All Chapters of The Alpha's Moon Marked Luna: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

FernMy father’s office smells like wood polish and old men, but I refrain from wrinkling my nose when I step inside. I am guided in without ceremony, the heavy door closing behind me with a finality that makes my spine stiffen. Every chair is filled. Elders line the curved table, their expressions carefully neutral, their gazes sharp with interest that has nothing to do with concern.All of them are looking at me.I stop just inside the threshold, hands folded in front of me the way the Omegas taught me. I remain still, quiet, and unthreatening. I feel suddenly too aware of my plain dress, my scrubbed hands, the way I don’t belong in this room except as a topic. I quickly fold my hands into my apron, as if that will hide the callouses and the fact that I don’t fit in. Alpha Leo stands at the head of the table. My father. The Alpha. His posture is relaxed and confident, like this is just another morning of rulings and strategy. Luna Iris sits to his right, pale and distant, her han

FernI don’t own much.What I do have fits into a single trunk beneath my bed. It contains two plain dresses, a pair of worn boots, and a shawl I’ve mended more times than I can count. There are no keepsakes. No trinkets from childhood. Nothing sentimental enough to mourn.That should hurt. It should make me sad to think about all that I have missed out being the outcast, but it doesn’t. Instead, it feels like confirmation.I fold my clothes carefully anyway, smoothing the fabric as if it matters. As if someone will inspect my things and find value in how neatly they’re arranged. When the trunk is full, I sit back on my heels and stare at it for a long moment, trying to remember a time when this room felt like mine.It never did. For as long as I can remember, I have felt like an unwanted guest in the Vale Pack. Like someone who showed up uninvited and never left. Now, I am leaving. That should mean something, but it doesn’t.A knock sounds at the door. It is too soft and hesi

FernI stand in the hallway for too long, thinking about the interaction between us. There is something about the way that he inspected me that made a strange feeling stir in my stomach. Suddenly, I hear my father’s voice from the dining room. “Fern.” I step back, letting my eyes fully take in the wreckage that Alpha Gaven had created. My father looks small from where he is sitting. Smaller than I have ever seen him look before. “Earn his favor,” my father demands from where he is sitting. “Perhaps if you do a good enough job, he will forget that he was given the lesser of my two daughters.” I swallow hard. “You mean you want me to sleep with him?” “Do whatever it takes,” he snarls before storming from the room, leaving me alone with my mother.I wait for her to say something, anything, but instead, she turns on her heels and follows my father into his office. The rest of my goodbyes are quick. The Omegas who raised me don’t have time to stop working for a long conversat

GavenI do not leave the room immediately.I stand in the corner, arms crossed, body rigid, while Maelis gathers her instruments and keeps her face deliberately neutral. I feel Fern’s presence like an open wound even after she’s dressed. She looks fragile, but guarded, bracing herself for whatever comes next.When the Omega, Michelle, arrives to escort her, Fern hesitates. Not because she’s afraid of leaving my side, but because she’s afraid of staying of staying in the Blackmoor Pack.That realization is the first crack. She has every right to be afraid of staying after everything that she has endured. Her eyes flicker to me for some sort of guidance but I don’t have any. I am unable to speak right now, because I am afraid if I do it will only frighten her more than she already is. Instead, I look away from her, and focus my eyes on anything but her. I hear her sigh, and it sounds heartbreaking, but I hold my control. I will hold it until it breaks.“Your rooms are prepared,”

FernEventually I drifted off to sleep. I am not sure of the hour, but all I know is that at some point the fear drifted away and sleep came. In my dreams, I saw nothing but silver. It is hard to describe, but it wasn’t a light. No, this was something thicker, almost solid. Like a living mist that was calling my name. “Fern.” It whispered into nothing. My eyes flicker open and I’m standing barefoot on stone that glows faintly beneath my feet, etched with symbols I don’t recognize but somehow feel. The sky above me isn’t dark or bright. It’s a constant twilight, with the moon hanging low and impossibly close, so large it makes my chest ache.“Little fern,” a voice whispers again.It doesn’t come from anywhere. It’s everywhere. It seems to consume every cell in my body. It makes my hair stand on end. I turn slowly, heart pounding. “Who’s there?”A shape shifts within the silver mist. It isn’t a body or a face. Just the suggestion of presence, but it feels ancient and certain.