Blessed By The Moon

Chapter 22

Skye's pov:

I approached him slowly, each step weighed down by a mix of emotions that were almost too much to bear. 

When I sat beside him, he barely looked at me. Instead, he took a deep, shuddering breath, his eyes cast downward. But when he finally met my gaze, his eyes were filled with something I hadn't expected, regret. A kind of raw, tortured regret that made him seem like a different person entirely.

"Skye," he said, his voice low, almost pleading, "Just... just let me talk, please, without interrupting. I have to get it all out."

I nodded, though my heart was pounding, my stomach twisting with every word he hadn't yet said. He reached for my hand, holding it tight. I was tempted to pull away, but something made me hold on, my fingers tightening around his.

He took another shaky breath and started, his voice thick with emotion. "My whole life, I thought Alison and Howell were my parents. They were the ones who held me, who kissed my bruises, who taught me everything I knew about family and love. I remember them cheering for me at school plays, spelling bees, scolding me when I messed up or got bad grades, being there for every big moment."

He paused, his jaw tightening, and I could see the tears he was fighting to hold back. "Then, just before my first transformation, everything changed. Alison and Howell gave me my dad's old car as a birthday gift, one day before my actual birthday because they were both working that specific day. It was nothing fancy, but I loved it. We took it for a spin together, even grabbed dinner to celebrate. But I forgot my phone at the restaurant, and after we got home, I decided to go back for it."

His gaze grew distant, caught in the memory. "The streets were empty, the night air cold. I remember driving through the newly fixed street, you know by those houses with pale-colored balconies... they were just getting built back then. And, suddenly, pain, like nothing I'd ever felt. My arm snapped first as I gripped the steering wheel, then my leg, my ribs... every bone breaking, twisting. I thought I was being torn apart. I couldn't even call for help. I tried to scream, but there was no one there."

He looked away, his voice cracking. "I barely managed to get out of the car before I collapsed. I thought I was possessed, that some demon had crawled into my skin. And then, suddenly, I wasn't human anymore. I was this... this creature with four legs, and I could feel this strange mind in my head, like a voice I couldn't control. I was terrified."

A small shudder went through him, and I could feel it too. The horror of that night, that feeling of losing yourself, becoming something you don't understand.

"I didn't tell Alison and Howell," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "I couldn't. I didn't know who I was anymore, or what I'd become, at first I thought I was a freak, and over time, I started to question everything. I knew deep down that I wasn't really their child. So I started spending nights in the forest, trying to understand what was happening to me, trying to feel some sense of control. I even... I even turned to drugs, Skye. They made it easier, calmed my nerves. Made this other world seem a little less terrifying."

He closed his eyes, his voice tight with barely controlled pain. "One night, I ran into other werewolves, Caleb and a couple of his packmates. They thought I was a rogue, and they almost killed me, but they felt that my energy was stronger than a rogue's, they gave me a minute to defend myself and I explained everything, they listened. They brought me to their pack, where I met the Alpha, the man who looked at me and saw his son, the resemblance was striking."

He looked at me then, his expression haunted. "Skye, I found out the truth. My biological parents were driving through the mountains when their car broke down. I was barely two years old, and my mom was pregnant. My dad left her in the car with me and went to the nearest town. That's when Alison and Howell showed up. My mom couldn't shift Skye, because she was pregnant ... They took everything, her money, her phone... and me. They just... took me."