***Conlan's POV***

Zara stilled completely. It was like she was afraid to breathe. Her face tilted up higher and higher as Alpha Bryce drew closer. A sort of awed expression washed over her beautiful face as her eyes gleamed and her lips parted to let the little oxygen she dared in to breathe in her quiet small breathes. Bryce's anger that rolled off in torrents didn't seem to dissuade her gawking in the slightest. Movement from the corner of my eye flashed like grim shadows. Both James and the Gamma flanked my sides and stepped forward a tad to establish a protective zone around me but namely Zara.

"What's the meaning of this?" Alpha Bryce spat. He glared from Zara to James and then finally Rolland. His nostrils flared as he took in the young Gamma's scent. "You're from the Veiled Moon Pack." Genuine surprise was raised in his voice.

"Yes, Alpha. Some pack members and I came to accompany our Alpha Luna." Rolland stated in quiet professionalism. He glanced at Zara. Sizing her up to make sure she's unharmed.

Bryce's throat gulped back as he looked suddenly parched. His anticipating eyes searched beyond the Gamma and scanned the strangers that stood behind him. "How - Where is," he paused. Clearly he was becoming overwhelmed and for some reason, whether it be exhaustion or the fact that I have no words for this sort of situation, I couldn't do anything. I just wanted to spare him the hurt, and I didn't want him to be seen when he finds out the truth of what happened to his mate after he left her. 'Why did I think telling him in person would be better than over a phone call?'

"Alpha. Bryce." He slowly drew his eager eyes to look at me. "Can we go to your office? I need to discuss the mission with you. Among other things."

His brows raised as he gazed at me pointedly. Zara slid out of my arms and took a shaky step toward my Alpha. Bryce snarled at her with his wolf raising to the surface. It's clear that he's moved from anger to anticipation and now to irritation.

In the distance, along the tree line there was a royal vehicle barreling to the middle of pack land. The place where witches and rogues are imprisoned for questioning and execution. Hazel's screams were penetrating the tense silence. Frightful death curdling cries for help seemed distant but presently heavy. Then my heart sank further when the white Land Rover changed direction. Bryce must have mindlinked them to stop for Zara too. Small rocks creating a loud vibration in the rolling under the beefed up all terrain tires added to the tense atmosphere. The white SUV stopped suddenly and a moment later a pissed off looking officer walked up to Alpha Bryce and bowed down on bended knee.

"Alpha Bryce." He gritted.

"Is that tone directed at me, Lieutenant?" Bryce asked irritably. "I have an unannounced visiting pack, a witch, and a filthy touched rouge situation to deal with. I'm not sure I have enough patience for all the disrespect I've been given lately from my own people let alone people I command during war."

Pain from his speech directed at me in part increased when I could see Zara flinch as she was visibly taken aback by his words for her. Her hand came up to cover the area of her unsightly mark. Zara's shoulders slump down until she becomes the smallest person in the world. I wanted so badly to comfort her. Again a feeling of resentment formed for the man that I look up to as a role model and father - A man I found to be without reproach.

"Of course not." He stood up. "I'm here to aid The Sacred Moon Pack with the mission of the forced mark Alpha female."

Alpha Bryce seemed to relax a little. "There has been a change of plan. The mission asset is now under imprisonment due the new intel of her being a beast. Rogues are not permitted at The Royal Palace and so I'll take it to our holding facility along with that witch."

"With all due respect Alpha, the King requested that she be brought to the palace." He continued. "We have sufficient dungeons as well, and it works in our favor that she is a rogue, as now it will be less messy."

"Zara!" Hazel exclaimed. A mass of gray hair and battered features could be seen as the witch bent forward against the restraints in the back seat of the royal vehicle.

"Aun-tie." Zara choked out. Big welling tears threatened to spill over her already tear streaked face. "Alpha," she struggled to peep out. "My aunt is not a threat. She can't do magic, and even if -"

Rolland and I each grabbed a wrist to yank Zara back as my Alpha came towards Zara. Bryce had intended to smack her.

"I will protect my Alpha Luna." Rolland calmly stated with his head bowed but his body itching to gain coverage over Zara's on the balls of his feet.

I felt relieved that she was saved from the harsh blow. Unconsciously, I made the mistake to ensure that she was actually unharmed. To my demise I found that she looked dead inside. In that moment I realized that all her hopes that made her eyes shine even though there wasn't a strong light source were now dulled. What remains for her life in her position are all her fears that she candidly shared with me were actually coming true. 'And I helped her walk into her own nightmare.'

"Conlan." My Alpha turned to me. "Please explain. And this time you don't have the luxury of hanging up on me." He glared.

Everyone was now waiting on my response. "As your Beta and friend I beseech you to listen and trust that I have our pack's and your best interests are heart." I folded my right arm over my chest and used my left hand to cup his broad shoulder. "Apart from this mission, I have never given pause for concern before. And I will give my life for all the members here."

Finnbar brushed the confines of our wolf bonds in order to say that my words have affected this great man.

