Page 207 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

His arms wrapped around me from behind, cradling me against his chest. His touch said more than words could, showed me he understood the conflicting thoughts in my head. He just held me, just stood with me as we stared at the painting, his chin resting on my head and his warmth and nearness providing more stability than ever.

“It’s me,” I said, closing my eyes and leaning my head more into him.

“I add a new pillar and a new image every year on your birthday. After this year, yours will outnumber your sister’s.”

Both of us turned our heads to the left, where we found an ethereal woman walking towards us. Her silvery hair flowed down her back almost to her ankles, and she wore swaths of white fabric wrapped around her body. Her features were severe yet beautiful, as one might expect from a god or goddess. Not unkind, not malicious, but sharp and keen.

Wesley stood straighter behind me, his body stiffening and his muscles tensing, on alert in the presence of the goddess who had blessed his people.

My blood sang, and my cells vibrated and pulsed in her presence, as if every part of me reached out for her, begged for me to connect with her and know her.

But I didn’t move. I stayed where I was, staring at her as she stopped in front of the pillar of the dark-haired girl.

“Your sister—Asteria—was only twenty-one when she died,” she said, looking towards the painting. “And that is why my warriors find their mates when they are twenty-one years of age,” she continued, turning back to us.

“So—so I am your daughter?” I asked, still frozen in place in the safe circle of my mate’s arms.

A sad, wistful smile graced her face. “Yes. You are.”

Stories are told of adopted children meeting their birth families for the first time. The tears, happiness, and love they experienced during their reunions were beautiful and filled children with hope.

But I had never had dreams of meeting the woman or people who abandoned me with nothing but a blanket. Nothing but a name. I had no want or desire or need to know the woman in front of me, to forge some sort of relationship with her. I was only here for answers, answers my mate and I needed to move forward with our lives.

We stared at each other, and silence filled the temple as we all waited for someone to speak. Wesley tightened his hold on me, pushing strength and confidence into me through our bond. Giving me just enough to push me to ask what I needed to know more than anything else.

“Why did you give me up?” I asked, my voice shaking more than I wanted it to.

She sighed and looked down at her hands. “I had to. I wasn’t allowed to raise you because you were not the child of two gods.”

“What do you mean?” Wesley asked.

“We used to walk freely among the people, but eventually, we had to remove ourselves. I was already here, in my realm, when Zeus gave the orders, but others were still on Earth, still walking among the humans. When we retreated from Earth, Zeus also decreed that any child not born of two gods would not be allowed in our realms either.”

“So, who is my dad?”

Selene took a deep breath. “When I decided I was ready to have you, I knew your father could not be a god. You had to be raised on earth so you would be put in the path of my people, and if your father had been a god, you would have been stuck in this realm as the rest of us are. I was almost not even allowed to have you, but I was granted permission because I had promised my warriors you would one day be born. So, I came to earth in my human form, and I selected your father from a list of men with specific characteristics and genetics that would combine well with mine and produce a strong, smart, and beautiful daughter.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, my brow furrowing.

“She used a sperm donor,” Wesley answered.

Selene laughed, the sound like bells as it skittered and echoed across the marble floor of the temple. “Yes,” she nodded. “I used sperm donated to a sperm bank to conceive you. I had no romantic connection or relationship with your father.”

“But why not raise me yourself? Why not stay in your human form until I was old enough to meet my mate?”

“I was not permitted that luxury. I told you, I was almost not even allowed to have you at all. I was only given permission to conceive you and birth you. Zeus did not even give me the time to stay with you until I could find you a caring, loving home. In his eyes, you were just a human. ‘Let the humans figure out what to do with her. Once born, she is no longer your concern,’” she said, her eyes darkening and her voice thick and heavy.

“Couldn’t you have given her to a pack, though?” Wesley asked. “If you knew she would be the mate of a lycan, why not have her raised with us?”

“You know the story of my first daughter, young alpha. You know what those who are jealous are capable of. I did it to protect her as best I could, to keep her safe from those who thought they had a right to her.”

“They found me anyway, though,” I pointed out. “Lennox and his father. Somehow, they knew who I was, and they were able to get to me and almost kept me from ever meeting my mate.”

“Why didn’t you stop them?” Wesley asked her. “Who are they? Where are they?”

“Those are not the questions you came to ask me; therefore, I cannot answer them,” she told us ruefully.

Wesley scowled and growled low in my ear in frustration.

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