Their Forgotten Luna

Cierra: "You will not embarrass this family tonight, Cierra. It is an honor to be chosen by an alpha to mate," my stomach twisted for a moment. It was my birthday party, too. I turn eighteen in a week, but they only worry about mating me to an alpha heir. "Yes, Father." I held my head low, hoping I could go if I were agreeable enough. "Your stepmother has instructed that you will act like a lady, not a brutish beta." "Yes, sir." I bowed again, keeping my spine straight and my head low. "Dismissed," my father growled. When I got into the hallway, I nearly sighed with relief. I ran to my room and took in the gown I would wear tonight, the one I would wear when Dane told the whole pack I was his chosen mate. Dane and I had been best friends since we were pups, and falling in love was just a bonus. I exhaled when I reached my bathroom, stripping and stepping into a shower with a sigh of both satisfaction at the hot water on my skin and frustration with my father. Once clean, I curled my long hair, painted my nails to match my gown, and then put on the beautiful, lacy gown. I had never worn something so beautifully fragile or graceful before. I turned in the mirror, brushing my fingertips against the embroidered waistline. It cinched in just enough to hint at curves I barely believed I had, and the cascading layers of silver-blue tulle fell to the floor like moonlight. "You look like a desperate debutante." The voice sliced through the quiet like a blade. I didn't have to turn. Alyssa. She leaned against the doorframe with that smug, heavy-lidded expression she wore like perfume—something cloying, sweet, and designed to suffocate. Her gown was black satin, cut to the bone, and was paired with a choker that resembled a collar. I straightened my back. "Oh, don't stiffen on my account," she said, stepping into my room with the confidence of someone who thought she owned the air itself. "Though, with those shoulders, I can see why you'd want to stand straighter." I turned slightly, my jaw tight. "Did you need something?" She smiled as if it were cute that I spoke. "Just checking if you needed help stitching yourself into that dress. It's lovely. Very… modest. Is that lace or table linen?" I held my ground as she laughed. Her voice dipped low. "Do you really think Dane will choose you, Cierra? You're a placeholder until someone better comes along. Someone like me." I didn't react. She fed off reactions like a parasite, and I wouldn't be the meal. "You can go now, Alyssa. Father wants me ready in ten minutes." I growled, but she only laughed. My wolf surfaced ready to rip her apart, a fact she noted and laughed about as she turned and left. Hours later, I was standing at the front doors of the pack house, and the estate was glittering like it had something to prove. From the courtyard, I heard in an all too familiar voice, "You look lovely tonight," Flush crept up my neck as I turned, expecting to see Dane. Instead, I saw Alyssa... and Dane. He held her hand like she was fragile, like she was precious to him. Rage and sickness bubbled through me at the sight of her pink cheeks and genuine smile. They looked comfortable like this, as if it were a conversation they had had one hundred times. Rage curled through me as my lips parted to speak his name. Before the first sound left my lips, the front doors swung open, and I was pulled in, ushered toward the crowd like a halftime freak show. Silk draped the walls, chandeliers burned brighter than moons, and wolves from neighboring territories filled the grand hall with their polished shoes and sharper teeth. The crowd parted as I walked through the great doors, every eye finding me in the silence. I wore Luna's colors. I wore his name like an invisible brand, and right now, it felt like my skin blazed from his interaction with Alyssa. Moments later, I stood at Dane's right side as his Beta heir. As his chosen mate, yet all I could think about was how he had been looking at Alyssa. He didn't meet my eyes. I wonder if he knew I saw them… Distantly, the Alpha of the neighboring pack finished his speech. Then the crowd turned expectantly towards Dane. This was it. Dane stepped forward— —and a scream tore through the courtyard. The moment I had waited for, for four years, was shattered. Their scent hit me first: rot, decay, and feral hunger. Then came the sound of claws against stone. Wolves, at least a dozen rogues, spilled into the garden from the northern tree line, howling and lunging before the first alarm could even be raised. Panic exploded. Screams. Shifting. Chaos. I tore off my heels, already partially shifting as my dress split at the seams. My wolf rose inside me, ready, snarling, instinct taking over. I caught a glimpse of Alyssa staggering backward. "Alyssa, get to the cellar!" I barked, shielding her from a rogue as it charged. But instead of running, she grabbed a passing rogue. "She's the Beta's daughter! Take her! Not me!" She turned to the rogue again, panic in her eyes. "That's her! She's the Beta's heir!" My heart lurched. I barely had time to register the betrayal before the rogue lunged for me instead. Fangs ripped into my side. I screamed, slamming my claws into its throat, twisting as another rogue pounced from behind. They knew my rank now. My name. My blood. I was the prize. I fought like fury incarnate. I was raised for this. My wolf and I moved as one — fast, ruthless, strategic. But I was outnumbered and injured. Then—another scream. Alyssa. She'd tried to flee and was struck down instead, her head slamming into a marble bench. She lay there, dazed, blood trailing down her temple. I looked at her — and made a choice. I lunged. Knocked the rogue off her, my claws slashing across its throat. Blood fountained. It wasn't enough. Another rogue was already circling. I pivoted low, sweeping a leg beneath it to unbalance the beast, then leapt and landed with my knee in its chest, my claws punching into its eye socket. It screamed — a horrible, strangled sound — before I finished it. But more kept coming. Three. Four. Five. They smelled my blood. My rank. My weakness. My wolf surged inside me, rising like silver fire. I howled, sharp and commanding — not for help, but for war. I became something else. I tore through them with the training drilled into me since I could walk. I moved like wind through trees — ducking, weaving, striking. I raked one across the spine, ducked beneath the bite of another, jammed my elbow into its ribs, then drove it into a wrought-iron gatepost with a snarl. Another came from the side — too fast. I caught its jaws before they closed on my throat and drove my claws through the soft underside of its jaw. Blood soaked the hem of my dress, then my chest, then my hair. I didn't care. I was the Beta's daughter. I was my father's heir. And I would not die quietly. But I was losing ground. My breath came in ragged pulls, my left side numb, soaked in blood. My arms ached. My legs trembled. And I knew, in the pit of my gut— I couldn't hold them much longer. Then— "ALYSSA!" Dane's voice cracked through the courtyard. I turned, disoriented. He was running. Not toward the fight. Not toward the wolves or me. He was running toward Alyssa. She was barely conscious, curled on the stone. Her blood had barely painted the ground. But he didn't even glance at me. He fell to his knees beside her, hands cradling her face like she was made of glass. Then he lifted her, holding her against his chest like she was everything. And he ran. Just like that. He left me. My knees gave out as the blood of a rogue was spilling across my face, inside my mouth, and eyes. I collapsed, my blood blooming beneath me like a flower of war. My claws scraped the stone weakly as another rogue stalked forward. Then — out of nowhere — a blur of motion. A snarl. A howl. And a second body collided with the rogue, slamming it aside. "Cierra!" A voice—sharp, broken, familiar. Dominic, Dane's big brother and future Alpha of the Obsidian Pack. He dropped beside me, face torn with panic, rage, and something softer. His hands were on me instantly, pressing to the wounds, pulling me into his lap like I weighed nothing. "I've got you," he murmured. "You're okay. You're going to be okay." I blinked up at him, blood coating my lashes. As the world dimmed and my blood painted his hands, I whispered the only word I had left: "Why?" And the last thing I heard before the dark took me— "Because I saw you. Even when he didn't."