Filed to story: Chasing the Rejected Luna's Heart (Clara & Liam) Book PDF Free
I blinked at him. What did he expect, that the doctor had given me a full report or something? “I don’t know. She said they’re running tests in the lab.”
The answer seemed to satisfy him, even if he clearly wasn’t happy about it. He took the chair across the room, his arms folded in agitation. Usually, when he had even a second of downtime, he spent it answering emails, texts, and whatever else he did all day. Being the pack alpha was something of a Jack-of-all-trades position. He was expected to control the troops in times of war, oversee the pack finances, delegate responsibilities where possible, and so on. It wasn’t a job I envied, so I understood why he was always so stressed. Maybe having the job split between three males would make it a little easier, but it was hard to say.
He made no attempt at small talk during the wait, though. He just stared straight ahead, deep in thought, and I wasn’t going to give him reason to start talking and find more fault with how I was handling this, even if I wasn’t sure what the hell this was.
When the door finally opened, I was so relieved to have the awkward silence over that it momentarily eclipsed my health concerns. At least until I saw the somber expression on the doctor’s face as she entered the room and let the door fall shut behind her.”Well?” Dad asked, standing. “What’s wrong with her?”
The doctor opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it and looked at me, a completely unreadable look in her eyes. It was when her expression shifted to one I could comprehend that I grew even more fearful.”Nothing,” she said slowly.
His nostrils flared in his eyes grew darker, as if she was confirming what he’d already suspected. He looked at me pointedly and seemed about to launch into another tirade about me not trying hard enough or doing this for attention or some bullshit.
Then she added, “She can’t shift because she isn’t a wolf. Not entirely.”
No matter how many times I replayed her words in my mind, trying to make sense of them, I just couldn’t. Not a wolf? What the hell did that mean?”Of course she’s a wolf,” he said gruffly. I could tell from the shift in his demeanor he had taken offense even though whatever the doctor was saying certainly didn’t benefit her. She had no reason to lie. And yet, I found myself wishing desperately shewas lying.”I’m sorry, sir,” the doctor said slowly, glancing nervously between us. “There’s no easy way to say this, but… Well, we ran a variety of tests, including one to compare the genetic profiles of you and your late mate, to see if there might be a hereditary component to her condition.”
My head was spinning, my thoughts racing. A hereditary component? So basically, they had done a DNA panel.”So what does that mean?” Dad demanded, his tone newly guarded. “Doctor, I suggest you speak plainly.”
His voice was menacing, especially considering he was talking to a she-wolf, which was something I had never imagined even he was capable of. Being cold, sure, and he was certainly far from a saint to my mother, but there were codes of decorum even he was expected to follow.
The doctor swallowed audibly. I couldn’t blame her for being nervous, even if I had a feeling that whatever she was about to say was not going to work in my favor. Time seemed to slow down, but I still couldn’t make sense of what was going on. Call me na?ve, but it really didn’t even occur to me until that point what she was about to say, even if it probably should have. Even if, looking back, all the signs were there. I guess I just didn’t want to believe it any more than Dad did, even though we probably had very different reasons for being in denial.”Lavinia is not your daughter. Not biologically.”
There it was. The revolution that we had all been waiting for, and the one that brought my life to a screeching halt in the most unexpected way possible. I couldn’t react, I couldn’t even think, and even if I had been able to, what the hell was I supposed to say? I was still struggling to process it when Dad turned slowly toward me, and I could see the wheels turning behind his steel gray eyes. I watched as more emotion crossed his features than I had seen in my entire life, ranging from confusion to denial to shock, and finally settling on anger.
No, not anger. Anger had a depth. A limit. Whatever this was, it knew no bounds. It was absolute, complete disgust laced with betrayal. As if I myself had a hand in whatever treachery he was realizing had unfolded retroactively.”Dad?” My voice cracked as I took a step back instinctively. He had hit me before as punishment, even if it had never gone beyond the bounds of what was considered appropriate by pack culture. And yet, I had never actually feared what he was about to do until that moment. I thought I had, but now I knew better.”If she’s not mine, then what the hell is she?” he asked, turning back toward the doctor as if he hadn’t heard my question.
His words cut into me like a knife, but it was the same question at the forefront of my mind.
The doctor shook her head, looking like she would rather be anywhere else. I doubted all her training had prepared her for this bullshit. “I don’t know. We would need to run more tests, but my best guess is that she’s a hybrid between…””A hybrid?” he echoed. “Between what?””Between a wolf shifter and…” She trailed off, giving me a sympathetic yet wary glance. “And a human.”
And just like that, as the world I knew crumbled around me, something else made sense. Everything else, really. All the strange little signs and all the questions I had been too afraid to ask. There was nothing more taboo than a wolf mating with a human, and the product of such ill-fated unions, well, they were nothing shy of abominations, at least in the pack’s eyes.
And I guess I was one of them.
* * *
When Dad drove me back home, ignoring Tyler’s questions on the way out, the ride was as uncomfortable and silent as I’d expected. I didn’t know what to do, how to respond, or even what to think. My mind was a playground of chaos and confusion, of questions and answers I wanted to run from as desperate as I was for them.
How? How was this possible? Unless the doctor was lying, but… Why would she? Unless she had some secret vendetta against my mother she had been waiting for the chance to enact until the exact right moment, nothing made sense. And yeah, that was a pretty damn far-fetched theory on its own, but I would’ve been willing to accept anything. Anything but this.
When Dad finally pulled up in front of the mansion, I knew I was out of time to come up with a decent way to broach the topic, so I just said, “Dad, I–“”Don’t,” he said in a gruff tone that made me feel like I was the one who had cheated on him. And I was wolf enough that I could tell from the way his energy had shifted that he wasn’t looking at me like his daughter anymore.