"Alright."

A surge of energy coursed through my veins. I felt compelled to take over and let my normally stuffed Alpha bossiness come unrestrained.

"James, take Zara to the clinic. Yvette is ready for her. Zara, go with him quietly. Theo, get The Veiled Moon Pack members situated in the barracks. They start their training with our pack in the morning at zero five hundred." I gave one last look at Zara who was staring at her aunt silently exchanging looks of loss. "Alpha. Let's go to your office."

We walked side by side up to the front door of our home while everyone else dispersed to follow my commands.

"What about us, Alpha?" The lieutenant asked.

Bryce glanced at me and nodded

"No more harm should come to the witch. Make sure she gets to a clean and comfortable cell at the prison. Give her medical aid and some food and water. Have a female guard get her some clean clothes and a tub of clean water and soap to wash with."

Silence followed as the lieutenant no older than me stared at me in disbelief and anger. His eyes grew wide and crazed. "You'll hear from the Captain about this." He muttered under his breath.

"Now." I command.

He looked at the back of Alpha Bryce's head. Bryce sensed that he was being watched turn slightly over his shoulder and nearly scared the pants off the royal lieutenant. The officer scrambled up to his vehicle before motioning for the rest of the silent officers inside to get the command done.

Inside the pack house I felt my home embrace me. My steps were getting heavier the closer we got to the Alpha's office. No matter how hard I thought of a way to tell him, there weren't any ideas or ways that would save him from pain.

'Finnbar is quiet. He won't respond to me.' Karr confessed.

'We'll be there for him though. That's all we can do.'

Once inside the office I locked the door. Instead of Bryce taking his usual spot behind the desk he sunk down in the old leather couch and folded his hands under his chin to steady himself while he looked at me blankly.

"She's gone isn't she."

"Yes." I respond in kind as I plump down into my normal chair and swivel it to face him.

"How?"

"Bryce."

"Just tell me. I think a part of me knew. It was just a stupid wish that she'd have a happily-ever-after. And selfish of me to think that after being rejected during that turbulent time would result in that way." He closed his heavy eyes. "It was my wish and prayer for her that I never gave up on though."

"I want to tell you many things. But I will tell you she did find happiness before her death." He lifted his heavy lids again to watch me. "She was killed during The Siege."

"Thank you for telling me and finding out this information for me. It's not a part of my life I like discussing, but I don't regret finding my mate. I'll be damned my whole life because of it but I can't regret the choices I made that I thought would benefit my pack or my king. Please tell me about the witch and rogue now. The little she beast seems to have a hold over all who she encounters, especially you." He accuses.

"I would love to know why she does too. One or two theories are jumbled in my mind. Maybe after I tell you everything you'll help me understand." He nods in understanding. "And she's not a beast."

"Hmm." Bryce gets up to the cabinet on the farside of the room and pulls out two unopened bottles of whiskey. After Bryce just sets one down in my lap he pops the sealed top off and takes a long chug of the amber liquid and lazily sprawls in the corner of the worn couch. It's a scene I haven't seen before, but it was one that looked like Bryce was accustomed to.

Moment after moment passed. The room was full of silence and the occasional sound of Bryce taking a long sip of whiskey. He didn't look at me, he looked through me, past my head and into a place that was beyond here in the now. It tortured me to see him like this, there was an ache in my heart for him knowing this was a lot for any man to hear. Finally, his gaze seemed to register that I was there patiently waiting for him to invite me to continue.

"Alpha." I pause. "Bryce." I restarted more sympathetically as I could feel my eyebrows relax into a position of loss and sorrow. "Zara is Ingrid's daughter. Your daughter."

Silence, and then quiet realization.

"No." Pain marred his expression. "No. No." He continued in dismay

His hand covered his face and a sob threatened to escape. Bryce quickly reeled in his emotions, but his wolf did not. Finnbar cried hard, and loudly for the both of them. Karr was there with Finnbar and together they howled to the world.

"That's why she had Ingrid's locket. The one that I gave her. And I almost violently snatched it away from her like a thug." He gave the half empty bottle another series of gulps. "This is all my fault. And this is why you came here first instead of going to the king. You found out she was my daughter. That's why you didn't want to talk over the phone." He takes a smaller sip this time and chokes slightly. "Now you know. You know why I'm so strict with the only true mate rule in my pack."

A deep sigh escaped my whole chest before I popped off the lid to my own bottle and gave it a good swig.

After a few moments I stated, "When I found out. When I found out she was your daughter, no when I found her. I knew then and there that I would fail this mission." The memories of our first encounter shimmered into my thoughts. "She looked so scared. So haunted. Yet defiant, and. And."

More pain entered my heart as I struggled to fully describe the way she looked and affected me. There was an ache there that I swear was reserved only for her, from the first time I said that we weren't mates.

The realization hit me hard. 'I wanted her to be my mate, our mate, so bad. There has been no one else I've ever felt this way about before.'