Chapter 12

The place they called the basement was a junkyard. Kian eyed the cobwebs and the heavy dust coating every inch of the items that were thrown together. They ranged from broken furniture to books, dolls, and whatnots. An old, stale smell tickled his nostrils. He didn’t know how he was supposed to unearth the clues they’d need from this trash.

The only light came through an overhead window that was above the ground. He hurried to that, opening it with difficulty, and breathed in relief when fresh air trickled inside. This place looked like a death trap. The scowl on his face couldn’t be helped.

He scanned the things around him, lost in his thoughts. Where do they even start?

His gaze then cut to Layla, who stood in the middle of it all. "This place is trash," he growled and noticed Kiara was still carrying the satchel. Pride filled him. She was good at listening and was always prepared for the worst. He grabbed it and rummaged through it until he found the crumbled portrait he had protected so long. "Just tell me if this woman seems familiar." He thrust the paper into Layla's hands.

“I-Is that my mother?” Kiara’s voice trembled as she took the portrait from him, gaze scanning it urgently.

He nodded mutely. “I stole the sketch from your dad’s office. It was supposed to be your birthday present,” he said as his shoulders slumped. “So much has happened since then.”

Layla took the portrait from Kian’s hand and observed it with keen eyes. Her frowns deepened as she looked longer at it. “Oh! I’ve seen her photo before.”

“Do you know her?” Kiara’s hopeful voice made Layla abandon the portrait and look at her.

Layla shook her head. “There is an old trunk where there are some photos of the previous owners and some journals.” She walked past them, hopping over a few items as she began to dig through them.

Kian and Kiara shared a look with a frown. His heart raced as he kept an eye on her. Five minutes passed before she surfaced again.

“Found it!”

He immediately hurried toward her. There was indeed a metal trunk with photos and books, among other things. He closed it and lugged it with great difficulty. "Let's go. I'll suffocate and die in this hellhole if I'm here any longer."

He rushed outside with the heavy trunk. His breath heaved, and pain shot through his chest, but he didn’t mind. It wasn’t the first time he was hurt, and it wouldn't be the last. The wolves were taught to put up with the pain. Everything relied on survival for them.

A sudden thought stopped him. "Where are the wolves?" he asked skeptically. “Where did their bodies go?”

“Oh, the doctor took care of it,” Layla said.

“The doctor?” Kian whirled around, eyes growing wide as he dropped the trunk with a loud thud. "You brought another Lune Hunter inside when I was unconscious?" He lunged at Layla, but Kiara pulled him back.

"Kian, stop it! He doesn't know we are wolves," she hissed. "You were dying, and he patched you back. No one is hurt."

He snarled. “How can you be sure? What guarantee do you have that he wouldn’t be back with more of them? You have no fucking idea how they work. They're fucking evil." He turned his burning gaze to Layla, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Tell me. Who the fuck is he? Who else knows about us?”

“Stop that,” she sniffled. “All I’ve done ever since you showed up is help you. The wolves wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t you for in the first place.”

Kian clenched his jaw. “I asked who else knew about us. Answer my question!”

“No one.” Her sniffles turned into sobs. "It's just the doctor and us. Mom said I could contact him in case of emergencies, and I did. He saved your ass."

He growled more, not liking the way he was talked down to. How dare this wolf? Before he could say anything further, though, Kiara was there in front of him.

“Kian, enough. I told you to tone it down,” she said exasperatedly. “We won’t get anywhere if you’re at her throat every time.”

"Why are you protecting her?" He inched closer, crowding her space and ready to put her in her place, but Kiara didn’t move an inch. His wolf didn’t like that she was intervening.

“I said stop. Layla hasn’t given me a reason to doubt her intentions yet. She’s confused, and this is all new to her. Can't you see that?"

“No,” he hissed. “All I see is a wolf aiding two Lune Hunters and the one who could very well have called for backup while I was passed out.”

Kiara rolled her eyes. "We didn't sleep a wink last night, and I didn't let her out of my sight even for a minute."

Kian regarded her for a long moment.

“Come on, Kian. This isn’t the time,” she coaxed. She gestured at the trunk at his feet. “Please…”

He clenched and unclenched his fists but stepped back with a shuddering breath. “Fine.” He eyed the girl once more. “Try to—”

“Yeah, you’ll make me regret it.” Layla brushed past him with a scowl. “I’ve heard that enough. Can we move this somewhere? I’m dead tired and on the verge of passing out.”

He scoffed but went to the trunk. He didn’t trust the girl yet. She grew up with the hunters, and he didn’t know what her motive was. This all could be a trap, and he wasn’t going to stick around to find out what it was. They were going to leave this wretched place as soon as they had their answers.

The living room was in shambles—toppled furniture, broken vases, and glasses all over the place, minus the blood and the four massive wolves. He never thought he’d one day turn against his brethren. But when Kiara's life was on the line, he had to make a choice. They weren’t going to spare them at any cost, and he chose to survive. He took a deep breath and hauled the trunk to where there was more light.

Layla dropped on one of the armchairs, folding her legs to hug her knees while Kiara knelt beside him to open the trunk and inspect the contents. He kept an eye on the wolf as they went through the things together.

The photo wasn’t hard to find. There were more. At least fifteen or twenty of them. This looked advanced like the photos they had seen in those human dwellings.

He thumbed through the photos, each piece thick to touch with a polished surface that was beginning to fade, but he could see the people in it.

There was an older man, and beside him was a young-looking woman who was pregnant. It was taken inside the home. The man sat on a chair similar to the one Layla sat on while the woman sported a soft smile, a hand placed lovingly over her protruding belly. There was no doubt that was Moira. The features were more clear and more prominent than the old sketch he had.

