The Cursed Alpha's Fifth Luna

Nina froze.

One second.

Then the spoon in her hand slipped from her fingers and fell onto the table with a sharp clatter.

“Mother?”

Her heart began pounding loudly against her chest. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to speak, but no other words would leave her lips. Her eyes remained fixed on the woman standing before her, as though looking away for even a second might make her disappear.

The woman’s eyes shifted toward her and stayed there for a long moment.

There was no reaction on her face. No shock. No surprise. No sudden rush of emotion at seeing the daughter she had not seen since she was born.

Nothing.

“I thought…” Nina’s voice came out weak. She pushed herself to her feet, her hands shaking helplessly by her sides. “I thought my mother was dead.”

The words hung heavily in the air.

Isabelle stared at her for a long moment. Then, she began walking toward the table.

Nina held her breath as she watched her mother approach.

Her mother.

The words still didn’t feel real. She had imagined this woman so many times. When Nina was little, she had wondered what her mother would look like. She had imagined the face of the woman who had given birth to her, imagined what it would feel like to be held by her, to hear her voice, to finally know what it was like to have a mother.

But as the years passed, those thoughts had become painful. There was no point. Her mother was dead. That was what she had believed all her life.

And now, somehow, she was standing right in front of her. Alive.

Isabelle came to a stop in front of her.

Nina held her gaze. “You’re my mother?”

Something shifted slightly in Isabelle’s eyes. Then she smiled. It was a smooth, practiced movement that didn’t reach her eyes. She closed the remaining distance between them and pulled Nina into her arms.

Nina’s body went rigid.

“You’re home,” Isabelle whispered. Her voice was soft, but flat—devoid of warmth, as if reciting a script she had rehearsed a thousand times. “I have waited for you.”

Nina blinked. Her mother was hugging her. The woman she had spent her entire life believing was dead was actually alive, standing before her and holding her.

Yet… why did she feel so cold?

Nina’s brows drew together. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what it was, but she could feel it in her bones. Still, slowly, Nina raised her arms and hugged her back.

“Mother…” Her voice shook. “I thought you were dead.”

Isabelle slowly let her go, her lips pulled back into that same small, hollow smile.

Nina stared at her. There were so many things she wanted to ask, so many questions she had carried inside her for years.

“Why…” Her voice broke. Nina swallowed, trying to hold herself together as her eyes filled with tears. “Why did you never come to me? Why did you leave me?”

Isabelle looked at her, but before she could answer, the elder who had addressed her earlier spoke instead.

“Isabelle was a vessel to bring you into the world. She could not remain with you.”

Nina’s head snapped toward the elder. Vessel? The word hit her like a physical blow. “What?”

The woman looked at her calmly, unflinching. “We had to bring her back immediately after giving birth to you. Your father fell in love with her after meeting her only once, but she was merely the means to an end. We needed someone to bring you into this world and place you on the path to becoming the Luna of the Vermont Pack.”

Nina went completely still, the breath leaving her lungs.

“So… everything had been planned before I was even born. Everything.”

Nina’s heart clenched painfully as she stared at the elders around the table.

“You have a purpose to fulfill, child,” the elder said smoothly. “To achieve your purpose, sacrifices are made. Sacrifices for the greater good. This is your fate.”

Nina turned back to look at her mother closely. Now that she was standing directly in front of her, Nina could see it. There was an unmistakable resemblance between them. They had the exact same blue eyes. It was like looking into a mirror.

Nina stared at her for a moment longer, her brow furrowing.

Something was deeply wrong. The woman’s eyes looked bleak. Empty. Nina couldn’t explain it, but there was a hollow void behind her mother’s gaze.

Before the silence could stretch too far, the elder spoke again.

“This is your home. It has always been your home. We have watched you grow, and now we are happy to finally have you back.”

Nina turned to look at the elder. Forcing a small, fragile smile to her lips, she nodded.

The old woman smiled back, then turned her attention to Isabelle. “Isabelle, sit. Let us eat. We have a lot to talk about after dinner.”

Nina watched as her mother’s eyes shifted toward the woman who had called her name. Something about the blank, compliant way she looked at the elder made Nina’s chest tighten.

Isabelle nodded. It was almost as though she were under some kind of spell. Without saying a single word, she reached for her chair, carefully pulled it out, and sat down.

She did not look at Nina again.

Nina slowly sat back down as well as they resumed eating. She ate quietly, but her attention was hardly on the food in front of her. Every now and then, her eyes drifted toward Isabelle.

Her heart clenched with a sadness she couldn’t explain.

For a brief moment, Nina had expected something different. She had expected that her mother would at least be excited to see her. That she would ask how she had been all these years, or what had happened to her. Perhaps she would ask if Nina had missed her, or tell Nina that she had missed her, too.

But this woman barely spared her a single glance. She simply continued eating quietly, as though no one else was sitting at the table.

Nina lowered her eyes to her plate, dragging in a slow, agonizing breath.

Right. What was I thinking? She was a total stranger to her mother. The woman hadn’t spent a single day with her after giving birth. How could Nina expect her to suddenly act like she knew her?

Nina swallowed down the lump in her throat, trying to convince herself it shouldn’t matter.

And yet, knowing Isabelle was alive—feeling her sitting right across the table while remaining so utterly unreachable—hurt far more than believing she was dead.

Nina glanced at her one last time.

Isabelle continued eating quietly, never once looking up.

Not even once.