A Crown of Doubt and Fire

The sun had only just begun to drop below the horizon, painting the clearing red. It was an ominous feeling, the gathering of the pack felt more like an impending storm than a celebration She was taking too long in the room as she wore a white gown, she was worried about what the elders would say. The sound of a knock on the door startled her out of her train of thought.

" Serena, it's time." Dorian went to the door and told her. She was going to be  crowned the Luna of Night Fang pack.

She was nervous, her mind racing a thousand thoughts a minute, pacing back and forth in her bedroom. Every thought collided with the one before it, the horrible ones blacker than the one before. The last time a ceremony was held for her, it had ended in disaster, the memories so fresh and painful in her mind. Everything had been broken in an instant: the aspirations, the anticipation, and what remained was nothing but complexity, sorrow, and a great sadness of being a failure. She could still recall the weight of the eyes that were watching her, the judgment, the skepticism. It was a crossroads, even now it haunted her. The thumping in her chest was a steady reminder of the pressure she was under, the fear that clawed at her insides.

“Dorian I cannot do this, tell Lucian. What if this doesn't work out?” She said, ploping on her bed.

" You are our Luna, Serena. You have proven yourself worthy.” She nodded her head; half believing Dorian.

" I'm coming." Dorian nodded and left the room. One final glance at herself in the mirror as the golden marks upon her hand throbbed with every tick of the clock moving closer to midnight.

Serena finally walked toward the clearing. As she stood in the middle of the circle, heart racing hard enough to feel, figuratively and literally; this was on her. The Onyx wolf inside her started to awaken, ancient force threatening to seize control. It was there, in there, scratching to be seen. But that strength was accompanied by something more—a discomfort, a fight inside herself between both sides of her soul, as if the wolf did not want to accept her, and she would not fully give in to the beast.

The elders, arranged in a semi circle around her, whispered among themselves. Serena felt their stares, penetrating and doubtful. They were uncomfortable with her, wondering whether she was worthy of being the Luna. In the some cases, the Luna wielded more power than some Alphas. They were all petrified that she was not worthy of such power.

“She’s not one of us,” the Elders’ leader muttered a voice thick with disdain as he glared at Serena. His eyes were piercing, full of skepticism and distrust.

“A foreigner, a bloodline of Silver Ridge pack, at that, cannot and should not be allowed to wear the title of Luna.” He spat out with such venom in his voice. "How can we trust one who has not been born into our ways, who does not have the blood of our pack flowing through her veins? The idea itself is an insult.” His tone was harsh.

With Serena beside him, Lucian’s eyes never flinched, his stance firm and fierce. He raised his voice, full and hard, across the clearing.

“Enough. She is my Luna, and she is more than deserving of the position.” His gaze met each elder, a challenge in its stare. “If you question her position, you disobey me too.”

The elders exchanged glances in a moment of tense silence before they slowly nodded, their whispers seized by the order of their Alpha. The air changed, but the tension remained.

He turned his gaze to Serena, his expression softening as he took her hand. He could sense her internal struggle, the fear, the uncertainty. But there was no going back at this point. She had accepted the bond, and with it, she was staking her claim at his side, equal to him, his mate.

 “Do you feel it?” Lucian asked gently, his voice meant only for her. “The cord that binds us, you and the Onyx wolf. You are not alone in this. Together, we will rule the darkness.”

Serena nodded, choking back the lump in her throat. She didn’t know all of it—how the moon goddess had chosen them, why this bond felt so large on her heart—but she trusted Lucian. And with him, she could endure what was to come.

As soon as the spilling-red crimson moon was complete, the elder leading the ceremony raised arms. His voice boomed in the stillness as he spoke. “Then, by the power of the Moon Goddess, we bind you, Serena, as Luna of the Night Fang Pack. And by the same power, we declare you and Lucian mates, for eternity.”

It was as if the air surrounding them had come alive with some sort of electric energy, charged with pure power. A rush of instinctive desire welled up in Serena as the Onyx wolf within came to life, filling her with the strength of its nature. The connection she shared with Lucian was becoming stronger, clearer, the essence of their souls being spun together by tightly forged strings. As if the darkness within her, which had always been wild, untamed and restless, was being softened, steadied by Lucian’s power.  The wolf, who had been all restless and uncertainty, calmed within and settled into her with a quiet acceptance. It accepted her as its true Alpha female, its rightful mate. The weight of the transformation bore down heavily on her, but instead of fear, there was overwhelming strength, and a sense of belonging.

There was an electric crackle in the air, a pregnant hush hanging over the glade as the pack attatched themselves to the scene. No one would question it again — it was a powerful sacred bond.

 A howl resonated through the stillness, the high howl soon followed by a chorus of deep howls. Lucian's hand tightened instinctively, his fingers curling around Serena's with an unarticulated firmness, a sense of urgency unquenched.

“They’ve sensed it. They know you’re our new Luna now.” he said in a calm tone. Only now it was no longer echoing the sounds of the call of the wolf in the distance, these howls were a statement; an intimation that they have been heard, they had been acknowledged.

Serena glanced up at him, not sure what that meant. She gave his hand an even tighter grip hiding the fear that was slowly creeping.

And as the last of the ceremony’s words rang through the clearing, a new chapter for the Night Fang Pack had begun.