The Rogue Luna's Secret

LIORA POV

I woke to the sounds of laughter filtering through the thin walls of the cabin. It was Serena's, chirping and carefree, again mixed with Mom's quieter, amused laugh. I I lay still under the worn blanket, eyes glazed over the cracked, flaking paint of the ceiling above me, closing my chest against the familiar squeeze. Another morning in the Voss pack an outsider, always someone else.

I let the blanket shift from my lap and swung my legs out of bed. My bare feet hit the chill of the floorboards, my skin prickling at the cool air. 

Twenty-two and nothing ever changes for me, even if I am adopted. The Hale family thought I was their miracle at first, and Mom and Dad would smile and tell me the Moon Goddess led them to me in a storm, that I was supposed to be theirs. 

Then five years after I arrived Serena came along-their blood daughter, with the same red hair as Mom and the same attitude as Dad-and everything was different. Dinner portions got smaller for me. Praise went only to her. Blame fell to me-even if it was another's fault-to shoulder alone. So I learned to vanish without notice.

I slipped on jeans and a gray t shirt, pulled my hair into a haphazard ponytail, and caught my reflection in the battered, crooked mirror. My blue eyes looked back, sharp and weary, and a faint scar along my jaw from my fall as a child caught my eye. Dad just told me, "It builds character," so I toughed it out. I brushed my jaw absently and headed down the stairs.

Crisp bacon and warm bread tumbled out of the kitchen. Mom ran the eggs while Serena sat on a stool, her legs kicked happily in the air, chatting rapidly. Dad sat in a circle at the table and ran a steelweave through his brush of a knife slowly and methodically.

"Morning," I said, sounding upbeat but feeling dull.

Mom looked over her shoulder. "Morning, Liora. Coffee's on the table, get what you want."

Serena didn't bother looking up. "So, Mom, Mom, you won't believe someones' spirit I heard about last night. Jax was saying all the pack scouts have been seen near the eastern border again. Third time this month, so everyone's nervous."

Dad made a grunt. "Ronan has it under control. The boy's got a good mind for thrones. When the time comes, I'll be proud for him to be our young king."

I poured a long, black coffee and propped myself on the spear even though I knew I shouldn't. "Scouts again, huh? That, that's hitting rather close."

Serena swiveled her head around, fake-ing outraged, a grim teasing smile across her face. " Oh, please, Guardian, where put you up in that little nun-station out by the pack boundary? You'd never know much about border patrols."

"Serena," Mom hovered beside her, though her words were empty, meaningless.

A sip of bitter coffee grounded me. "I've been on the border patrols before. I understand."

Serena snorted to herself. "Sure, mending fences and finding herbs qualifies you to patrol?"

Dad looked up from his knife. "The border scouts are for warriors, Serena. Nothing but what you're good at."

Serena went for the eggs. "What's the matter? Too hungry for your bacon and eggs?"

Mom nudged me. "Pass the eggs."

Serena kicked my arm. "Here." She buried a generous helping on her plate of eggs. 

"Dad, do you think Ronan's choice tomorrow will establish an alliance with the Crowes? Isolde's no where near him lately and yet she is fooling no one."

Dad nodded. "Very strategic if he chooses her. No one can match her family for the warriors or the territory we need, if this Shadow pack keeps up its frustrations."

I poured myself another coffee, too irritated to be surprised. The mating ritual. Tomorrow night, the full moon, Ronan will mate with his luna, the female who will be queen of the pack beside him. Territories, marriage, power. That was what mattered. 

Yet my mind worked again, the bulging steady hunger of the mate-bond my whole life, right when I got near him. Did he feel a similar pull? 'Pass the salt?' Serena nudged my shoulder.

I slid it over. "So, are you looking forward to the ceremony?"

She shrugged. "Why not? Big deal. Ronan actually got someone who can contribute. Not just... Hopes”

Mom put a plate down in front of me. "Serena, that's enough."

"I'm just being honest," said Serena, eyes flicking to me. "Some people get their hopes up for nothing."

I stared at her. "No hopes here. Just curious who he picks."

Dad coughed. "Stop it. Finish eating. Training yard in twenty."

We ate mostly in silence, the sound of forks the only thing louder than the ticking clock. I finished my plate, rinsed it and went outside. 

By then the air had sharpened. The village was already bustling-children rushing around nimbly, elders huddled by the fire pit, warriors heading for the yard. 

Jax was already in the yard, swinging a wooden staff in mindless arcs. When he saw me he grinned. "Liora! Here to watch or go for it today?"

"Go for it," I said, grabbing a borrowed staff.

He juggled his own round and round. "Goody. I need someone who won't go easy on me."

We moved in a circle. I strike first-quick jab towards his ribs. He deflects, there is cracking of wood on wood.

