Chapter 97

Chapter 97
Bella's POV:

The forest air felt different tonight—charged, almost electric against my skin. I pressed my hand harder against the back of my neck, where that strange burning sensation had flared up moments ago. Across from me, Flora mirrored my gesture, her palm flat against the same spot on her own neck.

My wolf, Ash, stirred inside me with an urgency I'd never felt before. Something was happening. Something important.

Then the vision hit me.

Two newborn babies, their cries piercing through a dimly lit room. Twins. The image flickered like an old film reel—there and gone in a heartbeat—but it left me breathless, my chest tight with emotions I couldn't name.

I blinked hard, trying to focus on the present. The moonlight filtering through the pine trees cast silver shadows across Flora's face. Her hand was still pressed to her neck, and when she looked at me, I saw the same shock reflected in her eyes.

"Did you—" I started.

"Yes," she whispered. "I saw them too."

The darkness of the forest seemed to pulse around us. Flora's neck began to glow—a soft, ethereal green light emanating from beneath her palm. My own neck felt warm, almost hot now. I pulled my hand away and watched as Flora did the same.

There, at the base of her neck, partially hidden by her short pale-green hair, was a birthmark. Not just any birthmark—a serpent, rendered in the exact same shade of green as the light that had just faded.

My fingers trembled as I reached up to touch my own neck. I couldn't see it, but I knew. I knew with absolute certainty that I had the same mark.

"Show me," Flora said, her voice breaking slightly. She stepped closer, and I turned, lifting my hair.

Her sharp intake of breath confirmed it.

"It's identical," she said. "Bella, it's exactly the same."

I spun back to face her, my mind racing through impossible explanations, trying to make sense of what was happening. But before I could speak, Flora's hands were on my shoulders, gripping tight. Her eyes were wet with tears that caught the moonlight.

"You're my sister," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "You're really my sister. I finally found you."

The words hung in the air between us. Sister. The concept felt both foreign and achingly familiar, like a memory I'd forgotten but my body somehow remembered.

"I don't understand," I managed, though my own voice sounded strange to my ears. "How is this possible? Diana—my adoptive mother—she told me about my birth mother, Melissa. She said she took me from the hospital after I was born. She never mentioned anything about a twin."

Flora's tears spilled over, tracking down her cheeks. She pulled me into a fierce embrace, her arms wrapping around me with a strength that spoke of years of searching, of hoping.

"My grandmother told me," she said against my hair. "She told me I had a twin sister. But our father—he took me."

I pulled back enough to look at her face, confusion and a strange, desperate hope warring inside me. "Why? Why would he take you and leave me?"

Flora's expression crumpled with old pain. "Because he and our mother couldn't be together. They loved each other, but they couldn't—" She took a shaky breath. "A witch cursed him. She wanted him, and when he rejected her, she cursed him. If he stayed with our mother, if they were together, our mother would feel unbearable pain. Physical agony, like her heart was being stabbed over and over. The witch made sure of it—she wanted our mother to suffer the way she was suffering."

The forest around us seemed to grow quieter, as if even the night creatures were listening to this tragic story.

"But why didn't they just—" I started.

"Kill the witch?" Flora finished bitterly. "They tried. But killing her wouldn't break the curse—she made sure of that. The only way to end it was death. Our father's death." Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "But our father couldn't die—not then. He had responsibilities to his pack, and we were about to be born. So he stayed away from our mother, protecting her the only way he could. But when we were born, he couldn't resist. He came to see us, and he took me. Just one of us. He thought—" Her voice cracked. "He thought maybe if he only took one, it would be less of a burden on our mother. And he could have something to remember her by."

My mind reeled. All those years, all those questions about where I came from, who my real parents were. Diana had told me my mother died, that my father disappeared. But this—this was so much more complicated, so much more painful.

"But our mother," I said, my throat tight. "Melissa. She died not knowing any of this. She died thinking my father just abandoned her. That he just vanished."

Flora's face went pale. "Mother is dead?"

The raw grief in her voice broke something inside me. I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat.

"How?" Flora whispered.

I told her about the car accident, about Brianna's drunk driving, about the cover-up and the lies. With each word, Flora's expression grew more stricken, more devastated. When I finished, she was crying openly, her shoulders shaking.

