“I knew it!” Hank suddenly called out, breaking the drawn-out silence after King Finley dropped his shocking news. There was an excited gleam to the envoy’s eyes and he rubbed both hands together as a wide grin spread across his face. “I mean, I didn’t know for sure but I heavily suspected that was the case and I was right! King Harrison owes me a pouch of gold!"

Sir Thomas’ face fell and he looked between King Finely and Lola, finally seeing the truth staring right back at him. The obvious similarities between the two were undeniable. They had the same nose structure, the same chin. And especially, the same eyes. They were nearly identical in shade and both of them even had a circle of darker blue on the outer ring of their irises.

“That’s a lie!” Russel screamed, nearly incoherent. Lola couldn’t be related to the Harvenk king. It wasn’t possible. He’d saved her from them. He rescued her from Drake. How could she be one of them? “Shut your damn mouth right now and get the fuck out of my country.”

Things were about to get desperately violent. Russel completely lost it and even his own wolves were looking back and forth between each other with concern etched on their faces. The only one who looked unconcerned and unfazed was Roland, who took the news with a mere shrug of his shoulders and sat back down on his stool.

“I assure you, it is no lie,” King Finley said, still holding his hands out in a gesture of surrender. “I understand your anger, considering all that you’ve been through to protect her, but she truly is my daughter.”

“Then why did you send Drake to kill her?” Russel shouted, pleased with himself that he had undeniable proof to corroborate the fact that Finley was bullshitting all of them.

Lola, however, was the one to speak first.

“You didn’t, did you?” she asked.

Russel’s pleased look disappeared off his face as he whirled on her.

“What are you talking about? Of course he did,” Russel shouted at her.

Lola ignored his anger and yelling. Instead she focused on Finley. The truth of things was written on his face and she had no trouble reading it.

“He acted without your knowledge. Isn’t that true?” she asked.

“He did,” Finley responded, a look of deep sadness and regret touching his eyes. “If I had known what he planned, I would have stopped him, Lola. Because he is my son, I take full responsibility for what he’s done.”

“Why did he come for me?” she asked. Russel tried to say something but she stopped him with a raised hand and a silent look. This was what she’d been seeking ever since Drake first showed up. Ever since he took everything from her.

Answers.

“You are a threat to his position,” Finley answered after a moment’s hesitation. “He found out about you not long before the attack on Gloucester. As the sole heir to our kingdom, he would have inherited everything. You threatened that because you could contest his claim. You could fight him for the throne.”

“So that makes me what? Some kind of princess? To a throne I never knew might be mine? If he’d left me alone, I never would have known the truth,” she cried. “He killed them for nothing.”

She walked up to Finley and slapped him across the face, her eyes shedding angry, bitter tears. Finley accepted the slap and did nothing to retaliate.

“You were right, it is your fault. You should have done more. You should have done something to stop him. I can’t imagine you, being the king, had no idea just how psychotic your son is.” She wanted to slap him again, slap him over and over until his face practically glowed red, but she couldn’t do it. She didn’t have the strength anymore.

“I’ve done everything I could to guide your half-brother away from the violence and death he is enthralled with but he is, I fear, a lost cause. Every day, he only grows worse. It won’t be long before he issues the Blood Challenge and tries to wrest control of Harvenk from me.” Finley explained, still looking so sad. “I am deeply sorry that you got caught up in his delusions. And, of course, for those you cared about that were killed in the process.”

Lola couldn’t think, could barely even breathe. The news of her actual heritage was a lot to take in and the fact that Drake was her half-brother only made things worse. She had wanted to kill him, desperately so, but now, could she bring herself to do that when she knew the truth? That they were sister and brother? Her parents, the ones in Gloucester and who, she now realized were not her birth parents, had never had any other children except for her. Growing up, she’d been fine being an only child but had often fantasized about having a sibling.

Now she did.

And she hated his guts.

“Who was my mother?” Lola asked. She needed a new subject, one that would take her mind away from Drake. That road was one paved with anger and despair. She’d been walking it since the death of her old life and now she needed a break. If her parents hadn’t really been her parents, then she wanted to know them now. Both of them. Not just her father. “Tell me about her.”

“Why don’t we move this to a more comfortable place?” Hank asked. “Sir Thomas, has my tent been prepared?”

“It has. Everything you requested,” Sir Thomas answered.

“Great. Then it’s settled. Let’s take a ten minute break and then everyone invited will meet again in my tent,” Hank said with an enthusiastic clap of his hands.

