Alpha's Fall; Luna's Rise

Chapter 2 Slowed Down into Shadows

Ariana Thorne’s POV

I trudged through Eclipsia's dark, lonely streets, the stinging wind tore at the thin fabric of my coat. Like the pack house, I had been banished from the city that had seemed like home and suddenly felt foreign and hostile. My head whirled from the treachery that had rocked my life, my pulse still racing with shock.

I never considered it would finish like this.

Though I was tired, my body hurt. I cannot stop moving though. Every step away from Lucian and the Silvermoon Pack seemed like I was trying to flee the agony buried deep in my chest, but it trailed me like a shadow. His comments kept coming back to me, each syllable slightly turning the knife a bit deeper.

I divorce you... for the benefit of the pack.

The pack's benefits. That was all that mattered to Lucian, to his father, and the seniors. Not considered is the fact that I had handed everything to the pack, I had loved Lucian with every thread of my existence. But I was just another pawn in their hands, another victim in their game of power.

They lacked knowledge, though. Their knowledge of the life developing inside me was lacking. The twins I currently carry alone, without a pack to guard us.

I stopped under the flickering streetlight and pushed a hand under my tummy. Though I knew they were there, it was still too early for feelings. I could sense their warmth and consistent pulse. My sons. The children of Lucian.

I felt a tsunami of wrath that was so overwhelming it nearly left me without breathing. How had he done this to us? How could he have turned from all we created together, from all we shared? For Morgana? My tongue tasted the name sour. She had been waiting for her chance, circling like a vulture, and she had flown in the instant Lucian showed frailty.

I would not be weak, though no more.

I straightened and kept walking, tightening my coat about me. Crying about what had happened had no benefit. Lucian had decided what he wanted. He had decided on the pack, the strength, Morgana. He had dumped me aside as though I were nothing. I also have to make decisions right now.

I would guard my offspring. I would shield myself. And I would discover a path ahead free from him.

Though it was far from the great halls of the Silvermoon Pack headquarters, the little flat I had located on the outskirts of Eclipsia was mine. The quiet that surrounded me as I unlocked the door and entered stood in sharp contrast to the busy life I had known prior. It was quiet, nearly too quiet, and for a time the loneliness crept in and threatened to engulf me whole.

But I would not let it.

I dropped my luggage on the faded tabletop as I proceeded to the little table in the corner. Though it was little—just a single room with a bed, a little kitchen, and a bathroom—the apartment was full. It was somewhere to begin again. To decide what to do next.

Sitting at the table, I ran my fingertips along the edge of the wooden tabletop, my mind returning to the last seconds I had spent in the pack house. Lucian looked at me as he said those words; there had been a flutter of something—regret, maybe, or guilt—but it hadn't been sufficient to stop him. He had let me walk off.

I closed my eyes to drive the memory away. I could no longer consider him. Not if I meant to endure this.

Then, however, there came the prophecy. The one Morgana had worked to turn the seniors against me. Originally, not really interested in it, not when Lucian had always been at my side, but now it seemed so apparent. They had used it as a weapon, a kind of justification for my dismissal. But something about it made no sense to me. Morgana had been too ready to spin the words and too fast to assert that I was the weak link.

In my chest a flutter of uncertainty developed. Suppose the prophecy had been changed. What if there was more to it than what the seniors had informed me?

I had to know the reality. Regarding my offspring. For me first.

The following several days went by in a haze of doubt. Spending my time mixing into human society as best I could, I worked in a little herbal shop on the outskirts of the city. Though that was something, it was a far cry from the duties Luna formerly carried. It provided me a goal and a diversion from the continual bubbling under surface anger and anguish.

Every time I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, though, I saw the same thing: a broken, cast aside, but not defeated woman.

The questions nibbled at me while I worked. Why had the prophecy turned around? What actual objective did Morgana have? Above all, what would it imply for my kids?

I was pulled to the old library on the brink of town one evening as the sun sank below the horizon and threw a golden glow over the city. Though I hadn't gone in years, something told me the solutions I was looking for were buried on those dusty, neglected shelves.

The library was still, its old parchment and history filling its ancient walls. My fingertips followed book spines as I navigated the aisles until I came upon the area of werewolf mythology, predictions, and old magic.

Discomfort crept over me as I lifted the heavy, leather-bound volume from the shelf. My hands weighed the book, its cover was old and tattered. Opening it gently, I turned the delicate pages until I came upon the part about the Silvermoon Pack's prophecy.

Though the words were known, something was unique. The prophecy I had been given had changed, twisted. According to the original work, Luna would be thrown aside only to rise stronger than before, guiding her pack into a new age. The prophecy predicted strength, not weakness.

Reading the last lines—The Luna plunged into shadow will rise with the morning, her progeny destined to shape the future of all werewolves—made my heart fly.

Morgana had misled me. She had bent the prophecy to turn the elders against me, so acquiring the authority she so yearned. And Lucian believed her as well. Lying had caused him to toss me aside.

I felt a flash of wrath stronger than anything I had experienced previously. From me, Morgana had taken everything; now she was planning to use my unborn twins for her own sinister goals. But I would not allow her.

I forbid any of them.

My breath stopped as I closed the book on the slight creak of a floorboard behind me. My pulse racing, I turned sharply. Watching me from the end of the rows, a man lurked in the shadows.

"Elena," I said, my stress releasing upon me on identifying her. Her auburn hair caught the last of the sunshine streaming through the window as she entered the light.

She added, her voice kind but tinged with anxiety, "I didn't mean to startle you." Ariana, I have been searching for you.

Thank you for your presence; I grudgingly smiled. Elena had always been there for me, through good times and bad, a devoted companion, even when the pack had turned away from me. She clearly seemed worried, though, and I knew she had heard the stories.

"They say you have gone rogue," Elena said, her voice low. "That you are not now among the pack."

I nodded while closing the book, and I hugged it to my chest. "Lucian decided on this."

Her eyes darkened as pity and resentment whirled together. "He is a fool." Ariana, you are really Luna. Always been.

I choked it down even though a lump developed in my throat. "I have no idea who I am now."

She repeated, "You're strong," moving closer, "greater than you are aware of. And today you know the truth regarding the prophecy".

I looked at her, the fire of will lighting once again in my chest. Certainly. And I refuse to let Morgana get away with it.

Elena's expression tightened as a shadow went over her face. "Ariana, there is more." Morgana is looking for your children, not merely after Luna's title. She intends to employ them in a ritual—something terrible, something ancient.

The weight of her comments crushed me as the ground seemed to change under me. My youngsters. Morgana's strategy all along was based on them.

I whispered, my voice shaking with a mix of terror and wrath, "I won't let her take them."

Elena said, "We'll stop her," touching my arm. "You need not do this by yourself."

I nodded, but inward I knew the road forward would be perilous. The storm was on its way and this time I would meet it squarely. Regarding my offspring, for me, and for our future.

The wind howled through the streets as we exited the library, bearing the smell of peril with it. A low snarl sounded in the night somewhere far away. The forces of Morgana were closing in.

And I knew the struggle for my children—and for my destiny—was only just getting started.