Page 135 of Untamed

"Your father was the alpha," I point out. I take my final drink and let the bottle dangle from my fingertips.

"He won the Challenge between himself and Harrigan. Then... years later, dad's sister Anya was born. I'm pretty sure grandma made grandpa suffer for years before she let him pup her again."

"That explains the age difference."

"Aunt Anya was so loved. She was a sign that all was well between my grandparents again. Dad had just become Alpha only a few years earlier. Then... your father came to visit."

I go still. "And?"

"And... nothing. Anya was only twelve. You... you were already born. No one knew that Anya was his mate, but I guess some of the wolves suspected."

"How do you know this?" I ask him.

Orion nods. "I found out years later. Anya disappeared, and Kingson came to our pack to visit a couple of months later. My Mom told me that when they told him she was gone, he was... wrecked. Devastated."

I sit back, stunned. "I thought my Pa arranged for her kidnapping."

Orion looks at me with a look of disgust. "How do you know he didn't?"

I snarl, flashing fang at him. "You just said he was devastated," I growl.

He barks a laugh. "Your Pa was already mated. Who the fuck knows what he was thinking? But we knew it was your pack, maybe your Ma, who the fuck knows? It's still your father's fault. It's his fault for rejecting his mate. I would never, ever reject my mate. No matter what."

I sit in silence. Orion's story was eerily similar to Lyri's story. To... to Luna Gloria's story. Maybe his grandfather loved his mate, unlike the others, but what the fuck is with all the rejections from alphas?

I don’t realize I asked the question out loud until Orion answers.

"My great-grandmother," Orion says quietly, "my grandfather's mother," he clarifies, "she was the one who tried to stick up for my grandmother when the pack exiled her." His eyes slowly travel back to me. "She told me, once, that the balance of the moon was wrong. The dark and light are battling. She told me that nature has to be balanced, or the pendulum would swing too far to one side, and everything would topple."

"Sounds like a doomsday prophecy," I say wryly.

Orion smirks sadly, "FeraxMaw is destroyed, fucker. War is about to start, yeah? Doomsday is here."

"RustClaw is mine," I reply. And, for the first time, it sounds right. Comfortable. "And the Mauja, too," I tell him absently, lost in the feeling of belonging that's been missing for so long.

"The Mauja?" he asks, astonished.

"Yea, I killed my uncle just yesterday. Brought the pack back here."

"Holy shit, fuckface."

I smirk at him. "Alpha Fuckface, to you."

Orion bursts into laughter, and I laugh with him.

"Alpha," Asher steps inside the cell, "the alphasons of GriMaw and ClearHowl are here, and… your luna is with Sarj."

The bottle in my hand smashes against the wall opposite of me as the chair clatters to the floor.

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Willa

"Pup?" I step carefully into the dark darkness. It's a beautiful, bright day outside, but heavy cloth hung over the windows in this room blocks nearly all light.

My nose wrinkles at the smell. Pup hasn't washed. I can smell dirt and sweat and the faint stench of blood. I walk to the window and open the curtains, then the window, to let the sunshine and fresh air inside.

"Why are you here?" croaks his voice.

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