Shifted Fate (Broken Luna #4)

Chapter One

My mom found me passed out on the floor next to my bed.

“Baby?” I don’t even remember how the call ended, just that it did pretty quickly after my father dropped the bomb that shattered me.

“Babe?” The black screen of the computer was taunting me.

The screen was calm, still and silent, but my insides were going insane.

I wish my father had kept his mouth shut.

Why? Nix’s voice was soft, but confused.

You have kept your scent hidden and so has he…

I closed my eyes as I thought back to all the times he said I smelled wrong. How he never smelled like anything. He explained it. I’m sure he had. What the hell was going on? How do I keep forgetting things about him? About myself? How had I forgotten to tell my father about the rogues?

“Baby!” My mother grabbed me by my shoulders, jolting me from my turbulent thoughts.

I felt like I was swimming underwater with everything.

She watched me with wide eyes. “Baby, are you okay? What are you doing?” She looked at the black screen and her brows furrowed.

She turned back. “Why are you just sitting here?”

I blinked at her, not understanding her questions. My entire world had been shaken. How could she not see it?

Do his words matter that much? Megan sighed. It’s not like we can go back and change anything.

“Amy, talk to me.” My mom grabbed my face and bent down to stare into my eyes. “Please.” My eyes finally met hers and I could feel the tears jump to my eyes. “What’s wrong, baby girl?”

“Have you ever been told something that shatters your entire outlook on a situation, but it changes nothing?” My words were soft, but they held so much emotion.

My mother laughed softly. “Are you serious?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

My mom squeezed my cheek. “Baby, I thought my mate had cheated on me, and I turned my back on our bond. Only for my daughter to tell me almost twenty years later that he hadn’t cheated.

He had used magic on me and I had been the one to betray our bond.

” I watched a tear fall down her face. “So yeah baby I do.”

I watched her for another minute. “Sorry.” She just winked at me.

“Like you said, I can’t change anything, and your father has forgiven me. I’ve spent the last few years forgiving myself.” She slid into my bed. “Now why don’t you tell me what is going on in that brain of yours?”

I sighed as I leaned back against the headboard of my bed. “Rowan.”

My mom’s face crumpled in confusion. “Rowan the king?” I nodded. “What about him?”

“Did you know he hides his scent?” Such an innocent question that was hiding my feelings.

“Yeah baby, everyone does. He’s a Lycan male. The stronger they are, the earlier they have to hide their scent around wolves.” It all sounded so familiar, but still so foreign to me.

“Why though?”

“Because as an unmated Lycan male, his scent contains a hormone that would drive unmated female wolves insane. They would throw themselves at him.” I lifted my brow, and she chuckled. “More than they already do.”

“So, how is he ever supposed to find his mate?” I threw up my hands.

My mom smiled. “He has to be selective. What he is supposed to do is wait until he scents his mate, then he releases his scent when they are alone to confirm the bond. Once mated, the hormone will disappear and he can walk around with his scent free for his mate to enjoy. All Lycan males are taught it. Especially the strong ones.” She grabbed my hand. “Why are you asking?”

“Because I feel like I’ve heard this before, but any time I think about it, the thought disappears.” My mom nodded like it was normal.

“Yeah baby, that’s the Goddess for you.” She chuckled. “As a female, we have it easier, but the men were chased relentlessly. So the Goddess made it that way.” My mom shrugged. “Once you’re mated, it becomes cemented in your mind, but this way you don’t focus on it.”

“So it’s not magic making me forget this?” My mom shook her head. “This is stupid.”

She laughed. “You say that, but if you ever have a son, you will soon see the importance of it.”

“How do you figure?”

“You don’t understand, baby. I watched young men be chased down the street by seasoned wolves when their scent came in. Some were physically harmed.” She shook her head. “Before the Goddess fixed it, male lycans were held captive by female wolves.”

“Really?” I felt my stomach drop.

She nodded. “It was bad, and this was the only way to help them. The Goddess makes it fade in everyone’s minds.

That way you just accept that they have no scent, and you move on.

Or if you smell their scent, and you aren’t their mate.

If they get away from you, then their scent fades from your mind, like you had never smelled him before. ”

“Oh, okay.” I sighed. “So there is a chance I have already smelled his scent, but my mind has forgotten it.” I nodded. “That must be it, then.”

