Dad, What did you just say? Part 1

Cooper's POV

December 13th- Baneridge Gym

"Dad, have you spoken to mom about this Lyra thing?" Cooper asked his dad during their early morning training at the pack gym.

"You know your mom, when she has a plan everyone must abide to make it work." Rhett responded while doing arm curls.

"Why is it so important for Lyra to be here? Why is she so hard on Lyra? She is just following her dream. It's not like she has a major role in the pack." Cooper retorted, laying down to do some chest presses.

"This is a big year. It's the 75th Yule ball. Lyra and your mom butt heads because they are so much alike." said Rhett just wanting to get his workout done.

"Dad it's more than that. You know mom doesn't approve of anything Lyra does. It's almost like she despises her., and she isn't that way with Josie at all. Mom dotes on Josie." responded Cooper as he finished his reps.

"It's complicated. There are more things at play than you know. Just convince your sister to come back for the week and then take her back. Lyra should agree to just a week back, not the whole break and I will smooth things over with your mom." Rhett said putting his equipment up and started stretching. "Let's spar and see if we can't work on some of your moves."

"Hey old man, don't get yourself hurt playing a young man's game," said Cooper.

"Who are you calling old? I am in my prime and you still have a lot to learn before you take over for me." Rhett said heading to the ring.

"Are you ready to be a retired old man?" asked Cooper as he started stretching before heading to the ring. "You know Lyra will be disappointed if she comes home to you all beat up. Are you sure you want to spar?"

"Boy get over here and show your old man your weak moves. Leave Lyra to me. I'll call her before you leave and give her a heads up to smooth things over for you. Then I'll put it down on your momma so everyone is happy." said Rhett while flexing his arms like he is showing off.

"Ew dad, now I've got that horrible image in my head. Put your dukes up and let's get this." Cooper said getting in stans to attack.

"Not a bad fight old man," I boasted walking out of the locker room after showering and changing into my work clothes, black dress pants, an eden green button up with the sleeves rolled up to the middle of my forearm with the top two buttons undone and my black suit vest on top.

"I let you win, gotta give you youngins something to boast about before reality sets in," Rhett chuckled back. "Come on before we are late getting today's work done." Patting me on the back with a joking smile on his face. My father hated dressing up. He always felt it was overkill to show up all fancy. He prefers his sneakers, dark denim pants, and solid tshirts mostly in black.

"You know we are just finalizing the security measures for the ball and the locations for each visiting pack's sleeping arrangements with security." I said, not sure what the hurry was. We only had a few minor details to complete, before the meeting at 9am. We had the betas of Darkmoon, Evermane and the beta, gamma and delta from Silvercrest all attending the meeting we are hosting.

"Exactly, so don't spuddle around, let's just get it done. We gotta get it all done before you head to get your sister." reasoned dad as he opened the front door to the pack house. We both continued into the house without another word heading for the stairs to the east wing.

The pack house is a beautiful 4 story, 30 rooms with 10 full baths and 8 half baths log cabin. The main floor has the living room, kitchen, formal dining, laundry room, the luna's office and 3 guest rooms. In the basement you can find the pack fun floor, there is a game room and a home theater. The second floor has two separate wings. The east wing is the pack offices, and the west wing is the Alpha family's private wing. Finally the third floor has 9 guest bedrooms each with their own full bath.

We head up to the second floor, east wing to our beta office. Walking into the office there is a large oak desk by the window and bookshelves along the right wall. The left wall has a white board, corkboard and a small bar for those long frustrating days of meetings. Dad walks to the couch near the bar to sit down.

"Son, we need to talk about your sister," he begrudgingly announced. Frustration is obvious on his face as he lines forward with his hands rubbing his face.

"Can we prepare for the rogue meeting first and then get to Lyra," I asked looking at last night's border patrol reports. "Looks like the rogues are just circling the forest looking for something. And the Lyra thing can wait another week or two." We haven't had a rogue uprising since I was a young child. The War of the Rogues lasted 3 years, they were well organized, but we never figured out who was organizing all the rogues.

