At the whispered name the shadows of the room seemed to grow denser. My wolf snarled, a feeling of unease deep within him as we watched as they pooled into the corner Sorrel was staring at.

She looked just like Maggie but I couldn't explain it but when I looked at her I knew I wasn't looking at Maggie. There was something there, something that let me know just which twin it was I was looking at and it wasn't the hate she had shown me. My chest clenched at that, having those words coming from a face that looked like Maggie's was damn near heartbreaking.

"Hold your ground, Arlo." Lara's words were sharp and I wanted to ask what she meant when a tall male slid from the shadows. I bared my teeth, shifting my feet at the sudden intrusion. I couldn't help the low rattling growl that escaped me as I looked at him.

"Sorrel." His voice was a low rumble and he stepped away from the corner, his dark eyes scanning the room. They landed on me and he let out a hiss that I responded to with a growl, even as the hair on the back of my neck stood up. "You." His expression was deadly and he took a step towards me that had Lara shifting to stand between us.

"Enough." Her voice was firm and unbending. I kept my gaze on the male. He was something to be very wary of. I didn't know how I knew that but I did. Something deep down told me that one did not take him lightly. I inhaled, trying to scent him. I stiffened further when I realized he was something I had never scented before.

"I have no quarrel with you." His words came out on a cultured and rumbled accent. I couldn't place it and I bristled further as his dark eyes narrowed further at me.

"You have no quarrel with him either." Lara shifted in a slight agitation that had a feeling of uneasiness go through me. She looked uncomfortable speaking to the male and if such a powerful healer was uncomfortable then I knew my own feelings were justified.

The male took a step forwards, his eyes still on me, never leaving. "I will see to that." There was a strange hissing rumble that escaped him and my wolf gave a heavy growl at it. He was confusing. We didn't know what he was and we didn't particularly like him around Maddy. Our eyes darted to her and she was still whimpering, her eyes watery as she reached for me. My heart felt like it was being squeezed at the expression on her face.

"Cai." Sorrel's voice seemed almost forlorn and there was a bit of distraction to him as he turned his head. Not enough to break his gaze on me but enough to show her he was paying attention.

"Mi cielito, why have you not taken your vengeance." There was a low rattle to his words and I stared at her. She looked... lost. The bond she had vehemently denied twisted and rolled under my skin and I wanted to do something to help but I knew such an action would not be received well. I winced at the thought.

"Because there is none to take. The male who killed Maggie is dead." Such blunt words. I hadn't wanted too but I flinched. Not because Malak was dead but because it was clear she wished to take his life herself. I did not blame her. A bond between twins was a special thing and Malak had broken it. "There was never any for me." It was an almost cracked whisper and her eyes, identical to Madeline's were just as glassy as the little girl who struggled in her arms.

"Wha-" His sentence fell off completely as he finally took his gaze off me to land on her. He seemed startled at the sight of her holding Maddy before he slowly moved forward. "My heart... a child?"

"Maggie had a baby." Sorrel sniffled slightly as she looked up at the male who towered over her. She spared him no hard or hateful looks and I felt a heavy twisting of jealousy in me. The bond twisted my stomach, heating it heavily with the feeling.

"I can see." His words were low as he reached out for Maddy, grasping one of her hands. My wolf and I wanted to protest. "Hello little one." He seemed genuine in his approach towards her but that need to protest, to fight, to protect Madeline was still intently there. I had raised her from a newborn and I had to watch her grow. It wasn't fair. I was all she knew as a parent and to take her away did nothing to help her.

"You have to go." Lara gestured to the shadows and my heart jumped in my chest. I wanted to protest, to deny them. I wanted Maddy where I was. I didn't wish for her to disappear into a shadowy corner and be gone from my life forever.

"I don' wanna!" Madeline screeched it out angrily and I closed my eyes, turning my face so I couldn't see her if I opened them again. It just made it harder and harder. I never wanted to simply give Madeline up. I had made a promise to Maggie to protect her daughter, to look after her. This went against everything I had promised Maggie the day she died.