My mom tilted her head at me. “What are you talking about?”

I hit the back of my head off the wall a few times before I groaned. “Your mate said something that had me questioning everything.”

My mom snorted. “He tends to do that. But what did he say this time?”

“That Rowan has been hiding his scent since he was a kid.” She nodded.

“Okay…” She stared at me, as if waiting for the explanation. As if that didn’t explain everything.

“I was in love with him, but he wasn’t my mate so we didn’t get together, mom.” I sighed.

She nodded, but was still clearly confused. “Okay?” She watched me for a second and I groaned. “Baby, I don’t know what you are saying. Yes, I just said he has to hide his scent.” She twirled her hands. “Why does it matter? You said you weren’t mates.”

I nodded. “He must have released his scent, and I just forgot it.”

My mom narrowed her eyes. “Why do you sound like you are trying to convince yourself more, then you are me?” My mom grabbed my hand again. “Talk me through it because I am obviously missing something. What brought this up, anyway?”

“We were talking about Thoth while he was gone.” My mom nodded.

“Your computer friend?”

“Yeah.”

“Why was your father asking about Thoth?”

“Because I like him.” I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “And after Brandon, and then mess with Rowan,”

“Mess with Rowan?” My mom was confused. “What mess with Rowan?”

I groaned again. “At school.” I wiped my face again.

“I fell in love with Rowan in my first year of school. And he felt the same, but we weren’t each other’s mates, and then we cut ties so we could focus on everything.

” I waved my hands. “So I refused to care about another man, and then Thoth kind of wormed his way in. I don’t even know how. ”

My mom smiled. “Probably because he wasn’t real.”

I snapped my head up. “What?”

My mom pointed at the screen. “He was a name on the screen. And at first, you said you didn’t even know he was a he?

” I nodded. “See, so you spent over a year thinking Thoth was a girl, getting to know her and becoming friends, only to find out he was a man.” She shook her head.

“I don’t understand it, but he was probably the only one to listen to you and not judge.

” She waved me off before I could defend my friends.

“I know you had the girls, but it’s different.

Because even though they support you one hundred percent, they still judge you.

Thoth was just a name on a screen, and even if he was judging you, unless he typed it out, you would never have known.

He became your safe space to vent, work out problems, and just be yourself.

You didn’t have to be an Alpha, or a leader.

You could be weak with him because it didn’t matter. ”

“Until it did.” I finished for her and she nodded.

“That’s what a mate is like. Total acceptance.” She sighed. “But I went off on a tangent. So you were talking about Thoth, and?”

“And then we shifted to Rowan and what happened between us.” My mom leaned in. I huffed out a breath. “Brandon got me with the kudzu and I went into heat. I begged him to help me, but he refused.”

My mom nodded. “Lycan’s are huge on fated mates, and saving themselves for their bond.” I nodded. “He didn’t offer to ease the pain?”

I shook my head. “He loved me, he said so himself. I don’t think he trusted himself with me.”

She nodded. “Makes sense. If he had a bond with you, it would have made the yearning to seal the bond worse.” I must have looked confused, because she continued. “Lycans, unlike wolves, will form bonds. You must have felt them already. Our lycans can go over to another’s mind.”

I felt my mouth drop open. “I thought that was normal.” My mom shook her head.

“It’s the bonds we create with people. Pack bonds, friends, lovers become physical bridges we can send messages to each other. Once the bond is there, a wolf can learn to use it, but Lycan’s are the only ones that can build the bridge. That’s why wolves use mind-linking.”

“Are you serious?” My mom nodded and laughed.

“So his Lycan was probably fighting the need to seal the bond, and he ran away to protect your virtue. But why does it matter? You said you weren’t mates.”

I nodded. “You are missing the same thing I did until daddy pointed it out to me.”

“What?”

“Because of Brandon, I’ve kept my scent hidden. And so has Rowan.”

My mom blinked her eyes. “Wait. So you two have never scented each other?”

I shook my head, but then waved my hands. “It’s impossible though.” I forced a laugh. “I’m not a queen…” I looked away from her. “And we must have scented each other properly at least once. Like you said, I probably just forgot.”

“Well, what did Rowan say whenever he scented you?” She looked at her hand. “When he smelled you and assumed your scent was real?”

“He always said that I smelled wrong. Same with Erubus whenever he scented Nix.”