"I'm so sorry," she said, pulling me close again. "I'm so sorry you went through that alone. I'm sorry I wasn't there."

I held her as tightly as she held me, feeling tears stream down my own face now. For my mother. For the father I'd never known. For the sister I'd spent my whole life without, never even knowing she existed.

"What happened to him?" I asked when I could speak again. "Our father?"

Flora's arms tightened around me. "He couldn't take it anymore. The guilt, the pain of being separated from mother, from you. He—" She drew a shuddering breath. "He killed the witch. But it cost him his life. They died together."

The weight of it all crashed over me. Two parents I'd never known, gone. A sister I'd just found. A curse that had torn our family apart before we'd even had a chance to be one.

"I don't have many memories of him," Flora continued, her voice muffled against my shoulder. "I was so young. And after he died, no one knew where mother had gone. Grandmother tried to find her, but—" She pulled back, her hands moving to cup my face. "But I found you. Finally. You're here. You're real."

I looked at this woman—this stranger who was my sister—and felt something shift inside me. Something that had been broken and alone for so long suddenly felt less fractured.

"Do you have a plan?" Flora asked after a moment, her voice steadier now. "For whatever comes next? For dealing with the people who hurt you?"

A cold smile touched my lips. "Of course I do."

Her answering smile was equally sharp. "Good. Because now you have backup. Whatever you need, I'm with you."

I looked at my sister—my twin, my blood, my family—and felt something I hadn't felt in a very long time. Hope. Not the fragile, desperate kind that could be crushed at any moment. But something solid. Something real.

"Come back to the estate with me," I said suddenly. "Stay with me tonight. We have a lot to talk about. A lot to catch up on."

Flora nodded immediately. "I'd like that."

We walked back through the forest together, our steps matching naturally, instinctively. The burning sensation in our necks had faded, but I could still feel it—a warm reminder of the connection we shared.

When we reached Moonhunt Estate, Jane was still awake, puttering around in the kitchen. She took one look at us—at our tear-stained faces and linked arms—and smiled knowingly.

"I'll prepare the guest room," she said simply.

I led Flora upstairs to my room. We talked for hours, comparing notes about our lives, filling in the gaps in our stories. She told me about growing up in the Stormclaw Pack, about her grandmother's cryptic hints about a missing sister, about the years she'd spent searching for any trace of me. I told her about Diana and Brandon, about my disastrous marriage to Ethan, about Victor and the baby I was carrying.

"So the baby," Flora said carefully, "it's Victor's?"

I nodded. "Medical mix-up. But I'm keeping it. This baby is mine, and I'm going to protect it no matter what."

Flora's hand found mine and squeezed. "We'll protect it. Together."

The word together had never sounded so good.

Eventually, exhaustion caught up with us both. Flora settled into the guest room, and I returned to my own bed. But sleep didn't come easily. My mind kept replaying the moment our birthmarks had glowed, the vision of two crying babies, the overwhelming rightness of finally knowing I had a sister.

Ash stirred inside me, content in a way she hadn't been in months.

Family, she murmured. Real family.

Yes, I agreed silently. Real family.

When I finally drifted off, I slept better than I had in weeks.

---

The next morning, I woke to the smell of coffee and the sound of voices downstairs. I recognized Flora's laugh, bright and genuine, mixing with Jane's lower chuckle.

I dressed quickly in my running gear and headed downstairs. Flora was already up, dressed in athletic clothes that looked borrowed from my closet. She grinned when she saw me.

"Jane told me you run every morning," she said. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all."

We set out into the cool morning air, our feet hitting the pavement in sync. It felt natural, running beside her. Like we'd done this a thousand times before.

We were halfway through our usual route when a familiar figure appeared ahead of us, also out for a morning run. Victor.

He slowed when he saw us, his eyebrows rising slightly in surprise. "Bella. Flora." His gaze moved between us, clearly noting our matching grins and the easy way we ran side by side. "You two seem to have bonded quickly."

I couldn't contain my excitement. "Victor, I have the most amazing news." I gestured between myself and Flora. "I have a sister. A real sister. We're twins!"

Victor stopped completely, his expression shifting from polite interest to genuine shock. "Twins? But you—how—"

"It's a long story," Flora said, her smile widening. "But yes. Bella and I are twin sisters. We just found out last night."

