AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But you know who Victor is?”
Luna met Adrian’s smoldering eyes. It was understandable that, assuming this woman really was her grandmother, she’d be a little skittish about confronting her past.
Although Luna still had no clear picture of what had happened, she knew that it couldn’t have been good.
She had to get through this.
“Victor is actually the reason I’m calling,” Luna said. “We found your picture inside of a book he had set aside and thought you might be able to help us.”
Luna expected the conversation to grow more heated and wished they could just talk. She really wanted to get to know her only living family.
That’s when the woman on the other end of the receiver started laughing, to her astonishment. She couldn’t remember saying anything especially funny …
But the woman couldn’t stop. It was a gut-busting, hearty laughter that ended in fits of rasping.
“Then you are my grandmother?”
The woman on the other end tried to catch her breath. “Oh, dear,” she said. “If you really are my granddaughter, I’ve got to teach you a thing or two about tact.”
“I’m sorry …”
Her father had always taught her to never apologize. There was something about this woman that had pushed Luna back decades.
“Then, are you a friend of Victor’s?”
The question played through her mind.Am I a friend of Victor’s?
It felt like a test. She had no idea of this woman’s true alliances, but she imagined they must have been enemies.
But what if they weren’t? What if, after everything she’d been through, Luna was only invoking the name of another adversary?
She decided to trust her gut.
“No,” Luna said with as much vitriol as she could manage. She thought of everything Victor had done to her … how he’d taken somebody she loved, poisoned her father against her, and driven her into exile.
She channeled those feelings into her reply. “I am not.”
The woman on the other end sighed. “I’ve gotta tell you,” she said. “That’s a relief.”
Luna said nothing.
“Then are you Celia’s daughter?” the woman asked.
Luna felt a tear well up at the thought of her mom. How long had it been since she lost her? She realized that next month would be eleven years to the day.
“That’s my mom’s name.”
“And how is Celia doing?”
Luna felt the tear fall down her cheek. “She passed away a while back,” Luna said, trying to choke back the tears. “Victor tried to tell me she was still alive, but …”
“Oh, you poor thing,” her grandmother said. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Victor was never supposed to know you or your mother. I’m so sorry. If I could come over there and hug you, I would.”
Luna inhaled, noting Adrian’s concerned look.
There would be time for tears later.
Right now, they were fighting for their lives and the health of their pack against a tyrant who sought only to ruin minds and lay waste to villages. She needed to focus.
