Chapter 74

                                    

                                          
Reinhold stared hard at Gwen, not wanting to get his hopes up just yet. He was still afraid of the hurt that hope could bring him, so he was hesitant. "If she's alive, why has she never come back? Her son is here, what could possibly keep a mother from her only child?" He asked, seeing it as the strongest evidence that his sister was, in fact, dead.
"Oh, come on! We don't have time for this. What's the worst that can happen if I'm lying?" Gwen asked, going back to removing his shackles. "The only thing to keep a mother away, though, to answer your question, is if she had another child she felt the need to protect" she responded in a matter-of-fact tone, freeing his ankle before moving to his wrists.
"What? Another child?! But—" he began, before Gwen impatiently cut him off.
"She was pregnant, you dolt. And she thought her mate not only rejected her; but, banished her from her pack, and from being with her son. Darius was surrounded by love and support, as far as she knew, so she decided to keep the baby to herself. He was the only thing that kept her going" she explained, shooting him a glare. "And don't you dare judge her for it. She regrets every day having put him through the life of a lone wolf; but, if you ask me, he had the better life of the two" she added with finality.
"That...But...I don't..." Reinhold stammered, barely registering when his first wrist was freed. He was beginning to accept the possibility that it wasn't all a lie.
"I figured there was something going on, I'd heard that the former King was basically losing control...I thought it was his wolf angry about the rejection. Imagine my shock to learn it was because you all thought she died" she prattled on, shaking her head after unclasping his other wrist. A full-grown, Alpha-sized werewolf then collapsed against her, and it took every ounce of her strength not to go down with him as she let out another "oof!"
"Sorry" Reinhold grunted, too weak to hold himself up when his weight was suddenly shifted to his legs.
"S'fine" Gwen gasped, helping to guide him to the ground gently instead of dropping him. "You wolves grow big, is all" she said after setting him down. Next, she began to rummage through her bag again. "Anyways, like I was saying, I figured something was up...And Reina's been terrified of coming back, in case someone recognized her son...So, I told her I'd disguise her. I thought it'd be funny if I just made her look like a boy version of herself" she explained while pulling out a potion to offer to him.
He eyed the potion bottle warily, still feeling the entire scenario was too good to be true. The contents were a grotesque greenish colour, and the liquid looked thick when Gwen shook it in front of him. 
Seeing he wasn't willing to take the bottle, Gwen let out a huff and rolled her eyes. "Look, the psycho already told you she's planning their execution. We need to hurry" she said, shoving the potion bottle into his hands. "I need you healed, and ready to fight in case things don't go down well" she explained.
With a grimace, Reinhold uncorked the bottle with his teeth then downed its contents. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it was sweet and fruity, unlike how its appearance suggested it would taste. "Planning their execution? The lone wolves?" He asked with a frown, not following Gwen's rambling explanation.
"Yes, the lone wolves! Keep up! Did you not notice they looked like twins? Or your triplets? Darius got Derek's looks; but, Ryan got his mom's for sure" she said with a chuckle. "Have they fed you? Do you need to eat or drink before we go?" 
"They gave me sips of water; but...Food and drink would be appreciated" he said, a bit dazed. "They're the lone wolves?" He asked to clarify what he was interpreting.
"Yes, I already said that" she said with exasperation, clearly not good at empathizing with how the life altering information she was dropping on Reinhold was impacting him. While pulling out a few pieces of food and a bottle of water, she continued her story. "Long story short...Well, I don't actually know how to make it short. They realized someone was trying to commit treason, and to protect Darius, Reina finally agreed she needed to come investigate. Now she's caught in this whole mess, and so is her son, and you, and frankly the entire kingdom, so...Here" she said, shoving the items from her bag into his hands. "Eat, drink, then let's get moving" she urged.
"If she's the lone wolf father, she has two sons, then" he argued, but took a bite of food when Gwen gave him a murderous look.
"She has one son, and adopted another lone wolf along the way. That one is the blonde, and he is actually a she. A very important she, actually; but, we don't have time to discuss that. Eat. Eat" she urged impatiently.
"You're a witch...How did you get past the barrier?" He asked, rudely talking with his mouth full to avoid the witch's ire by talking between bites.
"I'm a Moon Thread witch, like I said. Your barrier was created by us, and thus, doesn't apply to us. I was waiting to hear from Reina in case she needed help; but...The coven I've been keeping tabs on showed up. I realized that it meant bad news, since they were normal witches. If they thought they could pass through the barrier, it was because someone was about to take it down. So, I made a bee-line for the sacred hall because my mom told me before that the spell for the barrier lives in there. With vampires running rampant, I knew that someone had opened the encasement and tampered with the bones in it. I was dumb, and waltzed in instead of sneaking in, so the culprit escaped without me seeing them...I'd bet my mom's spell book that it was that Shaela bitch, though. I was able to reverse the damage, thankfully, and reinstate the barrier; but, thought I'd stick around to keep an eye on things" she explained, her tone never changing from a conversational one, as if she was just describing a normal day. 
Reinhold just stared at her in bewilderment, continuing to obediently eat his food. He felt like Gwen was dropping bomb after bomb on him every time she opened her mouth, and he was having trouble keeping his thoughts straight. Fortunately, Gwen's potion and the food worked wonders, and he could already feel his strength returning at record speed.
So, he got to his feet and responded to everything that Gwen had said by simply asking "alright, what's the plan?"