Luna of Rogues

Part 67 - Unlucky For Some

The sound of Leo's facepalm echoed throughout the deathly silent room. I could feel his exasperation clearly enough through the link. Evidently, he thought there was a better way to break that news, but I'd never been one for beating around the bush. Jace's face was a mask, as usual, but his mate wasn't so composed. Neither was Kara herself, who openly gaped at me.

"Huh?"

A trifle impatiently, I repeated, "I said, I'm your twin sister."

What about that was difficult to understand?

"Minor correction," Leo added. "You might be her twin."

I nodded in his general direction. "What he said. My real parents were abducted by hunters when I was a baby. They were both murdered, but Rhodric managed to save me. Apparently, he wasn't aware of the second baby's existence, and Malcolm — who's lowkey evil — took her away. So while I enjoyed a wonderful childhood, this other girl was left behind to suffer untold hardship."

Kara took about ten seconds to absorb all of that. Then she grimaced at me. "You do look like me. I get that. And I guess ... it does fit. I was raised as a lab rat for a bunch of humans. They did all kinds of shit to me."

"But you got away?" Leo asked.

"The place I was being held caught fire. I got loose and ran into Emma, and the two of us stuck together until she met Jace. Then, somehow, I ended up joining this pack. But you've got to understand that this ... it's a lot to take in."

"With all that taken into consideration, it's a miracle you're not a total nutcase," I commented.

She gave us a wry smile. "Who says I'm not? Besides, I could say the same for you — growing up with rogues like you did. I spent roughly a week with Rhys Llewellyn, and I've never been quite the same since."

Perhaps she shared more than genes with me after all. I said, "Oh, I'd forgotten you know my little brother. Did you meet when your Alpha had him chained up?"

I shot a nasty look at Jace, and tension crackled through the air between us. He just stared back at me. "I'm not your friend, Skye. And I won't apologise for locking Rhys up, if that's what you're after — he attacked my pack!"

"No, he did not," I corrected. "Out of the dozens of ferals, you arrested the only innocent wolf there. Is it even possible to screw up that badly?"

He took a threatening step forward. "You want to talk about screwing up? Have you forgotten the time when—"

It was the Luna who laid a firm hand on his arm. "Leave off for a while, Jace, for Goddess' sake. Let Kara talk to her family."

Family, Emma had called me. Well, she was wrong. Kara had never been there for me, not through all the danger and the pain. I hadn't been there for her either. It would take a lot more than shared blood and a few similarities to consider her as part of my family. And somehow, I knew it would take more than that for her as well.

That didn't mean I wasn't willing to try. All these years, she'd been lost, but she was found now, and I fully intended to keep her around for as long as she would let me. One whiff of Kara's scent told me she too was mated, to none other than a Beta, if the stench of authority was any indication. Having my twin as the Beta female of New Dawn would tie our packs together more than any treaty could. And if Last Haven was friendly with New Dawn, we would be safe from Zach and Jaden's packs as well. That made us the most powerful alliance in the north at least, maybe even the entire country. Four packs, bound by blood.

I tried not to look too smug in the light of Emma's reprimand, instead choosing to ignore Jace in favour of my twin sister. "Look, I'm not here to cause problems between you all. I just thought you ought to know that we're hunting Malcolm down. If you want, you can help us kill him and avenge our parents. You don't even have to make a decision now. Just come to Last Haven and hear out Rhodric. He knew our parents."