Page 52 of Shifted Fate (Broken Luna #1)

Chapter Fifty

R

onnie finally collected himself by the time the plane landed. We quietly grabbed our things and made it to the car that was waiting for us. “You okay?” I sat in the front, next to the quiet Ronnie.

“Yeah.” He nodded slowly and his eyes shifted to the mirror.

“You sure?”

“I just had my opinion of your mother for the last fifteen years of my life shattered, and I realized how toxic and shitty I have been, but yeah, I’m okay.

” He wiped his face as he drove. “I never really looked at it from your mom’s side.

You know.” He kept his face turned to the road, but his eyes looked at me.

“I know.” I huffed out a laugh. “Neither did I until I knew all the facts. I thought she just moved on quickly. When I grew up and realized that my mom wasn’t with my dad, I was confused.

But then kids started to bully me because of it.

They called my mom a whore, or worse and I grew angry.

When I saw dad on holidays, it just made it worse.

Once I got older, and I found out the truth…

I stopped. But when I was a kid, I would scream at her, fight with her. ”

“But you were a kid and didn’t know any better. I wasn’t. I should have known your mother better than that.”

“Why didn’t you?” Lynn finally broke her silence. “You said she was your best friend. Why didn’t you actually think of her? Of Amy?”

Ronnie dropped his head for a minute. “Ego?”

“What?” We both furrowed our brows.

“I’m guessing here. But when your mom left after your dad’s spell, I was sure she would come back.

She needed us. Not just to protect her, but we were her closest friends.

I thought she would come back and we could work through it all once your dad found out the truth.

But then Oakenfang accepted her transfer. ”

“What?” I was confused. “I thought my dad wanted her to leave.”

“He did, but didn’t.” Ronnie waved his hand around back and forth. “He needed to hurt the bond, so that she was out of the way. But he thought she was going to stay in the pack, just go back to her aunt’s home. Or even transfer back to her parents’ pack.”

“But she didn’t?”

“No. She sent out transfer requests to every pack. It was first come, first serve. She wanted out and didn’t care where she went. Your grandpa was in another pack and missed the request by a day. Vince accepted her first. And so she went there.”

“Probably because he knew he was going to try the old law.” Lynn tossed out and Ronnie’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. It groaned under the pressure. I tapped his hand and he let go, shaking out his hands.

“Probably.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Your dad is going to lose his mind. But then again, he never doubted your mother, not even for a minute. He assumed she moved on, but he still didn’t blame her. When he finds out the truth, he is going to tear his office apart.”

“Put him in the cell before you tell him.” I offered. “He will appreciate it more.”

“I don’t think I can.” Ronnie cut his eyes to me again, but I grabbed his shoulder.

“You have to. You nearly ripped the plane apart. What do you think he will do when he finds out the truth…” Ronnie shivered. “Yeah. I wasn’t going to tell you at all.”

“Then why did you?”

Lynn chuffed in the back. “Probably because she was tired of you always talking about her mother when you didn’t know the entire story.”

I pointed back to Lynn and agreed. “I’m sorry.” Ronnie looked over at me and then looked into the rearview mirror. “I have been an ass for your entire life towards your mother, and that isn’t fair.”

“It’s okay.” I patted his shoulder. “I could understand why you thought that way. I even agreed, which is how I found out the truth. My mom…” I sighed.

“My mom is of the mindset that she can handle it all on her own. She kept quiet and dealt with the pain of my father’s betrayal.

Losing her home, her pack, her family and friends.

She put it all to the side to take care of me.

Even when she started chipping away at her own soul, she was okay with it, because she was saving me.

But now, now I know the truth and they need to talk to each other.

They need to be honest with each other.”

“They need to stop making themselves miserable.” Ronnie interjected.

“Exactly.” I agreed. “But we need to figure out what exactly is going on. I don’t want them to get back together just to end up dead.” Ronnie nodded.

“Your father didn’t want me to tell you, but since you told me a secret, I will tell you one. Aurora and this attack are tied to the first attack back then.”

“He said he thought so.” But Ronnie was shaking his head.

