Page 55 of Shifted Fate (Broken Luna #1)

Chapter Fifty-Two

“O

h, that’s good. Are you close to Amy?” Morgan turned to face me. But Lynn was already shaking her head.

“No. I asked to come to this pack without realizing that Oakenfang was the pack her mother moved to.” Lynn’s eyes wouldn’t meet mine, or my mother’s, for that matter. She was staring fully at Morgan.

“Really?” Morgan tilted his head. “Then why did you seem so close to her when you two walked in?”

Lynn smiled. “Beta, if you would’ve looked outside when we pulled up, I stood away from Alpha Amy and Beta Ronnie.

I followed her inside since this was her home, and you were giving me a place to sleep while I explored the pack for my mate.

” Lynn cut her eyes to me and there was thinly veiled hatred in them.

“Alpha Amy has been as polite to me as I have been to her, but I wouldn’t say we are friends.

” She looked back at Morgan. “I follow the protocol my Alpha commanded me to follow.” She dipped her head.

With just a few words, she shifted her actions on to my father. Removing any suspicion that she was my friend, or confident in Morgan’s eyes. Which might actually help us. I watched as Morgan relaxed a little before he turned back to me. “Amy?”

“Yes, Morgan?” I waited as his anger spiked. He hated that I called him Morgan. He told me a million times to call him Beta Morgan. But he let it drop when I demanded that he called me Alpha Amy.

He gritted his teeth and looked back at Lynn. “I think it will be a good thing for Lynn to be shown around the pack by Shannon. We have had a few new transfers while you were gone and this way she can get the lay of the land while you settle in.”

I shot a look at Lynn, but she wasn’t looking at me.

Morgan focused on me for a second and she gave the tiniest of nods.

“Sure. I’m tired anyway and I have to clean my room, now that I have the time to remove Shannon’s scent from my clothing.

I don’t want Brandon to get any more foolish ideas about me being his mate. ”

Morgan’s jaw tightened. “Right.”

“Plus Shannon must be ecstatic.” I pointed out as I heard a low growl from the other room.

“What do you mean?” Morgan’s eyes cut over the doorway where I assume Shannon waited.

“Brandon is her boyfriend. And he tried to claim me, her stepsister, as his mate. But now that it has been cleared up, she can go back to being his one and only.” I smiled and went to the fridge.

“Shut your stupid mouth.” Shannon stormed in.

But I just opened the fridge and searched for something to eat.

In reality, I was hiding my smile. Shannon is predictable, as always.

She hadn’t learned how to hide her true intentions yet.

That came later. “You think you are so fucking big and strong, but you can’t even shift.

How fucking pathetic are you? An Alpha that can’t shift. ”

I felt Nix come forward. “Who says?”

“What?”

I stood up and closed the door, still facing away from them. “Who says I can’t shift?”

Shannon laughed, even Morgan chuckled a bit. “You have only been gone a few months, Amy. You were a pathetic wolf back then, and you’re still one now.” I heard Morgan’s soft hum of agreement as I turned.

But everyone gasped as they looked at my shifted face and arms. I felt my nose and mouth had shifted partially, giving me a snout.

My teeth were shifted to my fangs, and my eyes were the gold of Nix’s.

I raised my hands, and my claws and black fur covered them to my elbows.

“What? You just called me a pathetic wolf? A child of a Beta who isn’t even ranked.

You fucking dare to call me pathetic.” Nix’s voice was ragged, and I watched as the two of them trembled.

Nix released her aura and stepped forward as the two of them dropped to their knees. “Amy.” My mother’s gasp was filled with hope. But she quickly schooled herself. “Release them.” I whirled on her and growled. “Nix, please.”

“They disrespected us.” Nix’s voice reverberated through the house. She pushed out more power directed at the two on the floor and Shannon whimpered. I turned back to the prey I had on the floor and I crouched by their heads. “Not so pathetic any more am I?”

“No.” Shannon’s voice was small.

“Am I, Beta Morgan?” I growled out.

“No.” His voice was filled with rage.

“No, what?” I got lower and growled again by his head.

“No Alpha Amy.” He bit out each word and then I released them.

“Watch yourselves in the future.” I left them all in the kitchen and retreated to my room. I closed the door and settled myself and Nix, finally shifting back to my normal face.

I’m sorry I lost control in there. Nix sounded softer, almost embarrassed.

“It’s okay.” I smiled as I flopped onto my bed. “They deserved it.” I chuckled softly as I thought of their surprised faces as they hit the ground.

What you both just did will put them on their toes.

They won’t think they can easily manoeuvre around you anymore because your wolf has manifested itself.

Megan’s voice was confident as she chastised us.

She knew that this would make our lives a little harder.

You both should have held it together back there.

I thought about it. “You’re right.” I admitted, and Nix nodded with me. “We should have behaved back there. It would have been easier to move in the shadows without them knowing I could shift. But we still have the upper hand.” I pointed out the fact, and they both agreed.

I pushed up from the bed and made my way to my closet.

I couldn’t smell anything when I first entered, but I knew it smelled like my actual scent.

I pulled all of my clothes and I dumped them onto the floor of my room.

I felt panic bubble up from my center. If Brandon walked into my room or even by it right now, he would figure out the truth.

I heard the door slam on my last trip from my closet, and then there was a knock. I froze. Please, Goddess. Please. I slowly made my way to the door and waited. A second knock came, and the door opened. I moved to slam it shut, but my mother’s voice stopped me.

“What are you doing?” She fully came into the room and made a small circle. She turned to me, eyes wide.

