Jacob’s POV
“We all know that Roscoe lost his mate before they could even meet. The occurrence made the shadow eye transferred to you, the second born.”
Lucianna goes on and explained further but my focus was divided as I questioned what just happened.
I never lose my cool, I never lost to my wolf. The argument we had are not that intense for my alpha power to take over. Heck, I will never use it to Lucianna!
Despite the confusion, I made sure to keep it to myself and mask the knocking feeling. My brother is here, and I hate showing any weakness or flaw when he’s around.
Though god knows how much I wanted to kneel and hug Lucianna for using the alpha on her-- even unintentionally.
“Hundred years ago, the same incident happened in Shadow pack. The second born got the shadow eye, the same reason you got yours. The first born is mate-less and he took revenge just how Roscoe did, and the second born died. Everyone thought the first born killed the second.” Lucianna inhaled deep as if she was out of breath.
Roscoe took it as a cue to offer help.
“But he did not. The second born gotten his mate pregnant and the pup inside the womb drained the life of its own father. Or rather,” Roscoe cleared his throat as if the next words are hard to utter. “…the father’s darkness.”
I frowned. “What?”
Lucianna straightened her back and bit her lower lip before answering. “The second born, the bearer of the shadow eye, contained an amount of darkness inside him. He died an unknown death and recently, the people of Above found out that the pup sucked the darkness and the father’s life away. The second brother didn’t killed him.”
My jaw dropped as I looked at Lucianna and then to Roscoe and I repeated the action thrice. They looked at me as if letting me absorb the words.
I grimaced and hissed before slowly shaking my head. “We’re still talking about the shadow eye here, right?”
Lucianna glanced at Roscoe before nodding her head. “Yes.”
“Baby, the Shadow eye does not have darkness in its description.” my tongue clicked. “Its a gift made of love, and there is no way a pup could kill inside the womb.”
Roscoe cleared his throat and stood up. “You must’ve forgotten that the shadow eye was meant for the first born, Jake.”
I stood up and my height hovered his since I’m five inches taller.
“Is that a challenge I hear, my brother?” my jaw clenched.
Roscoe shut his eyes looking like he cannot believe what he heard, then sighed.
“I’m tired of hearing this, you know?” Roscoe groaned. “I do not wish for the throne, Jake. I keep on telling you that. I got no mate, and I have no future to continue the legacy. If fate made its choice to have you as the Alpha of our pack, I respect it.”
“Then where are these stories coming from, huh, brother?” I growled, trembling. “Darkness in the Shadow eye? Bullshit. This gift is made out of love, no hatred and vengeance like you’re insinuating.”
“The eye was not meant for you!” Roscoe yelled.
My patience almost left my mind upon hearing the word. I knew he’s still bitter about the gift, I knew it!
But before I could explode, he resumed speaking.
“That was the problem, Jake! The gift got a loophole, an abnormality. The gift couldn’t be vested for whom it meant. To me! And before you start spouting about fighting over the throne, let me remind you again that I am past that.”
There’s no way in hell that I want to believe his words but somehow, I did. Not entirely.
Roscoe was sincere, and if I removed all the thoughts about my brother going after the throne then it does makes sense.
The gift was not mine to begin with. The possibility that Roscoe has no mate is a hundred percent. In his age, he hasn’t bonded with any female and he never undergoes the pre-mating season where sexual urges is a bitch. I know it because I’ve been keeping tabs around him.
So if I have this gift in mere coincidence then the normality could be altered.
I gulped, unable to say a word. And this time, ready to hear more. To really listen.
“There’s darkness inside of you and it will come to life.”
“Come to life? The hell?” I murmured. I can’t believe this…
“Literally coming to life, brother. When you make her pregnant, the pup will be a living devil in human’s form. It has emotions, miracle if it learned a bit of kindness but its diet is different, he lives feeding into the soul’s darkest depth. “
“Living in the shadow.” I interpreted, staring at the cold white wall. After a few blinks, I looked at Roscoe again. “And you know this how?”
“When Fhoxia told me about this, I researched. Any books, journals and stories about the pack in hundred years back helped. I kept what I gathered and you can read them, if you want.”
Damn. If he have evidences to back up the stories then none of this is a lie. Old scrolls are hard to forge because of the magical lock that can only be opened by family bloodlines. And no one can do the same security these days.
“Right now, you already had some darkness inside of you. I had a glimpse of it before and I didn’t think then that it was some kind of side-effect from the shadow eye. Upon knowing about the past through Fhoxia, I kind of set the lines together.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Roscoe sighed. “That moment when you beat me into a pulp when I first found out that I have no mate. You’re eager to kill me and I thought it was because of the hatred that I gave you but now, I don’t think you’ll go that far to get even.”
What the hell is he saying? “What?”
Roscoe squinted his eyes as if he was lost with what I said. “In the forest? When I asked you to meet and I apologized, I crawled back home with two broken limbs and swollen face.”
He what? Apologized? “You never apologized to me.” I stated.
Confusion can be smell around the room.
Its true, though. Ever since he tried to kill me, Roscoe never set foot in the pack lands again. I never saw him, nor his shadow. If he did apologized to me before, I’m sure I won’t forgive him but at least the burden I had will be lessen.
But no, I don’t have any memory of that.
Lucianna came to my side and we stared at each other, eyes searching and asking. Then, she turned to Roscoe.
“Is it possible that Jacob forgot what happened?” she asked in my stead.
Roscoe shook his head twice and slow. “I don’t think that’s possible. What I think right now is his dark side beat me up.”
So I have another identity?
The thought creep me out, crawling under my skin like a leech. Damn it.
Lucianna placed her hand on my back, caressing softly and I turned to look at her.
“Is this why you left me?” I can barely hear my own voice.
She looked at me and bit her lower lip, then nodded.
I sighed.
“Fhoxia said I’ll conceive on our next contact so I was trying to avoid that to happen.”
“And the separate rooms?”
She nodded. “That, too.”
This are too much to absorb that I’m getting fuzzy. Hissing, I sat back to the bed.
“Did I really beat you up?” I asked, turning to look at my brother.
When he nodded, I looked away. I can’t even remember I did that. Heck, I can’t remember any of it at all!
“How bad?”
“To be honest? I didn’t think I would make it.”
Great. Fucking great.
“Will it make me more evil if I’ll say I don’t regret it even if I couldn’t remember?”
Lucianna hissed. “Jacob.” she says softly, tugging on my shirt.
Roscoe pursed his lips. “That one, I deserve.”
A huge grin formed my lips and Roscoe mirrored it. Lucianna shaking her head beside me chuckled a bit.