Leilani.

"No one knew." Jarek answered coldly, his eyes landing on and holding everything but my face. "He was erased from history. His name was wiped clean from every book there is that should speak of him and for that ."

"Why?" I asked softly, unable to wrap my head around this new concept.

"Because he was unruly." Jay answered without missing a beat. "He was impossible to control. He and your father were two of a kind, Lycans who were too powerful, they were the ones to start the cult now popularly known as the dark knights..."

"But there are more dark knights now..."

"Just six." He answered, saying the word ’six’ like it was vomit. "Six who are nothing but puppets compared to the real deal."

"Oh."

"The only person who knew of Theon’s existence was your father and everyone who knew them says that even after his exile, they still stuck together like two peas in a pod."

"And Darius?" I whispered, causing everyone to turn to me, "I mean this Darius’ father. The one who was known as Darius the mad..."

"He didn’t know shit. He was indeed mad." Jay said with a dismissive wave of his hands and I couldn’t help but wonder how he got to find out so much in such a short time.

"So you think Theon is back in NYC?" I drawled quietly, a shiver running down my spine.

"No. I think it’s one of the both of them. It could be Theon. It could be Ragnar."

When the realization of what he was gravitating towards hit me, I stilled. My entire body felt like I had been doused in cold water. I blinked up at him, because hell, at this point, I could swear that my brain had stopped functioning.

And then after a moment, I drawled; "So you’re speculating that Theon may have been the one who was killed by Malakai and the late Alpha Stormborn?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He nodded.

Once again my breath hitched.

"How?"

"Have you ever sat down to think about it?" He asked and I immediately shook my head. "You’ve never thought about an Alpha... a supposed lycan Alpha was killed by werewolves and nothing happened? Not even any form of war? Not a sound? Nothing?!"

Now that he has mentioned it, I couldn’t help but wonder. My brows drew together as I turned to look at the others who were just as confused as I was.

When the awkward silence settled for a moment too long, Jay finally broke it by saying; "We’ll find out soon enough, okay? You do not need to worry your pretty head over stuff like that. For now."

"But how do you know all these?" I couldn’t help but ask, my curiosity peaking with each passing second. "What prompted you to do this research?"

At first, I thought that he would never answer that question because he took too long. But when he finally did, he looked straight at me and said;

"Him." He answered with a shrug. "I met him once and decided that he had to be related to you one way or the other. You need to see him, Leilani. You need to feel his aura... his presence. There’s only one other person I’ve ever felt such an aura from..." his voice trailed off and for a minute, he sounded almost... dreamy.

"Darius?" I supplied, cocking my brows at him and almost choked on my saliva when Jay’s face scrunched up.

He looked like someone who had been forced to swallow a bitter lemon as he snapped;

"Oh, hell no! eww! I mean you!"

His expression was so twisted, I would’ve laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. But because I couldn’t stop thinking about the new information I’d just gotten, I simply smiled.

"That cannot be real."

"Oh, it is. You can ask the triplets if you think I am wrong!"

And while he may have said that jokingly, something in his words unsettled me. It gave the impression that he has come to accept that I would always listen to the triplets before him.

I frowned at him before I could help myself but before I could respond, Caelum chirped in;

"He’s right."

I froze then slowly... very slowly turned to cast him a glare. When our eyes met, he shuddered dramatically and hissed through gritted teeth;

"I just had to tell the truth."

"I didn’t ask, did I?"

"You don’t have to ask for anything when it comes to me." He answered, and then made it a point to wriggle his brows at me.

I knew that Jarek had caught that action but he said nothing about it. And just to diffuse the tension now thick in the air, I turned once again to Jay and asked;

"How did you meet him?"

He frowned. "Who?"

"The man you were talking about," I said almost too quickly, "the one we’ve been talking about."

I saw the recognition flicker in his eyes before he slowly nodded. He drawled; "At work. We have some business. He said he just came to NYC very recently and wants to work with me."

Something about the way he said those words made the alarm bells in my head go wild. It reminded me of something... someone...

"The Good Samaritan!" I screamed, causing everyone to turn and look at me with expressions that read something along the lines of; "are you mad?"

So I quickly shook my head and began to explain in hurried words; "I think I have met this same man we’re talking about right now!"

Maya was the first to react after I said that. She snorted. "That’s impossible!"

But it wasn’t.

It had to be him.

It had to be the Good Samaritan because how else do I explain the inexplicable warmth I had felt around him? How else do I explain how he seems to know about Darius or how his silver hair and purple eye color were the same as with the few Valemonts I have come across?

We were like the Targaryens— impossible to miss and very quick to spot.

So I nodded and began to tell them the story of how I’d met a man that matches Jarek’s description and the events that followed afterwards.

"So he helped you?" Gavin asked in surprise after a moment and I quickly agreed.

"Yes, he said he doesn’t know why he did it and felt as though he was compelled to..."

"It is the bond," Jay drawled, stealing my attention. "The family bond. So you were the one I saw at the company that day? The first day I met with him? You were wearing a hideous hoodie and the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen on you."

For a moment, I couldn’t exactly remember what he was talking about and when it slowly dawned on me that it was the same day I had come here— to the triplets, I nodded briskly.

"Yes."