Chapter 107
+25 Points
I woke up to silence. I was alone in bed and I could tell that I was alone at the house too.
I reached for my phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up, glowing aggressively in the quiet room: 12:03 p.m.
Twelve o’clock. I hadn’t slept this late in years. Now that I was awake, the dread hit me immediately, heavy and cold in my stomach. Astor and Marco were gone. I knew they were probably at the Pack House, and I should be there too, acting like the Luna, meeting people, settling in.
But I couldn’t. I truly couldn’t face it.
The real problem wasn’t the pack duties, it was that sooner or later, I would run into her.
Isabella.
My daughter.
The little girl I didn’t know about.
The daughter I couldn’t recognize despite being so close to her.
How was I supposed to look into her eyes and pretend I wasn’t her mother? How could I watch from afar? Every fiber in my body screamed to go to her, pull her into my arms, and tell her everything. But I couldn’t. Not now.
Just the thought of seeing her and not being able to hug her felt like a physical ache. It was easier just to stay in bed, stay hidden where the world couldn’t demand anything from me.
But I can’t rot in here forever so I groaned and dragged myself out from under the heavy
blankets.
I took a quick, cold shower, hoping the shock would clear the fog in my head. I didn’t bother with anything fancy just a plain shirt and jeans. I felt heavy, like I was moving through mud.
In the kitchen, I poured myself a massive bowl of cereal. Sugary, crunchy, totally useless food that felt like the only thing I could handle right now. I leaned against the counter, chewing slowly, when I heard it.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Loud, demanding, and impossible to ignore.
Their scent filled the air around the house with a familiar, sharp mix of old cedarwood and
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expensive perfume.
Alpha Sanders (now the former Alpha) and Luna Ovelia (the former Luna).
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I was absolutely not ready for this. I just stared at the clock, letting the knocking continue. Let them knock. I just wish they would leave and just take the message that I don’t want to meet them. I ate another spoonful of cereal, trying to pretend I didn’t hear the persistent, escalating pounding.
A moment later, the knocking stopped, followed by the click of the lock. They let themselves
- in.
I could hear their footsteps approaching the kitchen where I stood absolutely still, holding my
spoon.
Ovelia stepped in first, her face already set in a judgmental mask. Sander followed her, his shoulders broad and his face etched with worry lines I didn’t remember seeing before.
“Well,” I said, my voice flat. “It’s been a while.”
What happened next was completely unexpected. Before Ovelia could even open her mouth to fire the first shot, Sander crossed the kitchen in three great strides. He came right to my side and wrapped me in a massive hug.
I froze for a second. His scent was so familiar, it smelled like the pack house, like security, like the days when I thought Astor and I would have a future.
My eyes involuntarily welled up. He really had been like a father to me during those brief years. The guilt hit me hard, twisting my heart. I hadn’t meant to hurt him.
“Faith,” he murmured, his voice thick. “We missed you so much, child.”
I hugged him back, squeezing tightly. “I missed you too, Alpha Sander.”
When he finally stepped away, my face was warm, but the moment of softness was immediately shattered by Ovelia’s sharp voice.
“If you truly missed us,” she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “you wouldn’t have left in the first place.”
Sander put a hand on her arm, looking tired. “Ovelia, we promised we wouldn’t talk about the
past.”
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t talk about,” she snapped, her eyes narrowing on me. She took a step closer. “How could you? How could you take our grandson and not even tell us you were pregnant? We spent years grieving for you, and all this time, you had our blood
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living somewhere else.”
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My brief moment of warmth vanished. My muscles tightened, and my eyes felt cold and hard.
“We are not going to talk about it,” I stated, picking up my cereal spoon again just to have something in my hands. “And no, I don’t owe you any explanation, Luna Ovelia. The only person who had the right to ask me about that was Astor. And he has. We are past it.”
“Past it?” she practically screeched. “We welcomed you into our pack. We accepted you as a daughter, and you just abandoned us! You broke my son!”
“Daughter?” I laughed, a short, humorless sound that felt like sandpaper in my throat. I looked her dead in the eye, finally letting the rage I’d held onto for years surface. “You never accepted me. You tolerated me. You tolerated the unwanted girl who was the future Luna.”
My voice dropped, dangerous and low. “And when you found out that Alice was pregnant, you practically rubbed it in my face every chance you got. You acted like I was some kind of failure, weak because I couldn’t give Astor a child right away.”
Ovelia’s mouth opened to protest, but I didn’t let her. I was done hiding the truth.
“Quite frankly, you are also the reason I had to leave,” I finished, my hands shaking. “I couldn’t deal with having to watch my mate have a baby with another person, knowing that every day I stayed here, I would have to see that child and know it should have been mine. And I thought, Ovelia, that you of all people would understand the pain of watching that happen.”
Ovelia stared at me, her face pale now. She straightened her spine, pulling her dignity around
her like a shield.
“You broke my son’s heart,” she repeated, quieter this time, but the venom was intense. “And I can never forgive something like that.”
I set the spoon down, letting it clatter into the bowl. The sound echoed in the silent kitchen.
“Good,” I said, meeting her hateful gaze steadily. “Because I’m not after your forgiveness. I am here to stay this time, and I will not let anybody disrespect me. Not anymore. Not even the former Luna of this pack. Because I am the Luna of the Pack now.”
The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.
Sander stepped forward quickly, breaking the intense eye contact between Ovelia and me. He looked between us, anxious.
“Faith,” he said, forcing a smile. “That’s all behind us. I am very much excited to meet my grandson. Where is he?”
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“When I woke up, they were gone,” I explained, feeling a little softer toward Sanders. “Astor must have taken him to the Pack House.”
“Woke up? It’s past noon, Faith. What type of Luna sleeps through half the day?”
I closed my eyes for a single, long breath. I felt the exhaustion of everything and the pain I was feeling.
“I’m really having a day from hell,” I confessed, opening my eyes and looking from Ovelia to Alpha Sander. “And I don’t have the time or the energy to be standing here arguing right now.”
I moved away from the counter, walking toward the kitchen entrance, subtly guiding them
out.
“If you want to meet the perfect Luna and the perfect daughter–in–law,” I told Ovelia, my voice laced with steel, “you should probably just go over to Alice’s house. I’m very sure you will be much happier there.”
I turned to Sander, the softness returning just for him.
“Alpha Sander,” I said quietly. “I would really like a one–on–one with you soon. I truly did miss you.” I gave him a meaningful look, then glanced pointedly at Ovelia, who was fuming. “But for now, it’s better that you both leave my house.”
