Chapter 81 – All About Mom
••• Aleena’s POV •••
I laughed as my brother’s face turned red, and he stomped his foot. Poor brother, being teased mercilessly by all of us, including Dad.
“You guys are bullies!” he exclaimed with anger and embarrassment.
“Alright, Colton, you are the top. You are not a bottom,” Dad said finally, giving in to Brother.
“Yes, Brother. You are the top,” I nodded, joining in agreeing with Dad.
“Yes. I’m the bottom, not you.” Lucas also agreed.
My brother was more than five years older than me, and yet he was acting like a child throwing a tantrum. He’s cute.
“Dad is also cute and fun. He joined us in teasing Colton,” Celia giggled in my head.
“Yes. I wouldn’t believe that the Alpha King would be this easy-going,” I agreed as I watched my brother throwing a smug smile toward Night, and Night rolled his eyes in return.
They are just too cute!
“Alright, let’s all settle down and sit back down. I want to tell your sister everything that happened to us,” Dad suddenly said, and somehow, my heart began thumping as I was going to learn about my family.
I felt Night’s arms circle around my body and tilted my head to look at him. Kyson… He had changed back to Kyson. His eyes were now black.
“I’m okay. I just feel excited,” I smiled and told him.
He smiled back and placed a kiss on my cheek before we went to sit down on the sofa.
“Where do you want me to start, Aleena?” Dad asked after we all went back to our respective seats.
I thought long and hard about it. Where do I want him to start? A question popped into my mind. “Dad, you are the Alpha King… But you were the Alpha of the Silver Shadow Pack?”
It was unusual. For all I knew, the title Alpha King was passed down through the family, generation to generation, kind of like the Kings and Queens for humans. So, did Dad challenge the previous Alpha King to get the title?
“The Silver Shadow Pack…” Dad muttered as he had a faraway and melancholy look.
No one dared to speak anything. No one dared to press him to tell his story. We all waited patiently as we watched him being immersed in his memories.Content © provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
After a long while, he finally sighed and smiled.
“I was indeed the Alpha of the Silver Shadow Pack and also the heir of the previous Alpha King… Your grandfather,” he began recounting his life story.
“I met your mother when I turned twenty-six. It was during one of those Alpha meetings. At first, us being mates was opposed by both parents. So, both your mother and I decided to live someplace else,” he said.
“It wasn’t easy at first, but then our parents came around and helped us. My father, being the Alpha King, of course, wouldn’t let his heir be in danger. So, he sent many warriors to protect us. In the end, because of the large number of them guarding us, I decided to create the Silver Shadow Pack. Most of its initial members were actually warriors from the Night Shade Pack and their families,” he continued with a faint smile.
Dad and Mom… I didn’t know my grandparents were against them being mates at first. But I knew nothing about them.
“We lived happily for a few years and have Colton.” He glanced at Colton, and his smile turned gentle. It was evident that he loved my brother.
“Then we have you.” He looked at me in the same way he looked at my brother before, but with a tinge of sadness.
“We thought our lives would be perfect, but then Andre suddenly decided to kill all the newborn were-babies with a birthmark on their bodies.” His smile disappeared completely, and there was only sadness now.
“It happened too suddenly, and we had no time to return to Solaris. At that time, the Moon Goddess appeared in front of us and told us to bring you to the Crimson Blood Pack. She said you’d be safe there.” He looked at Kyson and me as he said those words.
Seeing his gaze, suddenly, I understood something. Even during that horrible time, the Moon Goddess had always tried to keep Kyson and me together.
“But unfortunately, we were caught while we were trying to bring you to the pack,” he let out a heavy sigh.
No one said anything, as we knew what happened to Mom and me afterward. The thought of Mom getting killed because she was protecting me saddened me.
I felt my hand being squeezed, and I looked at Kyson. I knew he was comforting me, so I gave him a smile and squeezed his hand back.
“I’m okay,” I mindlinked him, and he smiled at me.
I turned back to look at Dad and asked him the question on my mind. “Dad, I saw you being killed. Did the Moon Goddess save you at that time? And what happened then?”
He nodded. “Yes, she saved me back then. It was because of her that I was able to bring your brother back to the Night Shade Pack.”
