Page 20 of Shifted Fate (Broken Luna #1)

Chapter Twenty

“D

ad.” I slammed into his office and dropped into a chair.

He just looked up from his phone call to me and raised a finger.

“Yes, Vince. She will be returning next month. But if she wants to move here permanently, you can’t refuse the request.” He paused and met my eyes.

“I understand you think she might be your son’s mate, but if she isn’t, you can’t block her again.

” He nodded. “I’m happy we could come to an agreement.

Thank you Vince. I will see you at the Alpha summit.

” He hung up the phone and smiled up at me.

“Come on in Amy. What can I do for you?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Dad. What was that about?”

“Just clearing the way in case something changes and you want to come back here, or stay.” He smiled up at me and I just laughed. My father was the trouble maker Alpha. “What made you burst in here just now?”

My smile turned into a grimace, and I flopped into a chair. “Our family is failing this pack.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have had no one else heading the wolf classes since mom left?” I huffed out a breath and walked as he froze.

“Well fuck.” I nodded. “I honestly forgot about them after the first year.” He scratched his head and leaned back. “How did you figure it out?”

“I asked Cass if she was talking to her wolf and she was confused.” I cut my eyes away from the ceiling to look at his face. “None of them had…”

My father cursed again and stood, pacing away from his desk. “It’s second nature to talk to our wolves.”

“Not when they first awaken, and if your wolf isn’t accepted, they stay quiet until you talk…”

“But…” He looked at me and I saw devastation.

“I know. Once you hear your wolf for the first time, you never stop talking to them and it becomes second nature…but if you never knew to say hello…well it’s lonely for the both of you.

” I shook my head. “I released them once I introduced them to their wolves so they could catch up. I know training will go a lot smoother now.”

My dad nodded and collapsed into his seat. “I have failed this pack, haven’t I?” He dropped his head into his hands and huffed out a breath.

“No…we all have.” I got up and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Mom, too.”

“Your mother didn’t fail-”

“Yes, she did, because a good Luna would have made sure the classes and everything continued with her Beta female, and she just took off. Hurt or not, she had duties.”

“Amy!” my father admonished me, but I shook my head.

“Mom has been teaching me how to be a Luna all my life, and I learned my responsibility from her. She needed to practise what she preached.” I rubbed his back and then sat back down. “I will set up the classes with the Beta female before I leave.”

“Thank you, baby girl.”

“Can I go into mom’s old office to see what books she left there so I can hand them over until you get a new Luna?”

“You know I will never have a new Luna Amy.” My dad started, but then the phone rang. “I have to take this. Go ahead, darling. You know where to go.”

I kissed his cheek as he answered the phone and I headed to my mother’s old office. The place my father hasn’t touched or let anyone else but me enter. He’d go in to do the dusting, but no one else.

I opened the door and nearly growled when I scented the room, Aurora had been in there.

I slam the door shut and I stomp over to the desk, searching to see if anything was missing.

I knew this office was like my room at home.

Everything had a place. A place I memorized growing up during my time here.

I looked around for an hour, and nothing was out of place.

Aurora’s scent was coming from my mother’s chair and I knew my father would lose his mind once he came in here next.

It looked like she rustled through some of the paperwork and tried to get into the cabinets, but she didn’t have the key for access. Thank the Goddess.

I sat down at her desk and unlocked her desk from a key around my neck and pulled out her books.

I looked through everything and I found the one I needed.

It was the one with her notes on the coming of age.

I knew she had a book on it. This is what I would give to Tina so she can restart the classes.

“Amy.” Cass’s voice jolted me from my own thoughts. I got up from my mother’s desk and walked to the door, opening it.

“Hey.” I looked her over, and she had tears drying on her face. “What’s wrong?” I stepped out.

“Nothing…everything. I had a question.”

“Anything. What’s going on with you?”

“It’s Nora.” Cass grabbed my hand and I stepped out of the office and closed the door.

“Wh-”

“What do you think you’re doing in the Luna’s office?” Aurora’s voice was overly loud, and it grated on my nerves.

I turned to her, pulling Cass behind me.

“Who are you to question me about my mother’s office?

” I lifted my lip. “The real question is, why have you been in the Luna’s office?

” Aurora stumbled. “Did you think I wouldn’t smell you all over the office?

You are not permitted in the office. It’s not yours to use, sit in, or dream about.

” I was becoming more and more agitated the closer I stepped toward her.

“I don’t know how many times I have to say this to you Aurora, but you are not Luna.

You will never be the Luna. My father won’t ever fall for you.

Even with whatever magic you are using on him. ”

She sputtered. “I’m not using magic. Who would ever use magic on an Alpha?”

Cass leaned in behind me. “Magic is real?” Her soft question caught me off guard.

“How is it, Aurora, that you aren’t surprised like Cassie, because I used the word magic? Something our world has never heard of or considered real? She leaned in to question it but you glazed right over it, accepting the term and moving past it.” I stepped closer and a hint of panic hit my nose.

“Everyone has heard of magic, Amy. Whether or not it is real is another story, and everyone knows it’s not.” She tossed back, but the panic in the air grew thicker. So magic was being used. I had to figure this out quickly, before she sunk her claws deeper into my father.

I pointed my finger in her face, pressing it against her cheek. “You stink of your lies, Aurora. And I won’t stop until I figure out exactly what the fuck you’re doing to my father.” I snarled in her face, and she whimpered.

“Amy!” My father’s voice boomed, and I stumbled back a step.

“Dad?” I looked up at him. His eyes were clouded and unfocused, but his face was dark with anger. “What’s wrong?”

“How fucking dare you ask what’s wrong? Like you weren’t just getting into Aurora’s face? How could you? You know how much I care about her.” He came forward, and she slid her hand into his, her fingers of her second hand tapping the back of his.

“What?” I shook my head and looked back at Cass, but she just shook her head in disbelief. “Dad? What the hell did you just say?”

“What? I love her Aim, and you will just have to get over it.” My dad smiled down at Aurora, who snuggled into his arm.

“See. I told you I would be the next Luna of this pack.”

My eyes shot between their faces, looking for any hint of recognition on my father’s face for what he was saying. Anything that would snap him back to the here and now. “Dad?”

I watched as his eyes shifted from his normal blue to the gold of Loki and then back.

Like his two sides were fighting until he screamed and partially shifted.

Aurora screamed and backed away from my partially shifted father, with his claws and fur rippling down his arms. “What is going on?” Loki’s voice ripped through our minds and the hallway, making all of us wince.

“Alpha?” Aurora’s timid voice rang out, but Loki just turned and growled at her.

“I would leave. Quickly.” I called out to her while I slowly started toward my father’s side. Aurora tried to sidle back up to his side, but Loki and Nix both growled loudly and she turned with a shriek and was running down the stairs. “Dad, calm yourself.” I inched closer and rubbed his arm.

“Do you know what she is doing to us yet, pup?” Loki finally turned and focused on me, but I could only shake my head.

“I’m new to this stuff. I haven’t even figured out how to connect to nature yet.” I softly admitted, and Loki just snorted.

“What do you mean you do not know how to connect to nature? You are a wolf, born of nature, raised in nature. Our very fiber is nature. You just have to open yourself up to your animal to see that.”

“I am open with my animal.”

“Obviously not, if you can’t feel nature. Nature should have come easily to you if you were.”