Moonlight Betrayal
Chapter 91

Chapter 91: Chapter 91

Chapter 91

Kaeleen’s POV

The three of us stood or sat frozen, as we focused our gaze on the sleeping ball of honey-colored fur nestled in Astrid’s arms. Yvonne’s tears were silent, filled with love and an immense pride in her son. Who’d have thought this riffraff was capable of such emotion?

"This is the youngest we’ve had in the pack’s history," I murmured, my voice low with awe as I moved closer. I crouched down beside the swing, my eyes level with the sleeping pup. "He’s just two."

"Heh," Yvonne let out a watery, triumphant laugh, wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand. "Not my son making history no one has ever made and he’s just two years old. Take that, pack records."

"Too bad his mother is so lame she couldn’t do it herself." I told her.

"Neither could you, dumbass." She replied to me.

"Who said I couldn’t?" I asked her.

I reached out and gently stroked a finger over Christian’s head. His fur was incredibly soft, and a wave of fierce, protective affection washed over me. "His first shift... It was so peaceful. He just fell asleep and slipped into it."

"It happens for some people." Astrid said.

"Yeah."

Although my own shift wasn’t as peaceful as this.

Yvonne seemed to read my thoughts, a knowing smirk replacing her tears. "Peaceful is definitely not the word I’d use for your first time," she teased, "I remember it clearly. You were locked in the basement for safety, and I could hear you groaning all the way upstairs. Sounded like a dying walrus."

Astrid looked at me, her curiosity piqued. "How old were you?"

"Sixteen," I admitted, a faint flush of old embarrassment creeping up my neck. "Late for an Alpha’s son. The pressure was... intense." I shook my head, trying to banish the phantom pains. "It was immense and fucking painful. It was like someone had lit a fire on me. The pain started from my spine and shot through every vein. I remember the grinding sound of my own bones re-setting themselves, the scream I couldn’t let out because I was trying so hard to be strong. It felt like being broken apart and put back together wrong, over and over again."

"But how does that relate with you being locked in the basement?" She asked with a frown.

"That’s because that’s where it took place. Mischievous ass thought he could get away with stealing his father’s bourbon but then the shift took place." Yvonne said with a laugh.

"I hate that I know you." I grumbled.

Astrid chuckled. "Did you get to taste the drink?" She asked me.

"If a drop could count as a taste." I told her.

Yvonne laughed again. Her laughter was uncontrollable. "He had only brought the glass to his lips before everything went crashing down. The whole pack was in an uproar because of this one." She said pointing at me.

"Yours wasn’t better either." I grumbled.

Yvonne gave me the stink eye.

Astrid caught the move and turned to me her curiosity piqued. "What happened?" She asked.

"You are so invested in my story." Yvonne pointed out with a laugh.

"That’s because it’s funny." I turned to Astrid. "The first time she shifted she was with a boy. And mind you, she was only twelve."

"He was so scared that something was wrong with me that he pissed himself." She said with a laugh.

"Was he a werewolf?" Astrid asked with a frown.

"Half. He had no idea that we shifted into full wolves. He thought everyone was like him. Enhanced hearing, strength and the like. It was funny because he was screaming at the top of his lungs and I was just crying there on the floor not from pain but from shame. He was about to take my first kiss." Yvonne said, making me laugh.

"Pretty sure if I was given a chance I’d take Kaeleen’s pain more than that shame." Astrid said with a wince.

"Right?" Yvonne asked her.

"What about you?" I asked Astrid.

"Mine wasn’t like that. It was more like Christian’s." she said softly.

"I don’t remember any pain," Astrid continued, her gaze distant, as if looking back through a frosted window. "I was about ten, I think. I just remember feeling... different. Restless. I went to sleep in my bed one night and woke up the next morning curled at the foot of it, covered in fur. The world smelled and sounded different. It wasn’t scary. It just... was. It felt like waking up to who I was always meant to be."

Yvonne laughed softly. "See? Graceful, even in your first shift. Some of us were a bit more... chaotic." Her eyes twinkled with mischief. "You should have seen Rebecca’s."

"What happened ?" Astrid asked with a smile pulling at her lips.

Yvonne pointed at me. "I still remember that day. Your mother found her. She’d somehow gotten into the pantry, and when your mom opened the door, a cloud of white powder exploded everywhere. And in the middle of it were two guilty, glowing green eyes and a flour-dusted snout. She looked like a little ghost wolf."

The image was so vivid and so perfectly Rebecca that Astrid let out a peal of laughter, quickly muffling it against her hand so as not to wake Christian. I still remember that day. Serena had screamed in shock when she saw Rebecca making me cry. I still remember our parents trying to soothe us. Rebecca had shifted at a young age. I think she was five. I was the only one who had a late shift. But compared to Rebecca, Alex’s was worse. At least on my part.

"That’s nothing compared to Alex," I chuckled."We were maybe six or so, I can’t really remember. It was a hot day, and we’d snuck into the main pack pool after hours. I got out to grab our towels, and when I turned back around, he was gone. Just vanished."

I saw the flicker of alarm in Astrid’s eyes and quickly continued. "I panicked. I thought he’d slipped and hit his head. I screamed his name, and my dad and his dad came running out. They thought he’d drowned. They both jumped into the pool, fully clothed, searching for him."

I was laughing properly now, the memory as clear as day. "And then, from the deep end, we see him. This scrawny, waterlogged wolf pup, paws paddling frantically, ears flat against his head, barely keeping his nose above water. He had no idea how to swim with paws. He looked more terrified than we were."

The garden was filled with our soft laughter, a warm and welcome sound under the rising moon. It felt good to share these stories, these small, ridiculous pieces of our history that had woven us all together.

Yvonne finally pulled out her phone, the screen casting a soft glow on her face. She angled it carefully, snapping picture after picture of her sleeping son, a proud, adoring smile on her face. The modern, mundane action felt beautifully normal in the midst of so much magic.

"He’s going to love these when he’s older," she murmured, swiping through the photos.

"You should send some of those to him," I said quietly, my gaze meeting hers. "To Christian’s father. He should see this."

Yvonne’s smile tightened for a fraction of a second. She gave me her signature, world-weary eye-roll, but there was no heat in it this time. "Fine," she sighed, her thumbs already tapping on the screen. "But only because he’s making history. Don’t think this means I’m going to start being nice to him."

I just smiled. We sat there for a long while after that, the three of us watching over the sleeping pup. The earlier sadness from my conversation with Astrid about Serena and Hunter hadn’t vanished, but it was joined now by this. By this profound sense of hope and continuity. Life was a tapestry of pain and joy, of endings and new beginnings. And this moment, this perfect, peaceful moment in the quiet of my mother’s garden, was a thread of pure gold.

"Did he mistreat you?" Astrid asked Yvonne.

"Mistreat? Who?" Yvonne asked her with a frown.

"Christian’s father. Just so you know, I may not have been strong when Leon did it to me but I wouldn’t sit down knowing he mistreated you. I wouldn’t take it." She told Yvonne who just stared at her.

"Cat got your tongue?" I asked Yvonne with a laugh.

"Fuck off. It was...I was just surprised that’s all and um..no. He wasn’t abusive. Perhaps it would be easy if that was the case." Yvonne said to her.

"And we both know Marcus doesn’t have an abusive bone in his body. And if he touched you I would have taken his hands away." I told her.

She gave me a grateful smile. "I know that. And I appreciate it. I’ll fix my issue with Marcus."

"You sure about that?" I asked her.

Before she could reply, Christian turned and let out a whimper making Yvonne tuck in her phone and take him. She calmed him down before turning to us.

"I wanted to talk to you guys about something."