"No, son, this can't wait. Both problems are connected," dad responded, leaning forward resting his elbow on his knees and bringing his hands to rub his temples. Seems like he is getting a headache.

"How is Lyra connected to the rogue problem? Dad, that makes no sense. Lyra hasn't been home in two months. She came back for the fall festival, but only stayed the weekend." I said standing up from my chair, setting the reports down on my desk then leaning on the desk looking towards my father.

Ooo what could Lyra have done?...Is she a super spy? Marcus, my wolf spoke up. He is a goofy light brown wolf with green eyes like mine. He reminds me to have fun and not be so serious.

Knock it off. You know Lyra wouldn't intentionally do anything to harm everybody. You just like gossip. We got bigger problems than Lyra not wanting to attend a ball. I said cutting our link so I could focus.

Looking up at my father, who is now pacing the office. Great, this must be really bad to have him acting like this. As if remembering my presence he looks up at me with worry written all over his face. He must have been arguing with his wolf Erik. Dad looked at me then at the office door. He locked the office door and took a deep breath like he was trying to gain the courage to say what needed to be said.

Walking to the bar, "Look this goes down better with a drink first. I need you to understand no one. I mean NO ONE alive knows what I am about to tell you. Not even your mother. I need you to never speak of this to anyone, especially your mother or Lyra. Do you understand me?" He said handing me a glass of bourbon with less than his cup. He looked at me waiting for my response. Downing his drink in one gulp.

"Okay." I skeptically agree sipping on the bourbon. 7am is a little early for me to be drinking, but a sip or two won't be harmful. Sitting down on the couch waiting to hear what secret my mother doesn't even know. I watch my father set his glass down and resume his pacing back and forth.

"Look, I did not ever think anything would come of it, but the timing and with the escalated rogue sightings around several packs in our area it's only a matter of time before they find her. This is happening sooner than we figured it would have. Honestly we didn't think it would even come down to this." He says is if only talking to himself.

"Dad, sit down. The pacing is making me nauseous trying to keep up with you. Who is we? Now take a deep breath, hold it and count to 10 then let the breath out slowly. Then start at the beginning." I say leaning forward with my hands crossed and resting on my legs. Dad isn't making any sense.

"Fine. You know how Judson wasn't raised in our pack. He came here to take over for his uncle, who didn't have any kids. There are very few people that remember Rachel. And if they do they don't talk about her because it was a rough time. Goddess, Rachel was beautiful and the sweetest person we ever knew. Until she met her mate. Fucking Niklaus." He says getting up from his chair like he is ready to fight.

"Who is Rachel and Niklaus?" I asked, hoping to rein him back in to explain his story. Still not seeing how this pertains to Lyra or mom.

"You were just a pup when the war broke out and too young to remember Rachel. She is…no she was my sister. Niklaus was the young alpha of Crescent Falls Pack from up north. Klaus was a strong and fearsome leader, who got caught up in the War. He is a hybrid. Stronger than most alphas which caused a few packs to be worried which was stupid because Klaus was a softy. The moment he showed up for the Alliance Conference to strategize about the rogues, he was drawn to Rachel. Everyone was drawn to her. She had the same blue eyes that Lyra has. Lyra looks alot like her and him as well. She is a perfect mix of the two." Rhett said getting lost in the memories.

"Why didn't we know Aunt Rachel? Where is she?" I asked hoping to get the whole story.

You are so impatient. Can't you see the man is hurting. He has kept this secret for a long time. His wolf is fighting with him because of the betrayal. Marcus argued. Giving my dad some space I grab him another drink, this time water.

"Here, drink this." I said, handing him the glass of water. He finally snapped out of his thoughts and met my eyes. It almost looked like he was about to cry.

Taking the glass, he takes a deep breath, before continuing. "I am getting sidetracked. It's best to understand that Klaus had alot of enemies and many more people scared of him. While most of us are open minded and not scared of what we don't understand, there are still some that feel like the lycans should have been whipped out a long time ago. With Klaus being a hybrid, he can live longer than normal than the average werewolf. We can live to 150, but they can live twice that. Lycan's don't have fated mates. They get to choose their mate. Which is why we were shocked when Rachel and him both claimed each other as mates. That day created some enemies too. It wasn't long before they were mated and in bliss.

