Luna. Chapter 39

(Lyra's POV)

I woke up the next morning feeling like I was living in someone else's dream. The bedroom Derek had given me was beautiful—Christina's old room, he'd said—but it felt both foreign and familiar at the same time.

I could see the lake through the tall windows, and the small island with its willow tree looked exactly as I'd remembered it from somewhere deep in my childhood.

There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in."

Derek entered carrying a breakfast tray, looking concerned. "How did you sleep?"

"Better than I expected." I struggled to sit up, my pregnant belly making movements awkward. "Though I had strange dreams."

"About what?"

"A man by the water. He was sad, so terribly sad. He kept calling for someone named Isabella." I accepted the tray gratefully. "Then he just... walked into the lake and didn't come back up."

Derek's face went pale. "Lyra, that wasn't a dream."

"What?"

"Alpha Sebastian—Rayn Sebastian—he's been coming to the lake every night since his daughter died five years ago. His pack members have been worried he might..."

"Might what?"

"Might try to join her. He's never recovered from losing Isabella."

I felt my blood go cold. "His daughter's name was Isabella?"

"Yes. Isabella Rayn Sebastian. She would have been about your age."

"Derek, that's too much of a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences anymore. Not after last night."

I pushed the breakfast tray aside, suddenly not hungry. "Where is this Alpha Sebastian now?"

"Probably at the lake. He goes there every morning at dawn, just sits by the water for hours."

"I need to see him."

"Lyra, you're still recovering from last night. You need rest—"

"I need answers." I was already getting out of bed, reaching for the clothes Sarah had laid out for me. "If there's another Sebastian family, if there's a connection to why I was hidden, I have to know."

Derek looked like he wanted to argue, but something in my expression stopped him. "At least let me come with you."

"Of course."

Ten minutes later, we were walking down a path that led to the lake shore. The morning air was crisp and clean, and I could smell pine and wildflowers and something else that made my heart ache with recognition.

"There," Derek said quietly, pointing to a figure sitting on a wooden dock that extended into the lake.

The man was alone, staring out at the water with absolute stillness. Even from a distance, I could feel the grief radiating from him like heat from a fire.

"Alpha Sebastian," Derek called out gently as we approached.

The man turned, and I saw a face marked by profound loss. He was maybe fifty, with graying hair and eyes that looked like they'd forgotten how to hold joy. But when his gaze fell on me, something shifted.

"Dear god," he whispered.

"Alpha Sebastian, this is Lyra. The woman I told you about yesterday."

But Sebastian wasn't listening to Derek. He was staring at me with an expression I couldn't read.

"Isabella?" he said, his voice breaking. "Isabella, is that really you?"

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm not Isabella. My name is Lyra."

"No." Sebastian stood up slowly, never taking his eyes off me. "You're Isabella. My Isabella. I'd know you anywhere."

"Alpha Sebastian," Derek said carefully, "this is Christina's sister. She was adopted as a child—"

"She's my daughter." Sebastian's voice was quiet but certain. "The daughter who was stolen from me five years ago."

I felt the world tilt around me. "That's impossible."

"Is it?" Sebastian moved closer, his hands shaking. "Tell me, child, do you have a birthmark on your left shoulder? Crescent-shaped, like a moon?"

My hand went automatically to my shoulder, where the mark Derek had mentioned was hidden under my clothes. "How do you know about that?"

"Because I was there when you were born. Because I kissed that mark every night when I tucked you into bed. Because I've been mourning you for five years."

"But I'm twenty-five years old. If your daughter died five years ago—"

"She didn't die. She disappeared. On her twentieth birthday, during what was supposed to be her Luna ceremony." Sebastian's eyes filled with tears. "Armed men attacked the ceremony. Bodies everywhere, blood, chaos. We found her dress by the lake, torn and bloodied. Everyone assumed she'd been killed."

"Alpha Sebastian," Derek said gently, "I think there's been some confusion. Lyra was separated from her family as a child. She's been living with an adoptive father for over twenty years."

"Have I been living a lie?" I whispered, the question directed more to myself than anyone else.

Sebastian heard me anyway. "What do you remember about being twenty? About your birthday that year?"

I tried to think back, but the memories were hazy. "I was... I was in college. Or maybe I'd just graduated? The whole period is fuzzy."

