Chapter 61 Bloodlines and Betrayals
I stared at the genetic report until the words blurred.
Wolf DNA. Dormant markers. Recessive genes are passed through the maternal lineage.
My mother had been part wolf. Which meant everything I knew about myself was wrong.
Lycian found me on the floor. Papers were scattered around me. I couldn’t remember dropping them.
“What’s wrong?” He crouched beside me. Eyes searching my face. “Elowen. Talk to me.”
I handed him the report. Watched his expression change as he read. Confusion. Then shock. Then understanding.
“Your mother was a wolf.” His voice was quiet. Careful. “Did you know? Did anyone tell you?”
“No. I thought I was completely human. That’s what Aunt Clara said. What everyone believed.” I looked at my hands. Like they belonged to someone else. “I’ve been lying to everyone. To myself. This whole time.”
“You didn’t lie. You didn’t know.” He pulled me into his arms. Held tight. “This doesn’t change anything. You’re still you. Still my wife. Still Luna.”
“But I’m not human. Not really. I’m something in between. Something dormant.” My voice cracked. “What if I shift? What if these genes activate? I don’t know how to be a wolf.”
“Then I’ll teach you. If it happens. But it might not. Dormant genes don’t always activate.” He pulled back. Cupped my face. “This is a lot to process. I know. But we’ll figure it out. Together.”
Through the bond, I felt his certainty. His love. His absolute refusal to let this change us.
But it did change things. Everything. My entire identity had been built on being human in a wolf world. Now even that was questionable.
“We need to tell my father,” Lycian said. Standing. Pulling me up with him. “And Dr. Rivera. They need to know. In case it affects your health. Your Luna duties. Anything.”
“Not yet. Please.” I gripped his hand. “I need time to process first. To understand what this means.”
“Okay. But soon. This is too big to keep secret.”
I nodded. But my mind was elsewhere. On the message. There’s one more member of the Collective. Someone close to you.
Who? Who else was lying? Who else had secrets?
That afternoon, I called Aunt Clara. Asked her to come to the estate. Needed to see her face when I asked about my mother.
She arrived an hour later. Smiling. Happy. Until she saw my expression.
“What happened?” She set down her purse. Worry creased her face. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
I showed her the genetic report. Watched the color drain from her cheeks.
“You knew,” I said. Voice flat. “You knew my mother was part wolf and you never told me.”
“I didn’t know. Not for sure.” She sat heavily. Hands shaking. “Your mother never told me. But I suspected. Little things. The way she moved. Her strength. How she seemed to know things she shouldn’t.”
“But you never asked? Never confirmed?”
“I was scared. If she were a wolf, it meant your father had gotten involved with pack politics. With dangerous people.” Tears filled her eyes. “Then they died. And you were just a baby. I thought keeping you away from that world would keep you safe.”
“Did you know about my genes? That I could shift?”
“No. I swear. I thought wolf genes couldn’t pass to completely human children. That’s what people said.” She reached for my hand. I let her take it. “If I’d known, I would have prepared you. Trained you. Something.”
I believed her. Felt the truth through her tears. Her regret.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For not protecting you better. For keeping secrets even when I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay. I understand.” I squeezed her hand. “But I need to know everything else. About my mom. About her family. Anything that might help me understand.”
She told me what she knew. My mother’s parents had died when she was young. Car accident. She’d been raised by distant relatives who didn’t talk about family history. She’d met my father in college. They’d fallen in love. Had me. Then died when I was six.
“She was kind,” Aunt Clara said. Smiling through tears. “Fierce when protecting the people she loved. Smart. Strategic. She would have made a good Alpha if she’d wanted that life.”
“But she didn’t?”
“She wanted normal. Wanted to raise you away from pack politics and danger.” Her voice broke. “She died trying to protect that.”
After she left, I felt hollow. Empty.
Lycian found me on our balcony. Wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.
“What are you thinking?”
“That I don’t know who I am anymore. I thought I was human. Weak. Fighting to prove myself in a wolf world. But maybe I was always supposed to be part of that world.”