"You heard about the scouts last night?" I ask, ducking his counter.

"Yes," grunted Jax, bringing his staff low. I leaped over it. "Ronin's doubling up on the patrols. Tensions are high with the ceremony tomorrow."

I struck him lightly on the shoulder. "Should I be worried?"

"Nah," mocked Jax, countering. "But the pack is wary. Everyone's watching Ronan's choice."

I spun, going for his thighs. He jumped back. "You two go way back, right? Pack thinks it's just pity, but I see different."

My cheeks heated. "Different how?"

He brought his staff to rest a little bit. "He's lighter around you. Smiles more. Talks more. But duty's duty."

My stomach stirred. "Not the same with me?"

He lowered his staff slightly. "I mean you can tell by his grin. That's not how he is around everyone. Yet when it comes to you, you can tell. The way he looks at you. It's different." Before I could say anything more, Ronan emerged. "You two at it already?" he asked, hefting himself over.

Jax smirked. "She just handed me my ass."

Ronan's gaze was fixed on me and I felt that thing again-for more of the strongest fire I had ever felt-stronger, and more insistent. "Doesn't surprise me," he said playfully. "Morning, Liora."

"Morning," I said, trying to hide my tremor.

"Last night, the scouts were near," he said, tone dropping serious. "Did Jax tell you?"

I nodded. "Looks like they'll test us."

"That they will," he agreed. "But we are prepared. Care to walk with me for a bit?"

"Yea, sure."

We left the yard and took the usual forest path. Leaves cracked under our shoes.

"Alright?" said Ronan after a couple of steps.

"I'm fine," I replied. "Why?"

"You are very quiet today. Did the ceremony occupy your mind?"

I looked at him from the corner of my eye. "Perhaps. What about you?"

He sighed. "The pack needs strength now. Isolde's kin-"

"Isolde," I cut him off. "arranged marriage?"

"Yes," he said quietly. "But it isn't.. Simple."

I stopped walking. "Not simple how?"

He turned to face me. The bond had become louder the more I listened to his voice than I even remembered, thrumming between us. "Liora, there's something I have to say-"

A snap in the woods! Jax came up hard. "Ronan, council's calling an emergency meeting. The border update is in."

Ronan cursed and said to me, "I'll be right back." he said. "Later?"

"Later," I whispered, watching as he went away.

I coasted through the rest of the day, repairing fences, collecting herbs for the healers, ignoring all rumors: "Liora's always trailing after Ronan. It is pity friendship."

Later that night, I cornered Serena in the cabin, whilst I was folding a load of laundry.

"Tomorrow is a big night," she said, leaning seductively against the wall. "Get ready to watch Ronan pick Isolde?"

I kept folding. "Why do you care?"

She stepped out from against the wall. "Because you are pathetic! Always adorning him. What a sucker!"

"Serena," I said. "back off."

She laughed. "Or what? You aren't really a part of the pack, right?"

Mom burst through the door. "Girls, dinner is ready."

At dinner dad speaks war discussion. "Shadow Pack is becoming bold. Ronan's choice better bring us the numbers we need."

Serena nods. "Isolde's good for it."

I ate in silence and thought about Ronan.

After dinner I went to the river. The trees place is still standing, the names we carved into its surfaces long ago.

Ronan's steps break the silence behind me. "Couldn't sleep?" he asks taking a seat on the bank.

"Neither," I said.

"Thinking about choices," he said, taking a flat stone from his pocket and skipping it across the water.

"What decisions?"

He looks at the water. "Liora. The bond. I feel it; I've always been aware of it. However the pack-"

A muscle in my chest pounded Hard. "I feel it; I've always known about it. Since we were children."

He reaches for my hand, fingers stroking mine. "I do. But obligation."

A bang nearby sounds like the scout's warning.

"Shadow Pack," Ronan said, rising instantly. "Stay here. I need to do so."

"No way," I told him, climbing up using the tree. Mentally converting into the beast, gray fur over blue eyes. Coming out of the trees, Ronan comes straight up beside me.

We dashed over chewing paws, the bond singing within my blood.

We arrived at the boundary to find Jax and three warriors. A wolf with an arrow in its outer throat sat in the dirt.

"Scout," Jax said grimly. "They are testing our traditions."

Ronan changed to human form. "Double the warriors tonight. Nobody slumbers until they are gone. Do ceremony or no ceremony, our people come first."

As we moved back again, Ronan walked rather near. "You didn't have to come," he said.

"I'm not helpless," I said.

He smiled softly. "I know. I have never thought you are."

At my doorway, he pauses. "Sleep well, Liora. Tomorrow will be a huge day."

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Huge day."

I lay in the dark awake, eyes fixed upon the ceiling. Tomorrow everything might change. The bond. He admitted it. Yet he would him select over his obligation?