"Word got around fast that the Lycan hybrid had a mate. Rachel refused to sit and look pretty. She was fighting for Crescent Falls and Baneridge. On October 15, 1999 two years and six months after the war began, Rachel disappeared when she was taking dinner to the border patrol. Klaus went on a warpath killing every rogue that could not tell him where his mate was. Little did anyone know, Rachel was about two weeks pregnant. Rachel had struggled to get pregnant, but that baby helped her hold on.

"With the help of our allies, we were able to track the rogues at a base on Bowen Island in the woods around Killarney Lake. We shouldn't have taken Klaus. He smelt Rachel's blood and murdered everyone not in our search party. He killed roughly 300 rogues. I found Rachel. She was beaten, starved. The worst thing you could do to your enemies was done to her and much more.

"Rachel laid curled up with bloody torn blankets. The smell was horrible. You couldn't even tell Rachel had blonde hair. Her eyes weren't the same bright blue but a dull gray void of any emotions. The matted, bloody and dirty hair was falling out and was different shades of red, black and brown. She barely weighed 100 pounds wrapped up in the rags she had for a blanket and dress. Her hands were all bloody and cut up. I looked like she had been trying to dig out. Erik and I could not reach her wolf. She didn't even smell like my sister, no she smelled of death, decay and rotting flesh. The jail cell, if that's what you can call it, looked more like the well that held Buffalo Bill's victim in the Silence of the Lambs. Except she was starved. Klaus was killing all the rogues in a lycan rage. I didn't let anyone see her like that. So I made everyone check the other cells and I went to my baby sister. I would have endured everything just to keep her safe. To take what those animals did to here. Hell they weren't even animals. Animals don't torture their prey. In all 10 other women were found, none in the shape of Rachel, but still tortured and beaten.

"Rachel didn't let me leave until she crawled to the darkest corner of her cell. She retrieved a tiny bundle of clothes. Cradled the bundle to her chest and let me carry her out of the room. She curled into the smallest ball in my arms and cried silent tears. We got on the boat and road back to the Killarney Lake marina to our vehicles. I got her into the SUV. She wouldn't let anyone else in the vehicle, but me. So I drove four hours until we were in Seattle. We stopped at a hotel so she could clean up. A few warriors followed behind us. They went and got her clean clothes, shoes, hygiene and bathing stuff. Rachel still wouldn't let anyone in the room. As soon as we got to the room, she walked with all or her strength to the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

"She wouldn't talk to me. You can't imagine the heartbreaking feeling to see your sister broken and so close to death after being missing for 6 months. I just wanted to hear her voice. I sure as hell was not letting her leave my sight.

"Once I had all her stuff, I tried to get her to open the door so I could help at least wash her hair. It took 2 hours to convince her to come to the door and unlock it. She had barely washed but had made a bundle platelet on the ground under the bathroom sink. I almost didn't see it if she hadn't slid her foot to push a towel further underneath. I showed her everything we had for her. I told her I'd help with anything she needed. Rachel finally accepted my help. She washed her body that was accessible over her tattered dress, if that's what you could call the rags they had her in. Then knocked on the shower wall so I could clean her hair. It took an entire bottle of shampoo to get all the dirt out of her hair. Then it took the entire conditioner bottle to get her hair unmatted. I gathered up all her dirty towels and rags. When I reached to grab her pallet up, Rachel screamed, causing me to jump. I hit my head on the sink and dropped all the clothes." Dad finished.

"I have so many questions, but first are you going to finish the story?" I wondered what made her scream and where Lyra came to play.

Then a knock on the door saved dad from answering me. He jumped up and went to the door. "Yes. Ah yeah come on in and set it on the coffee table." Dad responded, stepping aside and allowing a pack member to bring a tray of our breakfast. "That will be all. We will bring the dishes down." Dad said, holding the door open. Then shutting and locking the door again.