The Luna's Revenge

The snow had not stopped for three days in Moon Palace, and neither had the whispers. Daluna stood in the center of the great hall, her thin dress sticking to her body because of the cold. Her silver hair, which everyone once said was a blessing from Moon Goddess, was now called a curse. Her hands were shaking, not from cold, but from shame. All around her, the entire pack was watching. Old women, young warriors, children, even servants who worked in kitchen had come to see the rejection. On the high platform, Alpha Ryan stood. He was wearing his black Alpha coat, the one with wolf fur on shoulders and silver claws on sleeves. He was supposed to be her mate. The Moon Goddess had paired them last full moon in the temple of light. Daluna had waited for this day for two years, she had stitched a white dress for this day, she had learned to bake bread for this day, she had cleaned the temple every morning hoping Goddess would be happy. Ryan looked at her, but his eyes were not soft. They were cold, like the ice on Moon Lake that never melts even in summer. "Daluna of the fallen family," he said loudly, so everyone could hear. His voice echoed in the hall and bounced off the stone pillars. "I, Alpha Ryan of Moon Palace, reject you as my mate and as my Luna. I break the bond given by Moon Goddess, here, in front of all." For a second, there was no sound. Even the wind outside the palace walls stopped. Even the fire in the fireplace stopped crackling. Even the whispers stopped. Then whispers started again, louder this time, like hundred snakes hissing together in one room. "I told you, she is cursed from birth..." "Her mother died giving birth to her, that is the proof of curse..." "Her white mark is not blessing, it is death mark, it brings winter early..." "She cannot even shift properly, her wolf is small like a white dog..." "She gets tired after running one mile, how can she be Luna..." Daluna felt her heart break into pieces, but she did not cry. She had promised herself the night before, sitting alone on the cold floor of her small room, that she would not cry in front of them. She had promised her mother Mira. Her white moon mark on her forehead, which glowed faintly silver since she was a child, started to flicker like a dying candle in storm. "Why?" she whispered, her voice so small only Ryan could hear. Her lips were shaking. "We were happy yesterday. You said you liked my burnt bread. You said my silver hair looks like moonlight on snow. You held my hand in the garden yesterday. Why today you are like this?" Ryan stepped down from platform, his boots making loud angry noise on marble floor. He came close, so close she could smell his scent of pine and snow, which was supposed to be her home forever, her safe place. "Happy? Do you think an Alpha can be happy with a weak wolf like you?" he said quietly, but each word was cruel like a blade cutting skin. "You cannot even shift properly. Your wolf is small, weak, white. You get tired after running one mile. My father says if I accept you, Moon Palace will become weak and other clans will attack us and take our land. I need a strong Luna, like Elena from Sun Palace. She can shift into a golden wolf, she can fight ten warriors alone, she can run for fifty miles. Not you. You only know how to clean temple floors and burn bread." Elena. The name hit Daluna like a knife in chest, sharp and cold. Elena was strong, beautiful, daughter of Sun Alpha, her hair golden like sun, her wolf large and fierce, her smile perfect. Everyone loved Elena. Everyone wanted Elena as Luna. Even Daluna once admired Elena from far. "So you will choose Elena?" Daluna asked, her voice breaking now, her chest paining badly. "I already have chosen," Ryan said, and turned to the crowd, raising his voice again, proud and loud. "From today, Elena of Sun Palace will be our Luna! She is chosen by strength, not by weak fate! Bring her inside! Let everyone see true Luna!" The big wooden doors of the hall opened with a loud creak. Cold wind came inside with snow. Elena walked in, wearing a golden dress that shone like sun itself, smiling proudly like a queen. Two servants held her long dress from behind. She did not even look at Daluna lying on the floor. She went and stood next to Ryan, holding his hand tightly, showing everyone she belongs there, on high platform. Daluna's mother, Lady Mira, tried to come forward from the crowd, her face full of tears, shouting "My daughter!", but guards stopped her, they held her arms tightly and pushed her back. Her father, Darius, was sitting on his throne, his head down, his hands tight on armrest, his eyes closed. He did not say anything. He was Alpha of Moon Palace, but he was also scared of Ryan's family because Ryan's father had more warriors and more gold. The pain in Daluna's chest became too much to bear, too heavy. The mate bond was breaking. It felt like someone was pulling her heart out with cold iron hands, slowly, painfully, thread by thread. Her knees gave way and she fell on the cold marble floor, her hands trying to hold floor to not fall completely. Ryan looked down at her one last time, his face without any pity, without any old love. "You should leave Moon Palace, Daluna. There is no place for cursed wolves here. Go to the Forbidden Forest, maybe the wild wolves and old monsters will accept you, because we never will. You are not one of us anymore. Your name will be removed from pack records today." Someone in the crowd laughed loudly. Then another laughed. Then almost everyone laughed, some pointing fingers at her, some throwing small pieces of paper at her. Daluna put her bloody hands on the cold floor and pushed herself up slowly, with great pain. Her dress was torn at the knee from falling, blood came out from knee and mixed with snow water on floor, but she did not feel it because heart pain was bigger than knee pain. She looked at Ryan one last time, at Elena who was smiling, at her father who was still looking down like a coward, at the pack who was laughing at her pain and enjoying her shame. "I will leave," she said, her voice suddenly clear and strong, even though tears were now flowing down her cheeks like river in spring. "But not because you told me to leave. Because I don't want to stay in a place where love is measured by power and muscle and gold. Moon Goddess gave me this white mark, not you. She gave me this weak wolf, not you. And one day, you will understand that a white wolf is not weak. It is rare. It is blessed. And you threw away a blessing from Goddess herself." She turned and walked towards the big doors. Her back was straight, even though she was broken inside. No one stopped her. Her mother was crying loudly, calling her name, "Daluna! My child! Don't go alone!", but guards held her tightly. Outside, the snow was heavy, falling fast, covering everything white. The wind cut her face like hundred small blades. She had no shoes, no coat, no food, no family now. Behind her, she could hear the celebration starting for new Luna Elena. Music and drums started, people clapping and cheering, shouting Elena's name. In front of her was the Forbidden Forest, dark, dangerous, full of black fog, where no wolf returns alive. Legends said old forgotten gods and monsters lived there, sleeping under ice for thousand years, waiting for blood. Daluna took one step into the deep snow, then another step, then another, her feet sinking deep. Her white mark glowed a little brighter in the dark, as if protecting her from cold and trying to give her hope and light. "Okay, Moon Goddess," she whispered to the grey and angry sky, looking up with tears frozen on face. "If you want me to die, let me die in the forest with honor, not in that hall with shame. But if you want me to live, then please give me a reason to live. Give me strength to come back." She walked into the dark forest, her small footprints disappearing behind her in the heavy snow within seconds, as if she had never existed in Moon Palace at all. The forest was silent and waiting. But deep inside the Forbidden Forest, deep under the oldest ice and oldest trees, something ancient opened its eyes after thousand years of sleep. It had felt the white mark's pure light. It had felt a heart that was broken but still brave and still kind. And it was not hungry for flesh. It was curious. It was lonely for long time. It whispered in old language, "Another white one... finally... after thousand years..." Daluna did not know that her painful rejection was not the end of her story. It was the first page of a long story. A story of revenge that would not come with swords and blood, but with forgiveness that would be stronger than any Alpha's army, and love that would grow near a lake that everyone thought was cursed and dead. *Chapter 1 End*