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Ine Alpha’s Borrowed Luna
Chapter 180
I’d been itching to get outside for days. When I finally slipped away from the pack house, I headed straight for a sturdy oak overlooking the stream that cut through Storm Wardens territory.
“You’re getting better at climbing,” Kieran’s voice called from below. Mind if I join you?”
I glanced down to see him standing at the base of the tree, hand shading his eyes against the afternoon sun. In the months since my arrival, Kieran had become a steady presence–not quite a friend, but something more than merely an Alpha offering sanctuary.
“If you can make it up here,” I replied with a hint of challenge.
He scaled the tree with practiced ease, settling on a branch adjacent to mine. For a while, we sat in companionable silence, watching the water flow below.
“What did it feel like?” he asked finally. “Being with the Alpha King
The question caught me off guard.
I considered deflecting, but found I wanted to answer. “It was beautiful at times, painful at other times, scary sometimes, exciting at
other times.”
Kieran nodded slowly. “I can’t understand why exactly he made such a decision.”
“I don’t know either,” I admitted, picking at the bark beneath my fingers. “Maybe he is trying to protect me, but I don’t think he has ever loved me; I wouldn’t do that to a person I loved.”
“Maybe he was indeed trying to protect you.”
I shook my head, a familiar bitterness rising in my throat, “No, you know what I think? I think it was because I am not as strong as
the others.”
“And why would you think that?”
“It is true; I believe that. I got my wolf later than most.” I stared at my hands, remembering how it felt to finally transform, how it had briefly made me feel worthy of standing beside Kaius. “I wish I was stronger… better; no one would ever be able to hurt me.”
Something shifted in Kieran’s expression–a calculation, a decision made. “And what if I told you there was a way?”
“What?” I turned to face him fully.
“You heard me correctly.”
“I doubt that…”
Kieran shifted on his branch, leaning closer. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and maybe you should know something about me, something I hold as a secret.”
I waited, hardly daring to breathe.
“I am very much like you. When I was a child, I had been ill; it was a strange illness, one with no cure; it left me weak; it could have claimed my life; my parents tried their best but it wasn’t good enough; they paid witches, healers, and yet… nothing. His voice had taken on a distant quality, as if recalling events from another lifetime. “I had a few days left to live; I was only a child, their only child, and that’s when they made the decision. They gave me away to a sorceress, one of the greatest to ever live, and she… did something to me, something that changed me forever.”
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Chapter 180
“How did it change you?” I asked.
“I became stronger, faster… better. But there are risks; not everyone can go through the phase”
“But you did?”
“Yes, I did.”
I considered this revelation, turning it over in my mind. A sorceress with the power to make someone stronger–to transform them beyond normal werewolf capabilities. It sounded impossible, yet thevidence sat before me.
“This sorceress, does she still live?”
“She does. But this is risky; I had only gone through it because I would have died anyway; you would be risking your life.
The warning should have deterred me. Instead, it only intensified my interest. “But… if it works, I would be… like you.”
“There are requirements.” His tone had taken on a cautious edge.
“What requirements?”
He studied me, his expression serious. “Elowen… are you sure you want this?”
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