Rise of the Moon

2. Laila-1

2

Laila

One Month Later

My name is Laila. Laila Lyall.

It used to be Laila Connery until I became free from the Sierra pack. The alpha thought he was my father, but I knew otherwise. He was evil. Vile. Pretending to be his daughter was a secret I carried with me for thirty years. I had to wait for the right time to unleash the truth. When it came, I was ruthless. I gambled with my friends' lives to bring down the Sierra pack. Did it work? Yes. Do I feel guilty for putting those I love at risk? More than anything. Luckily, everything turned out okay.

"Laila!"

I grab my mother's journals out of my dresser. They're all written in Elvish, her native language. She was murdered by the Sierra pack alpha, who forced her to be his mate. After she gave birth to me, he killed her. He got what he wanted, a wolf and fae hybrid. Only he didn't realize she was pregnant by my father before he took her. I've known for years who my true father was, but I couldn't get to him. However, fate led him to the Teton pack, and now I'm here as well with him.

He's a royal arctic wolf, which makes me one too. But that isn't all. My mother was a fae, a magical being, not of the mortal realm. The only problem is that I don't know what it makes me. Yes, I'm a half-wolf and half-fae. Can I shift into my wolf? No, I can't. I can feel her inside of me, but that's as far as it goes. My fae side is the dominant part of me. It doesn't bother me, though. The magic is what helps me feel close to my mother.

"Laila! You coming?" Amelie shouts from downstairs. "Seraphina's waiting on us."

Inside my drawer, I reach for my mother's rose quartz crystal necklace and kiss it before securing it around my neck. "Be right down, Am!" I holler back.

I've only been with the Teton pack for a month, and I already feel at home. Amelie is my best friend who also just joined the Teton pack. She deserves a better life after all she's been through. So much has happened in just a short amount of time. We're both away from the evil clutches of the Sierra pack, and now we have our freedom. I can live my life the way I've always wanted.

Holding my mother's journals to my chest, I bounce down the stairs. Amelie and Faith are at the door, waiting on me. What a trio we make. Amelie is a gray wolf, Faith is a royal arctic, and I'm half royal arctic and fae. We have no blood relation, but they feel like my sisters. My father and Faith's father were all part of the Royal pack many years ago before they were ambushed and most of our people killed. Now, we've all found our way back to each other. The Teton pack is full of royal arctic wolves, grays, reds, and a single hybrid like me. We're also the only pack in the country with multiple alphas. That's because a lot of the royal arctic wolves have alpha blood in their veins. It makes things interesting.

Amelie opens the door for us, and I walk out, followed by Faith. "How much have you and your dad translated?" Faith asks.

Papers are sticking out everywhere with my translated notes. "All of them," I reply happily. "Seraphina was going to help me do it, but when my father said he'd help, I couldn't pass that up."

I glance back at Faith, and she smiles. "I don't blame you. I wish my father were here to see us all together."

I hand her the journals. As she looks down at them with her bright blue eyes, her whitish-blonde hair falls in her face, but she tucks it behind her ear. That's one of the characteristics of arctic wolves. Most of them have light-colored hair. Amelie comes up beside her and takes a glance. She has caramel-colored hair and gray eyes. Shifters can always tell what each other are by their scent. A shifter can color their hair red to make it look like they're a red wolf, but their scent would say otherwise.

We get in my car, Amelie in the front seat, while Faith takes the back. Her attention is solely on my mother's journals. I can see some of the pages as she flips through them. My mother used to love doodling around the edges of the paper. Her handwriting looked magical in itself.

"The Land of the Fae sounds so beautiful. Do you think you'll ever see it? It tells you how to get there."

I glance at Faith through the rearview mirror and then focus back on the road. There was a time when I considered leaving the mortal realm for good, but I couldn't do it. I know I have my mother's family there, but I also have my family and friends on this side of the realm. "I've thought about it," I admit truthfully. "I'm just afraid that if I tried to go, I wouldn't be able to come back. I don't know all the rules, especially since I'm only half-fae." I'm the only one of my kind. No one knows what my future holds.

Amelie reaches over and places a hand over mine. "Smart choice. I don't know what I'd do without you. I kind of need you here."

I squeeze her hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

Faith gasps. "Wow, your mother was good friends with the winter court queen, Ariella. She talks about visiting her a lot."

"She had some famous friends," I say, remembering how fascinated I was when my father translated those parts. My mother was a summer fae, and so was Ariella before she bonded with a winter court prince and became queen. They still stayed friends, and my mother visited her often. She wrote how beautiful the snow was, but how it was always cold in the winter court. I'm half summer fae, but I can handle the cold because of my arctic wolf side. Fire and ice.

