Page 33 of Framed and Forgotten (Ashen Wolves #3)

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K O E N

It hurt, looking into my mate’s eyes only to be met with a void expression.

I would’ve preferred her glare, the fire in her eyes threatening to burn me alive, over this.

..apathy. She truly didn’t remember any of the moments we’d shared or the barriers we’d overcome together.

Our story, though still new, had been so intense, so raw, it felt like we’d lived a lifetime in those fleeting months.

And realizing it was all gone to her now destroyed me.

Yet somehow, that devastation was exactly what fueled me to make things right again.

Once my relationship with Avril was…stable - to put it kindly - I couldn’t avoid the need to look into the other problems pounding in my mind.

As much as I wished I could focus solely on earning my mate’s trust back, I knew I couldn’t afford to delay my other problems any longer.

After all, Nerine and whoever had told her about the Ashen Wolves could be a threat to Azure Smoke.

Enemies I would take upon myself to neutralize.

I had promised Avril she could always count on me. Yet, lately, I’d left her no choice but to take care of everything on her own. It was only fair I didn’t make her stress about what I’d found at Crystal Pond as well. And I had to deal with it quickly.

Time was ticking. I knew I couldn’t keep Nerine waiting much longer, else she could get suspicious. If she realized I had figured out what she was doing, she would either hide or come up with more lies. To get the truth out of her, I needed to catch her off guard.

With Nerine’s trap, the possible threat to the Ashen Wolves, and my mysterious doppelganger, the questions regarding Elias’ paternity faded into the background.

Of course, I still cared deeply about him, and confirming that our direct bond wasn’t another one of my ex-wife’s tricks would determine what I should do for him.

But in face of everything else, it would have to wait.

My priority was ensuring Avril’s safety.

After our night by the waterfall, I accompanied Avril back to her room before forcing my feet to drag me back to my old cottage.

Leaving her side, even if only until the next twilight, was torture for me, but she deserved space to deal with the feelings she couldn’t understand.

Well, perhaps if she asked me to, I would have stayed, but she had kicked me out earlier and didn’t invite me back in.

In the morning, I met with Theo to let him know I would be heading to Whispering Hills for the day.

I had discussed my intentions with Avril the previous night, but felt I should inform him in-person since he was assisting me with my research.

He assured me he would do as I’d asked him while I was away on my mission.

If information regarding my supposed long-lost brother actually existed, I should find them at home.

As soon as I arrived at the hollowed lands where my pack once thrived, I went straight to the abandoned building at the heart of the territory.

Debris littered the entrance, a deafening silence filled the long, empty hallways, and dust collected on every shelf, but I had no time to feel the hurt.

With heavy steps, I climbed the stairs up to my old office to begin my search.

Unfortunately, every folder I flipped through held nothing new.

Every drawer in the room had already been opened during my time as Alpha, every document read at least once.

Frustration began to settle in, creeping beneath my skin as hope dwindled.

Still, I pressed on, relentless, until I stumbled across a dusty folder shoved into the farthest corner of the cabinet - my birth certificate.

I picked it up and began reading it casually. Details about the day I was born were described in the paper. Although it didn’t contain anything I didn’t already know, it gave me an idea.

If there was any chance I could have had a brother at some point that my parents never told me about, they must have tried to erase that information.

Still, there had to be proof of his existence somewhere.

To test my theory, I hurried to what remained of the pack hospital.

I had been born here - and if my hypothetical twin existed, then this was where he would’ve been born, too.

The locking cabinets at the hospital were less familiar, but they also contained a lot more documents.

It would take me days to scour through all the papers here.

However, since I didn’t have that much time, I had to optimize my search.

I quickly flicked through some of the superficial documents, hoping they would point me in the right direction.

After hours, I lost track of how long I’d been trapped here, swimming through endless piles of paper - until I finally found it.

The original copy of my birth certificate.

Only, to my shock, this one was slightly different from the one at my office.

My eyes skimmed over the familiar details - my name, my birth time - before snagging on the line beneath it. I read it once. Then again. And again. Each time, the knot in my stomach tightened, like my brain refused to process what my eyes had already seen.

BIRTH REGISTRATION - ALPHA LINEAGE

Name of Pup (Firstborn): Koen Alpin

T ime of Birth: 03:07 AM

Name of Pup (Secondborn): Kael Alpin

Time of Birth: 03:12 AM

Secondborn , I digested the word.

My brother.

My twin.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Deep down, I’d always known there had to be a reason why a man who looked exactly like me had called me brother . But holding the evidence in my hands, the absurdity of the truth hit me like a slap to the face.

I had spent twenty-five years of my life never knowing I had a twin brother out there.

Just as I processed my new discovery, more questions spiraled in my head.

My mind was hazy as I absentmindedly headed to the basement in the packhouse, where sat a box full of my father’s old documents.

I had skimmed through them when I took his place, but didn’t give it enough attention.

Back then, I had no reason to suspect he could have been hiding such a secret.

As if a greater force wanted me to unravel the mystery, the first book I picked up was exactly what I needed to find.

It looked unassuming at first glance. From the cover to its pages, it appeared to be some random book about pack politics. I almost missed the hidden compartment at the back, so tightly closed I had to tear it open to retrieve what was inside.

A letter.

My fingers trembled as I opened it, hesitation gripping me as I feared what else I could find.

My horror only grew when I realized it was some sort of contract.

According to it, the moment my twin and I were born, my father had arranged for Kael to be adopted and raised by an omega from some faraway pack.

There was even a confidentiality clause - one that made my stomach twist - threatening the adoptive mother with death if she ever revealed the pup’s origins.

Everything felt too surreal. I had to read the paper in my hands over and over just to process what I’d discovered, and even then, I still couldn’t understand why my father would choose to give up his own son. His heir.

Unless...this very situation was the reason.

The birth of alpha twins was a rare occurrence, dreaded from the moment the pregnancy was discovered.

Their dominant genes made coexistence nearly impossible.

Most began fighting in the womb, territorial before they even took their first breath, and more often than not, one fetus consumed the other.

However, if, against all odds, both survived, they were destined to keep fighting until only one remained.

A living, breathing disaster waiting to tear a pack apart.

It was the only explanation I could think of to justify my father’s actions, but it still felt unbearably cruel.

Rare as it was, it wasn’t impossible for surviving alpha twins to learn to coexist, as long as one was willing to submit to the other’s rule.

Was he truly so afraid of losing both his pups to an endless rivalry that he resorted to such extreme measures?

Or was he simply unwilling to risk watching his pack crumble under the reign of warring heirs?

As cold-hearted as it sounded, it would at least explain why my old man had kept his word about protecting Avril until her wolf awakened, despite not being the most honorable man. Maybe raising her had been his way of atoning for abandoning his own son. A poor excuse for redemption.

After the secrets I’d just uncovered, I couldn’t tell if I was more shocked, afraid, or sickened by it all.

I had learned the hard way that ignorance is bliss.

While I wished I had never found out about my father’s most terrible secret, it was necessary to understand what exactly I had been dragged into.

And, most importantly, what I should do next.