Golden Luna

CHAPTER ONE

The full moon that night was unusually bright. I couldn't remember the last time I'd ever seen it shine that brightly, but I did remember sitting at the raised pedestal with my family and my friends, where I was supposed to be eating and celebrating, but all I did was look glum.

The moon was supposed to be a warning, but I missed it.

My father caught me staring up at the moon curiously and I heard him give a low chuckle beside me. "You think it's unusual, don't you, daughter?"

I dragged my eyes from the sight and turned to him, then replied. "You did say the moon hasn't shined this brightly in a hundred years."

He leaned towards me as though sharing a secret, then whispered in my ear. "Maybe the Moon Goddess is also celebrating with you. It's your Turning Feast, after all."

I snorted. "Since when has the Moon Goddess ever cared about the affairs of one single person?"

My father laughed. "You've always been a feisty one. Good thing you've Turned now. It's high time we found you a man who would be able to tame you. Perhaps Alpha Alexander over there?" He pointed.

I followed the direction of his finger with my eyes and saw the young alpha, who was sitting in one corner of the feast with a scowl on his face, not eating or drinking anything.

I felt a retort spring up to my lips but I bit it down. I would keep my father happy in the illusion that he could marry me off, but I'd vowed to myself that I'll never be reduced to that.

An alpha's daughter, prussed up like a prize bull and married off to some other alpha.

What a farce!

My mother tapped my shoulder on my other side and said. "Elaine, won't you eat something? You haven't eaten since the feast started."

I turned to her. "Maybe tell your kitchen helps to prepare something next time. This steak is so terrible I only had one bite."

She opened her mouth to answer me, and that was when it happened.

The warning I'd missed, the night that changed my life forever.

Instead of words, blood poured out of her mouth in a ghastly torrent. Her hand was still on my shoulder, and her nails were digging into the bare skin on my shoulder, as though trying to give me a silent message.

"Mom—" I called as she toppled forward and into my arms, spitting blood. Her blood splattered all over my arms and neck in one red spill. I turned to my father to ask for help—

And I saw him face-down into his plate of dinner, his own blood staining the white table cover a beautiful, deathly red.

No!

I looked around wildly as I saw several people vomiting blood, or laying on the ground dead. Blood flowed from the table tops like the wine that they had all gotten drunk on mere minutes ago, and all I could do was watch as people got murdered.

All I could do was watch and feel powerless.

I looked back down at my mother, tears slipping from my eyes. She still had some life in her, but I knew she would be gone in a moment too. I lowered her to the ground, slipping from my seat in the process, and cradled her head in my arms.

"Mom—" I whispered, feeling fear and despair spread in my chest like a virus. "Mom, please—"

"Elaine..." My mother found my hand and gripped it tersely, her eyes wide but unfocused. "Elaine...Listen to me..."

"Please, don't go..." I insisted, my tears falling onto her blood-streaked face.

"Elaine..." She reached up and grabbed my head, pulling it down to her mouth. And then she whispered into my ear: "Run."

Immediately she said that word, I heard the thundering of horse's hooves as they approached the deathly scene. I held my mother closer. "I'll find us help." I said to her in reassurance. "People are coming already, they'll help us, you'll see."

She smiled, her teeth stained with blood. "Silly girl..." She whispered, and then she was gone too.

The life faded from her eyes slowly, and her hand slackened on my face, then dropped to my laps. The smile gradually slipped from her face, and soon all I held was her limp form in my hands.

Gone.

A sob slipped from my mouth and I clasped my hand over it. Everyone I knew and loved was gone in the space of a few minutes, and I was the only one alive. How in the name of the beloved Goddess am I still alive?

I wanted to curl up and slip into death like the other people, but then the sound of the horses grew louder. Instinctively I dived below the table we dined on only minutes ago, and tried to listen in on the people approaching.

The sound of the horses stopped as the people arrived at the scene, and there was silence for a while. Then someone spoke up. "Well, well. It seems it worked."

The voice sounded familiar: too familiar, it made my skin crawl.

I couldn't peep from underneath the table, or I'd be discovered in a jiffy. I didn't know if these people were well-wishers or the murderers themselves, and all I could do was wait until they said something to give themselves away.

"The poison worked the way we knew it would." The voice continued. "But then, bloodshed is all we're known for, right?" I heard footsteps as he approached the table I was sitting under, and I bit on my lower lip, trying not to give myself away.

The footsteps stopped in front of the table, and I heard a prolonged grunt. Then: "He's dead, people! They're all dead!"

The other people began to chant and stomp their feet on the ground. Some even started to howl in excited voices, and I heard the person above me laugh: a dog-like, maniacal laugh.

The person walked away from the table and towards the rest of the murderers, and I felt hot rage brew inside me. All I wanted at that moment was to spring up from under the table and kill them. Kill them all, the way they'd poisoned my family.

Then I heard a low shuffle behind me and I gave a small gasp and turned. My eyes met a pair of vivid blue ones, which were filled with warning. The intruder slowly placed a finger over his own mouth to shush me, and then stretched his hand towards me.

It was Alpha Alexander.

"What—" I started, but he promptly clasped a hand over my mouth before I could continue.

"Come on," he whispered. "Let me get you out of here."