Chapter 2: Into The Moonthorn Forest

Keira's POV

The elders all turned their gazes to me, making me shrink inwardly.

"Is there a problem, Miss...?" The elder who had declared the nature of the trial asked, fishing for my name.

"Keira Vance." Kael answered him.

"Vance?" Elder Gromul's face twisted as he muttered my name.

I answered the elder as politely as I could.

"You... You said I have to go to the Moonthorn forest... For a flower?"

"It is a sacred flower. Of course, it will belong to you."

"It's dangerous!"

The old elder smirked. "Are you going to take the trial or not?"

"I..."

I gnashed my teeth. Kael sat there, saying nothing. It was clear he wanted me to take the trial, despite how dangerous it seemed.

"I..."

I wanted to back down. I wanted to refuse the damn trial.

"You can choose to refuse the trial." Elder Gromul interjected, his patience wearing thin. "...but you should also be prepared that you will have to be rejected by your mate—Alpha Kael."

Kael turned to face me. I knew what he was thinking.

'I don't want to reject you.' I could glean that much from his expression and the bond between us that had grown stronger since he marked me.

But I didn't want to be rejected either. Especially not after he had already marked me. The bond was no longer ordinary. It had a physical weight now. My wolf was especially against rejection, and I could feel that both of us would break if it came to that. Not just hurt. Break. We could as well die in the aftermath. 

And beyond Kael, beyond the bond, beyond all of it—I had to become Luna. Not for him, but for my people. For every omega left bleeding in the outer crescent while the pack looked the other way. I had carried that grief in silence for years, and the Moon Goddess had placed the door to change the situation right in front of me.

I was not going to let a room full of old men be the reason I walked away from it.

My throat tightened. Every instinct I had screamed at me to refuse.

"…I'll do it."

The words felt heavy on my tongue. I could tell from the faces of the elders. They were pleased. Too pleased. The way people looked when a plan went exactly as intended.

I drew my gaze to the windows draped with white linen curtains and gold embroidery. The wind made the fabric flutter and gave me a glimpse of the outside. The sun had fully set. Twilight had already settled over the pack grounds.

The forest was already waiting.

One of the elders followed my gaze to the window and smiled.

"It's getting late. We would begin the trial immediately. You may return to the pack when you retrieve the flower."

"...or choose not to return." Another elder mumbled, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

A chill ran down my spine. I filed it away in my mind and said nothing.

He opened a book and produced a folded piece of paper, extending it toward me. Kael took it first and stole a brief glance at it. Something crossed his face, too fast for me to read, and then handed it to me without a word.

I unfolded it. The flower was white and pristine, almost luminous on the page. It held a kind of careful detail that meant it mattered. Sacred was exactly the right word for it.

I folded it back and pressed it into the pocket of my trousers.

"The trial begins now." Elder Gromul declared. The malice in his voice never left. He turned his head and smiled warmly at his daughter — Lyra — as though none of this was happening.

I finally realised. Lyra was one of the most recognised figures in the entire pack, Elder Gromul's daughter, an icon even people in the outer crescent knew by name. It made sense now why the elders had been so insistent about her. She was everything they wanted standing beside their Alpha.

A bitter laugh rose in my throat but I swallowed it down. I was the obstacle they needed removed. I had been dragged into a power struggle I never asked for, simply because the Moon Goddess decided I was this man's mate. And now I was being asked to fight for a crown I hadn't even reached for.

Kael suddenly stood and turned to face me. The light smile on his face was the kind that belonged to someone who had never had to fight for the right to exist in a room.

"You got this."

"But—"

"I know you'll do well." He said it with full certainty, like it was simple. "Once you pass these trials, no one will be able to oppose you. They'll have no choice but to accept you."

Lyra scoffed from where she stood and walked out without another word.

I looked back at Kael. His gaze was steady and warm and completely, painfully sincere. That was the worst part. He wasn't being cruel. saying. He had marked me, called me his Luna in front of every elder in that room, and still he was standing there asking me to earn what he had already given.

I said nothing. There was nothing to say that he was ready to hear.

"I'll be watching through the Moon Mirror." He added. "Do your best."

I nodded and walked out of the council room. Attendants were already waiting. One of them pressed a short dagger into my hands without meeting my eyes.

I heard movement behind me and turned. Almost all the elders were already dispersing, filing out of the corridor in different directions. A few glanced at me and shook their heads with pity.

It only felt worse.

I pushed the thought aside and walked toward the tree line. Within minutes, the forest had swallowed me whole.

And just like that, I was alone.

***

Hours passed, and I was deep inside the forest at the dead of night. There was no source of light with me but I didn't need it. A wolf was capable of seeing in the dark. 

My eyesight peeled away the darkness and I could see with almost full clarity. I continued my search as I went deeper, making sure to stay quiet and avoid areas I sensed beasts were. 

I tried to imagine what Kael and the elders would be thinking as they watched me. I was not a stranger to the forest, I had spent most of my life in the forest with my people. Kael would know a bit about this, after all, he met me in one such forest. It perhaps wasn't just as dangerous as this one. 

I had covered my scent and my tracks well. Any beast that tried to give chase always gave up because of how fast and good I was at escaping. 

The night drew longer as I dived deeper, searching every area for the pristine white flower. 

The moon was directly above me by the time I came across something. 

It was the flower. It stood apart in the small clearing and no other plant was around it. I subtly sighed in relief and moved straight to it like I had been bewitched. I brought out the dagger from its sheath and cut the flower at the stem with a small smile dancing on the edge of my lips. 

Just as I stood up to turn around, I heard a low growl behind me. The hair at the back of my neck suddenly stood on end as I turned around. 

There was a beast staring straight at me, its eyes glowing in the dark.

They looked at the flower in my hand.

Then on me.

"Oh shit!" I cursed under my breath. 

It was the guardian of the sacred flower. 

Before I could take another breath...

The beast lunged at me.