When we get to Seraphina's, she's sitting on her front porch, wearing a long, white dress. She's an elder and one of the oldest in the pack. It's evident by the long, white hair and wrinkled skin. What makes her different among the rest is that she has supernatural powers like me. A lot of alphas will employ witches to join their ranks. It's uncommon to see a wolf with magical capabilities.

Seraphina stands from her rocking chair and waves. "Hey, girls." Then she focuses on me. "Ready for tonight?"

I shrug. "Yes and no."

She grins wide. "You get to meet all the men. Maybe one of them will be your mate." Her grin turns to Amelie and Faith. "The same goes for both of you."

It's been a month since I've joined the Teton pack, but I've only spent time around a select few. Every morning, I attend fight training with my uncles, Sebastian, and Micah. Then, I go to my dad's to spend time with him, especially now that I've started working for his building company. And lastly, at night, I'm with Amelie and Faith. Tonight, I'm going to meet everyone else from our pack and the other alphas from the council. The bar is going to be full of wolves. I'm thankful to be part of a group that gets along with others.

Amelie scoffs and sits down in one of the rocking chairs. "A mate is the last thing I want."

Faith hands me the journals back and leans against the porch railing. "I don't know. I'm kind of curious to see if I'll find mine. He has to be somewhere."

Seraphina nods down at the journals in my hands. "I want to hear everything about them." I follow her to the door, but Amelie and Faith don't budge.

Amelie waves me on. "Go. We'll stay out here. It's supposed to start snowing soon. I like to watch it come down." There will be a lot more snow in Wyoming than what we're used to in North Carolina.

I look forward to it, especially with Christmas coming up in a few weeks. There will also be a full moon that night.

Seraphina holds the door for me. "I take it you've been getting along with your father?"

"I have." I can feel him close by. Not only is he my dad, but he's sworn to be my protector until I find a mate. It gives me comfort knowing he's around, but I'm fully capable of taking care of myself.

Seraphina giggles as she closes the door. "I sense him in the woods."

I set the journals on the kitchen table. "Yeah, he keeps his distance to give me space. If being my protector helps him, who am I to say no?" He still blames himself for my mother's death. I don't know if he'll ever get over it.

Seraphina takes the seat across from me. "I'm glad he was able to help you translate the journals. Hopefully, spending time with you will help ease his pain. I can feel the torment in that man's soul every time he's near."

It breaks my heart too. I've tried thinking of ways to console him, but nothing ever comes to mind. He prefers to be alone, except for when he's working. He'll meet with clients, but that's about it.

With a heavy sigh, I open the first journal and hand it to her. "Yeah, I feel it too."

Seraphina reads some of the entries and smiles. "This is amazing. You can almost feel her magic in the pages. Like there's a trace of her in them."

My eyes start to burn. "I know."

She points at one of the entries. "Right here, it tells you how to make a portal into the Land of the Fae. Have you tried it?"

It's a simple process. In theory, since I'm half-fae, all I have to do is close my eyes and think of the fae realm. A portal will open up, and you just have to step through it. My mother details it in her journals and even has a drawing of where she used to live.

Shaking my head, I look down at my mother's drawing. "Been too nervous to try. Since I'm only half-fae, I doubt it'll even work."

Seraphina snorts. "Oh, it'll work. Your fae side is the dominant part of you."

"What about you?" I ask. "Do you think you have some fae in you?"

She shrugs. "I don't see how. My parents were full shifters, and their parents were and so on. I don't feel anything other than my wolf. My magic came later in life. One day I woke up and felt a connection. The Great Luna works in mysterious ways."

That's for damn sure.

Her focus goes back to the journals. "It's sweet the way your mother talks about Zayne. She really loved him." I sit back and watch her read through the rest of the entries in the first journal. The second journal is the one where things change. She mentions being pregnant and how she hopes my father will return. Then, things turn dark when the Sierra pack abducts her. Right after she gives birth to me, the man who I thought was my father killed her.

Time ticks by and the sun begins its descent behind the trees. It's almost time for the party. "Well, I guess we should head out."

Seraphina closes the journals. "We probably should. You're the guest of honor."

I clutch my mother's journals to my chest. "I'm going to be the odd one out. I can't even shift."

Seraphina squeezes my shoulder. "You're one of us, Laila, whether you can shift or not. They'll accept you."

We're about to find out.