Moon Goddess

LYRIA

I wish I hadn’t come here. I tried my best to be invisible as I floated among the crowd towards the ballroom, but everywhere I perched I heard fragments of whispered conversations;

“I can’t believe he brought her here…”

“…heard she killed the Beta’s Luna…”

“…what is he thinking?”

Each comment added to my insecurity but I forced myself to keep walking, to hold my head high despite their judgmental looks. The ballroom was even more magnificent than the foyer. Long tables draped with white silk stretched across the polished floor. Servers moved around with tall glasses of champagne.

“Lyria,” someone whispered. The voice was familiar.

I turned around.

Then I saw her. My Aunt Mira. She was dressed in an expensive gown, her weathered face covered expertly by a dark shawl. She also didn’t belong to this gathering, didn’t associate with this circle. She has been my guardian for the longest time. The only family I had left. I walked up to her surprised.

“Aunt, what are you doing here?”

“Word travelled to me that you were here. I had to come find you.’ As she held my hands, I saw her gaze flicker left and right, looking for a means of escape. I instantly became worried.

“You shouldn’t be here Lyria. You are not safe here.”

She pulled me towards a spire balcony. She closed the curtains and it dimmed the noise of chatter and clink of glasses that came from the party.

She placed a gentle hand on my arm. “Tell me child, have you experienced anything unusual when treating patients? Visions perhaps? Moments where you seemed to know things you couldn’t possibly know?”

My blood turned to ice. How could she know about the strange dreams? The flashes of insight that sometimes guided my healings? I had never told anyone about those experiences, not even her. And I didn’t want to talk about it. Those experiences were mine, and mine alone.

I decided to change the topic. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Her weathered face creased with concern. “What is it?”

“Kael Draven is my mate.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

“Oh Lyria,” She breathed.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said quickly, hating the pity that was in her voice.

She held onto me. “There are things you need to know, about your mother, about her bloodline. I never wanted to tell you, but this thing you have said…I need to tell you now.”

My heart clenched. “What things?”

“Your mother wasn’t just a healer Lyria---”

I rolled my eyes. “She was a dark mage---”

“No,” She cut in, her voice hard. “Don’t you ever believe that. She was much more than that. Something that Alpha Damien feared enough to have her killed.”

I was so stunned, I staggered. “What?! No, Mother died of Fever---"

“Your mother died because she was the last of the Luna bloodline. The rightful heir to powers that once ruled alongside the Alphas as equals.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “She was murdered because Damien Draven could not allow that kind of threat to his supremacy to exist.”

The world around me seemed to spin. “That’s impossible. I would have known---"

“Would you? Have you wondered why your connection to herbs are so strong? Why you can sense things that others cannot? Why your very presence makes some wolves uncomfortable?”

I thought about all the times that I have been called cursed, tainted, wrong. The way the pack members looked at me with revulsion even when I had healed them. The ones who were kind, but still treated me with wariness.

“The Luna bloodline. What does that even mean?” I muttered, staring into the starry night.

“It means you carry the genetic memory of the Moon Goddess herself. It means that under the right circumstances, with the right mate, you can access powers that would rival any Alpha.” Mira leaned forward; her voice urgent. “It also means that if Damien Draven discovers who you are, he will kill you just as he killed your mother. It is why you cannot be here.”

The curtain was roughly pulled apart, and a pack warrior stepped in without any invitation. “Both of you are not meant to be in here now. The wedding announcement is about to take place now.”

Me and Mira exchanged glances and we stepped out, blending into the crowd. She subtly nodded towards the exit, and we started to weave our way towards the door.

I know I shouldn’t leave without informing Kael but with what I have heard, his father had a personal agenda against me, and I am not sure he would be able to stand up to the Alpha King of the Northern territories. It was better for me to run now, than to wait for a salvation that would never come.

The sound of clinking crystals drew everyone’s attention and the crowd stilled. Everyone looked toward the head table.

Alpha king Damien stood with a champagne flute raised, his commanding presence filling the entire ballroom.

“Friends,” He began, his voice carrying easily across the room. “We gather tonight to celebrate not just the bonds between our packs, but the future of our people.”

A murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd. Damien waited for the silence before continuing. “It is my great pleasure to announce that the engagement between my son, Kael, and the lovely Selara Crimson will be formalized within the month. Their union will strengthen the alliance between the territories and ensure prosperity for years to come.”

It was followed by a thunderous applause but I could barely hear it. It was like background noise to my ears as my eyes were fixed on Kael. He stood beside his father and I could read the resignation in his body language. Within the month. He would be married to Selara within the month. I knew this moment would come, yet I wasn’t prepared for how devastating it would feel.

“And now,” Damien continued. “Let us toast to love, and the future of our great nation.”

“To love,” the crowd echoed, raising their glasses in salute. The dagger to my heart twisted deeper.

I felt a tug on my sleeve. “we have to go now, Lyria,” her voice was laced with urgency. Across the room, Kael’s eyes found mine, and I could see the anguish reflected in them. They mirrored mine.

The bond between us pulsed with shared pain. I turned, cutting the eye contact. I heeded to Mira’s pulling and disappeared into the crowd.

We reached the gate of the estates, leaving the mansion behind. I could still hear the cheers from the mansion, wild laughter echoing through the night. I have never felt so alone.

We waited for the guard to approve our exit. Outside the gates was a long lane, surrounded by thick grove of trees beside it.

“So this is the plan.” Aunt Mira’s voice jilted my thoughts. “I have already had our bags packed and kept by a tree in the forest. We head East, we’ll walk throughout the night. We don’t know how much they are onto you, but we need to have a head start

. If they know you are gone, they will hunt you down and have you killed.”

“East?” I muttered.

“Yes, I have a distant relation there, and they are enemies to the Northern territories. It is one place Alpha Damien has not charted.”

Before I could reply, I heard a distressed cry from the driveway. I turned around to see Selara, her eyes locked onto me, panting like a rabid wolf. “There you are.” Her eyes burned with rage. “Do you have any idea what you have done?”

“I beg your pardon?” Mira came forward, subtly pushing me behind her back.

“That…that creature,” Selara snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at me, “has bewitched him completely. Kael just told his father that he is calling off our engagement!”

Her words ripped through me. “What?”

“Don’t play innocent with me, witch. I know what you did,” She advanced forwards, and I shifted back feeling the weight of her fury. “You used some kind of spell on him, made him think that you are his precious mate.”

Mira and I locked eyes. So he told his father that I was his mate. The stakes just grew higher.

“The mate bond can’t be faked,” Mira said coolly. “It is a biological---”

“Lies!” Selara cut her off, eyes blazing. “She is from the Moonhart line, everybody knows that they have been practicing dark magic for years. She has probably been planning this, waiting for the right moment to strike.”

I struggled to process everything that I was hearing. Kael really called off the engagement? Tonight? In front of his father and half the Northern Territory’s leadership?

Was it really right for me to run away when he had sacrificed everything for our matebond?

“Where is he now?” I whispered. Mira looked at me like I was mad.

“Locked in his father’s study, having the fight of his life,” Selara said viciously. “Alpha Damien is furious. The political alliance with Crimson Claw is ruined and its all because of you.”

Guilt crashed over me. I didn’t want to be the reason Kaell was destroying his future, his relationships, his carefully planned life, all for a bond that would lead to nowhere good. We would be forever hunted by his father, even if we wanted to start a new life.

“I have to go to him.” I said, pushing past Mira. I had to talk some sense into him.

“Oh, no.” Selara blocked my path, her canines extending slightly. “You have done quite enough damage for one night. In fact, I think it’s time you disappear entirely.”