Rejected And Reborn As The Alpha King's Luna

Chapter 22: “The Alpha’s Twin”

Thelma's POV

"The Moon Goddess works in mysterious ways," Luna said carefully. "And Thelma has her mother's gifts. Catherine could see through time, glimpse different possibilities. Maybe Thelma's gift manifested differently."

"It doesn't change anything," Theo insisted, but his voice had lost some of its edge. "She still lived with them. She still.."

"I killed them," I said quietly. "Or at least, I destroyed their plans. I rejected Neon publicly. I exposed their lies. I broke free from their control. That's why I'm being hunted now. That's why bounty hunters were dragging me back to be executed."

Silence fell over the room. Theo stared at me with an unreadable expression. "You rejected an Alpha's son publicly?" Luna asked, and there was something like respect in her voice.

"I rejected everything they tried to make me." I stood up, facing them both. "I'm not their puppet anymore. I'm not anyone's puppet. I'm Thelma, daughter of James and Catherine. And I want revenge just as much as you do."

Luna smiled slowly. "Good. That's exactly what I needed to hear." She moved between us, looking from me to Theo and back. "We've been planning this for twenty-three years. Every move calculated. Every piece positioned. But we couldn't act without you, Thelma."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously. "What makes me so important?"

"Because you're the key to accessing your father's power," Luna explained. "James hid the full extent of the pack's abilities, the real source of our strength, in a vault that requires Alpha blood to open. Your blood specifically."

"My blood?" I looked at Theo. "What about him?"

"I'm not Alpha-born," Theo said bitterly. "Not according to pack law. You were born first. You carry the Alpha gift. I'm just... second."

The pain in his voice was raw, and suddenly I understood. He didn't hate me for living with our parents' killers. He hated me for being born first. For having the power that should have been shared between us.

"Luna raised me to be a weapon," Theo continued, his jaw tight. "To be strong enough to fight when the time came. But you? You were always going to be the key. The important one. The Alpha."

"That's not fair," I whispered.

"No," Luna agreed. "It's not. But it's reality. Pack law is absolute. The firstborn of an Alpha carries the Alpha gift. Theo is powerful, but he can never access what you can access. He can never be what you are."

I looked at my brother, this stranger who shared my face and saw a lifetime of resentment staring back at me. He'd grown up knowing about me, knowing he was second to a sister he'd never met. A sister who'd been living with the enemy.

"I didn't ask for this," I said to him. "I didn't ask to be born first. I didn't ask for any of this."

"Neither did I," he replied.

Luna clapped her hands once. "Enough emotion for now. We have work to do." She walked to the door and gestured for us to follow. "Come. There's someone I want you both to meet."

Theo followed immediately, his movements military-precise. I hesitated, then went after them. What choice did I have? I was in an unknown pack, surrounded by strangers, with a twin brother who hated me.

We walked through the pack house, much larger and more organized than I'd expected. Wolves bowed to Luna as we passed, and I saw respect in their eyes. Real respect, not the fear I'd seen in the Tee pack. Luna led us to a training ground where a group of warriors were sparring. She stopped at the edge and pointed to a young man fighting three opponents at once.

He was magnificent. Fast, strong, brutal in his efficiency. He took down all three without breaking a sweat.

"That," Luna said proudly, "is Theo. Your brother. The weapon I've been sharpening for twenty-three years."

I looked at the man standing beside me, then back at the fighter. "But Theo is right here—"

"That's not just any Theo," Luna interrupted, her smile turning sharp. "That's what happens when you take a child and raise them with one purpose. One goal." She turned to look at me. "I told him stories about you every night, Thelma. Stories about the sister who abandoned him. The sister who chose the enemy over her own blood. The sister who needed to be brought back, by force if necessary, to fulfill her destiny."

Horror washed over me. "You made him hate me."

"I made him strong," Luna corrected. "Strong enough to do what needs to be done. Strong enough to bring you home, whether you want to come or not." She paused. "And strong enough to keep you here until you open that vault and give us access to your father's power."

The Theo beside me, the one I'd been talking to smiled for the first time. But it wasn't a friendly smile. It was the smile of a predator who'd been playing with his food.

"Welcome home, sister," he said softly. "I've waited my whole life to meet you. And I've hated you for just as long."