"That is enough, Madeline." Lara's voice was sharp and Madeline's screeching immediately stopped. She knew enough about Lara to not test her. "Go. He draws closer." I opened my eyes just in time to see her gesturing to the darkest corner of the room. My tension levels were growing the longer I watched

"Who, moon sword?" The male stepped closer to Sorrel, tucking her close to his side. She leaned against him, letting him pull her closer as he turned to Lara. The bitter burn of jealously seared my veins as I watched the actions.

Lara shifted, drawing my attention for a moment. "Nexus. If he finds her, her end will not be well." She gestured to Madeline and my wolf bared his teeth. She needed to be kept safe, family or not Nexus would not be allowed to touch her. If I had to give her up to keep her safe I would. It would hurt like hell but I would do what was best for her and her safety.

The male turned to Sorrel, gripping her tighter. "Have you done everything you need, zaika?" The words were low and he spoke them against her skin as he brushed his mouth across her temple. Jealously slithered quickly towards rage in my veins. That female held a potential future with me, she held the little girl I had raised with all the love and care I could, who had been my future. That female would walk away from me, take every chance at a future I had with her and she would walk away with a male who clearly adored her.

She gave a small nod. "I am." She leaned against him as if she were exhausted and I looked away. "I'm tired of chasing dreams and memories."

"Okay, bogárkám." At his soft voice, the burning in my stomach was almost getting too much for me to bear. I gritted my teeth, trying to push it all out. I was a warrior, I had been raised as a warrior. I should have had more control over myself and my emotions but it was hard. Even though I knew she wasn't Maggie, she looked like her and it made it that much worse.

"Its best you go. Here is her bag." Lara moved towards them, Maddy's pink bag in her hand. I felt my muscles tighten with tense anger and I strode away. I couldn't stay there any longer, hearing Madeline's whimpers for me. My wolf paced and growled, his hackles raised up and down his back and I rolled my head on my neck, clicking my teeth together in an attempt to distract myself from his rolling anger. The sounds ended abruptly and I knew they were gone.

I lashed out, my fist cracking through the wooden panelling of the wall as a heavy snarl rattled my throat and chest. Me and my wolf wanted to hit something, destroy something. Maddy had been our life for nearly four years and now she was gone. I had a slim chance at a mate but now she was gone as well. Not only gone but with another male. I gave another snarl and sent my fist through the panelling once more.

"Are you quite done with your tantrum?" Lara's tone was brusque and I whirled around, a deep growl rattling my chest. Her silver eyes were stern as she pressed her hands to her hips. I bared my teeth at her and she raised an eyebrow at me. "I take that as a no." She moved towards me and I snapped my teeth at her only to have her slap my nose in reprimand. "Enough of that. Focus." She glowered at me before she moved around the cabin, gathering various things and clothes into her arms.

I ground my teeth together as my wolf snapped his jaws. "I think I am allowed to be upse-"

She waved her hand flippantly, cutting me off. "You will see them again."

"You cannot know that, Lara." No one could know that. They had disappeared into the shadows, to where I didn't know. The thought of Madeline calling for me, crying for me, made my chest hurt.

She turned to look at me, a wolfish grin spreading across her face. "I have ears that can hear beyond the universe's tides and Mene does not lie." She looked at me for a moment longer before turning back to whatever it was that she was doing. "You are Madeline's daddy and your part in her life is far from over."

I shook my head. I doubted there was anyway that Sorrel would let me in. The sheer hate she had for me was palpable, it thumped against me heavily. But all she said was true. I had just stood back and watched as Malak had done as he had to Maggie. I had talked to him, pleaded with him to see reason but I hadn't done anything to help her. I should have helped her escape, I knew that would have meant my own death but I should have tried. Even just for a glimmer of freedom for Maggie.

"I can smell your guilt from here. Don't let what that female said get under your skin." Lara's voice was chiding and I slowly turned to look at her. I felt heavy, as if a huge weight had been placed on my shoulders.

