Chapter 139: Revelations in the garden...
Slater
The Silvermere pack house was an imposing structure of grey stone and dark timber, its Gothic revival architecture giving it the appearance of a fortress rather than a family home. As Rhett and I were ushered through the grand foyer by a stern-faced butler, I couldn’t help but notice how different it felt from other pack houses I’d visited.
It was cheery, yet at the same time, it felt cold. More institutional, like a boarding school rather than a place where children had grown up.
We were shown to a formal visitor’s sitting room, all dark wood panelling and heavy leather furniture. The butler informed us that "Master Kael" would be with us shortly, then disappeared.
While Rhett sat rigidly in one of the wing-back chairs, his gaunt frame making him look like a scarecrow dressed in expensive clothes, I found myself pacing the room, studying the artwork that lined the walls. Most of it was standard pack house fare—oil paintings of previous Alphas, landscapes of Silvermere territory, formal portraits of distinguished relatives.
But it was the family photographs that caught my attention.
They were arranged chronologically along one wall, starting with wedding photos of Kael’s grandparents and progressing through the decades.
I saw pictures of Alpha Henry and his Luna at various pack events, including formal portraits taken of a baby that wasn’t Kael, as well as candid shots of family holidays and celebrations.
There were plenty of photos featuring that same young baby—playing in gardens, riding horses, dressed in tiny suits for formal occasions.
But there was not a single picture of Kael.
Not in the baby pictures. Not in the childhood portraits. Not in any of the family groupings that should have included him. It was as if he’d been erased from the family’s history.
I was about to draw Rhett’s attention to this when I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Both Rhett and I turned toward the stairway as Kael appeared.
The sight of him was almost as shocking as Rhett’s physical deterioration, though for different reasons. Kael looked... dishevelled.
His usually immaculate appearance had been replaced by rumpled clothes, unkempt hair, and a beard that looked like he hadn’t bothered to trim it in weeks. His dark eyes, always intense, burned even darker.
He stood in the stairway for a long moment, regarding us both with a quiet expression. Finally, he spoke.
"What do you want?"
His casual dismissal triggered something in Rhett, shattering his already fragile composure.
"What do we want?" Rhett was on his feet in an instant, his voice climbing to a near shout. "Are you seriously asking us what we want? After what you did? After you voted to send her to die and then disappeared without a word of explanation?"
Rhett scoffed, turning to me with wild eyes. "Didn’t I tell you this guy is a bum? Let’s get out of here. I don’t know why I let you convince me to come."
"Rhett, calm down," I said, moving between him and Kael, though Kael hadn’t moved from his position by the stairway.
"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" Rhett screeched. "He stood up in that courtroom and condemned the person we all loved to death. He looked her in the eye and voted to destroy her life. And then he vanished like a coward while we had to watch them lower the coffin into the ground!"
Throughout Rhett’s tirade, Kael remained perfectly still, his expression never changing, never showing so much as a flicker of response to the accusations being hurled at him. His silence only seemed to fuel Rhett’s rage.
"Say something!" Rhett demanded, taking a step toward him. "Defend yourself! Explain why you betrayed her! Tell us it meant something to you when she died!"
But Kael just stood there, watching us with those burning dark eyes, saying nothing.
I grabbed Rhett’s arm, feeling how thin it had become beneath his expensive sweater. "This isn’t helping anyone. Getting yourself worked up like this—look at you, you’re shaking."
And he was. Rhett’s entire frame was trembling with exhaustion. His breathing was harsh and uneven. I guided him back to his chair, making sure he was seated before turning back to Kael.
"Is there somewhere we can talk?" I asked. "Somewhere more private?"
Kael regarded us both for what felt like an eternity, his gaze moving from Rhett’s collapsed form to my own tense posture. Finally, he nodded once.
"Follow me," he said quietly.
