More than Secrets

Teach Me to Fight

DANI'S P. O. V.

I race into the bookstore with every intention of confronting my parents right away, but the bookstore is quite busy and I don't want to cause a scene.

You know, this being a small town where people talk?

So I slow down my pace and make my way past the register and upstairs to my parents' joint office.

I don't bother to knock, I just push open the door and stare at them, not sure how I'm supposed to go about confronting them.

Mom and dad look up at me in surprise from their desks.

"Dani? Why aren't you at school?" mom asks as she gets up and comes over to me. "Is everything alright?"

I stand in the doorway of their office shaking violently. I'm crying? No... I'm sobbing. I fall to the ground in a trembling heap.

"Dani!" both my parents say in shock as they run to hold me.

I just can't form the words that I want to say to them. I want to be angry at them for keeping my being adopted a secret, but at the same time, they're still my parents, whether we're related by blood or not. They raised me, and gave me such a wonderful life, and they're still the ones taking care of me today.

"Oh honey, what happened?" dad asks me, there's so much pain in his voice at seeing me like this.

My parents love me with all their hearts, I know that for a fact.

"Why?" is all I can manage between sobs.

"Why what, baby girl?" mom asks me, rubbing my back in soothing circles.

"Why didn't they want me?" I say, and sob even harder.

They both tense up. Mom holds my chin up and looks me in the eyes. She has tears streaming down her face too.

"Tyler told you?" she asks me.

I nod in reply.

She sighs, but continues. "Dani, it's because you were very much wanted that you were given to us. I don't know everything, but I do know that your mother loved you so much and just wanted to keep you safe."

"Why didn't you tell me? All these years you've been lying to me? Why?!" I yell at them.

My parents exchange knowing looks. Mom sighs and nods her head in agreement with whatever their look meant. She gets up and goes over to her desk, unlocking the top drawer, she pulls out a crumpled white envelope and hands it to me.

"I was supposed to give this to you this morning already, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it," she says as I take the envelope from her.

I look at it. "To Daniella on your 18th birthday" is written on the front.

...

I'm laying on the floor of the tree house now, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers that the twins and I stuck up there when we first created Tree-house Time, when I hear footsteps down on the grass below, then two people making their way up the ladder.

I smell them even before seeing them. Lee and Brie. Lee smells like sweet watermelon and Brie smells like caramel. I really don't think I'll ever get over my new "super" senses.

"Hey birthday girl," Lee says timidly as she crawls on all fours to me. She copies me by laying herself down on the floor next to me, and Brie does the same.

We lay like that in silence, just staring up at the ceiling, until the sun starts to set.

"You guys knew all along?" I ask, but I already know the answer. It's why they've been acting so strange around me recently.

"Yeah," Lee replies in a sad voice.

"We wanted to tell you," Brie adds, "but the Alpha commanded us not to. We're so sorry, Dani."

I sigh and hold up the envelope in my hands. "I can't bring myself to read it. Please do it for me?" I ask them, not really caring who does the honors.

Brie takes the envelope and sits up, cross-legged on the floor opposite us. Lee scooches in closer to my side and holds me.

Brie opens the envelope and takes the letter out. She clears her throat and begins to read out loud: "Daniella, I can't believe the day has come... You are finally 18 years old today. This is a very special birthday for our kind and I wish with all my heart that I could be there with you, but I can't and I'm so sorry. I never wanted to part with you, not for one second, but know that I only did so to protect you." Brie pauses and glances over at me, then continues, "Still, you deserve to know just who you truly are... You are the daughter of the late Alpha Isaac Stone of Half-Moon pack and I, Lorna Reynolds, the Luna of Half-Moon pack, am your mother. You had a brother, Alexander, who was only four years old when he lost his life. Dark forces were used to attack our pack and take their lives and now our pack is forever cursed because of this. Your uncle, Henry Stone, is now the Alpha and has forced me to be his wife. He believes that you are his daughter by blood, not Isaac's, and that's why I had to give you up. If he were to ever, somehow find out that you are Isaac's daughter, the true heir to our pack, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you... just like he killed your brother. I don't know how the curse will affect you now, but your next step is to find a good witch to help you suppress the darkness... I love you so much, Daniella, so I ask you to keep on living, and to never look for me. I just can't bear the thought of losing you too. May the Moon Goddess protect you always."

Brie folds the letter and puts it back into the envelope, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

The tears are flowing freely down mine and Lee's cheeks.

"I had a brother," I whisper. I can feel Juno is mourning with me too. I shoot up suddenly, knocking my head on the ceiling of the tree house. "Teach me to fight. Please."

Lee and Brie both look at me with shocked expressions.

I'm going to save my mom and kill that bastard, Henry, if it's the last thing I ever do!

Juno howls in agreement and I can feel the raw power radiating from her and flowing into me. Let's do it! she says with a smirk.