I watched as she tucked what she had in her arms into a duffel bag. "She was right." I knew that, I had always known that. It just hurt coming from someone who looked just like the female I had loved so much that it killed her.

"She's ignorant." The words were blunt as she shoved more things into the bag. "There was no saving Magdalene when Malak marked her. He sealed her fate the instant his teeth pierced her flesh. There would have been nowhere she could have run where he could not follow. Her end would have been the same regardless, Arlo."

I shook my head. "I could have-"

Her head snapped upwards and she glowered at me. Her silver eyes were like a heavy brand on my skin. "There was nothing anyone could have done for her. She knew this. I knew this. The moon told us this."

"I could have done more." So much more for Maggie. Any one of us could have done so much more for her.

"You gave her happiness." The words were thrown at me and I flinched at them. "In a time where the darkness of Malak enveloped her again and again. You stood as a beacon of warmth, of relief, to a soul lost in the grips of madness. You gave her sanity." Lara stared at me hard and I felt a bit of heat crawl up my cheeks.

"I could have don-"

"Done what, Arlo? What more could you have done?" Lara yanked the zipper of the duffel bag closed before yanking it off the counter she had it on. "Maggie knew what she was doing, what the moon had asked of her. You did exactly what was needed of you!" She shook her finger in my direction and my breath hitched in my chest slightly. Had I honestly done what was needed of me? Had I honestly done enough to atone for causing Maggie's death? I didn't believe so. I had believed Madeline could have been my atonement but now she was gone.

The thought made a lump appear in my throat. That little girl had been my world and now she was just gone. "Madeline-"

"Will be needing her daddy." The white haired shifter dropped the bag beside the door and turned to look at me.

I swallowed thickly. She had been taken somewhere I didn't know and that removed me from her life. Taken by Sorrel and the other male. The jealousy curled around me once more, reminding me that it hadn't left me. "That male-"

"Vampire." The word was clipped and I frowned, unsure if I had heard her correctly.

"Pardon?"

"He was a vampire." She repeated the word and I blinked.

"A vampire." As in a blood sucking creature of the night. As in a creature I had never truly heard of and had been taught was merely myth. I felt a touch of surreality to my world. I expected myself to wake up from the strange dream I found myself in. I would wake up to Maddy prying my eyes open or to her giggles as she tried to scare me into waking up.

"It is what I said." She moved closer. "A shadow walker, a dark one, a half-godling." Her silver eyes flashed with what looked to be amusement and my heart sunk.

A half-godling. How could any female choose me over that? How could I expect a female to willingly give that up? "How can I compete with that?" There was no way I could compete with that. The bond under my skin heated with anger, twisting and rolling in my stomach and veins at the thought.

Lara gave a bark of laughter. "Compete? You foolish boy!" She gave me a toothy grin as if she believed I was being amusing. "Shifters and vampires cannot mix." She shook her head with a chuckle.

"What?" I frowned. Anyone could have seen the stark love and affection between him and Sorrel. I wasn't blind to that.

"Vampires can only bind themselves to other vampires or the occasional turned human." She gave me a clearly amused look. "What you saw was a close family bond between the two of them. Nothing more than that." She shook her head as she continued to move around the room, gathering more things.

A thick silence fell as her words sunk in. If the male and her were nothing more than family then that gave me a chance, a slim chance, but a chance none the less. That small bit of hope went up in flames quickly at the remembrance of her words and the look she had given me. "She hates me." I knew that with absolute certainty. I doubted there was anything I could do to have that hate gone from her eyes. I was just as guilty as Malak to her and I could not blame her for that because I felt it was the stark truth.

"She does but she needs someone to blame." She gave a lazy shrug. "When she thinks things through, sees things for what they truly are, she will understand there is love for you too." She gave me a rather secretive and knowing look.

