Judy’s POV I thought I was prepared for what Erik had to tell me, but I wasn’t. I sat in the front seat because I wasn’t there as a future Luna or as Gavin’s mate… I was there as Erik’s friend, and friends don’t sit in the backseat while their other friends drive. Plus, it was clear Erik needed to talk, and it was hard to do that if I couldn’t actually look at his face. He was quiet for most of the drive; his knuckles turning white as he clutched the steering wheel. I was already emotional from the day; I was at my wits' end and decided I wasn’t going to wait for him to tell me the story. I was going to get it out of him one way or another. “Are you going to tell me what the hell that was in there? Or do I need to bring it up to Gavin and have him get it out of you?” His jaw clenched. “This has nothing to do with him…” “He’s Irene’s father,” I said sharply, my eyes narrowed as I stared at the side of his face. “You upset her, and I want to know why I shouldn’t go to him right now.” “Because I’m your friend and you wouldn’t do that.” “I’m his mate and I shouldn’t keep things from him that concern his family,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Maybe you should convince me otherwise.” He pressed his lips together. “He would try to keep her away from me if he knew the truth…” he murmured, and for a moment, I could hear the vulnerability in his voice. It broke my heart to hear it, and I wanted to make it better. Maybe that was the mother in me. “From the way she looked at you, I would say maybe keeping her away isn’t a bad thing…” He sucked in a sharp breath. “He can’t do that…” he said, taking a deep breath. “She’s my mate and I love her…” My heart stopped at his words; I knew that’s what I had heard earlier, and I had suspected as much, but I just didn’t understand how something like this was possible. “I’m sorry, did you just say she’s your mate?” He let out a breath, relenting to my questioning. “Yes,” he murmured. “She’s my mate. I’m not sure what to do… she won’t even give me the time of day. How is it fair that I got fucked out of my mate because of these dumb fucks… I shouldn’t have waited like I did. I should have claimed what was mine the second she turned 18.” We pulled into the packhouse parking lot, and he parked the car. He was about to turn off the engine and get out of the car, but I put my hand on his arm, stopping him from doing just that. “Wait a minute. I’m not understanding. What are you talking about, Erik?” “Do we have to do this right now?” “Yes,” I said simply, folding my arms across my chest. “We have to do this right this second. I need you to tell me what the hell is going on because I feel like I’m about to lose my mind.” He sighed, running his fingers through his hair, and then he leaned back in his seat. “Fine… but I tell you… It has to stay in this car,” he said, glancing over at me. His eyes were pleading, and I felt my heart ripping open for him. “Of course,” I said softly. “You can trust me… You know you can.” He stared at me for a moment longer, and then he nodded. “Okay…” he breathed. “Well, Irene was a late bloomer. I knew when I was a teen that she was special to me. When I was training to be a gamma throughout my teenage years and studying to get into the best college, I was kind of in love with her. I mean, she was 4 years younger than me… but she always brightened my day whenever I wa around her. Protecting her was one of my first duties… and I guess I never really let that go,” he started to explain. I listened to him, nodding along with his words, smiling at certain parts. “When I turned 18, she was only 14. I got my wolf, and my wolf was extremely protective of her. I knew right then that she was meant to be mine. But werewolf law forbade me from telling her… she couldn’t know until she was at least 18. So, I waited for her. She turned 18… but she didn’t get her wolf.” I raised my brows; I didn’t know that Irene didn’t get her wolf at 18. “I wasn’t aware of that,” I told him, repeating my thoughts out loud. He nodded. “Yeah… she didn’t get her wolf, but I mean… she has Landry blood, so I knew she would get her wolf eventually. I waited…. I didn’t want to spring a mate on her without her knowing for sure. We were… closer than normal friends. I was away at college for the last several years, and I wasn’t scheduled to graduate until next year. But we kept in contact. She told me she felt safer with me than she did with anyone else, and I wanted ot scream that it was because we were fated mates…” “In some way… she must have felt it too. Even without a wolf,” I breathed. He nodded in agreement. “That’s what I thought too. But when I came back from college, finally graduated… she was 19 and she couldn’t stop talking about this guy she had met…” I cringed at his words. “Let me guess… was it Ethan?” He