Full Moon

Agnes didn’t waste any time.

That evening, I was coming up the main staircase after visiting Mom when I heard her voice drifting out of the Alpha’s study. Clipped and indignant, every word perfectly polite.

“...without consulting anyone, Alpha. She threw the flowers off the balcony. In front of the staff. I only thought you should know what kind of woman you’ve brought into this house.”

I stopped on the landing.

In my last life, I’d have turned around and fled to my closet in the servants’ wing. I’d have spent the whole night waiting for Zion to knock on my door and tell me to give the key back.

He never would have had to. I’d have given it back myself.

The study door opened. Agnes stepped out, and Zion followed her into the hall. He saw me on the landing, and his gaze moved from my face to the brass key hanging on a ribbon at my wrist.

Agnes saw me too. Her mouth curved in the faintest smile, waiting.

Zion looked at me for a long moment.

Then he said, “It’s the Luna’s suite.”

Agnes blinked. “Alpha?”

“She’s the Luna.” He turned back toward his study. “Have the rest of her things brought up. And Agnes, the next time someone in my house is put in the servants’ wing without my knowledge, I’ll want to know why.”

The door closed behind him.

Agnes stood frozen in the hallway, her face slowly turning the color of old brick. I walked past her up the stairs and didn’t say a word.

I didn’t need to.

Did you see that? Freya was practically wagging her tail. He took our side. Our mate took our side.

He took the contract’s side, I told her. Public humiliation. Term three.

That wasn’t public.

I didn’t have an answer for that, so I ignored her.

*****

---

“You’re not going to tell the Alpha?” Tessa whispered.

We were sitting cross-legged on the floor of the Luna’s suite, surrounded by the few boxes I’d brought from Dark Moon. Most of them held books. One held my mother’s old sewing kit. That was all I really owned.

“About Agnes?” I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“But she’s spying on you. For Luna Jessi.”

“Exactly. And right now, I know she’s doing it.” I folded a sweater and set it aside. “If I get her fired, Jessi just finds someone else. Someone I don’t know about.”

Tessa’s eyes went wide. Then, slowly, a smile spread across her freckled face. “So we feed her things.”

“So we feed her things.”

As if on cue, there was a sharp knock at the door.

Agnes stood in the hall, stiff as a fence post, a folded note in her hand. She didn’t look at me as she held it out. “A message from Dark Moon, Luna. From Luna Jessi.”

I took it and unfolded it.

Kira, darling! Just a reminder that the welcome dinner is very casual. Family only, nothing fancy. Wear whatever’s comfortable! Can’t wait. — J

The world went sideways.

A long, glittering table. Crystal glasses. Women in silk and sequins, men in tailored suits.

And me, standing in the doorway in a faded cotton sundress, while forty heads turned to stare.

Jessi rose from her seat in a gown the color of champagne and swept over to hug me. “Oh, Kira. Did I say casual? I’m so sorry. I must have confused you.”

Then, later, red wine down the front of that sundress. Jessi gasping, horrified, apologizing. Laughter muffled behind hands.

And Zion, standing up halfway through dessert. Leaving the room. Jessi following a few minutes later.

Neither of them came back.

I came back to myself with the note crumpled in my fist.

Agnes was watching me closely. Waiting to see how I’d react, so she could report it.

I smoothed the note flat and smiled at her.

“How thoughtful,” I said. “Tessa, I’ll wear the blue sundress then. The cotton one.”

Tessa didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, Luna.”

Agnes gave a small, satisfied nod and walked away.

I closed the door. Tessa and I looked at each other.

“I don’t have a blue sundress,” I said.

Tessa grinned. “I know.”

“I need something else. Something stunning.” I looked down at the boxes of old books and my mother’s sewing kit. “And I have no idea where to get it.”

“My aunt’s a seamstress in town,” Tessa said. “She’s made gowns for half the Lunas in the territory. If we go first thing tomorrow, she might have something she can fit in time.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand.

“Tessa,” I said. “Where have you been my whole life?”

She blushed to the tips of her ears.

*****

---

The next morning, before we left for town, I stopped by the clinic.

Mom looked the same. Gray, still, impossibly small under the blankets. But Marta met me at the door with something almost like hope in her tired face.

“Her levels are dropping, Luna,” she said. “Slowly, but they’re dropping. Now that no one’s adding more, her body is finally starting to fight.”

I sat with Mom for an hour and held her hand, and for the first time since I opened my eyes in that wedding gown, I let myself breathe.

She’ll wake up, Freya said softly. She’s strong. Like us.

I hope so.

*****

---

That afternoon, Tessa’s aunt pinned me into a dress the color of midnight, with a neckline that made Tessa squeal and a skirt that moved like water. She promised it would be finished in time.

On the drive home, Tessa chattered happily beside me, counting off everything we still needed. Shoes. Jewelry. Hair.

“And it’s lucky the dinner’s at night,” she added. “You’ll look amazing by moonlight. It’s a full moon, too.”

My hands went still in my lap.

“A full moon?”

“Mm-hmm. Third night from now.”

In the back of my mind, Freya went very, very quiet.

Then she stretched. I felt it in my bones, a deep, slow ache, as if something enormous was rolling over after a long sleep.

Kira, she said. Her voice was soft and amused and just a little bit dangerous. I’ve been asleep for twenty years.

My heart began to pound.

Good luck keeping me in.