The Gamma's Apocalypse

7. Secrets

Zeke touched the side of her face as electricity surged through his body. She flinched at his touch, but kept staring into his eyes.  He couldn’t believe it was her in front of him. After all these years not only was she here, but she was his mate? How was that possible? She was a human, could she possibly be a werewolf and not know it like Sophie?

Val reached up and touched his hand, shocked that she again felt static electricity. "Zeke? Is it really you?" Zeke nodded . Tears started falling from her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I am so happy to see you. I didn’t think I was ever going to see a friendly face ever again."

Zeke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closely. The mate pull feeling super intense, sparks coursing through his veins. "I am happy to see you too."

"LET HER GO OR I WILL KILL YOU!" They both turned to Han's standing there.

"Han's it's ok." Val said as she pulled away from Zeke, she turned to look at him shocked as she suddenly felt cold wash over her body as they separated. "Uh." She shook her head turning back to Han's. "This is Zeke remember from high school?"

Hans looked at Zeke, slowly lowering the gun. "Are you sure we can trust him?"

Val turned to Zeke. "Can we trust you?"

Zeke shrugged. "I think so. I mean I did steal a candy bar once when I was five, but other then that my criminal record is clean." They both laughed. "Oh crap Chase is back with the other guy."

"Chase is here too?" Val lit up. "We better go rescue him from Klaus. These two um, uncles of mine are pretty protective of me."

They turned and ran back towards the waterfall, seeing Chase and Klaus in a stand of. "Stop!" Val yelled. "Klaus it’s ok, I know them."

Klaus nodded and lowered his gun as Chase looked over at them. "Val?"

Valerie nodded with a huge smile. She ran over and hugged him. Chase stood there in complete shock. He looked up at Zeke, mindlinking him. "Val is your mate? She's human."

Zeke linked back. "I'm as confused as you are."

Chase shook his head and hugged her back. "Val, what in the heck are you doing here? I can't believe it’s you, we were just talking about you."

Val smiled as she pulled away. "It's complicated. And you  talking about? What about?"

Chase laughed. "You know you are the only girl Zeke ever even got close to dating?"

"Chase!" Zeke shook his head, a blush creeping to his cheeks.

Val turned and looked at Zeke. "Is that true? After twelve years you haven't dated anyone? I thought you'd be married and have a mess of kids by now. You always said you wanted a big family."

Zeke nodded. "I guess you could say I just never found the right one."

"Well I am so happy to see you guys. What are you guys doing out here?"

Zeke looked at Chase, not sure what he would say. It’s not like he could say oh I was looking for you my mate. "We have been looking for other groups and forming alliances." He replied, after all it was true now, maybe not the original mission but that is what they would be doing now.

"Alliances for what?" She asked.

Chase sighed. "It’s complicated."

Val laughed. "Well sounds like both of our lives have become complicated since high school. We were out hunting, but have had no luck. We're staying in a cabin near here. Do you guys need a place to stay for the night?"

"Pri." Klaus started to say, but Val shot him a look. "They're coming." She said. He nodded.

"It's just this way. You guys go ahead I need to talk to my uncles in private. We’ll catch up."

"Ok we’ll just walk up out of ear shot and wait." Zeke replied. They walked until they could non longer hear what they were saying, and they couldn’t hear them.

"Wow." Chase said. "Val is your mate?"

Zeke shook his head. "No one is as shocked as me. She's human, I really don't think this is another situation like Justin and Sophie's. I mean Val was always pretty quiet about her family not going into a lot of detail. But she talked about her mom, dad and big brother often. Even stories from when she was little."

"Well the Moon Goddess must have a plan to mate you with a human."

Zeke sighed. "I hope so. I know I wont be an i***t like Justin was at first. I'm not going to lie though, I am worried. What if she chooses not to be with me? It’s not like she will feel the mate pull. I lost her once, I don’t want to lose her again."

"It makes sense now. The only girl you ever got close to was her. Maybe somewhere inside you, you were feeling that mate pull even before you turned eighteen."

"Maybe. How is she going to react though when she learns were werewolves? I think we should stay the night with them, head home tomorrow."

Chase nodded. "I'm fine with that, finding your mate is worth the delay. But I think you should just tell her, she needs to know and the longer you wait to tell her, the worse her reaction might be. Look how upset Ellie was when everyone was trying to protect her by not telling her the truth."

Zeke nodded. "You're right, no need to start without telling the truth. I will pull her aside and tell her when we get to their cabin."

___

Val waited until they were far enough away, then turned to Klaus and Han's. "Ok you guy's can not call me princess anymore. Cal me Val when they’re around, and you are my uncles."

"Princess." Klaus looked down at her. "If these are men we can trust, why not just tell them the truth?"

