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“So, you were sixteen? What the hell happened?” Zach frowns.
Jackson snorts… “Okay, I can actually tell you this because the person who turned me, my alpha, agreed we could tell you.”
“An alpha? That’s really a thing?”
“Oh yeah, it’s totally a thing,” Stiles nods.
“Yes, as I was saying, we knew you would have questions… and those questions have answers like this one, which affects other people, that’s why it wasn’t so simple telling you this. It’s not just me who is being exposed.”
“Are you talking about the pack that Stiles just mentioned?” Zach raises his eyebrows. “It’s not hard to imagine that if there is an alpha that turned you, you can’t be the only two wolves in this town. But you can totally trust me… and I think you both know that or I wouldn’t be here… or I’d be here but you wouldn’t have started the weirdest and most revealing conversation of my fucking life. All I can do is promise that you’re like family and I have no reason to never betray your trust.”
Jackson looks at Stiles and Stiles nods before he speaks again.
“Derek knows that too, that’s why he agreed we could tell you.”
“You mean Derek is the alpha? Kane’s husband?” Zach raises his eyebrows, obviously surprised. “That Derek...” Zach tells himself as realization sinks in. It’s not like he's ever met another Derek in his life. “But Kane isn’t—”
“No, he’s human,” Stiles says.
“Okay,” Zach nods.
“Yeah, he’s pack. The same way I am… or our kids, and when we told Derek this whole idea about telling you, he said that, if you wanted, you were welcome to be part of the pack too.”
“Really? Okay, I don't know... Maybe when you tell me what that means exactly…” Zach gestures with his arms. He trusts Stiles but still, he really needs to know what he's getting into before agreeing to anything.
“Yeah, of course, we will… but I guess it means that you’re part of our closest circle which was already the case… but in the pack, it would be an extension of that… There’s this unspoken code of loyalty and you pretty much swear to protect this new family with your life in case there was any kind of ‘situation’... which may never happen, you know? but—”
“What kind of situation?” Zach frowns.
“Well, the kind where things get messy and out of control, and the police are not able to intervene...” Jackson explains.
“Yeah, because wolves... you know…” Stiles points out.
“Yeah…” Jackson agrees. “Our pack is not the only one out there… and right now things are fine, everything is calm, it's been that way for a long time... but there have always been rivalries and you never know what may happen or when… so—”
“You seem to speak from experience… Has anything happened? That you've seen, I mean... with some other pack.” Maybe it was Jackson’s voice or that look on his face when he remembers what happened but obviously, something in his tone didn’t escape Zach’s sharp detective perception.
Stiles looks at Jackson and it’s just a few seconds but Zach can see a whole silent conversation unfold in front of him between both of them before Jackson speaks again.
“Well, we’ve seen it. We’ve seen what revenge and greed can do and yeah, it’s not something easy to wrap your head around.”
“Yeah, but once you do, it only makes you stronger,” Stiles says.
“What the hell happened?” Zach frowns.
“We were kidnapped for a week by these crazy people. A member of a European pack seeking revenge for something that happened before they were even born.” Stiles says. “Anyway, we were sixteen. Both of us. And it’s a long story that we can tell you about another day if you want… but yeah, the pack saved us…”
“Don’t forget about your father…” Jackson adds.
“Yeah, my father got involved and obviously, found out everything.”
Zach snorts. “Why doesn’t that doesn’t surprise me?” The poor guy finding out under difficult circumstances.
“Yeah…” Stiles nods. “It was a mess... but anyway, we survived and that was really the beginning of everything that happened between us much later…” Stiles gestures between Jackson and him.
“I see… so you basically told me a bunch of shit…” Zach says, shaking his head. “I mean, when I first asked about your marriage and everything…”
“No, not exactly. I promise I didn’t lie about that. I omitted information but I never told you anything that didn’t really happen.”
“Are you really trying that shit with me? I know all your tricks, Stilinski,” Zack jokes.
“He really does.” Jackson nods. “And it’s true, we weren't honest with you, but then again we have to lie to everybody about certain things and now you know why. If we had told you what happened, you would have asked why we were kidnapped and there was no way to explain that truthfully without revealing the whole thing.”
“Yeah, I get it. That’s okay." Zach shrugs. "Really… I get that there’s a pack code and everything. It can’t be easy having this secret—Hell, this other whole life...”
“I think that before we had the children, it was never a problem,” Stiles says. “Nothing was really that different. But obviously, when they were born we only had a couple of options, and looking the way they do, it’s good that we chose the surrogate mother version…”
Zach may have looked confused before during their conversation but never as bewildered as he looks right now.
“I’m not sure I get what you mean,” Zach frowns. As Stiles just said, those kids look too much like their parents to be adopted.
“Yeah, we know,” Stiles nods. “But the main reason why we wanted to tell you this is, is because of them… and we know it’s gonna shock you… like werewolves existence compared to this must be nothing… but if you know the truth about Jackson, you must know the truth about Daniel and if we tell you that he’s also a werewolf, then we know what’s gonna be your next question…” Stiles gestures with his arms, offering Zach the chance to answer that.
“Daniel? Daniel is one too?” Zach says mostly to himself.
Jackson and Stiles just nod, looking at his reaction expectantly but also giving him time to assimilate everything.
“Are you telling me that Derek bit him too?” That’s the only thing that Zach can think of.
“No, he didn’t.” Stiles shakes his head. “He was born that way. He’s the only born wolf of the pack.”
“Born?” Zach furrows his brow. “You mean that his mother was a werewolf?”
“Yeah, this is that part where you most probably and understandably freak out because the fact is that there is no mother.” Stiles licks his lips. “There’s never been one.”
“No mother?” Zach frowns.
“No. Jackson gave birth to him,” Stiles says bluntly. “I know you might not believe it but I assure you that it’s the truth.”
“Okay. Wait a sec. What you’re telling me is that male werewolves can have children?” Zach raises his eyebrows.
“Not exactly,” Stiles shakes his head. “Only females can, but—”
“After I was bitten, I didn’t become a wolf right away—It’s a very long and creepy story… but this other thing... a kanima, that’s what it’s called… well, this thing changed me —my biology— and a part of that change still remained after I finally turned into a wolf.”
“Wow… That’s crazy…” Zach says, running a hand through his hair.
“It is kind of crazy, you’re right,” Stiles nods. “It really is—That’s why it’s hard to talk about it. But it’s real. Our family is only 50% human.”
“—And that’s why nobody can know,” Zach nods.
“Yeah,” Jackson agrees. "And out of everything, this is the hardest secret to keep… because they both know what people think about them. They don’t think they’re real brothers and it shouldn’t be that way.”
(To be continued...)