"What do you mean?" She spoke in puzzles and riddles sometimes. What did she mean there would be a discovery about loving me too? The optimist in me hoped that it meant Sorrel could love me as much as anyone else but the realist in me reminded me that such a deep hate didn't just go away.

"Beware the false faces, the false words, the false paths." She said the words with a rasping whisper before she glanced at me, the silver in her gaze reminding me of the burn of the metal against my flesh. "Let the tides carry you over the oceans, Relly, let them carry you home." Her mouth quirked slightly. "Fragments and fractures is what she got when Maggie tried to guide her here. A mind is not meant to have the memories of the dead placed within it. They break apart, dissolve, become lost where one cannot see." She let out a heavy sigh.

"That female has been stuck, in a place I do not wish on anyone, for a very long time. It is no wonder she is running down false paths, chasing false faces, and hearing false words. She has a ways to go before she can pull herself out of it all." The old healer shook her head, her white hair swaying around her face gently. "It is your duty to show her the male that Maggie loved. Show her the male that Maggie fell in love with all those years ago." She gave me a slightly glassy eyed look as she moved closer to me, grasping my face in her delicate hands. "Magdalene loved you, Arlo, so deeply. She loved you with her very soul, as bleeding and torn as it was. She loved you enough to do the impossible."

I felt a burn of tears within my own eyes as Lara's searched mine with an edge of tender and motherly care. "What was that?" My voice felt thin and weak and I coughed lightly to clear it.

"In death she pulled away from the moon's embrace, reached over the tides of the universe to give Sorrel clues she needed to find it."

"Find what?" What could possibly cause Maggie to risk her soul on the tides?

"You." She brushed her thumbs against my cheeks as if I were a child and she were my mother. I inhaled deeply at the word as it registered. "Magdalene risked the very fabric of her soul to reach over to where the tides lapped at Sorrel's feet, for you." Lara's eyes were watery as she gave me the barest hint of a smile. "There is no greater love than that, Arlo." She dropped her hands and I tried to hide the burning wetness in my own eyes.

"Why do you tell me these things?" All it did was make my chest hurt, make me ache with longing. It made me wish for a female I could no longer have, who was beyond the reach of any mortal being.

"To remind you that Maggie did the impossible to bring her twin to your door. To bring you a female to help soothe the harsh wound of her death, to remove that guilt you unfairly carry." She lifted her chin a fraction and I shook my head.

"She just compounded it." The guilt was now pounded into my heart by her twin's words. There was no escaping it now.

"She is lost, much like you are now." Lara reached out and brushed my cheek softly, her movements calm and gentle. "You must remember that while Maggie was your friend, the female you loved. Maggie was Sorrel's twin. That is a loss that is hard to overcome, to accept. You had Maggie for two years, Sorrel had Maggie since the womb." A bond that transcended all I could have felt for Maggie. "Sorrel always reached for Maggie. Mene told me of how even as they grew within their mother that Sorrel would reach out for her sister, clutching her tightly in her small hands. Now she reaches out and grasps nothing." The words made that ache in my chest grow even large, made it feel even heavier.

"There is something missing from her world that she can never get back. So she is lost, much like Magdalene was when she first came." Lara unabashedly let the tears fall from her eyes, as if the plight of the two sisters was something that pained her greatly. "You helped Maggie by giving her the moon. Do the same for Sorrel."

"What can I give her?" What could I possibly give her that she would be willing to take from me? I knew how hard it was for hate to let go, I knew how hard it was to combat it, to remove it from one's life. That female hated me and her reasoning was justified. How could I even hope to break through it?

"Something to grasp onto." The words were cryptic but the conversation closed as harsh banging came from the door. Lara turned her head to look at it. "That will be Nexus." I could already feel his dominance swirling in the air. My wolf snapped his jaws together. We had been away from dominance too long to be willing to submit under it.

I felt off balance, my emotions were all over the place. So much had happened in such a small amount of time that it was hard to keep up. I felt almost... numb. As if my body and mind had finally given up on trying to show me what I needed to feel. The banging continued and I wiped at my eyes as Lara shuffled to the door and opened it up.