“My scent…” I trailed off and looked down at the clothes at my feet, then back to the closet. I turned and realized that I was screwed. “My scent, my actual scent, is stuck in this room. My clothes can be washed, but what about my bed? Mom, I don’t know what to do.”

My mom quickly surveyed the damage. “Well then, let’s use your outburst to our advantage.” My mom grabbed my basket and pushed a load of clothes into it. “Grab your dry clean only stuff and put it on your bed, along with any coats.”

“What are you doing?” I was still frozen, unsure of what to do.

“I’m helping you. Now do as I said.” I nodded as she left the room.

I heard her head down stairs as I went back to my closet.

I pulled all my coats and dropped them on the bed, then I pulled out anything that had to be dry cleaned like she told me to do.

She came back in and nodded, then pulled out zippered dress bags and zipped my dresses and coats in the bags.

“Mom?”

She stopped and looked at me. “We are going to wash your clothes with descenting spray. We will bring these to the dry cleaners and explain that someone else wore these and your wolf has become territorial and refuses to keep these in your room. They need to be cleaned and descented. Then we will go to the furniture store and buy a new mattress with same-day delivery and disposal services for the same reasons.”

“Will that work?” As I nervously tried to take hold of her hand, she raised her hand and cupped my cheek to reassure me.

“We will just have to sell it, babe.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I won’t allow you to go to that family, not if you don’t want to.” She pulled back and stared into my eyes. “Are you sure? Living without your mate will be hard.” I saw something flash in her eyes, pain and something else.

“I’m sure. I would rather be alone than dead.” I gathered the clothes that were already bagged up. “I’ll put these in the car.” She nodded her head and continued bagging more clothes. I left the room and ran down the stairs, grabbing my keys on the way into the garage.

I went to my Jeep and stuffed the clothes into the back seat before I locked it and ran back upstairs. My mom handed me the rest as she stripped my bed. “Just toss the bedding.” My mom looked up at me.

“Why?”

“I wanted a new comforter, anyway. This way it saves us more laundry. Just bag up everything and toss it all.” I turned to leave but turned back. “Will dumping descenting spray on everything cover my scent until garbage day?”

“Yeah. It will work. But we will need to buy more.” I nodded and left to dump the clothes in my car.

I came back to my room and my mother was spraying the pile of clothes with a bottle of what I could only assume was descenting spray. There were two garbage bags by the door and she nodded to them. “Bring those to the trash. I’ll meet you downstairs in a minute.”

“What are you doing?” I pointed to the pile of the clothes.

“Covering our asses until we get back with more spray and finish washing everything.” She lifted her lip and continued spraying.

She ended up cursing under her breath and unscrewed the lip and upending the bottle on my clothes.

“Stupid thing would take forever.” She pointed to the garbage bags, and I lifted them and ran down the stairs.

I ran to the trash and dumped the bags, then ran back.

“I told you I would meet you downstairs.” My mom was using a soaked top to run some of the descenting spray all over my mattress.

“I know, but I wanted to lock my door before we left.” She tossed the shirt back into the pile and went into my washroom and washed her hands. She came back out and grabbed a garbage bag and went back into my bathroom. I followed her in. “What are you doing?”

My mother started dumping all of my shampoo and conditioner, then deodorant, and lotions. She turned to look at me and sighed. “Baby, you have been using the same things since you turned twelve. They have become almost a part of your natural scent. We will need to find new stuff for you.”

I stepped back and sighed. “You know how hard it is to find a smell that your wolf will tolerate.”

“Yes, yes I do. But like I said, you used strawberry so much, it accented your natural scent. I’m worried that if we don’t change it, it will still be too similar.

” She came over and kissed my head. She buried her nose in my hair and took a deep breath.

“Your scent is burned into my soul, and this new one is still close enough.” She pulled back and looked at me.

“I don’t want you to go through all of this, only for Brandon to find you one day and think you smell close enough to his mate that he grabs you.

If he feels the sparks, your entire plan falls apart. ”

“I’m just going to reject him when I have the space to do it without him figuring it out.”

My mother grabbed my face. “You can’t.”

She was squeezing my cheeks so much my lips puckered. “What do you mean I can’t? I have to.”

“Amy. If you reject him, he will feel it. He will go absolutely insane when he figures out his mate rejected him without facing him. His wolf will search you out, and he will come to you first.”

“Why?” I pulled her hand off my face. “Why would he come to me?”

“Because every other wolf would kill to be his mate, but you were the first woman to turn him down. Now I don’t know why, but I hope when you can, you will explain to me why you would rather change your entire life than be his mate.

” My mom tossed out and I could feel the hurt coming off of her.

She felt like I didn’t trust her. But I did.

“Mom…”

“No, don’t tell me now. That way, if the worst happens, I can’t be used against you.” She waved her hands in front of her face. “I just meant that one day, I would like to know the truth.”

“And you will. I swear.”

My mom stared at me, really stared, and then nodded. “But back to my point, if anyone would reject him, it would be you, and Brandon knows it. Just the way you acted today would set off red flags if he was smart enough.”

“Thankfully, he is so narcissistic he probably won’t put much thought into it.”

My mom shook her head. “That is where you are wrong, baby. Because he is so narcistic, he will focus on today, going over it repeatedly.” She tied up the bag and I said a silent goodbye to all of my favourites.

“You turned him down, and now he has to figure out why a she-wolf would do that. He has gone his entire life thinking he was a Goddess’s gift to all the she-wolves in this pack and now the one he truly wanted, doesn’t want him. ”

“He already slept with every girl that is of age in this pack.” I pointed out, and my mother nodded.

“All of them but you. You were always focused on training growing up, and now, now you don’t want him. It will be a thorn in his side. One he has to pick at, over and over, until he figures out the reason why.”