Zachary took a deep breath, releasing the tension coming from choosing the right words to say in front of a man who was once known as the High Alpha.
"It fits your son's description. Brown eyes, skin a bit tan, short black hair. Sounds like Lucas to us."
Benjamin's eyes narrowed at Zachary's words.
The crease between his brows deepened, and the lines around his mouth seemed to etch themselves more sharply into his weathered face.
He did not speak for a long moment. The porch swing creaked. The jasmine scent thickened in the cooling air.
He looked at Sebastian, engulfed in what he looked like after days of not eating and blaming himself for Lucas' disappearance.
Then he looked back at Zachary. His jaw worked, a muscle twitching beneath the thin skin of his cheek.
"Where is your brother now?"
Zachary straightened from the car. He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture Sebastian recognized as nervous.
Zachary only ever did that when he was about to say something he knew would land heavily.
"Elijah's in Tanesab."
The name dropped like a stone into still water.
Benjamin visibly went very still. His arms dropped to his side.
The kind of still that came before a storm, the kind that made the hairs on Sebastian's arms stand on end.
Bnejamin's face, already weathered and tired, seemed to harden into something ancient. Something that had seen too much.
Sebastian watched the recognition bloom in his imprint's father's eyes.
Tanesab.
He knew the name.
Everyone who had grown up in their world knew Tanesab. It was the place creatures ran to when they had nowhere else to go.
A sanctuary hidden in the folds of the mountains, where no questions were asked and no judgments were passed.
Shifters who had lost their packs. Witches who had burned their covens behind them. Vampires who had grown tired of the endless games.
Benjamin's hands, which had been hanging at his sides, slowly curled into fists. His knuckles went white.
His breathing changed, something shallow and uneven, like he was fighting to keep something inside.
"Tanesab," he said again. The word came out quieter this time. Almost reverent. Almost afraid.
Zachary nodded, his expression unreadable in the fading light. "Yes, Elijah had been there longer than I could remember. Our pack, the Red Moon, had always pushed him away after marrying a witch."
Benjamin's eyes were fixed somewhere in the middle distance, past the overgrown lawn, past the street, and past the rooftops where the last sliver of sun had finally disappeared.
"And you were certain that my son, Lucas, is there?"
"Yes. Elijah and his wife were the ones who welcomed Lucas in Tanesab."
Benjamin lowered his hand slowly. When he looked up at Zachary, his eyes were wet. The porch light caught the sheen, and Sebastian felt his own chest tighten at the sight.
"You're certain it was him."
Zachary nodded.
Benjamin's jaw tightened. The porch light cast long shadows across his face, making the years etched into his skin seem deeper, more cavernous.
He pulled his hand back from Sebastian's shoulder and clasped them both behind his back, a posture Sebastian recognized from his stalking days.
It was the stance Benjamin took when he was thinking. When he was weighing something heavy.
"Tell me about his living situation," Benjamin said, his voice low and measured. "Is he well? Does he have shelter? Food?"
Zachary nodded slowly. "Elijah mentioned that he had been living with this old wolf, who had lost his mate over something. He said that he had been living with him since the day he met, and as far as I remembered, Elijah once told me that they knew each other right off the bat."
Benjamin's hands, clasped behind his back, went rigid. His fingers curled into fists so tightly that Sebastian could see the tendons straining beneath the thin skin of his knuckles. The porch light flickered briefly, as if the house itself had felt the shift in the air.
He did not move. He stood like a statue carved from stone, his eyes fixed on some point beyond Zachary, beyond the overgrown lawn, beyond the rooftops where the last light had died.
Sebastian felt Lyla's hand tighten around his. He could feel the confusion radiating from the others: Timothy frowning, Marcus glancing between Benjamin and Zachary, and Lyla's quiet concern.
But Sebastian understood.
He had heard the stories. He had seen glimpses of the old photographs in the tin box beneath Benjamin's bed. The one he had been looking at before he slept.
He knew about the brother who had vanished, the brother whose name was never spoken aloud, the brother who had been erased from the family history like a stain that could not be scrubbed clean.
"Benjamin," Sebastian said carefully, "what is it?"
Benjamin did not answer. His jaw worked, muscles clenching and unclenching. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.
"Rohan. Was Rohan the wolf you were talking about?"
The name hung in the air like smoke.
Zachary's brow furrowed. "Yeah, how did you know?"
Benjamin turned away slowly, his back facing Zachary's.
In the dim light, Sebastian could see the wetness gathering there again, not just from the earlier emotion, but from something deeper. Older. A wound that had never fully healed.
"Rohan Red was my younger brother," Benjamin said. "He was the brother of mine who never left the pack for his imprint. He never came back nor visited."
"Rohan is your brother?" Zachary's voice cracked. He looked to Timothy, who had gone pale beside him, then back to Benjamin's rigid back.
"But Benjamin, he's been living in Tanesab for decades. He's practically like the pioneer wolf who found Tanesab. My brother used to tell me that the villagers say that he's been there since before any of them were born, that he just appeared one day and never left."
Benjamin's shoulders rose and fell on a breath that seemed to be pulled out with difficulty. "He was meant to be Alpha after me. He was stronger and smarter than I am. Our father had seen it. The pack noticed it. And then one night he just … vanished. His voice dropped low, almost a whisper. No note. No goodbyes. Just gone."
Sebastian stepped forward, his heart thudding with a curiosity that bordered on urgent. "But you said he left the pack with his imprint." He paused, watching Benjamin's profile in the flickering light. "Why would that make him leave the pack?"
Benjamin turned to face them fully, and Sebastian saw the truth written in every line of his father's face. The grief, the shame, the understanding that had taken decades to settle into acceptance.
"Rohan imprinted on a vampire," Benjamin said in a whisper. But they all heard it, especially Sebastian.