“We know. Beck let slip that much.” Ronnie wiped his face. “He said that the past was coming back to bite us.”

“What does that mean?”

“It was a saying that was used back when your dad lived his first life. When he was killed in his first life, the attacker said the same thing. Like a mantra. And he never forgot it. So when Beck said it this time, he knew.”

“So, we wait until this is figured out.” I sounded as defeated as I felt. I didn’t want this to continue, but I wouldn’t risk anyone’s life.

“Yeah, but at least you have something to do.” Ronnie smiled over at me.

“What do you mean?”

He pulled the car over and hopped out. He went to the trunk and rustled around for a few minutes before coming back with a laptop bag. Once he settled back behind the wheel, he handed it to me. “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“Open it.” He tapped the bag and got the car back onto the highway. I unzipped the bag to find a new, sleek laptop and a new phone.

“I’m going to ask again…what is it?”

“This is your brand new, never used, custom-built hacking computer.”

I stared at the side of his face. “I don’t know how to hack.”

“I guess you have a new hobby to take up.” He chuckled as he quickly glanced at me.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I pulled the laptop out of the bag and there was a book underneath it. I pulled out the book and turned it over in my hands. “Ethical hacking for beginners.”

“Yeah. Your dad also got you a subscription to hacking101. It’s a website that trains you with games.”

My mouth had dropped open, and I looked over my shoulder to Lynn, but she was focused on her phone. “Why would I need any of this?”

“Because. He wants you to learn how to hack. Pretty obvious.” Ronnie answered slowly, like I was dumb.

“I understand that! But why?” I pulled everything out of the bag.

“He left you a letter. Burn it once you read it.” I shook my head and turned to face him slowly.

“What the hell Uncle Ronnie?” I wagged the phone. “Why do I need a second phone?”

“That is a hidden phone. You will only use that phone to message us if you find something.”

“Ronnie. Please, for the love of the Goddess. Explain.”

He tapped the wheel. “You father will go into deeper detail, but he believes Vince is involved in some shady business, including the attacks. But we can’t access his system from your fathers.

We assume he has firewalls that protect him from outside infiltration, but someone closer, someone he doesn’t suspect. Might get through.”

“You need me to learn hacking because Vince might be involved in what, exactly?”

Ronnie nodded. “We don’t know for sure. We might even be wrong.

I hope we are. But we have been having issues with your pack swooping in and stealing contracts from us.

We originally thought it was just your mom giving them information.

Well, I did. You dad always said she would never do that, and now more than ever I believe him.

” Ronnie bobbed his head back and forth.

“Now normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but you dad noticed someone from over here breached our system, but they made a mistake and left footprints. ”

“So if they were good enough to hack you guys. Wouldn’t they catch me?”

Ronnie tapped the computer. “That is where this comes in. There is no information on here that will lead back to you. You learn to hack, do your best, and find the information or don’t.” He lifted the shoulder. “Your dad is grasping at straws here, kid.”

“Why?”

“Because your mom went from sleeping with Morgan once a year to multiple times this year. He can’t survive it anymore.”

I nodded slowly. “He wants a pup with her.” I swallowed the bile that threatened to come up.

“What?” Ronnie almost drove off the road.

“He made it a big thing on her birthday. He wrote it in her card that he demanded her read out loud in front of the pack. That they were going to be trying for their own pup.” I remember my mother breaking down in my room that night.

“He realized I was coming of age this year. And he would probably lose control of her once I found my mate.” In my previous life, my mother held on until I found out Brandon was my mate.

She gave up once she knew I was mated to Brandon.

She died in childbirth of their pup, the pup didn’t survive either.

“She is supposed to find out she’s pregnant in a few months. ” I remembered from my first life.

Ronnie paled. “No.” He looked at me and I looked away. A tear fell anyway. “She doesn’t make it, does she?”

“I’m not sure how, but Brandon said something in my first life when he grabbed me. He said that he caused my mom to die. He gave her something, and the pup and her died on the table.” I took in a deep breath. “I won’t let it happen this time.”