"You mean the two Lunas?"
"Those two, and the male werewolf too. That professor was probably researching who their blood descendants are to weaken that curse too."
"Well, aren't you... one?" says Kelsi. "That would explain why that... Ravena witch was so interested in you, and the other one so... upset about your history, as well."
I nod, tracing the most basic organigram to symbolize that triangle, between the original trio, and now... between their descendants in this time.
"Exactly. Well, I'm very likely a descendant of that first witch, from my relationship to Nephera, while Nora and Selena are... descendants of the first Luna."
The two cousins exchange a look.
"So now, we'd need to find who are the descendants of the first... male werewolf in the tale? The one both Lunas fell in love with?"
I nod. This is probably harder, though. I mean, unlike in the first story, we have literally no clue... Kelsi makes a sour expression too, and grabs one of the papers to read it over again to try and find another clue.
Suddenly, though, Ben scoffs loudly, almost coughing out his mouthful of rice. Kelsi grimaces, but hands him a napkin.
"Benny, what is it...?"
However, he starts laughing, while we're all waiting for him to finish his mouthful and calm down without choking. Nathaniel Black walks back into the room, changed into clean and casual clothes, still drying his hair with a towel. Ben starts laughing again as if he had seen something funny. Nathaniel exchanges a glance with his wife.
"For Moon Goddess' sake, Ben, explain yourself!" yells Selena, finally annoyed.
"S-sorry," he chuckles, barely able to contain himself, "but... isn't it obvious who the descendants are? I mean..."
He stares at all of us, but I'm as lost as the others. Ben rolls his eyes.
"Seriously, guys? You can't tell me no one realized thatall threeof you fell for a trio ofsiblings! All three descendant chicks from the story, both the witch and the she-wolf, each one falling for one of the Black Brothers? I mean, seriously? What other proof do you need?!"
We all turn to our partners, the three brothers pretty much as baffled as us. Liam opens his mouth, but soon closes it with a little embarrassed smile. I glance at Nora and Damian, Selena and Nathaniel. ...Okay, maybe he's got a point.
"You think... Nate, Damian, and Liam are the descendants of that male werewolf from the story?"
"Don't you think so?" chuckles Ben. "I mean, I always thought it was a huge coincidence that you and Nora fell for... two of the Black Brothers when you're actually cousins, but now, Mara is Liam's fated mate too? That's rather... big, isn't it?"
He isn't wrong. I mean, what were the chances of that happening? Even if Selena isn't actually Nathaniel's fated mate, she still ended up with him regardless. Plus, Nora and I did get paired up with Damian and Liam. Like Ben says, it would be a pretty huge coincidence if the Moon Goddess had just chosen to pair us with those three like that.
"Wait a second," says Kelsi with a frown, "I may have missed something but... weren't the children of the first Luna and that werewolf the same... children? Why are Nora and Selena Royals while the... Black misters are just normal werewolves?"
I chuckle. Black misters... I'm glad to see I'm not the only one impressed by the Black Brothers.
"Blood and genetics among werewolves don't exactly work like other characteristics," explains Nathaniel Black. "We inherit mostly from our fathers if the werewolf is male, and mostly from their mother for she-wolves. I'm not talking about our physical traits, but our werewolf ones."
"That's why I'm not as powerful of a Royal as Nora is," nods Selena. "Although my dad and her mom were twins, my mother was human. Hence, I inherited more human characteristics, and my father probably didn't give me as much... Royal power as what Nora received from her mom either. It's true for our children too, Nora's sons have less Royal characteristics than their sister and cousins because they take mostly after their fathers' Alpha genes."
Oh, now that I think about it, I did notice that even if he kept his blue eyes, Nora's son's fur was pitch black like his dad, not white like Royals... Whereas Selena's daughters had white fur.
"That probably explains why there are no... male witches," I suddenly realize out loud.
"The witch gene is female-only," nods Ayesha. "Witches can have sons, but they'll be human."
"I get it," says Kelsi. "So, although the parents were the same, the genes of that Alpha male werewolf was passed along to his male descendants, while the Luna gene went to the female descendants..."
Everyone nods.
Aside from the history and biology lesson, it does also explain a few more things. Why the Black Brothers are so powerful, for one. If those three are directly descended from the first male werewolf, they probably have some of the purest Alpha genes too.... The rest were probably diluted by having children with humans, or simply meeting other werewolves that were created differently. Maybe there are more stories like this, of witches creating werewolves. We don't even know exactly how much of that tale is true. She may not have actually created a werewolf, but just made him stronger or something... Oh, I don't know. That's too much thinking for me right now.
"Alright," I state. "So, we do happen to have... the descendants of those three key characters right here."