"Alpha." Lara bowed her head slightly and for some reason my heart felt like it flipped in my chest at the thought of seeing Nexus again. It had been a long time. His burly form pushed passed Lara as he inhaled deeply.

"Where is she?" His voice was a cold rumble and I stared at the male I had left behind because of the promise I had made to a dying loved on. He looked haggard and tired as if he were running himself thin. His dark eyes landed on me and they narrowed. "Where, Arlo?" His dominance pushed at me but I held myself tall under it.

"Not here." Lara brushed past him as she moved further into the small cabin.

"I did not ask you." His dark eyes followed her and I felt a touch of remorse that I had simply left him to deal with the pack on his own. I did not regret it but I was remorseful for the fact he had to do it alone, that he had lost more than his twin that day.

"You got an answer anyway." The old healer made a slight face. Her distaste for Alphas was clear. Too old of a wolf to really cow to an Alpha.

"Be quiet, Lar-" His words cut off as scanned the room and I knew he was taking in the sight of a home that had once housed a child within it. My heart lurched in my chest but I kept my chin up. I wouldn't back down from this. "What did you do, Arlo?" His gaze snapped to me as his haggard face paled slightly.

"What was right." It was something I would do again and again and again.

"Do you realize what you have done?" His voice was low as he looked to be burdened even worse than before.

I gave a sharp nod. "I do." My wolf paced and growled. We wouldn't allow him to touch Maddy, we wouldn't let him get close enough to even try.

"The traditions are clear, Arlo." It was a clear warning, for me or him I wasn't sure. He looked troubled and frustrated with the words he had just said, as if he had never wished to say them but I had forced his hand.

"Did you ever think that they are wrong?" I said it low, I wanted him to question it, to think about how wrong they were. I wanted him to acknowledge that the traditions he was following were toxic but his eyes narrowed at me instead.

"It is how it is done!" There was an edge of a growl to his voice, letting me know that he wasn't willing to think at all about how those traditions hurt us as a species. That he refused to allow himself to listen to my words, to dismantle the box he had been raised in, that we all had been raised in."I told you to let her go." The words were accusing and I held myself taller, making sure to stay eye to eye with him. I wouldn't let his dominance push me down or out.

"She was just an infant. Maggie begged me to save her and I couldn't let her die too." I couldn't have let that piece of Maggie slip through my fingers like Maggie had. I saved her because Magdalene asked me to, because that little life was all I had left of her.

"A female?" The expression he made as he said it had my wolf's hackles rising down his spine.

"An Alpha female." I gritted the words out. No one, not even my brother, would deny her, her birthright. She was more than an Old Way female, she was something to be respected and loved. She was more than anything I had ever encountered and I would not let anyone degrade her.

"Arlo, do you understand what you have done?" The words came from him clipped and sharp. My wolf bared his teeth at the tone and I nodded. "Where is she?" He puffed himself up as he looked around. My wolf growled heavily at the implication of his words. He would never know where Maddy was.

"Far from your reach, Nexus. In a territory where you cannot go." Lara crossed her arms over her chest, her chin lifted high as she narrowed those powerful eyes at him.

Nexus' head swung towards the healer. "She has the Alpha claim, Lara." His muscles bulged with his agitation as he looked at her.

"For a different pack, far from your reach." Her mouth twitched, the amusement she felt from the situation showing on her face.

"If I find her, you know what I will do." He ground the words out, his agitation rolled out of him in waves.

"Dig deep and find mercy?" She turned her head, hiding her smirk from Nexus. She seemed to find the entire situation amusing. I didn't particularly understand why, it was Madeline's life he was talking about ending.

He gave a heavy snarl that had my wolf returning it. "This is not a joke!" His hands clenched into fists.

"Is it what is right?" I looked at my brother, holding out my hand. There was nothing right about that tradition, about any of the Old Way traditions.

