Dating

Chapter 147

At that very same moment, I watched all the blood drain out of my mom’s face. I half expected a look of riled frustration but was, surprisingly, met with severe worry and agitation.

anger and

It was like someone had uncovered a dark, well–kept secret and there was no chance of trying to keep it hidden any longer.

‘Oh, no‘. Those two words practically tore the floodgates wide open to my ongoing one–sided argument that I had been trying to have for years with her. Was I right to have my doubts all this time? Has she been deliberately lying to me my whole life?

Her hands curled into tight fists in her lap while a shuddering breath slipped past her lips.

“Mom…What exactly have you been keeping from me all these years?” I asked with a hint of caution.

After letting out a long breath to steady herself, my mom held out her hand. “Before I say anything, tell me what happened back at school.”

“As

you know, this weekend, parents were set to come to campus to see how everyone has been progressing so far,” I said. “I had planned to catch up on some work. I haven’t been feeling too well lately.”

“Is that why you look so fatigued,” my mom asked.

I gave a slight nod and went on. “Anyway, Bonnie made the suggestion for me to take a short break and come out to meet her parents. Which I did, I think they’re very nice people. We all chatted for a bit and I was getting a bit…overwhelmed. When I tried making it back to the dorm, I was stopped by a woman who oddly enough knew who I was.”

“Who was she?”

“My mother,” Arthur spoke up. “Needless to say, she was less than kind to Ella for reasons that fall under typical prejudice and old–fashioned ignorance.”

My hand twitched with the strange urge to reach for his. Never in my wildest thought would I have ever imagined that Arthur

against his own mother.

would defend someone like me?

“Regardless, things ended up escalating when Mrs. Winslow left. Liam and Arthur ended up getting involved in a fight which caused some sort of reaction inside of me that caused me to shift.”

My mother’s expression became more and more pinched with distraught. By the time we all finished explaining what happened, she lowered her gaze and kept shaking her head.

“I just can’t believe it,” she whispered to herself. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It’s not possible.”

To be honest, I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the whole ordeal. But I couldn’t fathom why my Mom was so determined to remain in her state of denial.

“Mom, why were you so insistent that I wasn’t a wolf?”

“Because I was nearly a hundred percent certain that you weren’t. You never showed other than human.”

any

definitive signs of being anything

I could tell that there was more my mother wasn’t telling me. So much more. My patience was growing thin and I was done with being kept in the dark.

“There’s a lot that you’re not telling me,” I stated firmly.

“Everything I’ve done was to keep you safe and have a normal life. That’s all that your father and I wanted for you.”

“Mrs. Belmont, who exactly was Ella’s father?” Liam asked.

My heart leaped in my chest. I, practically, knew nothing about my father. Although I always tried asking about him in the past, my mother had always kept the topic off the table.

“His name was Michael,” she said softly.

It all felt like a ground–breaking moment to me because this was the one topic that my mom would always refuse to talk about. Part of me knew it was because of how emotional it made her. But the other part always sort of assumed that it was

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Chapter 147

because there was some sort of secret or past that my mom didn’t want me to get involved in.

But now is the time for it all to come out.

“Ella, your father was always a good man, don’t ever forget that.” She took a deep breath. “When I met him, he had told me that he was a wolfless werewolf.”

My brows drew together. “But how is something like that even possible?”

“It was because of his special lineage that goes back over hundreds of years. We never thought we were ever going to be able to have children, yet we were blessed with you.”

According to what she was telling us, my father worked as a low–level construction worker during my mother’s pregnancy and was able to support our growing family.

“But, unfortunately, a tragic accident occurred at the site one day,” she said quietly.

“What happened?” I gasped.

This was something that I never knew about. I only ever knew that my Dad had passed away before I was even born.

“I was heavily pregnant with you at the time when I rushed to the hospital to see him.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“Oh, Ella, it was horrible. Whatever happened, it looked as though he’d been torn to pieces. I knew he didn’t have much time left. Before he died he gave me a pendant that he told me to keep safe and keep hidden. He told me to let everything die with him and to keep it a secret.”

“Even from me?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. It was such a horrible time to live through and it brought on a lot of hard times for us. But I was able to find a new paying job and gained the means to raise you right.”

We all watched my mom get up from the couch and head toward the back part of the house. I spotted the ornate object in her hand as she made her

way back over.

It was a pendent. A hand–crafted silver moon with an iridescent opal stone in the center. I felt Arthur go stiff next to me.

“Oh my God. It’s the totem for the Moon Wolves.” He turned to face me with a serious expression. “Ella, you have to keep this necklace hidden and avoid shifting in front of any more people.”

Liam eyed him with heavy suspicion. “And just what the hell do you know about all this?”

“Was this part of the research you’ve been talking about?” I asked.

Arthur nodded his head. “Partially. I mean, at the time, I didn’t really think anything of it. It was just something I ended up reading about in passing. It’s been said that the Moon Wolf lineage had been purposely massacred.”

keepin

Now I was getting the unsettling feeling that Arthur was something from me. But for the time being, I wasn’t going to

press.

“So, what you’re telling me is that I’m–What? Some mystical descendant from an old tribe that’s been wiped out of existence for years?”

“It’s very likely,” Arthur said.

Good God. This was all becoming just a little too hard for me to believe. But much to my surprise, Liam was the one that spoke up.

“I believe him.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Ella, you can’t tell me that the birthmark near your abs possesses no meaning in all of this. For Christ’s sake, it’s the same shape as that pendant.”

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Chapter 147

Arthur’s tone leveled with irritation. “What birthmark?” he growled.

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