Chapter 168

Helen’s POV

“So, how did your first day of research go?” Justin asked me.

I put my hand over my mouth to finish chewing and swallowed before answering. “We found a little bit more on the Huntsman. It will help us some. But the biggest dead end that we found is his lineage.”

“What do you mean, his lineage?” Justin asked me, his brows coming together on a creased forehead.

“She means that we discovered the Huntsman isn’t fully human,” Russo told him.

“That’s right,” Julianne added. “But in all of the records that he made of himself, the only mentioned of his father was to call him a beast and say that he would never be mentioned because the Huntsman wouldn’t do anything to mark any sort of remembrance for the man.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy,” Justin said. “Did you find out anything else good?”

“No,” I replied. “Like I said, mostly been out we were trying to figure out who his human mother was. And we tried to trace her in the human records, but the best we could find was that she had had him before getting married. There’s a good possibility that he was treated poorly the way that you and I were, Justin,” I said.

“But unlike us, he didn’t try to better himself. It seems like that mistreatment started him on some sort of spiral of revenge.”

Russo cleared his throat and added, “But without knowing what his father really was, we have no idea of why he has such a hatred for all magical creatures. It’s clear he’s trying to wipe all of us out. And he’s not going to stop with the lycans, or the pixies, or the fae. It looks to be a complete extermination of everyone one by one. Which means the werewolves, and eventually, the vampires aren’t safe either.”

“Right,” I agreed. “If we stop him, we’re doing a favor not just for ourselves but for every remaining type of magical creature out there.”

Justin nodded his head slowly in agreement.

“That’s not all we found today,” Russo said, setting his fork down with a bit of a clatter on the edge of his plate. “We discovered a lot about Helen’s past as well.”

Justin looked at me, confused. “I thought your past was accounted for?”

“Well, not my past, my heritage. My ancestry.”

“I wasn’t there for this part,” Julianne said. “What did you guys discover? Now I’m sorry I went home early.”

“Yes, tell us,” Justin agreed.

Russo frowned. “Justin, are you sure you want us to discuss this at dinner without showing our information to you privately first?”

“Why?” Justin asked. “Is it bad?”

“It certainly doesn’t make your family look very good.”

Justin snorted. “There’s not much my family has done that makes their actions look good. What’s one more sin?” he said.

Russo delved into the explanation of the multicoated pack and the special attributes that we gained. The whole time Justin sat there, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I thought you might have a hard time with that information,” Russo said. He took some papers out of his pocket and handed them to Justin. “There, you can see the website. You can go check out all the information for yourself if you want. It’s based on a study done at a notable werewolf university and then posted on the human internet by a witch who is compiling a history of supernatural beings. You’ll find all the information is sound, as long as you do the research.”

Russo grinned at him. “Or, if you trust me and you trust the time stamp and the web address on the papers that I’m handing to you, then you can just go ahead and just read the article for yourself.”

Julianne gaped at me. “So you’re telling me that being a tiger lily isn’t actually a mark of shame?”

“It’s a mark of being special,” I noted. “It means that any wolf with a multicolored coat has the blood of my ancestral pack in them. But Russo said that makes sense from a genetic standpoint. If two solid-colored mates have pups, then naturally, their pups should come out some version of a solid color that someone in their history has had or some blend of the parents. Like the daughter of a white and black wolf being gray or the son of a brown and gray wolf being tan.”

“Right,” Russo agreed. “But it takes having the multicolored gene in order to produce an offspring with multicolored fur. Meaning that every one of the bi-coat and tri-coat wolves out there is in some way a descendant of that pack.”

Justin scratched his head in confusion. “I thought your father said that your mother was a weak whore of a she-wolf. If she was getting strength from having sex with the various partners she set out to find, then why would he think she was so weak?”

I bit my lip, the truth tasting sour in my mouth. “Because he probably lied about that. Or he just didn’t believe what he saw.” I shot him a sideways glare. “I think you can understand biases getting in the way of seeing the truth.”

Justin gave a little growl, and I kicked him under the table, trying to shush him because we had company.

“Anyway,” I continued, “there’s a good chance that either my father completely overlooked any talents that she really did have or he was so full of hatred because she had a multicolored coat, and by then, the smear campaign that your grandfather started had fully taken hold, that he just assumed that she couldn’t possibly have any powers and never even looked for them. And if she was predisposed to taking multiple mates, then him kicking her out and sending her packing after birthing me probably didn’t bother her in the way my father thought it should. She was probably perfectly happy wandering off to find another genetic donor for her next pup.”

Justin nodded, the irritation slowly fading off his face. “You’re probably right. Your father and mine, I don’t know that either one of them ever said a true word in their lives. I suppose that both of us should probably toss out everything they ever told us and just start learning everything new.”

“That might not be such a bad idea,” I said.

By this time, we had pretty much finished the meal, and everyone helped me clear and wash the plates, which made my insides all warm and squiggly with happiness. I was so used to everyone walking off and leaving me to pick up everything from a meal that not only was it a treat to sit at the table and eat with everyone like an equal, but having everyone pick up just tickled me.

A half-hour later, when the kitchen and dining room were spotless, the popcorn was in big bowls, and all of the leftovers had been put in the fridge, Russo pulled up the streaming service.

“All right, now we have to pick the first of the romcoms that we’re going to watch.” Russo looked around at everybody gathered. “You guys are in for an all-night marathon, yes?”

“Yes,” everybody answered.

He grinned. “Julianne and Peter get the loveseat. Randy and I get the couch. And Helen and Justin get the floor cushions.” He wagged his finger at Julianne and her mate and then at Justin and me. “No hanky panky where I have to watch.”

Justin chuckled. “I should do something really shocking just to make you witness it.”

Russo put his hands on his hips. “At this point, there is nothing you could do to your mate that would shock me. Now, sit on the floor cushions like good little estranged lovers and watch some romantic comedies and learn how to date your wife.”