The Alpha's Borrowed Luna (Abigail Hayes) novel Chapter 180

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Ine Alpha’s Borrowed Luna

Chapter 180

I’d been itching to get outside for days. When I finally slipped away from the pack house, I headed straight for a sturdy oak overlooking the stream that cut through Storm Wardens territory.

“You’re getting better at climbing,” Kieran’s voice called from below. Mind if I join you?”

I glanced down to see him standing at the base of the tree, hand shading his eyes against the afternoon sun. In the months since my arrival, Kieran had become a steady presence–not quite a friend, but something more than merely an Alpha offering sanctuary.

“If you can make it up here,” I replied with a hint of challenge.

He scaled the tree with practiced ease, settling on a branch adjacent to mine. For a while, we sat in companionable silence, watching the water flow below.

“What did it feel like?” he asked finally. “Being with the Alpha King

The question caught me off guard.

I considered deflecting, but found I wanted to answer. “It was beautiful at times, painful at other times, scary sometimes, exciting at

other times.”

Kieran nodded slowly. “I can’t understand why exactly he made such a decision.”

“I don’t know either,” I admitted, picking at the bark beneath my fingers. “Maybe he is trying to protect me, but I don’t think he has ever loved me; I wouldn’t do that to a person I loved.”

“Maybe he was indeed trying to protect you.”

I shook my head, a familiar bitterness rising in my throat, “No, you know what I think? I think it was because I am not as strong as

the others.”

“And why would you think that?”

“It is true; I believe that. I got my wolf later than most.” I stared at my hands, remembering how it felt to finally transform, how it had briefly made me feel worthy of standing beside Kaius. “I wish I was stronger… better; no one would ever be able to hurt me.”

Something shifted in Kieran’s expression–a calculation, a decision made. “And what if I told you there was a way?”

“What?” I turned to face him fully.

“You heard me correctly.”

“I doubt that…”

Kieran shifted on his branch, leaning closer. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and maybe you should know something about me, something I hold as a secret.”

I waited, hardly daring to breathe.

“I am very much like you. When I was a child, I had been ill; it was a strange illness, one with no cure; it left me weak; it could have claimed my life; my parents tried their best but it wasn’t good enough; they paid witches, healers, and yet… nothing. His voice had taken on a distant quality, as if recalling events from another lifetime. “I had a few days left to live; I was only a child, their only child, and that’s when they made the decision. They gave me away to a sorceress, one of the greatest to ever live, and she… did something to me, something that changed me forever.”

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Chapter 180

“How did it change you?” I asked.

“I became stronger, faster… better. But there are risks; not everyone can go through the phase”

“But you did?”

“Yes, I did.”

I considered this revelation, turning it over in my mind. A sorceress with the power to make someone stronger–to transform them beyond normal werewolf capabilities. It sounded impossible, yet thevidence sat before me.