Luna's Redemption

Chapter Five

Tessa's POV

They threw me into the dungeon.

A freaking dungeon.

Me!

And they had the guts to laugh as I banged on the bars, demanding to be set free.

"Let me out of here!" I yelled. "I'm taking this up with your Alpha, do you hear me? How dare you treat me like this?!"

The jackasses just continued laughing until they were gone, leaving me all alone.

"Damn it!" I hissed, stamping my foot.

This was not how I expected things to go. If they thought they could keep me locked up in here like some slave, they needed to think again.

I remained still by the bars, listening to make sure they were gone, then I took a deep breath and brought my hands together. There was a reason why I had been able to conquer all the packs except one. It wasn't because I had an army, or because I had the Silver Witch by my side.

It was because, as a descendant of the moon goddess, I had a unique power.

I had not tried using it in this body before, but I could feel that it was a lot weaker than it was before. I would have to do some training to build it back up, but at least I had just enough to get myself out of this place. I cupped my hands just as a small ball of silver light bloomed between them, and aimed for the lock. The steel melted in seconds, and I opened the door silently.

I began to creep down the corridors, hiding behind the ridiculous floor to ceiling paintings whenever I heard someone coming.

I just need to get to Alpha Jones' throne room, I thought. I will explain everything, and finally get my plans started.

Luckily for me, I got to the throne room without being spotted. But before I could step in, I heard him shouting. Filled with curiosity, I ducked behind one massive door and listened. There was a crash, like he had thrown something heavy at the wall, and I winced. Instantly, I took back my talk about being lucky. No lucky person would walk into one of Jones' tantrums.

"That damn Lucien!" he yelled.

That got my attention. What had Lucien done?

"He ruins my plans, and then he goes and takes an Alpha's daughter as his bride," he roared. "He thinks he gets to expand his influence after wasting my several years of effort? Well, I'm going to kill his little Luna. I'll murder her slowly. I'll snap all her bones one after another, and then I'll rip her apart!"

I winced again.

Way to go with the graphic language, Jones, I thought uneasily.

Suddenly, going to see him wasn't looking like such a good idea anymore. Would he even bother to hear what I had to say before he killed me? And even if I somehow got to speak, what were the chances that he would believe me? That he wouldn't think I was trying to lie to him just to save my life? Jones hated being lied to. I would know. I had seen what he did to people when he suspected they were not telling him the truth.

"I could have been ruling over every pack," Jones went on.

Wait, what?

"I had that Tessa b***h right where I wanted her," he said. "It would have been child's play to kill her and take her crown after she had named herself ruler over all the packs. But Lucien just had to go and kill her before she could!"

There was another crash, and the sound of the wall breaking, but I barely noticed.

His words would not stop echoing in my head. One of my greatest allies… had been using me the whole time? I was having a hard time wrapping my head around that reality.

But then, I couldn't help remembering how he had come to become my ally in the first place. He and Lucien had been friends once, and he was the only other person aside from Lucien that I had confided in when I found out about my heritage as a descendant of the moon goddess. And he was the one who had convinced me that ruling over every pack was my birthright.

He was the one who had offered to help me reclaim that birthright, and I had been naive enough to let him deceive me.

In that moment, I understood just how much danger I was in. This was a terrible idea. I needed to get out of this palace, out of this whole territory, immediately.

I began to creep backwards, staying as silent as possible. But I really was unlucky, because my elbow knocked into one of the stupidly fancy vases being used as hallway decorations.

If I had been faster, if I had been Tessa Gray and not Selena Winters, I would have caught it. Instead, I could only stare in horror as it fell to the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces. There was nothing else I could do but start running away as fast as I could, abandoning stealth for speed. It was pointless, unfortunately, because Selena Winters couldn't run to save her life. Literally.

The exit was in sight when the guards caught up with me. And for the second time in one day, I was captured and restrained.

"How the hell did you get out of the dungeon?" one guard asked as they dragged me back to the throne room.

"Why don't you take me to the border and I'll tell you," I replied cheerfully.

"No can do, little Luna," he chuckled.

They threw me down before Jones like a bag of potatoes, and I hissed with pain as I hit the marble floor.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he said, looking down at me with an evil glint in his eyes.

I looked up at him with steel in my eyes.

"Alpha Jones," I said, "looking pathetic as always, I see."

"You!" he yelled, grabbing my hair and pulling me up.

I bit my lip, refusing to show that it hurt. His hand wrapped around my neck, and he began to squeeze. I choked, hitting and scratching at his hand, but I was not strong enough to make him let go.

Suddenly, the wall to our left shattered completely, and a huge wolf charged in.

I might be struggling to breathe and on the verge of passing out, but I would know that wolf form anywhere. My lips parted slowly.

"Lucien…" I whispered.