Then, without another word, the envoy and knight got up and left the fire. The only ones remaining were Lola, the Oclan werewolves, including Russel, and King Finley.

“Do you want me to discuss your mother privately or in front of everyone?” the Harvenk king asked, looking at Lola. It was clear to her that he wanted to be considerate of her feelings.

“She’s not going anywhere with you. I don’t care if she’s your daughter. You can’t be trusted,” Russel snapped.

A few of the other wolves started changing again, their eyes glowing amber, in support of their king. Finley saw this and let out a loud, reverberating roar that vibrated through their entire bodies. His eyes flashed bright blue and his fangs glistened.

“Stand down!” Finley yelled.

The reaction in the werewolves present was immediate. They cowered under the glare of the alpha. Even Lola felt the force of the command echoing through her, making her want to do exactly what was said. The only one not affected by this was Russel, who was an alpha himself.

“My wolves are not for you to order around,” Russel growled.

“Then teach them better,” Finley shot back. “You come for an alpha, you better be prepared to die for your choice.”

Russel wanted to press the matter further but knew he couldn’t afford to, not with Hank and the humans seemingly backing the Harvenk king. He wondered why they were going out of their way to reunite Lola with the man, but there didn’t appear to be an answer to that. It only added to the mysteries surrounding her. The layers were becoming so thick, he was getting hopelessly lost in all the craziness surrounding this unassuming girl he first found hiding beneath a tree.

“How about you, I, and Russel talk by ourselves.” Lola turned to Russel. “I know you don’t like this and like what you found out even less but please, I have to find out the truth of everything. And I’m so close.” She grabbed his hands and looked him in the eyes. “I wouldn't ask this of you if it weren’t important to me.”

He wanted to stay angry but the earnest pleading in her eyes made him fold, quickly too. He clenched his jaw several times and finally relented.

“Okay. Let’s go.” He looked at King Finley, who was watching the interaction between the two with great intensity. “You do anything, anything at all, that raises any kind of warning and I take you down.”

“Threats are unnecessary but I understand,” Finley remarked. Then he stepped to one side and held out a hand in a follow-me gesture.

They didn’t go far. Maybe ten or twelve feet away. Most of what was going to be said could probably be picked up by the other werewolves and their super-strong senses of hearing but Finley wasn’t too worried about that. The information he had wasn’t all that sensitive in nature and mostly, he just wanted Lola not to have to be in front of others when he told her the whole story about her mother.

When they were far enough away, Lola stopped.

“Go ahead,” she ordered. “Tell me about her.”

Finley smiled sadly, his eyes getting lost in past memories for a moment before he focused again.

“She was incredible. I’ll start with that. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about her past. She didn’t share and I didn’t care to dive deep into who she’d been before we met. All I knew was that I loved her.” Finley crossed his arms over his chest as he stood there and Lola could see an old pain fill his eyes as he remembered the past. “It wasn’t much different, I suppose, than yourself and you, Russel.”

“What was her name?” Lola asked.

“It was Loran,” Finley answered. “She never gave me her surname.”

“What happened to her?”

The monarch hesitated at that question. Whatever happened, it didn’t appear to be good. Lola felt her heart sink and hope die inside her. She thought maybe there was a small chance that her birth mother was still alive but the look on Finley’s face confirmed her fears.

“She died just an hour or so after giving birth to you. I tried to save her. I did everything I could. You have to believe me,” Finley said, a sense of desperation suddenly enveloping him. “But our doctors couldn’t do anything. It was too late.”

He wiped a few tears from his eyes and found Russel staring at him.

“Watching your mother die was the worst thing I’ve ever faced. Losing you was the second,” Finley told her.

“Were you the one that sent me to live in Gloucester?” Lola asked, wiping away her own tears.

“Even back then, Drake was vicious, prone to fits of blind rage, and violence. I knew if he found out about you, he would kill you. Having you stay in my castle was too dangerous. It would only be a matter of time before Drake tried something. I’d already lost your mother. I didn’t want to lose you too so I had you secreted away in the middle of the night by your adoptive parents. They were humans that I’d trusted. Friends even. They agreed to take you into Alcroft and as far from Harvenk as possible. It should have kept you safe.”

“But Drake found out somehow,” Russel snapped.

“He found letters I kept. From your mother,” Finley explained. “I…” He hesitated, the sadness creeping into his eyes again. “I couldn't bring myself to destroy them.”

“What…” Lola’s voice caught in her throat at the thought of this woman she’d never met. “What was she like?”