The Banished Luna

Episode 13

Kara was sulking in her room when her friends knocked.

"What is it?" She asked, her lips pinched into a sour expression. The two girls were giggling conspiratorially, but stopped under their friend's intense glower.

"We just though you might like to know that your brother and that traitor Omega are mating in the sauna." One of the girls said plainly, stifling her giggle and tugging nervously at her dark hair. "They sound like they're having a REALLY good time."

"Why should I care what that slut is doing with her nasty body?" Kara responded flatly

"But, your brother-"

"-is grown man and can mate with whoever he pleases." Kara snapped

The girls entered and sat on the bed.

"Kara..?"

"Marika...?" Kara sneered.

"Don't be like that." Marika replied, recognizing her friend's petulant sarcasm. "If I knew it bothered you this much I wouldn't have said anything. Come here." She scooted to one side and patted the bed between the two girls.

Kara rolled her eyes, but moved over to the seat between her friends. Marika rubbed her friend's back soothingly.

"Now, what's the problem? This isn't just about her being an Omega is it?"

The tension in the room suddenly dropped as Kara let out a massive sigh and slumped forward.

"No, it isn't." She mumbled.

"What do you care about that foreign trash anyhow?"

"I don't! It's who else cares about her." Her voice hardened and fists clenched.

Marika looked over Kara's shoulders at Bekka, who shrugged helplessly. "You mean Avi?" she asked gently.

"Him...and Granny Sigrit." Kara replied through gritted teeth. "Granny seems to think there's something special about her presence in the pack."

"Well, Georgia is fated to our future Alpha." Bekka offered. "That's pretty special."

"That's not what I mean! And don't speak that b***h name in my presence. I don't want to hear it!" Kara rose and paced her room, shoving furniture aside in frustration. "Our spákona believes that she is closer to the Goddess than most...even me"

Marika and Bekka gasped. "But wouldn't that mean...?" Bekka started her question, but trailed off, afraid to finish it.

"That she could be Luna AND the mate of the Alpha."

"But you're going to be the next Luna!" Marika protested. "You've been working so hard at the Wisdom House! Granny Sigrit has been grooming you to be Luna for years!"

"Do you think I don't know that?" Kara threw up her arms in frustration. She had suspected that the wisewoman had been paying extra attention to Georgia, but it wasn't until the previous night when she confronted her grandmother that she knew for sure. Finding out that she was also her twin brother's destined mate was a step too far.

"What can you do, though? If it's the will of the Goddess?" Bekka had always been a pious mouse, but Kara didn't have time for it now.

"I very much doubt it's the will of the Goddess that our pack is led by a traitor foreigner Omega." She replied sourly.

Bekka gasped a little at Kara's sudden blaphemy, but Marika shook her head sadly.

"Nothing good can come from meddling in the affairs of the Goddess, Kara. It's not right." Marika was firm, but gentle. "You're just upset. I'm sure she's not so bad once you get to know her. She is Avi's mate after all, that won't change."

Kara spun on her heel to face her friends. "Then I'll MAKE it change!" Her eyes flashed amber as her rage could no longer be contained, and Kuura fought to take control.

Both girls leapt from the bed and took hold of their seething friend.

"Don't think like that!" Marika pleaded. "You have to let it go! She's not worth it."

"Come on, let's go to the Wisdom House now. You can talk to Sigrit about it. She'll know what to do." Bekka tugged on Kara's arm and stroked her shoulder.

"No!" She wrenched herself free. "I'll handle this myself."

"How? You don't get to decide what, or who, our Goddess chooses." Marika stepped back and crossed her arms disapprovingly. Kara was behaving like a child, and she was fed up. "This isn't like you."

Deep down, Kara knew that her frieind was right, and that it wasn't her place to question the will of the Goddess, or her grandmother's wisdom. But her love for Avi was more important, and her passion overtook her sensiblity.

"I'll throw myself off a cliff before I see my brother mated to that Omega traitor and making her Luna." There was fire behind her eyes. The passion of a zealot staring down martyrdom and welcoming death, knowing it would serve a greater purpose. Kuura howled, braodcasting her rage beyond Kara's mind and into the girls that stood before her.

Marika shuddered as Kuura's anger washed over her. Her own wolf, Meeka, cowered in the back of her consciousness.

Something is very wrong, Meeka whined. This isn't normal. You have to do something!

Marika reached out her hand to Kara, who was now breathing heavily and red in the face from the effort of keeping her wolf from taking over.

"Kara, be calm. Getting upset won't solve this." she said in the softest voice she could muster despite her rising fear.

Kara's fists unclenched and her breathing slowly returned to normal. "Maybe not, but I'm not going to let this go." She pushed past her friend and stormed out the door.

"No! Wait" Marika called after her, but it was too late. Kara was gone, leaving the two girls alone.

"Is she going to kill her?" Bekka whimpered, hoping Marika would know what to do.

"Don't be silly. She won't defy her uncle again. Not in public anyways. I'm worried, though."

"Me too." Bekka admitted. "Did you see? Kuura nearly took control. I've never seen that happen to her. She's always so...stoic."

Bekka was right, Kara was known for her restraint and composure; it was part of the reason she was being groomed to take her mother's place as Luna. The fact that this newcomer had gotten under Kara's skin was concerning.

"All we can do is keep an eye on her." Marika put a comforting arm around her friend. "And make sure she doesn't do anything rash"

"Do you think she might?"

"It wouldn't be like her, but after what we just saw, I don't know anymore. We'd better follow."

The two girls left the longhouse, following their friend's trail, bracing themself for a confrontation.