The Tribrid Heir's Orphaned Mate

Loopholes

Warrick's P.O.V.

I stare at my beautiful mate as tears stream down her face. Her friend, Zeke, I believe his name is, is hugging her tightly to his side as he tries to comfort her. I can feel the pain in my chest from her grief. I can also feel the love that she has for Zeke. I should be angry that he's touching my mate right now, but I'm not. It's a brotherly love, and I can tell that he loves her exactly the same way. I was able to watch the entire conversation that went on between her and Selene, as well as her and Victoria, from inside of my mind as I sat next to Tucker, Chadwick and Zedidiah. I had heard stories about Marco and Victoria. No one ever knew what happened to them. We all thought they had just disappeared and started a life together somewhere else. I wish that Victoria and Marco would've came to my parents and asked for forgiveness back then. My dad would've probably punished Marco for treason, but he would've gotten off easy once my dad found out his actions were because his mate rejected him for my dad.

"Victoria is your mom? You're Marco Rosetti's daughter?" I ask Elizabeth as I stare at her, before trying to swallow down the lump that's forming in my throat.

Elizabeth nods her head at me as tears continue to fall down her face, "My mom never told me any of that, Warrick. I swear I didn't know."

I slowly walk towards her, before nodding my head, "I know you didn't, Elizabeth. I was able to hear the entire conversation while inside of my mind, just like you can see or hear what your wolf is doing when your wolf is in control." I tell her, before carefully reaching through the bars and stroking my fingertips along her arm, "My parents didn't know that your parents had passed away though, especially because of the war. We all thought they were still alive and had just disappeared to start a life together somewhere else."

Elizabeth continues to sob as she buries her face into Zeke's chest. Zeke looks up at me with apologetic eyes, like he's waiting on me to growl at him for comforting my mate, but I just simply smile at him. Zeke nods his head at me in understanding, before he completely wraps both arms around her and pulls her into a tight embrace. I pull my hand away from Elizabeth and take a step back.

"My Aunt Ashley will be devastated when she hears about this. Your mother told you the truth about that. They were best friends. They had a falling out with one another before everything happened, and she's regretted it ever since. She spent years searching for your mom." I tell her.

Elizabeth looks up at me with red and puffy eyes, "My mom made sure to stay hidden so no one could locate her. It's not your aunt's fault that my mother was so horrible."

I smile softly at her, "Victoria wasn't horrible, Elizabeth. She just lost herself. She had to have some good in her, to raise someone like you."

Elizabeth scoffs at me, "Someone like me? You mean someone so horrible that I keep my mate in a fortified cell, as I try to find a way to kill his parents?"

I shake my head at her, "No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about someone who is strong and resilient. Someone who can take anything that life throws at her and take care of herself. You have lost a lot throughout your life and have faced so much pain, but have found a way to keep pushing through. I'm talking about THAT type of someone."

Elizabeth smiles softly at me, "You really think that about me?"

"I do." I tell her, before letting out a small chuckle, "However, it would be better if my mate WASN'T keeping me in a fortified cell and trying to kill my parents."

Elizabeth lets out a small chuckle as well as she looks up at Zeke, before looking back at me, "Zeke, Delilah, and I will try to figure it all out. You might have to let The Moon Goddess speak some more to a lot of our pack members, but I'm sure they will all come around."

I smile at her as I nod my head, before looking up at her with a wide grin, "Oh! By the way! I'm sure you would like to know that you have an aunt and two cousins that live in our pack. Your father had a sister that was a lot younger than him, and she has children of her own now. I thought I recognized your last name, but since she took her mate's last name before I was even born, it didn't register with me until now that her maiden name was Rosetti."

Elizabeth's eyes widen, "What?"

I nod my head at her again, "Your aunt's name is Julia and her mate's name is Charlie. They own a bakery. You also have a fifteen-year-old cousin named Marie, and a twelve-year-old cousin named...um...Marco. "

"Marco?" Elizabeth chokes out as tears start to fall from her eyes again.

I smile softly at her, "Please stop crying, baby. I know this is a lot of information to take in and you're also feeling grief from the loss of your parents all over again, but please stop crying. It pains me to see and feel you in so much pain." I say as I reach through the silver bars and caress her cheek with the palm of my hand.

Elizabeth nuzzles her face into the palm of my hand, before looking up at Zeke, "Zeke, lock the door and get the keys to his cell."