He led us through a series of corridors and out a set of French doors into what had once been a formal garden. Winter had stripped most of the vegetation down to bare bones, but the structure was still elegant. Stone pathways winding between dormant flower beds, a central fountain that had been drained for the season, wrought-iron benches positioned at specific points
Kael chose a bench near the fountain and sat down heavily, gesturing for us to take seats on the benches facing him. As I studied his profile in the pale winter light, I couldn’t help but make an observation.
"This is the first time I’ve ever seen you with an overgrown beard," I said, attempting to lighten up the heavy atmosphere. "The mountain man look is... different."
For the first time since we’d arrived, something flickered in Kael’s expression. "I didn’t have any motivation to shave," he said.
The quiet honesty of the statement hit me harder than I’d expected. I settled onto my bench, taking a deep breath of the cold air before speaking.
I’d thought long and hard before making this decision, and I knew that keeping things to myself wouldn’t do anyone good.
"Charis is alive."
Kael raised his head so fast I thought his head might fall off. His dark eyes suddenly came alive with hope. Even Rhett straightened in his seat, looking better than he was when he first arrived.
"How do you know?" Kael whispered.
"Because the body that was brought to us wasn’t Charis," I said, pulling out the folder I’d been carrying. "There was supposed to be a butterfly birthmark on the heel of her left foot. I know because she was and is my mate. It’s hard to spot and maybe not a butterfly to everyone, but it was to me, and the body in the morgue didn’t have it."
I opened the folder and showed them the photographs I’d managed to obtain through my family’s connections. "More importantly, the body was anatomically male. Not someone disguised as male—actually male. Complete with all the corresponding biological features."
Rhett leaned forward, his hands trembling as he reached for the photos. "You’re saying someone substituted a different body?"
"I’m saying someone went to considerable trouble to fake her death," I confirmed. "And there’s something else." I turned to look directly at Kael. "How do you feel? Right now, in this moment. Describe it for me."
Kael frowned. "Why?"
"Because losing a mate when the mate bond is still active is supposed to be like dying," I said bluntly. "The surviving partner usually follows within days, sometimes hours. The severed connection is more than most wolves can bear."
Understanding dawned in Kael’s expression, and I could see him beginning to process what I was suggesting.
"I feel..." He paused, searching for words. "Empty. Hollow. Like there’s a piece of me missing, like I’m trying to remember something important but can’t quite grasp it. It’s not physical pain exactly, more like... like missing someone who’s away on a long trip."
"That’s not mate bond severance," I said with certainty. "When Charis rejected me, I was bedridden for nearly three months. The pain was indescribable. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, could barely function. My wolf was howling constantly, day and night."
I leaned forward, meeting both their gazes. "What you’re describing, Kael, sounds like temporary separation. Like she’s far away but still connected to you somehow."
"Where is she?" Kael asked, and for the first time since we’d arrived, there was real emotion in his voice. "Is there anything I can do to bring her back? Please..."
"I don’t know where she is now," I admitted. "But I know she’s alive. And I know that whatever happened at that trial, whatever she’s involved in now, it’s connected to something much bigger."
I reached into my bag and pulled out a USB drive and several thick file folders, handing one to each of them. I’d spent considerable time formatting Kael’s copy, using larger fonts and cleaner layouts that would be easier for someone with dyslexia to process.
Both boys looked down at the materials, then back up at me with questioning expressions.
"What is this?" Rhett asked.
I took a deep breath, knowing that what I was about to tell them would change how they saw everything—our friendship, our school, possibly their entire world.
"We’ve been friends for a while now," I began, "and despite everything we’ve shared, you don’t really know anything about me. My full name is Slater Riggs. My mother is Meriam Riggs Santos, a detective with the human police force. My father is Alpha Raymond Riggs of Duskveil pack."
I paused, watching their faces. I could tell they were impatient, so I continued anyway.
"I have a sister named Riley. She was a former student at Ebonvale Academy; she was in year two before we started. She’s currently living under an assumed identity in the human world because she’s a witness to the monstrosity that’s going on in both Ravenshore and Ebonvale."