THE HYBRID WOLF
Chapter Twenty-four

Leila.

"What? No... What are you talking about?" Luna Katie says horrified with what I had just said.

She motions for us to sit around the big dining table and we do but not before Clayton has a firm hold on John.

Alpha Jacob and Luna Katie look from Clayton to John and sigh.

"Speak," Clayton urges because he knows I won't. I love them too much.

"Twenty years ago, there was a pack called the Moonrise pack. They had a woman as alpha. She was strong, beautiful, and talented in so many ways. Many men tried to make her their mate after hers passed away, but she always refused. She was an extremely good leader and under her care, her pack grew in size and power. The other packs started feeling threatened by her. They allied. From what I heard, there was an elder from the Dark Moon Pack, his name was Robert, there were many others including the Alpha and Luna of my old pack, the Dreamer pack. They all ganged up on alpha Christabella. Even though she was a pure Alpha and had good soldiers she was very weak from just giving birth. They had planned it that way. I happen to know all of this because I was a slave in my old pack, and so could hear them speak when I was doing one shore or the other," Luna Katie says with tears running down her cheeks and I feel the tears on my cheek not knowing when they started flowing.

"That tragic night, we were forced to go and fight with the alliance they had formed. I was only a slave, I couldn't say no..." She stops and swallows hard before proceeding.

"I was horrified with all that I was witnessing, men, women, children, and even babies were slaughtered. As I was replaceing a place to hide, that is when I found you. You were under a fallen log of wood,"

"My mother placed me there. It is the only image I have of her. Her wolf placed me there before running into the battlefield. I often dream and see her face, the face of her wolf I mean. Leone looks a lot like her..." I cut in through her words and she paused to listen to me nodding understandingly. When I stop talking she continues

"When I laid my eyes on you, my wolf imprinted on you and saw you as her own. It was love at first sight for me. I was frightened and didn't know how I was going to get you out of there, but I knew I had to. I took you and rubbed you on my skin so you could have my scent. I then placed you under my large shirt and ran. I ran as fast as I could. Thank God, all the others were busy in the battle. When I got to my pack, I didn't know anywhere else, and I couldn't trust any other pack seeing how many took part in that alliance. I figured I would best protect you in a place I had a little mastery of..." Katie sighed covering her face with her hands her sobs not ending.

"I gave you to an old lady who lived remotely from the village. Giving her a story to tell when she would be asked who was the child with her... I stole things from the pack house to give the lady to take care of both of you. I did so for five years until Alpha Jacob visited our pack and recognized me as his mate. He didn't care that I was a slave, didn't care that I looked like nothing because they maltreated me so much. When the time came to go, I took him to the old lady's house and told him about you. I told him you were mine even if I didn't give birth to you. He said..."

"If the child is yours, then she is equally mine,"

alpha Jacob finished her phrase because she was now fully sobbing. He draped his hands around her to console her and in a heartbeat, I went to her and she hugged me tight to my chest.

"You are my baby. My little princess. You don't know how much you did for me. Every single time I thought of ending my life after being beaten till I was covered with blood, only the thought of you, and your brother kept me going. You gave me strength and courage. And every time I could see you, you always made me smile and sometimes laugh out loud. Something that didn't exist in my life before you came along. So yes. You are my gift from the moon goddess," We are sobbing so hard with Chloe and Caroline joining in the crying. The men weren't crying but you could tell they were emotional.

"The first time you called me mom was one of the best days of my life and it was just unfortunate that you had to be breaking. When you were at your lowest, you called me mom. You might be wondering why I didn't adopt you... Well because you have some serious alpha blood in you, and so does John. I didn't want the possibility of you two fighting each other for the title of alpha. And then there was the fact that no one knows who your father is, I figured you might have wanted to replace him and go with him... There were so many possibilities, and I didn't want to take them away from you. I didn't tell you all of this before because I wanted you to grow to be a balanced wolf and not one driven by vengeance. I did my best to love and care for you so that you will always know that there is a feeling stronger than hate, and that is love. Forgive me for keeping you in the dark..." Mom finished talking with our foreheads pressed against each other.

"That would mean she is older than John right? She was already five years old when you found your mate... So, how could they be mate given that it will mean that Leila would have been eighteen before John..." Chase inquiries and well, It's a good question.

Mom turned her head to the side biting her lips to stop her wail.

"That is because John is not my son." Silence. You could hear a pin drop from the boom Alpha Jacob just released. We were all frozen in place. My eyes were as wide as soccer.

"She had him after being raped by her former Alpha. That was also the reason her Luna hated and maltreated her so much. When I came along, she begged me to accept John because he was innocent and she feared that her child whom she barely could see, let alone touch, would suffer greatly under the care of her former Luna. The latter didn't put up much of a fight, she was eager to give John to me seeing she wouldn't need him if his mother was no more there for her to torture with the sight of her son. She was my mate, what would you have me do? See her breaking every day thinking about her pup?" Alpha Jacob says holding his shaking mate, her demeanor that of anguish.

"Let me just answer the question you all are thinking," he continued with a chuckle.

"I already had two incredible children. I didn't need to have any of my own to feel fulfilled, not that we didn't try, but having the child of an already mated wolf at such a young age, damaged her uterus," he finished kissing his mate in reassurance that everything was fine.

My head was spinning, tears flowing from my eyes like a broken tap.