"What else do you know about this woman?" he asked Layla, who shrugged.

“I found this when I used to play in the basement,” she said. “I never cared to look too deep.”

Kiara was digging through religiously. They found more photos, but they didn’t stop to look through them yet. He could tell she was searching for something else. Kiara dropped the two similar chains she found inside in favor of the leather-bound journal.

Her fingers trembled as she sifted through the pages, dropping it after a few minutes to grab the other one. Kian watched with a frown as she dropped the second one too and grabbed the third. He was reaching for the first when she yelled.

“Look what I got,” Kiara shouted as soon as she read the first line of the journal.

Layla hurried to them immediately, dropping to her knees beside Kiara at the same time Kian moved to look at what she found. It was the year 2004.

22nd January:

She arrived today at my doorstep. I never thought I’d see my child one day, but here she was. I couldn’t see her like that with disheveled hair, torn clothes, and tears in her eyes. She was my only child. My purpose in life and the only thing I had left in this world. My little Moira.

Kiara gasped. “H-His child?” Her eyes were wide when she looked up at Kian. “He called her his daughter. Does this mean she wasn’t born to my grandfather?”

Kian grabbed the journal, going to the front page where it said ‘Stephen Ellot.’ His heart hammered in his chest. So the old woman was right. Moira was indeed the man’s daughter.

“Let’s read further before coming to any conclusion," he said instead.

She looked just like my Anna. They both had the same eyes and hair.

“Anna? T-That’s my grandmother.”

Kian swallowed thickly and nudged her to keep going.

25th January:

How long has it been? My memory is fuzzy, but I still remember my days with Anna.

I met her when I was seventeen. We lived in this beautiful town at the edge of the forest, and she often came to visit. She was different and didn’t belong in my world, but I loved her with all my heart, and I know she loved me in her own way.

A ball tightened in his throat as he pushed Kiara slightly aside for a better view.

Our love flourished under the moonlight and in the secrets of dark woods. We often met in the meadow we created for us. Everything was going smoothly until Anna told me she couldn't see me anymore.

I remembered begging her to stay, run away with me. But she said this was the only way to keep both of us alive. I hadn’t known whether to cry or rejoice when she said she was pregnant with my baby. Our child. Our little Moira. The one I named but never got to see.

There’s no hope for us, she said. They will kill us no matter where we go, she cried. No matter what happened, I wouldn’t go back in search of her; she made me promise. There was nothing I could do but watch as she married someone else.

I didn’t know why I still waited for her at the edge of the forest every day, even when I knew she wouldn't come. Then a year later, she came, and she had a letter for me. She looked well. She was glowing, and she smiled, telling me that we had a daughter together, and she named her Moira just like I wanted. The man she married believed Moira was his. Everything was fine. They were safe.

“Oh, my God! So they fooled the entire pack?" Kiara read the line again, eyes wide like saucers.

"Well, you are not different from humans." Layla shrugged and urged her to go back to reading.

Still, there was no hope for us. But our love was true, and there was no one I would love like I loved Anna. I moved to a different place, but I would receive a letter now or then. Thanks to my friend who kept his word and always helped us to exchange letters.

For years, I stayed alive with the memories of Anna and the letters she would send me about my little one. Our daughter will grow up knowing who her father is. That was her promise to me, and I hoped it was true.

Then one day, Anna stopped writing to me. Months later, I received a letter that said it was from Moira. I was over the moon to finally hear back from my little one. Then I was devastated to learn my Anna had passed away due to sickness.

Even when we were apart, the thought of her living well somewhere was the only thing that kept me going. I felt truly lost in this world that day, but Moira's second letter came. In that, she told me I’d still have her.

They skimmed through the next few pages in urgency to know everything and anything about the man and Moira.

28th January:

Oh, my little Moira. What have you done? Why would you repeat your mother’s mistakes?

“Does this mean what I think it means?” Kiara asked, eyes still wide.

"Curiosity killed the cat, and in this case, it’s real,” Layla mumbled beside her.

Why did you have to fall for a human?

Kian gasped. He wasn’t expecting this. His mind reeled. Repeat your mother’s mistakes… Did that mean Moira got herself pregnant with a human just like her mother? His throat constricted. He couldn’t voice his suspicion just yet.

“See? It was true, and you also know it,” Layla pointed out.

He ignored her and urged Kiara to read further.

30th January:

My love,

What have we done? Are these the consequences we have to face for falling in love against the norms? If I had known it would come to this, I would have stayed away. It hurts me to see her like this, and I don’t know what to do.

I don’t know where things went wrong. Moira is now eating and sleeping well. I know you always warned our daughter to stay away from the village. I wish she had heeded your warning.

Did you know she is mated to the future leader of your pack? I’ve heard enough about the elders and leader’s family from you to know how dangerous this is for her. I can’t believe our daughter would risk her life like this.

She doesn’t even know the man she was with, and she doesn't know if the baby belongs to this man or the man she mated with. Oh, Anna, it’s all so complicated. I’ve never felt so lost before.

I’m afraid for her life. Every day I wake up with fear for her life. I’ll protect her with my life but for how long?

They skimmed through more similar entries until they reached that one date.

13th August:

Today Moira gave birth to two beautiful girls. They are just as beautiful as you once were, Anna. However, my worry only worsened more. Moira’s suspicion was right. The children don't belong to her mate. She said she could smell it on them.

Kian’s brows creased. “This doesn't make sense." His head whipped to Layla and then to Kiara, who was looking at Layla with wide eyes.

“Twins,” she whispered. “Mom gave birth to twins.”

Layla clamped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my God!”