Chapter 87

Carol’s POV

“A Luna?” I asked, taking a step away from him and staring at him like he had just grown an extra head.

He ran his fingers through his hair and gave me a sheepish look.

“Well, yeah,” he said, trying to appear casual, but I could see he was a bit nervous about this topic. “I am an Alpha, and my mate is expected to be the Luna.”

“I can’t be a luna, I’m a human, Aiden,” I tell him. I’ve heard stories of Lunas growing up and I’m certainly no Luna. “Your pack would never accept me as one of them. Especially not your family.”

He sighs and steps closer to me, putting his hands on my shoulders.

“We will figure it out when the time comes. I’m sure once my pack sees how important you are to me, they will come around and they will learn to respect you. If not… then, I’ll force them to respect you. But you are my fated mate, Carol, and that’s not ever going to change so they will have to learn to live with it.”

I wanted to be as confident as him, but the thought of being a luna to an entire pack of werewolves was terrifying when I was just me.

“A pack needs a strong luna and you know it,” I tell him, keeping my eyes locked on his.

“And you are the strongest most badass woman I know,” he tells me, kissing my forehead. “Don’t underestimate yourself.”

I smile at him, and then I nod.

“Okay,” I finally say after a short pause.

My phone rings shortly after, drawing our attention elsewhere. I smile when I see my mother’s name flash across the screen.

“Hey, mom,” I say. “What’s up?”

“Sorry, Carol. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she says, sounding a bit worried.

“We were just finishing up with dinner. I made your spaghetti and meatball recipe,” I tell her.

“How did it come out?”

“It was delicious. Aiden really enjoyed it.”

“Oh, good, I’m so glad,” she breathed happily. “So, listen. I was wondering if you had time to swing by tonight. Your father and I would like to discuss something with you.”

Instantly, a knot formed in my belly.

“Is everything okay?” I ask.

“Oh, yes, of course. It’s just that we’ve been keeping something from you and I think it’s best if we talk about it as a family and in person.”

I swallowed the tough lump in my throat.

“Sure, mom. I’ll be there in an hour,” I tell her.

“Great,” she says. “I’ll see you then.”

The line disconnects and I’m left staring at my phone in disbelief.

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asks as he starts to clear the table.

“My parents want to talk to me about something tonight. They said they’ve been keeping something from me,” I tell him with my brows furrowed together in pure confusion.

Something flashes in Aiden’s eyes that I don’t recognize, and it leaves me feeling more unsettled.

“I’ll come with you,” Aiden finally says. “I’d rather you didn’t travel alone tonight.”

I nod.

“Okay.”

A little over an hour later we pulled up to my parent’s house. I’m shaking because I’m terrified about what they are going to say. Aiden kept reassuring me the entire drive that it was going to be okay, that my parents loved me more than anything, and that I shouldn’t worry. It made me feel a little better, but not a lot.

My mom and dad greeted me as soon as we got to the house as they usually and neither of them looked upset, which was a good sign.

“Oh, hello, Aiden. We weren’t expecting you to come too,” my mother said with a smile on her face as she hugged him.

“I didn’t want Carol to come alone after what happened this morning,” Aiden confesses.

I shoot him a look, not wanting to tell my parents what happened this morning. He gives me an apologetic look in return.

“What happened this morning?” My father asked, looking between the two of us.

“Nothing, Dad,” I said, trying to sound innocent and give him a smile but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes.

“Carol…” My dad warned me.

I sighed, unable to lie to them.

“I went for a run this morning, and someone was following me,” I blurted.

My mother gasps.

“Do you know who it was?” My father asks.

I shake my head.

“I didn’t see their face; I just saw a shadow and heard them. I ran right home though, and we called the police to patrol the area. By the time they came, the person was long gone so I’m not sure who it was.”

“Do you think it could be one of the men who was stalking the house?” My mother asks.

“Could be,” I admit.

“Until we know for sure, I’d feel safer if Carol didn’t travel alone, which is why I’m here. I don’t mean to intrude on Mr. and Mrs. Miller,” Aiden says, giving them polite smiles.

“You could never intrude, Aiden. You are always welcome here. We hope we didn’t pull you away from anything important,” my mother says. J

“Not at all,” Aiden assures her.

