The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven-Chapter 564: No Shame No Remorse

[Third Person].

Draven did not raise his voice when he spoke again, but the authority in it was unmistakable.

"I asked you a question," he said. "Who are you?"

Xamira swallowed. Her fingers clenched in the sheets, then loosened again. "I am... a shapeshifter," she said quietly at last.

Meredith let out a soft, humourless scoff. "We already know that." Her gaze sharpened. "What is your true form?"

Xamira hesitated, then answered, "A bird."

Draven’s brows knit together. "Then why," he asked slowly, "did you pretend to be a human child? Why let me raise you all these years?"

Xamira’s shoulders slumped. "Because... you were kind," she said, her voice low. "Even when you thought I was human."

Silence fell for a long while. Then, Xamira gathered courage and continued, her words spilling faster now.

"Werewolves hate humans. Everyone knows that. But you didn’t. When that accident happened... you saved me. You didn’t hesitate. I saw that." She looked up briefly, eyes shining with something like gratitude. "So, I didn’t want to leave you."

Neither Meredith nor Draven spoke for a moment.

Draven finally exhaled after a few seconds had passed. "That is not a reason to deceive someone’s entire life."

Meredith’s jaw tightened in agreement.

Then, Draven asked the question that had been waiting, heavy between them. "Was the accident actually an accident or a trap? The people you called your parents—were they really your parents? Were they shapeshifters like you?"

Xamira shook her head. "No. It was an accident. I survived it, and as you know, they didn’t." She paused, then continued. "And they weren’t my parents. They were humans."

Draven’s gaze sharpened. "Then how did the registry list you as their biological child?"

He could remember this during the formal adoption process since the orphanage transfer failed because of Xamira.

Draven didn’t wait long before realization dawned on him. Even Meredith came to understand without even needing any answer to that question.

They could already put two and two together since Xamira can shift into anything.

Xamira answered anyway. "The couple had been married for over ten years, and still had no child. When they finally did, they named her Xamira. But she was sickly. Everyone knew she wouldn’t live long."

Meredith leaned forward. "How do you know all this information?"

Xamira glanced at her. "Because I was their pet bird. The woman raised me for years. I was always near. I heard everything."

A long, suffocating silence followed, but Draven could only gesture quietly, "Continue."

Xamira closed her eyes. "The child died in her sleep without her parents’ knowledge. When she did, I... couldn’t let them suffer more. I had watched her since birth. For three years. I knew her very well, so I took her form."

Instantly, shock rippled through the room. Meredith’s breath caught while Draven went utterly still.

"I became her," Xamira said. "They never knew."

Meredith found her voice again, sharp and incredulous. "How did you replace her?" she demanded. "What did you do with the child’s body? Did they ever find out?"

Xamira flinched. Then, hesitated for a moment before explaining, "I transformed into the woman," she admitted. "And buried the child myself."

Meredith snapped. She turned away abruptly and began pacing with clenched fists. "Do you hear yourself?" she demanded as her fury blazed. "Do you understand what you’re saying?"

Xamira shrank back against the pillows, fear flooding her expression. Seeing Meredith like this today, she concluded that this wasn’t the cold predator from yesterday. Meredith’s eyes weren’t glowing now.

In fact, this was Meredith herself—angry, furious, and utterly appalled.

"You robbed them of the truth," Meredith went on, voice rising. "You let them mourn a lie. You lived in their dead child’s place!"

Xamira trembled. "I didn’t want them to suffer—"

"That was not your choice to make!" Meredith snapped. Then she spun back toward the bed. "Answer me," she demanded.

Draven stepped in then, placing a firm hand on Meredith’s arm. "Enough," he said quietly but urgently. "Lower your voice. Others will hear."

Meredith’s chest heaved, rage still burning—but she stopped, gripping his wrist hard, her eyes never leaving Xamira.

The truth hung heavy in the air, irrevocable and damning.

Draven only waited until Meredith’s breathing had steadied before he turned back to the bed. His voice, when he spoke, was calm, but heavy with judgment.

"Did you ever consider the consequences of what you did?" he asked Xamira. "Do you regret it?"

Xamira lifted her head slightly. There was no shame in her eyes. No remorse.

"I knew my owner would die of heartbreak," she said quietly. "If she learned the truth—that the child she waited ten years for died in her sleep."

Meredith stiffened. She couldn’t believe the things coming out of that little mouth.

Xamira continued, her voice still low but resolute. "So I stayed. I became her daughter to make her happy and keep the joy of motherhood in her. And even if they died later in that accident... at least they died peacefully. Happily. So, no. I don’t regret my actions."

That was when Meredith snapped. She lunged forward, raising her hand, but Draven caught her wrist instantly.

"Meredith."

She glared at him in full fury. "Let go."

He didn’t. "If you lose control now," he said gently but firmly, "Valmora will take advantage of it."

That stopped her.

Meredith closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, then forced her hand down. She knew he was right.

’I only dared to hit her because she is not a child, not a Human,’ Meredith thought grimly. ’If she were... I never could have.’

In that moment, she turned back to Xamira with sharp eyes. "Who told you they died peacefully?" She interrogated.

Xamira said nothing.

Meredith stepped closer. "Did you really think a mother would be happy to die suddenly, leaving her toddler behind in the middle of nowhere? In the dead of night? Where anything could happen to her?"

Xamira bowed her head, but Meredith refused to relent.

"Don’t you think," she pressed with a cutting voice, "that the last emotion that couple felt was regret? Regret for finally having a child after ten years... only to abandon her after three?"

Her words struck deep.

Xamira’s shoulders trembled, but she still didn’t speak. There was nothing she could say that would refute it.