Victor looked between us again, more carefully this time. "I don't see the resemblance."

"Fraternal twins," I explained. "Different eggs. But we have matching birthmarks—identical serpent marks on the back of our necks. They even glowed when we discovered each other. There's no doubt."

A slow smile spread across Victor's face. "That's incredible. Congratulations to both of you."

Flora's eyes lit up with mischief. She looked at Victor, then at me, then back to Victor with an expression that made me immediately suspicious.

"You know," she said, her tone deliberately casual, "since I've just discovered I have a sister, and since Victor and I are engaged but not actually in love—" She paused for dramatic effect. "Maybe you two should consider getting to know each other better. The Phoenix Pack and Stormclaw Pack still need that alliance. And Bella here is my sister now, which makes her perfect pack material."

My face heated instantly. "Flora!"

She just grinned wider, completely unrepentant. "What? I'm just saying, you're both single—well, technically—and you clearly have chemistry. Why not explore that?"

Victor's expression was carefully neutral, but I caught the slight color rising in his cheeks. "Flora, that's not—we can't just—"

"Can't we?" Flora challenged. "You and I both know this engagement is a formality. A business arrangement. Neither of us is in love with the other. So why not let Bella here have a shot? She's smart, she's beautiful, she's fierce, and—" She winked at me. "She's my sister, which means she's got excellent genes."

I wanted to die of embarrassment. Or possibly kill Flora. Or both.

"I think," I said firmly, "that we should probably finish our run now. Before Flora says anything else mortifying."

I took off at a sprint, not waiting to see if they followed. Behind me, I heard Flora's delighted laugh and the sound of two sets of feet pounding after me.

She caught up easily, her longer legs giving her an advantage. "You can't run from love, sister!" she called out, clearly enjoying herself.

"I'm not running from love," I shot back. "I'm running from you and your terrible matchmaking!"

But I was smiling. Despite the embarrassment, despite everything, I was smiling.

We ran for another mile, Flora occasionally making suggestive comments about Victor that made me want to tackle her. Victor, to his credit, stayed mostly silent, though I caught him watching me when he thought I wasn't looking.

By the time we made it back to the estate, I was breathless and laughing, Flora right beside me, matching me stride for stride.

This, I thought. This is what family is supposed to feel like.

---

After breakfast—which Flora insisted on helping Jane prepare, much to Jane's delight—I got ready for work. Flora announced she'd be spending the day with me, wanting to see where I worked and meet my team.

We drove to Hunt Group together, Flora asking questions about everything—the city, my work, my plans for the future. It felt good to have someone genuinely interested in my life, someone who wasn't judging or trying to use the information against me.

When we arrived at the office, Skylar took one look at Flora and me together and immediately pulled me aside.

"Okay, spill," she demanded. "Why do you look so happy?"

"Actually," I said, unable to keep the pride out of my voice, "Flora is my sister. My twin sister."

Skylar's jaw dropped. "Your what?"

I gave her the abbreviated version, watching her expression shift from shock to joy to fierce protectiveness.

"So you have a sister," Skylar said slowly. "A real sister who actually cares about you and isn't a complete nightmare like your adoptive family."

"Exactly."

Skylar pulled me into a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you, Bella. You deserve this. You deserve family that actually treats you right."

The rest of the day passed in a blur of work and laughter. My team welcomed Flora warmly, and she proved to be genuinely interested in our project, asking intelligent questions and offering insights from her own field of sustainable agriculture. We worked through lunch, making significant progress on the disaster response robot's navigation systems.

By the time the workday ended, we'd completed nearly all the remaining preparations for tomorrow's competition. I stood at the window of my office, looking out over the city, feeling a sense of accomplishment I hadn't felt in a long time.

Flora came to stand beside me, her shoulder brushing mine. "You've built something amazing here," she said quietly. "Not just the robot. But this whole life. You did it on your own, against all odds."

"Not entirely on my own," I corrected. "I had help. Victor, Skylar, Liam. Good people who saw past the lies Ethan's family spread about me."

"Still," Flora insisted. "You're incredible. And tomorrow, you're going to win that competition. I know it."

I smiled, feeling the weight of her faith in me. "Tomorrow, yes. But after that—" My smile turned sharp, cold. "After that, I have a few surprises lined up for Ethan. Surprises he's definitely not going to enjoy."