“You both should sit down,” my father suggests, pointing to the couch.

I took Aiden’s hand and guided him to the couch, a nervous pit in the middle of my stomach as we took our seats side by side.

“Do you want anything? Tea or coffee?” My mom offers.

“No, mom. I’d rather just get this over with,” I blurt.

She sighs and then nods as she sits on the loveseat; my father sits on his recliner and they both look at me with strange expressions.

“Whatever it is, just tell me,” I plead.

They both look at one another and then look back at me.

“Firstly, we want you to know that we love you so much, and no matter what we tell you, you will always be our daughter,” my mother says, leaning forward in her seat so she can look at me better.

I scrunch my face in response as I stare back at her.

“Of course, I’m your daughter,” I say. “Why wouldn’t I think otherwise?”

“A long time ago, when your father and I first married, we tried for a baby,” my mother began to explain. “It took us a long time and then eventually I got pregnant. However, when I reached 3 months pregnant, I ended up getting into a bad accident.”

I gasp at her words, covering my mouth with my hands.

“Were you hurt badly?” I ask.

She sighs and then nods.

“I was hurt pretty badly, but that wasn’t the worst of it. They tried everything they could, but they couldn’t save my baby,” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “They told me that I won’t be able to have any children after that.”

My brows furrowed as I stared at her; I looked at my father for confirmation and he sighed, looking at the ground and tugging at his fingers nervously.

“You couldn’t have any children after your accident?” I ask.

She shook her head as the tears released from her eyes.

“No, I couldn’t,” she admits. “We were devastated because all we wanted was a family. It put a toll on our marriage because of it and we fought a lot. I think part of your father blamed me for what had happened, and we started to drift apart a little.”

I looked at my father who closed his eyes as he listened to my mother’s story.

“Is that true, Dad?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “Did you blame her?”

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair as he opens his eyes and peeks over at me.

“I know it wasn’t fair of me to blame her. It wasn’t her fault. It was a drunk driver, and your mother was a victim. I think part of me just needed someone to blame and your mother was the easiest target. I was so gutted when I found out we couldn’t have any more children and I drowned those sorrows with alcohol. I was a mess, Carol. Your mother was a mess. We were devastated.”

“But you love each other,” I whispered, tears forming in my eyes.

Aiden wrapped her arm around me to comfort me.

“Yes, of course we do, and we did back then too,” my mother assures me. “But we were so upset and heartbroken. It was a traumatic experience for us. The thought of adoption didn’t really occur to us at the time and because we were fighting so much, we didn’t want to bring another child into the mess we created. So, we let the anger, the hate, and the resentment for one another fester.”

My heart cracked hearing this story.

“Eventually, we couldn’t take it anymore…” my mother said through her own tears. “And we filed for a divorce.”

I gasped loudly.

“You what?” I ask, staring between the two of them in utter shock. “You got divorced?”

“No,” my father said quickly. “We just filed. Like I said, I was a mess. I was drinking and angry and I picked fights with your mother any chance I got. I was barely home because I was at the bar so much. I blamed her and she was heartbroken in more ways than one. It was my fault really… I shouldn’t have put all of that on her. But I did and eventually, she told me she was leaving me. She filed for a divorce and our family lawyer sent us the papers.”

I let out a sob.

“Signing them was the hardest part; so much so, that neither of us got around to it right away. I would read the papers over and over again until I couldn’t read them any longer… and then the miracle happened.”

“You got pregnant with me?” I ask, hopefully.

They looked at one another briefly before looking at me.

“Well, no. we weren’t having sex,” my mother says, shaking her head. “But we were sitting at the dinner table, a rarity lately because of all the fighting. I wanted us to really talk about what this divorce meant and discuss what we each got out of it. I still loved your father very much and leaving him was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. I wanted to make sure there were no regrets before signing the papers…”

“Then there was a knock on the door,” my father continues the story. “A woman came to us; she looked about middle-aged, and she wore what looked like a servant's uniform. She was terrified though and she had a small baby wrapped in a blanket in her arms.”

My breath hitched.

My mother leaned forward and took my hands, squeezing them tightly.

“Carol… that baby was you.”