nodded, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, that asshole,” he muttered. “He stole her heart… obviously, she didn’t know about you at the time, and you know how that story ended. But she had gotten her wolf around the time she met Ethan, so she thought that maybe she and Ethan were destined to be together because meeting him apparently triggered her wolf to emerge.” Now it was my turn to roll my eyes; they were anything but meant to be, and I hated that Ethan made her feel like that at all when he was supposed to be my mate at that time. “Go on,” I said, urging him to continue with the story. “Well, her wolf had chosen him as her chosen mate, and Irene was so obsessed with him… like manically so, she couldn’t see anything else other than him. I was assigned to other duties, so I barely got to spend any time with her as is…” “She didn’t recognize you as her mate?” He shook his head “I think she might have recognized something… but she was so crazy over him and obsessed with the notion that he could be her destiny, that she really didn’t’ see much less around her. I mean, she almost killed her own brother for crying out loud.” I cringed at the reminder, but I didn’t interrupt him. “You can’t deny that she wasn’t herself… You might not have known her for long prior to that, but can you honestly say the Irene you know now is anything like the Irene you knew then?” I shook my head. “No, I can’t. You’re right. She was a completely different person,” I admitted. He nodded in agreement. “She was even more different before that,” he continued. “All this heartbreak… it changed her… it made her different, though she’s definitely better than she was when she was with Ethan… but I can’t blame her for changing.” “So, after she and Ethan broke up, what happened after that?” I asked. “She was gutted and couldn’t see anything else around her. I was having some family trouble at that point… my mother was sick and someone needed to care for her and my sister. I took some time off, and I was hoping Irene would take that time to heal. I wanted her to lick her wounds and get herself better before I came back to her and claimed her as my mate. But by the time I came back…” “She met Chuck,” I said, slowly putting pieces together. But then my brows furrowed. “But… I don’t get it. She recognized Chuck as her fated mate and vice versa. How is that possible?” He pressed his lips together, his cheeks going red, and I could see the hatred in his eyes. “I didn’t get it either,” he muttered. “I was confused and pissed. Then I saw a Seer, and I was told that Irene is being played by a Siren.” I blinked. “A siren?” I asked. “Like a mermaid?” He shook his head. “No… like Chuck.” I tilted my head at him. “I didn’t think Sirens existed, and I thought they were lime mermaids,” I admitted. “Those types of Sirens are fairytales,” he explained. “But real sirens can be male or female… and anything in between. They don’t have to sing to get people attached to them. But they can make anyone think they are fated mates. They can make you so drawn to them that you can’t breathe without them. They take everything and anything they want from you, and when they break your heart, it’s like your entire world ended, and you can’t see anything else except that heartbreak…” My heart shattered at his words. “Are you telling me that Irene was played by a siren?” I asked, my voice coming barely above a whisper. He nodded, pressing his lips firmly together as he took off his seatbelt. I knew the story was coming to an end, and he needed to blow off some steam. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Chuck was never her mate… he only pretended to be. He wanted something from her, and as soon as she gave it to him, he left her. Or maybe he hadn’t gotten it from her yet, and he was sloppy. Regardless, Irene is still under his spell, and she’s gutted… she doesn’t see me as her mate. She sees me as someone who’s capable of hurting her.” Without another word, he opened the car door and got out. I quickly unbuckled myself and got out as well, my feet moving quickly to catch up to him as we made our way towards the front entrance. “Gavin needs to know about this,” I said hurriedly. “If Irene is under some kind of spell or siren enchantment, Gavin might be able to break it or find someone who can.” “The Alpha would kick my ass if he knew I was mated to his daughter.” I grabbed his arm to stop him from walking. “No, he wouldn’t. Give him some more credit than that. He hadn’t kicked Ethan’s ass or Chucks… he wouldn’t kick yours either. But this is serious, Erik… not to mention dangerous. Irene fell for a trap, and I think Gavin should know about it.” He was quiet, contemplating my words, weighing out his options. “Plus,” I continued. “We need to figure out what the Hell Chuck wanted and what Irene is willing to give him.”