Chapter 108

Lauren

“Mark?”

The name left my throat like a bomb, my heart recognizing him before my head.

I stood frozen, the weight of the truth pressing down on me like a heavy blanket, suffocating every thought in my head.

My mother—Lily—stood across the room, her posture rigid and almost… expectant, as if she had been waiting for this moment for years. I hadn’t noticed her shift, hadn’t noticed how her eyes darted back and forth between me and Mark—my brother—until it was too late. There was no turning back now.

But he was… dead. Or so I thought? Back when counters were still too tall and I was rosey in my playful cheeks, he had passed.

Mark was now… massive, hulking, his body swollen with muscle, his eyes too wide, too empty, like a wild animal who had been caged for too long. His appearance alone should have been enough to shock me.

His hands were large, thick with veins and scars, his feet like oversized boots, designed for someone who didn’t fit the world he was born into. But the most jarring thing of all—something I could barely wrap my mind around—was his ears. And his tail. There were no doubts now: Mark was a wolf. Half wolf. But a curse in human form.

I hadn’t known. How could I have known?

Had he always been down here… and I had left him?

When I finally dragged my eyes from Mark’s startling, unblinking gaze and glanced back at my mother, my heart lurched, a sharp pang of betrayal cutting through me. She wasn’t just hiding him down here—she had locked him away.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice came out small, fractured, despite all my efforts to control it. “Why didn't you ever tell me about him?” The weight of the question seemed to crush me, and I could feel my blood pulsing, my heart racing, as if my body knew that this was the moment everything shifted.

Lily’s lips twisted into something like regret. A forced, angry regret. “Because it wasn’t your place, Lauren.”

That was it. That was all she said. As though she didn’t owe me more—as though she didn’t owe Mark more.

I stepped closer to Mark, my kids, unable to stop myself. He was trembling, a constant, low, fearful hum radiating from his body as if every instinct in him told him to run, to escape. But there was no escape from this truth. No escape from the curse that held him.

“Mark?” I whispered, hesitant, scared that if I said it too loudly, he might vanish, might disappear into the darkness like a ghost. But he didn’t vanish. His eyes flickered toward me, as though he heard me, but his face was still frozen.

He didn’t speak—didn’t know how to speak.

“Mark…” I repeated, moving closer, until I was just an arm’s length away.

My mother’s sharp voice cut through the silence like a knife. "Don’t touch him."

The command was sharp and harsh. It froze me in place, as though her voice had locked my body into position.

“Why?” I demanded, my voice low, dangerous. “Why did you keep him here? Why did you hide him from me?”

Lily’s expression was unreadable, but there was a tremor behind her eyes—a flicker of something deep and ancient. I could almost feel it—the weight of all the things she’d kept hidden from me for so long.

“Because I had to,” she snapped. “You don’t understand, Lauren. Mark is... he is dangerous. Not in the way you think, but in the way the world will think when they learn about him. About you!”

I looked at her, my brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes flickered to Mark, then back to me. “He is the product of your father’s bloodline. Not a normal werewolf. A Lycan.”

The word stung in the air like a punch to the gut. “I know!” I snapped, confused and disoriented. The Lycan bloodline—the very thing I had come here for. I couldn’t quite grasp it, couldn’t even understand it. “That’s what I have been trying to ask! To get out of you!”

Lily’s voice lowered, a dangerous quiet in her tone as she continued. “Your father wasn’t just any man, werewolf. He only a wolf, the son of the Moon Goddess herself—a direct descendant. That’s why Mark’s... the way he is. He was born with the curse, the result of mixing the Lycan blood with human blood. Lycan blood is just the Moon Goddess’s bloodline. Direct Bloodline. If I had known I would have never…”

I took a step back, my mind spinning. “You… you slept with just a wolf? As a human?” My face twisted as Abigail let out an, “Ew.”

Lily’s face scowled, her hands snapping to her hips. “I don’t want to hear it from you! You’re here because of me and your beautiful father! He—”

I put a hand up, “I don’t want to know.”

The weight of her words hit me like a wall as I thought everything over. The Moon Goddess’s son. How had she never told me? How could she keep something like this from me? I had lived my whole life thinking my father was just... a man. A regular man. I had never known this part of me, this part of my blood.

“But then why can’t he shift?” I asked, my voice trembling, pointing to Mark. “Why lock him up? If he’s a Lycan, then why does he look like this? Why can’t he change?”

Lily’s face hardened, and she turned away, her voice steady and resigned as she spoke. “It’s the curse. The bloodline is broken, fractured. It has power—yes. But Mark cannot transform like the rest of you can. He is stuck in this form. Forever. He’s… a bit off.”

The words hung in the air between us. I was suffocating under the weight of it all, my mind racing, trying to process everything, but it felt like trying to hold onto sand slipping through my fingers.

“I don’t understand,” I said, my voice faint, barely a whisper.

“You never will,” she replied, shaking her head. “No one ever will.”

But then her tone shifted, her eyes narrowing as if some other truth had just broken free. “Your blood, Lauren—your blood and Abigail’s—are different. You carry a power that hasn’t been seen in generations.”

I blinked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

She stepped forward, her eyes glowing with an almost manic energy. “The Goddess favors women, you see. She’s always favored women. The curse of the Lycans is an evil one that falls upon the men. It makes them broken, unable to claim their full power, except in rare cases. But women... Women have always held the real strength, something once believe could only belong to men, to Alphas. But your bloodline, Abigail’s—it’s why the rogues are coming for you. It’s why they’re targeting you. You… as women, can tap into Alpha’s power. And that alone, is a problem, a threat to werewolf society and norms.”

I shook my head, disbelief clouding my mind. “Tap into Alpha’s powers?” I repeated. “What!? That’s impossible! Women can’t do that!”

“They want the power you have, or to extinguish it,” she said bitterly, “It’s the reason I never wanted you to marry him—Alexander. His bloodline is strong, yes. But when it merges with yours, Lauren... you become unstoppable. You and Abigail.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine. “But Owen—”

“He got lucky,” Lily sighed. “Mating with Alexander saved his fate, the Alpha blood able to overcome the curse. But that explains his problems as a kid, in and out of the hospital. As he grows, he will become stronger then you… even the Alpha king.”

I shook my head, “How do you know that?! About—about Owen’s hospital check in as a kid?!”

She rolled her eyes, “I know everything, Lauren. I told you, the wind talks.”

I rubbed my face, trying to take it all in. Okay. Lycan blood is powerful, but only to women? But combined with Alpha blood, it off sets the curse on men? But… women having access to Alpha’s strength… that’s never been possible. We are Luna’s, always below our Alpha’s. I can’t be as strong as Alexander… could I?

No… I couldn’t even transform a month ago!

On top of it all, my brother is alive. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

And then, without warning, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The shrill sound cut through the thick tension in the room, and I quickly fumbled for it, pulling it out and staring at the name that flashed across the screen.

Alexander.

My heart jumped into my throat, and I answered it on instinct.

“Lauren, they’re coming.” His voice was tight, urgent. “The rogues. They’ve found you. You need to get out of there, now. They’re heading your way.”

I could hear the tension in his voice, the controlled panic. The danger was no longer a shadow; it was a reality. The rogues had found us. They were coming for me, my kidsl. And I had no idea how to stop them.

“Lauren?” Alexander’s voice broke through my daze.

“I’m... I’m coming. I—We’ll leave as soon as possible,” I whispered, barely able to hear myself over the roar of my own heartbeat.

I looked back at my mother who instantly looked away.

I didn’t know what to think, but I had to get everyone out of here.

My eyes turned to Mark, his massive form looming.

Everyone.