laissez les bon temps rouler//jackson kenner

2.13

Jack and I spent the night at Mary's cabin. Before he woke up this morning I snuck out to the lake, where I'm skipping rocks along the water. I still haven't told Jack about my past. To be honest I'm scared too. I'm scared about what he will think, what Mary will think, what the rest of the pack will think. I don't want them to turn their backs on me. I'm not the same person I was when I was younger. I've grown. I'm a mother now. I'm about to be somebody's wife.

"You scared me," Jacks says. I turn around to face him. "I was worried you ran off in the middle of the night."

I shake my head. "No. I was just out here, thinking..." I skip another rock and Jack picks one of his own up. "Jack, I know I'm supposed to divulge my great secrets, but I... I can't."

"Else, do you really think there's a secret you have that's so bad you can't tell me?" Jack questions.

I nod my head. "Yeah I do, Jack. I'm afraid."

"What is there for an Original to be afraid of, El? Now, our people have been cursed, hunted, exiled. And I know you have faced the same for the thousand years you've been alive. But you and me, this wedding? We can change all that. We can create a new pack, one with your ability to turn at will! So, we give each other our secrets. If we don't, then the transfer of power won't work, and we're back to where we were," Jack tells me.

I look at Jack biting my lip nervously. "Jack, I'm sure you've lived quite the life, but I can't imagine that your secrets are anything like mine."

Jack looks at me. "There's one." He takes a deep breath. "It has to do with my parents."

Jack leads me to what looks like a makeshift graveyard. "What is this place?"

"It's where wolves bury those who walk away from the pack. Traitors, murderers... like this one." Jack shows me a crudely made grave marker made from wood. It has the initials RXD carved into it above a crescent moon. "Richard Xavier Dumas. He was Mary's husband... my grandfather. He was an Alpha of his time. He was a militant radical hell-bent on raising war with vampires." He pauses for a moment. "When he found out that my parents planned to join the packs, try for peace with Marcel and his crew, he... he went ballistic." I look at Jack confused. "He wanted to stop them and everything they stood for... and he did."

I look at Jack shocked. "He killed your parents?"

Jack nods his head a few tears in his eyes. "I didn't know until I was older, until Mary told me. She said she'd held onto the secret about what my grandfather did for two decades, and knew it was time for it to come out."

"I'm sorry Jack." I grab his hand.

"That was my secret. Whatever yours is... If you don't want to tell me, then don't. It doesn't change a thing. Least of all, how I feel about you," Jack tells me with a small smile.

Suddenly Nik appears behind Jack. "Quite the romantic sentiment." I glare at my brother. "I wonder, however, if I might impose on this lovely tableau long enough to have a word with my sister."

Jack looks at me hesitantly. I squeeze his hands reassuringly before letting go. "It's okay." I gesture for Jack to leave. "Go ahead. I'll meet you back at Mary's." Jack looks at me for a moment before reluctantly leaving. I turn to my brother and cross my arms. "What is your problem?"

Nik smirks at me. "Oh just that my sister is adamant about marrying some wolf man."

"Nik, I told you that I'm going to marry Jack. Why is this a problem now?" I question.

"Have you lost your mind?" Nik asks.

I look at him stunned. "You have done nothing but kill, or scare off every boy I have ever loved before. I thought maybe this time it would be different. So yeah I guess maybe I have lost my mind."