He whirled around to look at me, his growling vibrating the air. "Tradition does not care, Arlo!"

"And I don't care about traditions that hurt the people I love!" I clenched my teeth together tightly. Those traditions had taken so much from me. "I lost the woman I loved and I lost not one but two brothers that day. I wasn't going to give her up too." I had lost too much that day, had done too much to cause what happened, to simply let Madeline go too.

"You have brought this onto her." Nexus hissed the words out as he pointed at me. I bared my teeth at him, I wouldn't allow myself to feel guilty for keeping Madeline alive, for raising her, for being her daddy.

"Enough of this." Lara turned and moved towards Nexus, grabbing his jaw in her hand, pulling him down to her level. I knew that hold very well. "You have a choice to make, Nexus." Her voice was low and hard.

"There is no choice!" He gave a low growl as he tried to yank his face away from her hand.

I could see her claws come out and press to his skin in warning. "There is always a choice." Her silver eyes looked into his. "Always, Nexus." She seemed to be telling him something with her gaze before she let him go, patting his cheek almost affectionately. He seemed almost frozen before he let out a heavy breath, his shoulders slumping for a brief moment before he stood up straight. His back was held ramrod straight before he turned to look at me.

His expression was stony and his eyes didn't actually seem to look at me. "You defied our traditions and aided a trespasser on the territory." His voice seemed to have an almost hollow edge and I lifted my chin, refusing to back down from whatever judgement he would pass on me. No matter what it would be, it would be well worth it for Madeline. "You are my brother, my blood, and you have betrayed me." He lifted his hand and with a quick movement, sliced his palm with an extended claw. Blood welled up quickly, the moment I saw it I clenched my teeth together tightly.

"Your relation to me is the only reason I am withholding death." His tone still had that hollow edge to it before his eyes finally focused on me. The darkness of them were piercing and his jaw rapidly clenched and unclenched before he swung his hand. A vibrant red arc flew through the air before splattering against the floor, creating a distinctive line between us. "Sanguinem ligat, sanguis fracturae." There was a sudden and weak tearing in my mind as I was removed from the pack. I felt suddenly alone. Despite the fact that I had removed myself from the pack they had always been there but now it was gone completely. I had been let loose.

Banished.

I looked at Nexus and he swallowed hard. I looked down to that line before I stepped over it, embracing him tightly, ignoring how tense he was. I wanted to say something but no words seemed right. Nexus did not move, despite how his body slightly shook. "Leave." The word was said low and I held him just a fraction tighter before I let him go. My eyes watered slightly as I looked at my brother. I didn't know what to say to him, didn't know what one could say.

My eyes fell to the duffel bag that Lara had been packing and when I looked for the old healer she was gone. I walked over to the bag and picked it up, heaving it over my shoulder. I had no where to go but I knew I couldn't stay here, not any more. I opened the door and Nexus made a small sound that had me pausing.

"Was it worth it?" Such a simple question held such a heavy meaning and I looked at the wood grain of the door.

"It's worth more than you could possibly know." Worth so much. The years I had with Madeline, the life I had given her, it was all worth it. To give my little girl that chance, that ground work to help her become the Alpha I knew she would be. It was something that would forever be worth it.

"Not from where I stand." The words came out low and I could hear the faint pain in his voice and I closed my eyes.

"That is because you cannot possibly see the happiness it has brought me, from there." He couldn't possibly see the happiness because he was so wrapped up in tradition. He could never see why that little girl brought me such joy and happiness because the Old Way traditions would never let him acknowledge her as an individual, as a person.

I pushed the door open, stepping out into the sunlight. There was no going back from this. I closed the door behind me and the clinking of keys caught my attention. I caught sight of a glint flying towards me from the corner of my eyes and I snagged out, catching it in my hand. I looked at what I had caught, they were the keys to the beat up old truck I had parked in the overgrown driveway.

"Truth, Arlo." Lara's voice filled the air and I looked at the old healer. She gave me a sharp toothed grin. "What you seek now is Veritas."