Tristan, Mat, Cedric and I myself remained. I had promised to answer Cedric’s questions and fill him in. We moved to the office, and I stretched out on the bigger couch, my feet resting in Tristan’s lap. Mat and Cedric settled on the smaller one.

“Alright Cedric, where would you like to start?” I asked.

“Well, according to rumors about the banquet, you’re responsible for the usurping and demotion of Alpha Andrew.”

“That is kind of true. I called Andrew out on his bullshit and filled everyone in on the things he had allowed other pack members to do, or in many cases ordered other pack members to do. Daemon offered him the choice of stepping down, or death. His son, Theo demoted him and the rest of his ranked members.”

“And his actions warranted that extreme of an outcome?”

“Yes. How about I start from the beginning and once you have the whole story you can make your own informed decision.”

“That would be fantastic, if it won’t bother you to share.”

“It will always bother me to recount what I’ve been through, but I won’t let it define me or keep me from informing those who need to know the truth.”

Cedric nodded and waited patiently for me to start. I took a deep breath, Tristan’s hands on my legs helping to ground me. Mat moved his chair closer to me to hold my hand. I smiled softly at both of them, but then opted to sit up, moving over so Mat could sit on the other side of me. I held both their hands and looked at Cedric, ready to fill him in.

“As you’ve likely gathered, I am originally from Silver Moon. My mother and father were Liam and Gwydia De’Lune. My actual name is Faelyn De’Lune. This is currently something that is being kept under wraps. I cannot have my actual identity getting out before we deal with Lucian. Can you keep this to yourself, or do you need an Alpha order?”

“I swear on my life, your secret is safe with me.”

I nodded and continued, “When I was seven or so, Lucian, who was my father’s Beta, overthrew my parents and took over Silver Moon. My parents and my younger brother Edwin, vanished the night he took over. I assume they are dead, their bodies were never found and I don’t know what happened to them. My parents ordered me and Edwin to run and hide. I remember hiding him, I don’t remember where. I don’t remember much of that night after that point. I know the next morning my entire family was gone and Lucian was taking over as Alpha. My best guess is that my brother was disposed of with my parents because he was assumed to be the next in line for Alpha because he was the first male. However if he was an Alpha, he was not the first born Alpha. That is me. I am a natural born Alpha female, both by blood and in power. My mother was not a wolf, but a Fae. My father was a wolf of course. They were fated mates. My father was also a Crimson Wolf. I inherited that from him. Aramyth, my wolf, is also a Crimson Wolf. We don’t know exactly what that entails. Little is known about them and with my mother being a Fae and I having inherited much from her right down to her runt gene and exotic features, I have been told that I may eventually begin to show traits that are more Fae than wolf. Again, I’m not sure what exactly that entails. Our best bet of finding information is to hope that the records in Silver Moon are still intact somewhere. I don’t know why I didn’t disappear with my family, and I don’t know why Lucian left me alive.”

“That’s the basic history of where I come from, now the hard part. When I was eight, I was sold to Red Moon. Lucian sold me to a traveling peddler and I suspect he had a certain sort of trade that he did and that I am likely not the only child he had been sold and then sold off elsewhere. I was sold to Alpha Andrew and Luna Nora as an orphaned Omega with the name of Alyce Lilly. That’s what all of my paperwork states. Hence why I maintain that identity for now. Whether it was Lucian or the peddler that forged the paperwork and assigned me the name and rank I do not know. Anyway, Andrew bought me at Nora’s request. She thought that with my exotic looks I would make a good breeder when I came of age. I was over worked and treated like the pack slave until I was about 13. At 12 I realized the Alpha command had no effect on me. Then Aramyth came to me. After that my personality started to come through. My attitude, mouth and temper got me in a lot of trouble. Like most teenagers I got kind of rebellious. I was soon subject to abuse at the hands of other pack members in Red Moon. The first time I saw the inside of what they called The Hole, I was 14. I was subjected to torture that involved whips and knives. I was 15 the first time they used wolfsbane on me, this was also the first time Faith had to stitch me up. I didn’t shift at 16 like most wolves. I actually had my first shift the night before the banquet, but Aramyth was there with me nonetheless and she gave me the strength to get through when I was younger. Faith, Jake and Mat became my family. I lost count of the number of times I’ve been sent to The Hole. That last time was a few weeks before the banquet, I was there for two weeks. They spent 5 years trying to break me, and it nearly happened on that last trip there.” I was squeezing both Mat and Tristan’s hands at this point.

Mat picked up there for me, “A Red Moon member, named Vincent, raped Alyce a few days before they released her. He stole her innocence. They released her 3 days later and she barely made it to our place before she passed out. I was the one who discovered what they’d done to her. The wounds numbered more than they ever had, but Andrew had made Ethan and Levi reign in the severity because he wanted her to work the banquet and she needed to be able to heal the wolfsbane wounds which would take longer. Between her release and the evening of the banquet she discovered Theo was her mate.”

Tristan growled, both when Mat mentioned that he had discovered the evidence of the rape and when he mentioned Theo being my initial mate. I squeezed his hand and leaned into him a little, calming him by letting him lift me up and slide into my seat, setting me back in his lap as he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“Theo? Andrew’s son? Then how did she become the Luna of Moonlight.” Cedric asked curiously.

“We’re getting there. Patience.” Mat smiled at him and then continued with the story of my past, “Theo found her on her 18th birthday, on her way to my house for dinner with the family. She rejected him on site. Tristan is her second chance mate. He found her the day before the banquet, as his pack arrived a bit early.”

I squeezed Mat’s hand letting him know I was ok now and could continue, “Tristan found me the morning of the banquet. I was making breakfast for the ranked members and guests staying in the Pack Manor. I wasn’t supposed to be because Andrew wanted all my focus on the banquet, but I was at work stoppage for the banquet until it was time to start heating the pre-prepped dishes for the actual dinner. After Mat put himself between me and my mate for the second time, and after some consulting with Mat and Aramyth I decided that Tristan and his ranked pack members needed to know everything before any decisions were made that would affect Moonlight by my being here. We spent the morning and most of the afternoon explaining all of this to the Moonlight members. I was prepared to be rejected, thinking myself too broken and defective for a mate after what was done to me. Thankfully, and surprisingly, to me anyway, Tristan still wanted me and didn’t hesitate to accept me. At the banquet, Tristan overheard Andrew talking to Alpha Shane from Cold Moon about trading me off to him in exchange for an alliance between their packs. A little later Shane cornered me, was manhandling me and threatening to do worse to me than I had endured in Red Moon. Red Moon still doesn’t know who or what I am, so I couldn’t exactly reveal myself. Mat got Tristan and Tristan declared me his mate which caused Shane to back down instantly. I outed Andrew and his lackeys, as well as Vincent. Showing them all the proof they needed to know the truth. As someone with Fae blood, it is impossible for me to lie. I can manipulate my words, but I cannot outright lie. So Daemon and the other Moonlight members who were with us in the fort knew I was being truthful”