Callan was useless. He didn’t respond to Aldric, his mind already set on finding the truth. He was adamant the house had been burnt down.
Aldric sighed, glancing at Harry and almost sighing again in frustration.
Harry didn’t say anything else. If he was in his right mind, Aldric would have felt guilty. He didn’t anger much. Even as an Alpha, he’d been known to be wise and not lose his shit. But the situation was kind of apt that he’d start to lose it now.
Kneeling down, Aldric started pushing away rubble and burnt wood and released a long breath at a half-burnt picture. He stared at his wedding photo. Half of it was missing, but it was only the background of the palm trees and beach. The most important focus of the photo was still there.
His thumb run over his mate’s figure. The main part of the photo was still there, looking as perfect as she always had. In a white strapless sundress and a white flower in her blonde hair, she smiled at the camera, cuddling Aldric, who stood there in a suit, not staring at the camera but kissing her head.
Memories started to surface of that day, but the crunching of Harry’s footsteps snapped him out of the fog, trying to pull him under.
"We aren’t going to find out anything from this," Aldric said, standing from the rubble as he held onto the photo tightly.
The hunters took his phone with all the photos he had of his family and the precious photos of him and his wife before the kids as well. Now, he only had this one photo in his hand. That hand shook with the need to spill blood.
With the way his wolf burned for vengeance, Aldric knew he was right. Callan could smell something he could not, and it made him suspicious.
"This wasn’t an accident," Aldric growled.
He knew it wasn’t, and if it wasn’t the hunters, then possibly an old enemy?
"Do you have any other family members that might know something?" Harry suggested, watching him, expressionless still.
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Aldric nodded. "Take me to Cathy’s."
He didn’t know if she would know something, the woman had also been told about this whole other world, but anything, even something that didn’t seem relevant, could be helpful in his investigation. Investigation? This wasn’t some fucking mystery detective show, it was his life, and his family were dead.
Forcing himself away from what felt like the burial of his life, Aldric slid into the car and wordlessly put the address into the sat nav. It was twenty minutes away, and he knew the directions, but whatever energy he had until that moment left. He felt beaten up and old, his body fragile.
Somewhere in the darkness, trying to swallow him whole, Aldric had a dangerous slither of hope that his children were safe. But he needed to trample that down before he clung to it, and it swept him away into an abyss of grief. He’d lost his wife, his mate, his Emma, for that he was certain, but he couldn’t hold onto the idea that his children were alive to then accept their deaths again.
Still, hope was the only thing keeping him from completely falling apart.
"Aldric." Harry’s voice was quiet, but it echoed through his mind, alerting him to snap out of his daze.
He blinked, letting his surroundings settle around him again, and realised he was outside Cathy’s terraced house. It was the end terrace, and she was lucky to have her garage next to her. Aldric scanned the off-white building and the freshly painted red garage where her grey minivan was parked.
Cathy was home.
Aldric undid his seat belt but remained seated, looking at the house with the sound of his heart thudding loudly in his ears. His gaze fell to the photograph in his fingers, and he inhaled deeply, preparing himself to see Emma’s sister.
"Thanks for taking me this far," Aldric began, his voice raspy. "I won’t deter you from returning to Silverthorne any longer."
"Aldric, I’m not leaving you. Unless I’m intruding? I can just get a coffee or something and wait?" Harry suggested, surprisingly being helpful.
Aldric sighed, looking at the house again. "You’re not leaving, are you?"
"Nope." Harry smacked his lips together on the ’p’ and settled further into his seat. "I can come with if-"
Aldric shook his head and climbed out of the car, sighing again. His shoulders fell further down as he pushed the small wooden gate and stepped across the stone slabs leading to the front door. He rang the doorbell and only noted it had a small camera on it a few moments later when the door burst open, and Cathy, all 5ft3 inches of her, glared at him.
With her tiny height, the woman managed to make Aldric feel like he was 0ft tall. A bug had shown up on her doorstep, and she wanted to squish it; she was mortified and filled with anger. So much anger, it made him flinch.
"You have some NERVE coming here!" She shouted. "You left my sister, left your children, and now you come crawling back and what? Because you heard the news?!"
Aldric remained quiet, letting Cathy release her pent-up anger and sorrow onto him. He deserved it. He deserved every insult under the moon. His hands balled up into fists, but he couldn’t help the tears falling from his eyes.
Cathy sneered, finding his tears like adding fuel to the temper inside of her. She continued to call him a lousy father and a worse husband. It continued for another five minutes before Aldric couldn’t take it anymore. He broke down, his knees giving way, and he bowed his head, hands on the ground, begging for forgiveness.
There were no excuses.
"I failed to protect them. I failed, and there is nothing I can do to make it better. My wife is dead, my children are gone, I.." He trailed off, letting his grief erupt and his shoulders shaking with the sobs wracking his chest and throat.
"Look, I don’t mean to get involved here, but I couldn’t help hearing and stepping in," Harry’s voice came from above Aldric. But he was too far gone now to care.
Harry’s hand clamped down on Aldric’s shoulder, squeezing gently and lending him some strength. The lycan was lost in a daze, tears down his face, snotty-nosed, uncaring of his appearance as he slowly looked from Harry to Cathy.
"I know it might sound like an excuse or made-up bullshit, but Aldric was taken and experimented on. We haven’t long escaped. He’s only looking good.. well.. not now, but he cleaned up from how he was looking before. I know it’s a lot to ask, but could we come inside and explain?
He’s just found out his wife and children are dead."
"What? They’re not dead."
Aldric’s sobs instantly stopped, and he looked up at the small woman. His breathing stopped, his heart pinching tightly as he heard something he thought he’d only ever get to hear in his dreams. Cathy met his gaze, her brows furrowed, her eyes were still full of rage, but compassion started to replace them.