“You belong because you chose it. Not because of genetics. Not because of blood. Because you fought for it.” He turned me to face him. “That matters more than DNA.”
“Does it? Everyone who doubted me might have been right. I’m not really human. Just a wolf who hasn’t shifted yet.”
“Stop. You’re spiraling.” His hands framed my face. “You are exactly who you’ve always been. Strong. Brave. Kind. Those things don’t change because of a genetic report.”
“But everything feels different. Like my whole life was based on a lie.”
“Your life is based on choices. Yours.” He kissed me softly. “You chose me. Chose this pack. Chose to fight instead of run.”
I wanted to believe him. But the doubt had planted deep roots.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. Lay awake while Lycian breathed steadily beside me.
At midnight, my phone buzzed. Unknown number.
Still processing your genetic truth? Why would your mother hide her wolf heritage?
The Collective didn’t just kill her. They created her. Your mother was their experiment. The first human wolf hybrid. Made in a lab.
You’re not just carrying dormant genes. You’re carrying their work. You were always meant to be theirs.
Check your mother’s adoption records. Then you’ll understand.
The message included a file. Encrypted. Passworded.
The password was my birthday.
I opened it with shaking hands. Found adoption papers. Medical records. Lab reports. Photos of my mother as a child. In a facility. Behind glass. Being studied.
She’d been an experiment. Created by the Collective. Raised by them until she escaped at sixteen. Changed her name. Tried to live normally.
But they’d never stopped watching. Never let her go completely.
And when she had me, they’d marked me too. Property. Asset. Future weapon.
I ran to the bathroom. Threw up. Everything in my stomach. Everything I’d believed.
Lycian was there instantly. Holding my hair. Rubbing my back. Not asking questions yet.
When I finished, he helped me rinse my mouth. Led me back to bed.
“Tell me,” he said simply.
I told him everything. About my mother. The experiments. The Collective’s plans for me.
He listened without interrupting.
“They made you,” he said finally. Voice deadly quiet. “Your mother was their creation. Which makes you their property in their eyes.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why they’ve been watching. Waiting. They think you’ll activate eventually. Become what they designed your mother to be.” His hands clenched into fists. “They’re using you. Have been from the beginning.”
“What do I do? How do I fight something that literally made me?”
“We expose them. Today. Right now. Release all the evidence. Burn their operation to the ground.” He was already moving. Grabbing his phone. “No more waiting. We end this before they can use you.”
“Wait.” I caught his arm. “The message said there’s still one more member close to us. What if releasing the evidence puts that person on alert? What if they escape?”
“Then we find them first. Figure out who it is. Then we release everything.” He looked at me. Eyes pure gold. Wolf surface close. “We’re running out of time.”
“They won’t take me. I won’t let them.” I stood straighter. “But you’re right. We need to identify the last member. Now. Before noon.”
We called Sienna. Emergency meeting. Three AM.
We showed her everything. The genetic report. The adoption records. The message about one more member.
She paled. “This is bigger than we thought. They were creating wolves. Experimenting on humans.”
“Can you trace the adoption papers? Find where my mother was kept? Who ran the facility?”
“I can try. But it’ll take time.” She pulled out her laptop. Started typing. “Give me an hour.”
While she worked, Lycian and I made lists. Everyone is close to us. Everyone with access. Everyone who could be the last Collective member.
Elena. Obviously. But we already knew about her.
Thaddeus. Unthinkable. But we had to consider everyone.
Damien. Cade. Dr. Rivera. Council members. Pack wolves we trusted.
The list grew longer. More impossible.
“This is useless,” I said. Throwing down my pen. “It could be anyone. We need more information.”
“Got something,” Sienna said. Looking up from her laptop. “The facility was run by a front company. Biotech research. But the real owner was hidden behind shells. I traced it back. Took thirty years of records. But I found the name.”
She turned the screen toward us.
My blood went cold.
The owner was Clara Cole.
My aunt.
The woman who raised me. I trusted her more than anyone.
Was Collective.