Zeke looks down at her with questioning eyes, before slowly smiling and nodding his head, "Anything you want, Lizzie. I told you, me and Delilah have your back, no matter what."

"Who's Delilah?" I ask him with furrowed brows.

"My mate." he casually says, before walking to the door and locking it.

Zeke quickly walks over to a cabinet on the other side of the room, before grabbing a key hidden inside. He walks back to the cell and shoves the key inside of the lock, before turning it to unlock the door. As soon as the cell door opens, Elizabeth runs into the cell and frantically wraps her arms around my neck as she pulls me into a tight embrace. My body floods with warmth and starts to vibrate with what feels like small electrical currents, from finally getting to fully hold my mate for the first time. The small touches her and I shared up until now, are nothing compared to this feeling. I wrap my arms around her waist and nuzzle my nose into her hair, before deeply breathing in her caramel scent. It's so much stronger now that I'm actually close to her.

Elizabeth slowly pulls away from me as she looks up at me with guilty eyes, "We can't let you out of the cell just yet, Warrick. We have to get the others to come around and understand everything. It's going to take some time."

I smile down at her, "I've got all of the time in the world, sweetheart. Just promise me that you'll come visit me as much as you can. Now that I've actually been able to hold you and feel the mate-bond, it's going to be hard for me to let you go and be away from you." I say, before I let out a small chuckle, "And please find a way for me to be able to bathe, and get someone to empty this bucket daily for me. It smells horrible in here."

Elizabeth chuckles back at me, "You'll be able to bathe daily from now on. I'm sure Zeke has some clean clothes that you can borrow too, since you two are about the same size. The bucket will be emptied twice daily, as well. As far as the rancid smell in here goes, that's a simple illusion spell that I had one of our witches put in place to torture you. I can have her come talk to you and speak with The Moon Goddess so she understands everything. I'm sure she will be willing to take it down afterwards, once she knows the truth."

I snort out a laugh, "You and my mother are more alike than you think. That rancid smell being an illusion sounds like something she would come up with to prank my dad."

"Your parents prank each other? Athena actually does stuff like that?" she asks me with furrowed brows.

I nod my head at her, "I know that it's hard to reprogram what you think about them, but try. They aren't bad people. They're actually quite fun to be around. To answer your question though, yes, they prank each other. My mom cast a spell on my dad and his two betas when I was eleven that made them move in slow motion for three days straight, even their speech. What's worse than that, is that she also cast an illusion spell on them to make them think that everything was completely normal during the time, so they wouldn't hide in the pack house the entire time. She wanted them to make fools of themselves in front of pack members."

Elizabeth laughs hysterically, before looking back up at me with a wide grin, "I can't wait to hear more stories like that." she says, before a look of worry crosses her face, "Do you think they'll accept me once they hear everything that happened and who my parents were? Do you think they'll accept all of us into their pack, knowing that we have been planning for years to hurt them?"

I smile down at her, before looking back and forth between her and Zeke, "What all do you guys know about my parents, exactly? About my mom and her powers in particular?"

Zeke chews on the inside of his cheek, before scratching the back of his neck, "We just know that she's very powerful and has a wide range with her magic."

I nod my head at him, "My mom can read minds and tell when someone is telling the truth or not. She'll know whether or not your pack members are being honest." I say to him, before looking down at Elizabeth, "Don't worry about anything. My mom will love you. She's a very forgiving person."

Elizabeth lets out a small sigh, before leaning up on her tip-toes and placing a gentle kiss on my cheek. She pulls away from me all too soon and walks out of the cell, but before Zeke goes to lock it back, I walk out of it and quickly embrace her one last time. Elizabeth stares at me with guilty eyes as she slowly pulls away from me. I hesitantly walk back into the cell, as Zeke locks it back once I'm inside again. I watch as Elizabeth turns around and slowly follows Zeke towards the door of the room.

"Hey, I have something else to say...or rather, warn you guys about." I say to them, which makes them turn towards me again, "Selene told me that not all of your pack members are going to come around. There are going to be some who will never let go of their hate towards me and my family. She said that one of them is going to use Elizabeth to get to me. She said they'll torture her in front of me until she faces death, and that I'll have to choose to save her while also losing a part of myself."

Zeke lets out a protective growl as he quickly looks down at Elizabeth, before looking back at me, "I'll watch over her, Warrick. Don't worry. They'll have to get through me first."

