Chapter 118: ¹¹⁸: I am Athena Roosevelt

"Mom!" Damian suddenly shouted, making both Mother Elena and me turn toward him in shock.

"I...I mean, Athena just regained consciousness. We should let her take some rest!" he said quickly, pointing toward the door as though desperately trying to steer the conversation somewhere else.

I looked back at Mother Elena. She was staring at Damian with her eyebrows raised. After a moment, however, she turned back toward me, the gentle smile returning to her face.

"He is right. You should sit down. You can’t exert yourself too much right now."

"Okay," I said, nodding weakly.

Mother Elena still didn’t let go of my hand. She carefully helped me all the way back to the bed before gently helping me sit down.

She waited until I was comfortable before finally taking a seat beside me.

"Now," Mother Elena said, looking at me with a calm expression. Then her gaze shifted toward Damian. "Let’s start with you telling me why you agreed to Damian’s suggestion about going out of the pack, even after knowing Mother had forbidden it."

She gave Damian a hard look before turning back toward me with a smile. "He is an idiot, so he can suggest things like this. But why did you agree to it?"

I stared at her in confusion before glancing toward Damian. His eyes had widened. Had he really taken the blame onto himself for me?

I looked back at Mother Elena and slowly shook my head. "He didn’t suggest it to me, Mother Elena."

I glanced at Damian again. He was staring at me with an expression that practically screamed at me not to tell her the truth.

But even though I knew he had only taken the blame because he wanted to help me, I couldn’t let him continue doing it.

"It was me who wanted to go back to my pack. He tried to tell me not to go, but I didn’t listen. So he was left with no choice but to go with me to make sure I was at least safe."

"No, Mom! She is just trying to save me. I was the one who suggested it!" Damian immediately chimed into the conversation, no longer able to keep quiet.

I was about to refute his claim, but Mother Elena beat me to it. "Look at you two, rushing forward to take the blame for each other." She shook her head in disappointment, though there was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"It doesn’t matter who suggested it. What matters is that you both left the pack without Mother’s permission."

Her expression became serious again. "Now tell me, why did you do that?"

"Yes, tell us why you did that." A sudden voice came from the doorway. The words startled all of us.

I froze.

Damian’s expression changed instantly, while Mother Elena’s eyes widened as she slowly turned toward the source of the voice.

"Grandmother." Damian whispered, looking at Luna Selene as though he wanted to say something more.

However, Luna Selene immediately raised a hand, gesturing for him to stop. "We will come to you as well, but first, let me talk to this young lady."

She turned her attention toward me. Her eyes were so cold that I felt a shiver run down my spine. "We would like to know what made you defy my orders, young lady."

I lowered my gaze slightly under the weight of her stare.

"We know that you are not from my pack, and you might not consider yourself bound by our laws. But we specifically told you to stay here until you healed. Then why did you leave the pack?"

She paused, her gaze shifting toward Damian. He was standing a few steps away with his head lowered, clearly unwilling to meet her eyes.

Luna Selene looked at him for a moment before turning her attention back to me. "Not only did you push yourself into danger by defying my orders, but you also put my grandson in danger."

Her voice remained controlled, but there was a clear edge to it now. "We kindly saved you, treated you, gave you a place to stay, and this is how you pay us back?"

I clenched my hands together. Guilt slowly crept into my heart as her voice became colder and sharper with every word.

"We told you that our pack remains in the shadows, hidden from the whole world. Then how could you not consider that a single decision on your part could put our entire pack at risk?"

"I am sorry, Luna Selene," I said, keeping my head lowered. My fingers tightened around the quilt beneath them. "I had been foolish. I took things too lightly when I shouldn’t have. I am really ashamed."

"You..." Luna Selene paused. For a moment, she simply looked at me, her expression unreadable.

Then she continued. "We had not asked you to tell us who you were because we thought it was your personal matter and that you would tell us when you were comfortable."

I slowly looked up. The coldness in her voice had lessened slightly, though her expression remained serious.

She looked directly into my eyes. "But now that you have done this, it concerns the security and protection of my pack." She paused before continuing. "You will have to tell us who you are now."

"I..." I opened my mouth but stopped. I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts as I battled with myself, unsure of where to even begin.

There was no way around it anymore. "I am... Athena Roosevelt, the heir to the Alpha of the Rosemoon Pack, Steven Roosevelt."

"What did you say?" Luna Selene’s voice suddenly rose a decibel. Her eyes widened as she stared at me. "Whose daughter are you?"

I glanced at Damian, confused by her sudden reaction. He looked just as surprised as I was. I didn’t understand why Luna Selene had reacted so strongly to my name.

Turning back toward her, I tried to gather my confidence again. "I am Alpha Steven Roosevelt’s daughter."