explained the situation to Mr.Black. What exactly did they tell you?" I asked him with accusation in my eyes. Mr.Black didn't look the least bit guilty.

"They told that you are a werewolf and they had adopted you. Since, you were raised by humans I assumed that you didn't have knowledge about shifting. I had no clue that you were being given a green potion to keep your werewolf side in check. They mentioned a deranged,love stricken werewolf who had lost his mate and thought you to be his new mate. So, again I was lead to conclude that you hid your werewolf side to stay out of that stalker's radar. I never knew that you had no idea about werewolves." Mr.Black finished his explanation and took a sip of water from a nearby bottle. There was silence again.

After a few minutes Adrian started talking. He told about the theory where Alexa and Alyxandrina were wrongly targeted and that maybe I was always the target, though we still didn't know the motive.

"I have another thing to add." Adrian raised a brow to my statement. I guiltily looked at him for not telling him this before.

"I came across a file in my father's things. It was about a place called Deathfalls." At the mention of Deathfalls there were collective gasps. I ignored and continued.

"There were two phone numbers and against each of them was written E and C. When I was kidnapped I sent our live location from one of the phones which I found in the bus. The number from which I sent happens to be the same one which was in my father's paper about Deathfalls. So, I think Caleb is from there." I looked around to see what they made out of this information.

"What is the possible connection between Alex and Deathfalls?" Adrian posed this question to his father to which he seemed to have no answer.

"What is in Deathfalls?" I asked. Nobody was answering. Just when I was wondering if I had to ask the question again, more forcefully this time, Eric replied.

"Rogues from different werewolf packs have gone ahead and found a place of their own in Deathfalls. Those rogues are nothing but a bunch of barbarians who are discarded and exiled from their respective packs for the various crimes committed by them."

"How did they come together?" I asked as it was no easy feat to bring together outlaws from all over.

"It is said to be achieved by their leader. He took the initiative upon himself to bring them together. Nobody knows his name and no one has seen him. He is a faceless, nameless, ruthless monster. What he could possibly want from you is a mystery unsolved." Eric explanation gave no new answers. I should probably be scared that a nameless monster was after me. But, at this point I wanted to get answers and be done with it. After each person's explanation followed a bout of silence till somebody broke it. This time it was me who did it.

"Did you trace what could be Caleb's number?" I asked in general.

"It was a dead end. That phone number has no digital trace." Paul answered. I gave him the other number and he removed his phone from his pocket and immediately began to trace it. Five minuted into it he declared that this was a dead end too. Silence followed again. Everyone seemed to be pondering about something in their heads. I was thinking about the fire accident which happened in Mystic Shadow pack. Something about the story was nagging me. Out of the blue I wanted to know their beta's name.

"What was the name of the beta of Mystic Shadow pack?" I was not sure if I wanted to know the name. Mr.Black looked up at me. He must be wondering why I wanted to know the name all of a sudden.

"Ephraim Bennett", Mr.Black answered.

"Ephraim Bennett!", I repeated and looked around with wide eyes.