He looked at Colton, and his eyes showed a hint of teasing, amusement, and helplessness. “He was six years old back then, but he blamed me for being unable to save you and your mother. Since then, he believed that I was the one who killed you and your mother and hated me… Until today.”
I turned to look at Colton and saw him being flustered, and his face was blushing. “You promised to keep both Mom and Aleena safe, but you came back alone. You didn’t tell me about Aleena being alive,” he tried to defend himself.
“I promised the Moon Goddess not to tell anyone about her plans for your sister,” Dad said helplessly.
“But Dad, how did brother not know my name or even the shape of my birthmark?” I didn’t want to interrupt, but those issues were puzzling. Even if he didn’t know my birthmark, he should know my name, shouldn’t he?
“At that time, you were only five days old. He had only seen you once, and we hadn’t decided on your name yet. When your mom decided to name you Aleena, we were ambushed,” he explained.
“Why didn’t you tell me after that?” Colton complained.
“You didn’t give me a chance to explain or talk to you at all. Every time I brought your mom or Aleena up, you always got angry and ran away,” Dad answered.
I looked at Colton and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I was happy that he loved Mom and me that much, but it was silly of him to hate Dad that much at the same time.
“Thank you, Colton,” at the end, I decided to say that to him.
“What for?” he asked with confusion.
“For loving Mom and me to the point of hating Dad,” I told him while at the same time teasing him.
“It’s what I should do as your brother,” he said proudly.
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was amazing how he only listened to me praising him and not the latter part of my sentence.
“So… Because you hated Dad, you ran away from home?” I asked him.
“I couldn’t stand him not looking guilty at all. I decided to just flee and live in the country where I was born,” he replied.
“Hey, Kyson. It’s fate that I met you and became your best friend,” he said, suddenly looking at Kyson in excitement. “Turns out you’d be my brother-in-law. Hurry, call me brother-in-law.”
I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. Goddess, my brother really is cute. He could always find excuses to tease Kyson.
Kyson rolled his eyes before saying with a straight face, “Brother-in-law.”
Colton’s expression turned gleeful. “That’s right. From now on, you have to be good to Aleena and me, or I’ll ask Aleena to reject you,” he threatened Kyson and looked at me.
I nodded with a serious expression, pretending to agree with him. He puffed out his chest and looked smugly at Kyson.
“Look at your brother. He’s just like a child,” Kyson mindlinked me.
“He’s cute,” I told him and laughed. I saw the corners of Kyson’s lips curved up, and so I mindlinked him again, “Thank you for indulging in my brother’s immaturity.”
He didn’t reply, but his gaze softened.
I turned toward Dad again. There was still one question in my mind that needed an answer. “Dad… About me being a Lycan… Did you know about it, too? Did the Moon Goddess tell you about it?” I asked.
“No, the Moon Goddess didn’t tell me,” he said.
“But you are not surprised?” I asked.
“Yes, how did Aleena become a Lycan? Did the Moon Goddess just decide to change her?” Colton asked.
“Umm… When the Moon Goddess visited me before, she told me if I chose the right path, she would show me my true form. And I guess my true form is a Lycanthrope?” I was puzzled too, and thus I asked, hoping to get an answer from Dad.
“It’s not a surprise. Because your mom was a Lycanthrope,” Dad answered, and the room fell into another pin-drop silence.
“Mom was a Lycanthrope?!” Colton shrieked, breaking the silence.
“You didn’t know?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “No, I never saw her shift before.”
“Yes, she was a Lycanthrope. It was the reason why our parents were against us being mates. Even though werewolves and Lycanthropes could get along well, her parents still didn’t think I was good enough for her,” Dad said.
“But she smelt like a werewolf,” Colton said.
“When we decided to break free from the Night Shade Pack, we asked a witch to mask her scent. And it turned out to be a good thing. She wasn’t suspected of being a Lycanthrope during the war, and no one wanted to kill her. No one in that area knew she was a Lycanthrope except those in the Silver Shadow Pack,” Dad explained.
“So, I took after you as a werewolf, and Aleena took after Mom?” Colton deduced.
“It should be the case. Isn’t that right… Lily Bell?” Dad turned his gaze toward Witch Lily and asked her that question.