"Memory can be altered," Sebastian said quietly. "Especially if someone has the right abilities and enough motivation."

"You think someone made me forget five years of my life?"

"I think someone took my daughter and convinced her she was someone else. Created false memories, a false identity, a false history."

Derek looked skeptical. "Alpha Sebastian, with respect, grief can sometimes make us see things that aren't there."

"Can grief make me recognize a birthmark I've never seen? Can it make me know that she has a small scar on her right hand from when she fell off her bicycle at age seven?"

I looked down at my right hand, where a faint white line crossed my palm. I'd always assumed it was from some childhood accident I couldn't remember.

"This is impossible," I said weakly.

"Is it? You said you've been having dreams about a man by the lake. A man calling for Isabella." Sebastian's voice was gentle now, hopeful. "That was me, sweetheart. Every night for five years, I've come here and called your name, hoping somehow you'd hear me and come home."

"But what about Christina? What about the Sebastian bloodline connection Derek showed me?"

"Christina was your friend," Sebastian said. "You met her through pack alliances, and you became close because you both carried similar genetic markers. But you're not her sister, Isabella. You're my daughter."

I sank onto the dock, my legs suddenly unable to support me. "If that's true, then who am I really? What happened to the last five years of my life?"

"I don't know. But I intend to find out." Sebastian sat beside me, close enough to offer comfort but not touching. "Isabella, do you remember anything about your abilities? About being able to influence others?"

"Last night, with the stone..."

"You've always had those abilities. Even stronger than most Sebastian bloodline carriers. That's why you were targeted."

"By who?"

"People who wanted to study you, use you, turn you into a weapon." Sebastian's expression darkened. "I think they took you to experiment on you. To see how much of your power they could harness."

"And when they were done?"

"They gave you false memories and released you into the world, thinking they'd broken your abilities permanently."

"But they didn't break them."

"No. Which means you're still valuable to them. Still dangerous to have walking around free."

I pressed my hands to my belly, feeling my baby move restlessly. "What about my pregnancy? What about Kael?"

Sebastian looked confused. "Kael?"

"My... my husband. The father of my baby."

"Isabella, you've never been married. You were engaged once, to a young Alpha named Marcus, but the ceremony never happened because of the attack."

"That's impossible. I remember being married to Kael. I remember our wedding, our life together."

"False memories can be incredibly detailed," Sebastian said gently. "Whoever did this to you, they were very thorough."

I stood up abruptly, pacing to the end of the dock. None of this made sense. I had clear memories of my life with Kael, of falling in love, of being rejected and exiled.

But I also had that strange gap in my early twenties. And the dreams about this lake, about a man calling my name.

"How can I know what's real?" I asked desperately.

"We'll figure it out together," Sebastian said. "But Isabella, I need you to be very careful. If the people who took you before realize you've recovered your abilities, they'll come for you again."

"They already have. Last night."

"Then we're running out of time." Sebastian stood up, suddenly energized by purpose. "I need to contact some old friends. People who might remember what happened five years ago."

As we walked back toward the packhouse, I felt like I was living in two realities at once. In one, I was Lyra Blackwood, rejected mate and Luna of Mountain Cross Pack. In the other, I was Isabella Sebastian, lost daughter and survivor of supernatural experimentation.

Which one was real?

And if Sebastian was right, if someone had stolen five years of my life and filled my head with false memories, what did that mean for my relationship with Kael? For my pregnancy?

For everything I thought I knew about myself?

"Isabella," Sebastian said quietly as we reached the packhouse. "Whatever happens, whatever we discover, I want you to know that I never stopped looking for you. I never stopped believing you were alive somewhere."

"Even when everyone else thought I was dead?"

"Especially then. A father knows when his child is truly gone. And I always knew you were out there, waiting to come home."

I looked at this man who claimed to be my father, searching his face for any sign of deception. All I saw was love, hope, and five years of accumulated grief.

"If I really am Isabella," I said carefully, "then I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't find my way back to you sooner."

"You're back now. That's all that matters."

But even as he said it, I wondered if it was true. Because if I really was Isabella Sebastian, if my entire adult life had been built on false memories, then everything I thought I knew about love, family, and identity was about to crumble around me.

And I had no idea who I'd be when the dust settled.