I nod my head in appreciation at him, "Thank you, Zeke. It means a lot to me that you're so protective of her. Just be careful who you let into your inner circle. The things that I tell you guys about my family here, needs to stay between us. I can't have them using that information against me, since we don't know who is going to turn against you in the end. Like the fact that my mom can read minds or is able to tell when someone is telling the truth." I say, before looking straight towards Elizabeth, "And stay away from Carter, Elizabeth. I don't trust him, for more reasons than just the obvious. I got a vibe off of him."

Elizabeth nods her head at me, "Carter and I are over, Warrick. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to us being intimate with each other. He's not a bad guy, though. I've known him since I was a kid. He will come around. He's my best friend before anything else."

I let out a low growl as I glare at her, "My magical powers have a wide range too, Elizabeth, even if I can't use them right now. You need to take me seriously when I say that I get a bad vibe off of him."

Elizabeth clenches her jaw like she's about to argue, but lets out a defeated sigh instead, before nodding her head. She turns towards Zeke and nods at him, before he opens the door for her. Elizabeth walks out of the room without saying anything else or even giving me a second glance. I can feel her irritation towards me through the mate-bond, but I am trying to ignore it. I look over at Zeke, who is staring at me with a knowing look.

"I'll watch out for her, Warrick. I'll keep an eye on Carter, too. Elizabeth has always felt emotions a lot stronger than others, which means she's loyal to a fault once she fully trusts someone. It'll be hard for her to let go of that trust for him, even if you warn her not to trust him. I, however, fully believe you." Zeke says to me with confidence.

I nod my head at him, "Thank you, Zeke. I just don't want her to get hurt or killed. It would completely break me. The Moon Goddess told me herself that it was going to happen. I would be able to read him if I didn't have the barrier subduing my powers, but for now, I just have to go with my gut instinct."

Zeke gives me a small smile that barely reaches his eyes, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. I still don't trust any of them, not even Elizabeth. Not being able to use my powers to read other people has put me on edge and has made me paranoid. I've lived my whole life being able to depend on my powers, but now, I'm merely a human with voices inside of his head. Every bit of information I gave them during this entire conversation, I carefully planted for a reason, even the part about my mom being able to read minds and tell if someone is lying. They would never be able to use that against her, but I know that if anyone else gains that information, then one of them let it leak to the others.

I've quickly discovered that they don't know much about my parents, only what their mothers told them throughout their lives. They know that my mom is powerful and has a wide range of different types of magic, but now I know for sure that they don't know exactly WHAT my mother is capable of. The fact that they didn't know about my counterparts and why my eyes change different colors, and the fact that they didn't know about me being linked directly to The Moon Goddess, makes me wonder if they have their witches spying throughout the supernatural community somehow. The supernatural community doesn't know about me being directly linked to The Moon Goddess, and the only time my eyes have ever changed colors in front of somehow is in front of our pack members. Witches somehow spying throughout the supernatural community is the only explanation I can gather for them being hidden for so long, while also knowing stuff about our pack. Which means, if I had to guess, their hideout is in a heavily populated human city, without a lot of other supernaturals around.

Also, Elizabeth didn't realize it, but I broke the barrier while the cell door was open. Chadwick told me yesterday that there was a simple loophole in the spell that holds this barrier into place. He's been completely quiet since we've been here, but I knew that he's been stewing in the back of my mind this entire time trying to think of another way to break it. He was right when he said that it was simple, because all I had to do was pass through the cell door while it was unlocked by one of their 'coven' members. The cell was made specifically for me, or my mom I guess, but the same difference. Either way, it was specifically me who had to pass under the barrier, rather than anyone else. The second the cell door was unlocked by someone who was a part of their coven, and I was allowed to pass under the barrier freely, the barrier was broken. Usually, since the covens are only made up of witches or warlocks, it would've taken one of them to unlock the cell door to start the process of breaking the barrier. However, since their pack/coven is a little different from others, I took my chances on thinking that Zeke unlocking it would work just as well.

I chuckle lowly to myself as Chadwick steps up into the front of my mind with a wicked grin on his face, "What have I always told you about magic, Warrick?" he asks me as he stretches his arms above his head, like he's been released from chains.

"That the most thrilling and rewarding thing about magic, is finding loopholes and weaknesses in others' magic." I say to him as I flick my hand open and hold a burning flame in my palm, "You're absolutely brilliant."

He lets out a small laugh, "You're welcome. Just be smart and strategic with it."