Chapter 32
My mother took a deep breath, her hands folding neatly in her lap. I sat beside her, my body stiff, my heart pounding. This was it. The truth I had been searching for. The truth she had kept from me all my life.
I stared at her, my patience wearing dangerously thin. “Start, Mother. I do not have all day.”
She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before looking at me.
“I suppose you already know by now that you come from a… special bloodline, don’t you?”
My jaw tightened.
“The Dual-Mated Lunas,” I muttered.
She nodded. “Yes. The Lunas who are bonded to two Alphas instead of one. The ones who have the power to choose their mate, instead of being bound by fate.”
I swallowed hard. “Killian told me about it. He said our kind was rare… that we were seen as threats because we could unite rival packs or tear them apart.”
My mother exhaled sharply. “That is true. And that is why you are the way you are, Aurora. But it’s not just you. It’s me too.”
I blinked, confusion swirling inside me. “What?”
She turned to me, her eyes filled with something… something like guilt.
“I carried the same curse, Aurora. The same gift. I also had two mates.”
The ground beneath me felt like it was shaking.
“What are you saying?” I whispered.
She looked away, her fingers twisting together. “Your father—your so-called father—was acting like a fool during that time. He was entertaining other women, lying, betraying me in ways I could never forgive.”
I frowned, something dark twisting in my stomach.
“And?”
She took another deep breath. “And… I got pregnant by my best friend.”
Silence. A dead, suffocating silence. I felt my blood run cold. “Excuse me?”
Her eyes flicked to mine, as if she had been preparing for this moment for years. “I got pregnant by my best friend, Aurora. And that’s how you came to be.”
My breath hitched. I shook my head, trying to process her words. “Who?” My voice barely came out. “Who was he?”
She hesitated.
I felt my chest tighten.
“Who, Mother?” I repeated, my voice sharper now, demanding.
She didn’t answer. Not yet.
Instead, she continued, her voice softer. “My best friend was tied to the same bloodline, Aurora. The Dual-Mated bloodline. That is why you are special. That is why you carry this in your veins.”
I swallowed hard, my heartbeat loud in my ears.
“So, he was one of them?” I murmured. “A Dual-Mated Alpha?”
She nodded. “Yes. And you are his only child… his only heir… to this day.”
My breath caught.
I stared at her, my mind racing.
“Who is he?” My voice cracked. “Tell me.”
She met my gaze, her lips pressing together.
And then—
She said the name that shattered my world into a million pieces.
“It’s Alpha Vincenzio.”
My mind went blank. I forgot how to breathe. I forgot how to think. Because Alpha Vincenzio wasn’t just some powerful Alpha.
He was Debbie’s father.