"I haven’t seen them in twelve years, they didn’t know who I really am. I had to keep my identity a secret. I was so mad at my dad when he sent me here for High School, but then I met Zeke and we just clicked. He made being away from home easier, he mad it bearable. I don’t want him to think I lied the whole time."

"Ok but I think you should tell them soon, secrets are never good and with things as they are now, we can definitely use the help to protect you. If they are truly trustworthy." Hans pushed.

Val smiled. "I would trust Zeke with my life, even after twelve years I know he would put my well being before his own."

"If he truly cares about you that much, then just tell him." Klaus stated.

Val sighed. "Ok you’re right. I will tell him, once we get back to the cabin."

They walked and caught back up with them. "Ready?" Val asked.

Zeke smiled and nodded. "We're ready."

They all started walking back towards the cabin. "It's just up here through the trees." Val said after an hour of walking.

They walked through the trees, Zeke and Chase stopping to look around. "Woah." Chase said. "This place is beautiful. How did you find it?"

"It belongs to my family we use it anytime we are, um in the area." Val replied.

"It is like the prefect bug out location. The cabin on the hill makes it easy to see anyone coming from all directions, and you have the lake. Plus it is beautiful." Chase kept looking around in aww.

Val laughed. "Yeah my dad had it built for those reason's. He wanted a place where we could get away from the craziness, but also be able to protect easily from enemies."

"Your enemies?" Zeke asked.

Val looked at him and nodded. "Actually there is something we need to talk about. Can we go for a walk?"

Zeke nodded. "There is something I'd like to talk to you about as well." He turned and looked at Chase. Chase nodded and mind linked him…"You got this, just be straight forward with her." Zeke nodded and turned to Val.

Val looked at the two of them. "You and your friends always did do that weird thing where it was like you could read eachother thoughts."

Zeke smiled and nodded. "Shall we?" He reached his hand out to her and she took it.

She again felt the sparks hitting her at his touch, she looked up at him wondering if he felt it too, but couldn’t tell.  She felt like she was a teenager again as butterflies filled her stomach. Somehow this man still had this effect on her. 'You're a grown women act like it.' She told herself as she felt her cheeks on fire. They walked into the woods hand together, both silent.

"I." They both said at the same time, then laughed. Val let out a small sigh. "There's something you don’t know about me, that I have been keeping from you since we first met."

Zeke smiled. "I am afraid I have been keeping something from you too, and it's going to be quite a shock. You can tell me anything." He lead her to a big downed log, both sitting.

"My secret is pretty big, I'm just going to come out and say it." She  looked him right in the eyes. "I'm a Princess."

Zeke smiled. "Like literally? How?"

"I wasn't born in America. I only moved here Freshman year, my dad thought I Needed to live here and do school here for a few years to aid in our relationship with America. He wanted me to learn about the culture here, how you guys lived." She looked up at him. "Are you mad?"

Zeke chuckled. "No I am not mad, but you know you could have told me. I would have kept that secret for you."

"You don’t know how many times I went to tell you, to confess everything to you. Do you remember Charlie?"

"Of course I remember Charlie, how could I forget your best friend? I still don't know how you managed to get every single class together. You were inseparable."

"We weren't really best friends. I mean don’t get me wrong, she became my best friend after all those years, but she was actually my body guard sent to protect me and watch over me."

'Wow." Zeke laughed. "That actually explains a lot. She was always so serious, always worried about what you were doing, who you were with, and she did not like me!"

"That's not true. She actually liked you a lot, she just knew my parents wouldn't approve." She shook her head. "That's why I left in the middle of Senior year. My parents found out about you and they made me come home."

"Val I'm sorry. I had no idea."

She smiled. "Don't be, they knew I was falling for you and that wasn't what was best for the kingdom." She mocked shaking her head.

"I have always wondered all these years what happened to you. After that one text I never heard from you again."

"I didn’t want it that way. They told me I had to break all communication with you and fulfill my duties as Princess of Palaco."

"Princess of Palaco huh?" Zeke smiled. I have heard of the Palaco Islands, they’re supposed to be quite beautiful.

Val smiled. "They are. I miss them honestly, and my family. I hope they are ok." She wiped a stray tear from her check. "Enough about me. We can talk more and I can answer whatever questions you have, but you had something important to tell me too."

"Val, I am." He stopped and grabbed both of her hands with his. "Promise me you'll be open minded about what I am going to tell you."

Val squeezed his hands. "I promise, but how bad can it be?" She laughed.

Zeke took a deep breath. "I'm a werewolf."

Val let go of his hands and stood up, taking a couple steps backwards. Fear washed across her face, as her hand covered her opened mouth. "Y….you…you’re one of them?"