EMMA
"Let the sacred bond be sealed tonight. Under the guidance of the Moon Goddess, we welcome a new Luna..."
The priest's voice echoed from afar off, and I woke up with a strangled gasp. Beads of sweat dripped off my forehead, and I swallowed hard in pain. Agony pulsed through my insides, and my back felt like it had been flayed open. My tongue was dry, and heat licked at my skin, but not from the sun. It came from inside me.
I blinked through the haze, then froze. The weight around my neck was gone. My trembling fingers flew to my throat as if on cue, and to my surprise, it met with bare skin. Not a cold, discomforting collar. I shut my eyes tight and suppressed a horrible memory of when Vera used the collar shocker on me for one full night.
Now, it was gone.
Gone.
Wincing in severe pain, I sat upright on the straw mat. Taking in a breath seemed like war and my birthday dress stuck to me with dried blood and sweat. The last thing I remembered was Aunt Layla screaming… and the whip. But she was gone now. The room was empty. Had they taken her? Was she safe?
"Aunt Layla?" My voice cracked.
No one answered me. Where was she? What had they done to her? I didn't wait to call her again as I jumped to my feet. Instantly, my breath became shallow, and a low rumble stirred in my stomach when I heard a voice in my head.
"Hi, Emma. I am Moon."
My wolf.
I gasped in sheer shock. Other kids had made a mockery of me year after year for not getting my wolf after my fifteenth birthday as usual and now, I had my wolf?
My hands trembled and my thighs clenched as heat rippled through my core in waves so hot I thought I might burst. I let out a loud scream, I was entering heat and my body felt like it was on fire. The scent of musk in the air overwhelmed me. My body was drenched in sweat, and I couldn't think straight. I had to get out. I had to find Aunt Layla. I stumbled through the corridor, barefoot, bruised, forgotten.
The whole Pack House was glowing with preparations but they didn't appeal to me, instead, a strong force pulled my legs. As I staggered into the upper hall, I passed a tall glass window and that was when the moon in the sky was deep red.
A full red moon during a Luna ceremony?
That was a bad omen. Then I heard it again for the third time, and my legs moved on their own accord, faster than I had ever walked, and that was when I remembered it all. Today was my birthday.
"Let the sacred mark be placed upon your Luna."
As I followed the voices like they were pulling me, I opened the doors to the wedding chambers. There she was in a silky white wedding dress, beaming all smiles at the Alpha Triplets who stood in dark suits.
Hatred filled my core at every agony they all put me through. For the torture. The humiliation. For standing there like they hadn't sentenced me to a public whipping just last night. However, as I crossed the hall's threshold, all that hatred burned away—consumed by something deeper. What followed was a HIGH-PITCHED gasp ripping through the crowd as my heat scent washed the hall.
"She has no collar!"
"The Omega isn't on her collar."
I gasped and stumbled forward with my heat slamming into me like a freight train. The wedding guests turned toward me with their eyes wide and questioning gazes. Of course, I expected that I had ruined the most important wedding in the Pack and I would receive my punishment soon.
"Is that the Beta's bastard?" I heard another guest gasp but it melted away when three earthy scents filled up my nostrils. The three turned and their eyes landed on me.
The evening air sizzled with raw tension and lust flickered in their eyes as they glared at me. Xander's grey eyes snapped to me, widening in shock while Xerxes and Xavier exchanged a surprising look.Their pupils dilated and the bond snapped into place.
Just as it hit me, it hit them, too. My nerves lit up with a deep hunger, and my wolf roared to meet theirs.
"Mates." Moon chimed inside me.
This had to be the worst joke of the century. What was the moon goddess playing at? The priest stumbled forward, a look of confusion clouding his features as he clutched his staff tightly.
"The bond… it isn't with Vera…" He announced, pointing at my trembling form. "It's with her."
Noises filled the wedding chambers and everywhere was in a mini disarray. "An Omega?" "Is this the red-moon curse!" "Why did the Goddess choose a bastard?"
Almost immediately, Vera reached for me shrieking in anger. "No! You bastard! How dare you bewitch my mates!!!" She clawed at my neck with her fingers, reaching for blood.
"Please, stop Vera." I struggled with her tight hold as two maids came to hold her down.
"No," Xavier whispered.
"No, no, no. She is trying to ruin my ceremony." Vera hissed as her maids whispered into her ears, and almost immediately, a mask of composure slid on her face.
I wasn't surprised. Her mother must have sent them to tell her to keep her cool. After all, the Pack members were here, and she had to be on her best behavior.
"No! She bewitched them! That filthy monster—she did something! She's cursed!"
More whispers rippled through the hall like wildfire.
"Impossible. This has never happened before."
"Could the Moon Goddess make such a mistake?"
Dizziness rocked my world and my body shook with need and answers. Somewhere in the crowd, a familiar dark-haired soldier, Tyler, once my mother's guard went deathly pale. "It can't be," he breathed. "She's not supposed to be alive…"
With my sharpened ears, I picked up his voice and froze as I turned around. Who did he mean? But he was swallowed by milling bodies around him before I could catch more.
"Enough!" Alpha Kai, the triplets' father, roared, causing the hall to go silent. Everyone knew he was angry, and no one dared say a word afterwards.
"No son of mine will mate with an omega, " the Luna Queen added, scorning me. I swallowed hard, weighing my options. Being rejected as an omega would travel far and wide, bringing me utter humiliation.
"That's true. Which is why they have to reject her," Vera screamed, throwing herself at Xander. "I am your mate! I was chosen!"
"No," The priest whispered again. "The red moon does not lie."
I was swaying, drowning in heat, and my body screamed for them to soothe me in my first heat; instead, they looked repulsed and acted like I was the last thing they'd ever touch. I hated them—but my wolf cried for them and my body was pining for their touch. Why was my body betraying me after all the triplets had done?
Xander stepped forward "You tricked us."
"I didn't do anything," I rasped, my voice cracking. "You're the ones who—who hurt me—"
"Reject her!" Vera wailed. "Reject her and complete the bond with me!"
"She isn't worth it. Let us reject her," Xander hissed.
Pain lanced through my ribs as I choked on a sob. I was in pain, couldn't they see it? Where was my aunt in all of this? They wanted to reject me.
After everything.
After whipping me.
After humiliating me.
I felt something snap in my chest, I would rather reject them and bear the consequences than carry the shame around. Before they could speak, I straightened as best I could, swaying on my feet and I took the words from their lips.
"I hereby reject all three of you as—"
"DON'T!" A voice resounded through the room before I could complete the words and everyone froze.
The Pack parted like waves as the Pack's Seer entered the hall. She looked at me, then at the triplets and back at me again.
"You will not be able to reject her."
What!? Why did she say so? Why— I couldn't take it anymore as my legs threatened to give way under me, and the hall tilted in my vision. I hadn't recovered from the lashes. The last thing I felt was my wolf's warning growl, "He's going to hurt us. Stay away from him…"
He? Who?
There was no answer to the many questions that filled my heart. Why did they put me in a collar? Why did they suppress my wolf for many years? Who would hurt me?