Bitter Moon Ch 03
Tristan drummed his fingers impatiently. How had she gotten away? She was supposed to die. How did she survive the loss of their bond? She lost three bonds and survived. What was she hiding? She should have been his Luna, but she didn't shift. It was her sister Serene who shifted.
Luna had always been the strong one, the protector, the warrior, but all of a sudden, she wasn't his match. They had grown up together, yet just like that, she became useless. Her bratty, spoiled sister was better than her. How could it be? But she didn't shift, and he couldn't hide his disgust.
She was the golden child who fell from grace into hell, a loser. Luna was beautiful, brave, and kind. She was the ideal mate, but one day she just stopped shining. Her sister shone brighter and brighter, finally making Luna vanish into the background.
But he had felt it, the backlash of pain at his rejection of their bond. He didn't understand she was nothing, not beta nor omega. More like a tiny little human. How could he feel pain? How could there be a cost to him renouncing her claim on him as if she were a Luna, his equal? Could she have been shielding him, and through the connection, somehow making him stronger? He felt weaker now. Impossible, he was an Alpha, she was damn "Nameless," an "Unmarked." Why was he even thinking about that loser?
She couldn't have been shielding him…
Serene looked at Tristan. She's not here. I don't feel her anymore. The waste is no longer bonded to me. Serene jeered, but she looked surprised.
"We're only bonded to each other now." She ran a finger over Tristan's collarbone. She gazed upon him with relish. He was hers now.
"You look different. Your hair. It's black now." Tristan said, fingering her hair. Luna and Serene were identical twins with honey blond hair and green eyes. They were no longer identical. Could that even be possible?!
This happened at the end of the Luna ceremony. Now Serene's eyes were silver. Then what about Luna? Would she look the same or different?
Serene looked at him, bored. "Does it matter what she looks like now? She was just going to be spare parts, anyway. Annoying, how dare she get away?" She snorted.
I wanted her heart's blood and her heart to make me stronger. We were supposed to be twins. How dare she exist and take what was hers?! She took all the resources when they were in the womb together. She was born the smaller one, the runt, while Luna was healthy and big. She was sickly and small. Fat lot it did her, she wasn't even a Luna, nor strong enough to shift. If she had stayed, I might have let her live as a slave. Maybe for a little while…
A middle-aged man with brown hair came in. His grey eyes were somber as he overheard their conversation. "Alpha… Luna is gone. She evaded capture. I smelled the scent of an Ulric where her scent was last marked. After that, it was like she was erased."
"Bull shit! It's because you all didn't believe she could get away. You didn't take this seriously. Now she's in someone else's hands. They reaped the benefits, and we got the loss." Tristan snapped.
"I'm sorry, Alpha. She's been with us so long, were you really going to treat her in such a way?"
"Are you questioning me?" Triston glared.
"No, Alpha, it's just she was the daughter of a martyr. Her parents both fought in the war for our pack. They gave their lives for our freedom."
"If she hadn't been a disgrace, this wouldn't have happened. She had plenty of resources to help nourish her wolf, but she blew it." Tristan scoffed.
"Sister always gave me her resources. How dare she be selfish now! I needed her essence." Serene snarled. "I would be an even stronger and better Luna."
"I'm sorry, Alpha. My apologies. I spoke out of turn. I take my leave." Casey said and quietly left.
Unacceptable, he must be a secret Luna supporter. She hasn't shifted because I poisoned her. She slipped out of my grasp. Serene's eyes darkened to a gunmetal grey.
"What did they say, Casey?" A masked crowd gathered.
"The Alpha is angry at our failure; no report of punishment yet," Casey replied, putting on a woodpecker mask.
"Tristan is not like his father. Honoring the old ways." A portly masked man said.
"Bah! He listens to Serene. She's the worst, spoiled and mean." A tall, thin, masked man said.
"You would never have guessed that Luna and Serene were sisters." A hamster-faced masked child said.
"Luna gave her most, if not all, of her resources for the wolf transformation to Serene. Yet she still wants more."
"There's no loyalty."
"She always shared her kill, Luna, when she hunted. She shared her food with the young and elderly of the pack. Yet they won't even spare her for not shifting when they want her to shift."
"She knew everyone's weakness but never used it to harm. Instead, she used it to make sure all of us were safe."
"She managed the food, and everyone got their share. If there was something we couldn't eat, it would not show up on our plate."
"They don't even see what she did for the pack. If they could do it to her, what about us?"
"Shhhhsh! Any louder, they'll say we're rebelling, pack law!" A crow-faced masked man spoke.
"She couldn't shift, is that a crime. Maybe it wasn't her time." A rabbit-faced masked man said.
"Shhhh." A mouse-faced masked woman whispered.
"Tristan gave up on someone who cared for him so deeply. He didn't give it a second glance." A cat-masked woman said.
"He'll know what he lost, soon enough." An elephant masked man spoke.
"Everyone, disperse." A Joker-masked woman called out. "Disperse."
Luna opened her eyes to bright sunlight. She was in a cottage. She could smell tea roses and lavender. The smell of earth and blood was gone from her. She was under a cotton sheet and wearing a light cotton dress.
In all her twenty-four years, this was the first time that someone had cared for her. She was the one who usually took care of someone. When she looked around, she saw the Wolf King. Did he take care of her and change her clothes? She blushed. She felt shy. He stood not far from her, with his hair in a long braid, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't blurt out that he was the most beautiful man she's ever seen.
"How do you feel?" He spoke, breaking the awkward silence.
"I don't know." She blurted out. Luna wanted to hit herself. What was wrong with her? Could she lie back down? He really was just too beautiful. How was she supposed to talk? When his beauty was literally hitting her in the face. It was a weapon that rendered her speechless. Tristna wasn't ugly, but compared to the Wolf King before her, it was like comparing a frog to a swan. Were all the people she met before ugly and plain? How could this be?