Unwanted Luna

Liora

The mark on my neck burned like fire, and I could feel something different inside me like a chain I couldn't see binding me to this place. I sat on the edge of the huge bed they'd put me in, wearing a thin white dress that felt too nice for someone like me.

Through the thick stone walls, I could hear voices getting louder and angrier. They were talking about me, and none of it sounded good.

"A crippled human girl!" someone shouted. "That's what our Alphas chose as Luna?"

"She can barely stand upright," another voice added. "How is she supposed to lead our pack?"

"She's not even shifted yet! What kind of wolf can't shift?"

My stomach twisted with shame. They were right about everything. I was weak, I was sick, and I had no idea why my wolf had never spoken to me. Most wolves shifted for the first time when they were sixteen. I was twenty-one, and I'd never heard so much as a whisper from my wolf.

The door to my room opened, and Alpha Rowan walked in. His face was calm, but I could see the tension in his shoulders.

"The pack wants to meet you," he said simply.

"Do I have to?" I asked, my voice small and scared.

"Yes," he replied. "You're going to be their Luna. They need to see you."

"But they hate me already," I whispered. "I heard them talking."

"They fear what they don't understand," he said, walking over to me. "You'll prove them wrong."

I wanted to tell him that I couldn't prove anything, that I really was as weak and useless as they thought. But the mark on my neck pulsed with heat, and I found myself nodding instead.

He led me through corridors filled with pack members. They all stared at me with a mixture of curiosity and disgust. Some of them whispered to each other as we passed.

"Look how thin she is."

"She's shaking like a leaf."

"This is supposed to be our Luna?"

The main hall was packed with wolves, all of them watching me with hostile eyes. I kept my head down, focusing on my feet so I wouldn't have to see their faces.

"Pack," Alpha Rowan's voice boomed across the room. "I present Liora Thorne, chosen mate of the Alpha triplets."

The silence that followed was deafening. Then the protests started.

"She's not worthy!" someone shouted.

"A Luna should be strong!"

"Look at her - she can't even lift her head!"

A woman stepped forward from the crowd. She was tall and muscular, with long black hair and scars on her arms that spoke of many battles. Her eyes were filled with pure hatred as she looked at me.

"I am Valeria, lead warrior of this pack," she announced, her voice carrying easily across the room. "And I refuse to bow to this... thing."

"Valeria," Alpha Rowan's voice held a warning. "Watch your tongue."

"No!" she snapped. "You want us to follow a weak stain on the Alpha name? She's nothing but a crippled human girl who will get us all killed!"

Before anyone could stop her, she strode across the room and shoved me hard in the chest. I stumbled backward, my legs giving out beneath me, and crashed to the floor in front of everyone.

The pack erupted in laughter and jeers.

"Can't even stand up!"

"What a pathetic excuse for a Luna!"

"The Alphas have lost their minds!"

Tears burned in my eyes as I tried to get back to my feet. My chest was on fire, and I could taste blood in my mouth. This was exactly what I'd been afraid of.

"Enough," Alpha Rowan said, but his voice was drowned out by the noise of the crowd.

That's when Alpha Riven appeared.

He moved like lightning, crossing the room so fast I barely saw him. One moment Valeria was standing over me, laughing, and the next she was pinned against the wall with his hand around her throat.

"What did you just do?" he snarled, his eyes glowing gold with fury.

"I-I was just showing the pack-" Valeria choked out.

"You laid hands on our mate," he growled, his grip tightening. "You humiliated her in front of the pack."

"Riven," Alpha Ronan appeared beside him, his voice calm but firm. "Don't kill her. She's not worth it."

"Touch her again," Riven said, his voice deadly quiet, "and I'll skin you alive. Do you understand me?"

Valeria nodded frantically, her face turning purple.

He released her, and she collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"Does anyone else want to test us?" Riven asked, turning to face the crowd. His voice was so dangerous that several pack members took steps backward.

No one answered.

"Good," Alpha Rowan said. "Meeting dismissed."

The pack filed out in silence, many of them shooting angry glances my way. I was still on the floor, too shaken to move.

Alpha Ronan helped me to my feet, his touch gentle. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I lied, even though my chest felt like it was being crushed.

"No, you're not," he said quietly. "But you will be."

That night, they locked me in a room with no windows. I understood why, the mark on my neck might bind me to them, but they still didn't trust me not to try to escape.

I lay on the bed in the darkness, listening to my own ragged breathing. My chest hurt worse than it ever had before, and I could feel something wet on my lips.

When I touched my mouth, my fingers came away sticky with blood.

The coughing started a few minutes later. Deep, harsh coughs that felt like they were tearing my lungs apart. More blood came up with each cough, staining the white sheets.

I tried to call for help, but my voice was too weak. The room started spinning around me, and I felt myself sliding off the bed onto the cold stone floor.

The last thing I remembered was the taste of blood in my mouth and the sound of footsteps in the hallway.

Then everything went black.

When the door opened and light spilled into the room, Alpha Ronan's voice cut through the darkness.

"Liora?" he called out. "Liora!"

I heard him curse as he found me collapsed on the floor, blood pooled beneath my face.

"Get the healer!" he shouted to someone in the hallway. "Now!”