Luna Athalia

10. Surrounded Like the Sun

Dominique Rhea Kingsley

Dominique grew up with Athalia and Vincent. Or rather, she existed in their world. Her entire life was overshadowed by the budding Alpha daughter and her future mate, every significant occasion of their childhood revolved around them. Even Dominique's birthday landed in the same month of Athalia's and no matter how much planning she did, her parties and get-togethers were no match for the other girl's. She always seemed to be surrounded like the sun while Dominique was treated like a rogue hunk of space debris deemed not fit enough to even be a planet. 

Her parents were average members of Roaming Ember, both teachers at the high school. Neither fell victim to the rogue raid and both were still alive and well in their present day. They were run-of-the-mill wolves, respected their traditions and their hierarchy and were believers that Alpha Vincent and Luna Athalia sat in their deserved positions. Naturally, they were unhappy when their daughter chose to be a prominent figure in the Union. But they at the very least respected her decisions. They simply chose to ignore it whenever she came home.

When Dominique had met Remy, she was instantly enamored with him, his bad boy personality and undeniable good looks was just the right amount of rebellion she felt she needed. She firmly believed that together, they would be able to overthrow the smug Athalia Sylas and lead Roaming Ember. She also chose to ignore his fixation with Athalia, believing that he simply wanted to use her to become Alpha. That was okay too, she thought.

But as the years passed and Athalia became Luna, it became more and more apparent that Remy's obsession with her surpassed his hunger for power. Eventually, Dominique gave up what she chalked up to be just a childhood crush and focused solely on dethroning her enemy. 

"What do you even hope to accomplish, Dominique?" her sister shook her head one afternoon as they ate together at the local cafe. 

"What do you mean?" she shot back haughtily.

"Say Remy wins against Alpha Vincent," Gianna pointed her fork at her sister, "he's just going to end up mated with the Luna and she stays in power. I thought the whole point was to take her position from her."

"Remy isn't going to win. Alpha Vincent has royal blood and he's always won against Remy in fights." Dominique rolled her eyes, "But once he loses, he'll have no choice but to carry out the original plan that he deviated from."

"And what exactly does that entail?" Gia sighed, stabbing her fork around her plate.

Dominique narrowed her eyes, "Prove that Vincent isn't really Athalia's mate and once we expose them for lying, the Union will come back stronger and demand the next best candidate be named Alpha. It doesn't even matter if it's Remy or not. All I care about is that smug little b***h gets tossed out on her ass."

Gia sighed, shaking her head, "She never even did anything to you, Dom. I was in school the same time as the both of you and not once did I ever see her treat you poorly."

"She'd had to have acknowledged my existence in order to treat me poorly." She shot back. Getting to her feet, she tossed a few bills onto the table before grabbing her bag from the chair, "It was great catching up with you, sis. Thanks for the support."

"Dom-" Gia called after her, but her expression was that of exasperation and annoyance. 

Perhaps Dominique had gotten carried away with why she hated Athalia so much. But she was nothing if not persistent and she would not have her efforts from the past few years go to waste just because Remy decided to think with his d**k.

Athalia Marie Sylas

Lia awoke next to Vincent, still in last night's soiled attire. They had fallen asleep after their little rouse and had even cuddled a bit in the middle of the night. But now, she felt guilty. Cecilia had shut herself off from the Luna the moment she had jumped onto Vince, disgusted by her counterpart's blatant disregard for their mate. There was an emptiness in Athalia's head that she wasn't used to. Even her bracelets didn't seem to bring any solace for this type of loss.

She crept out of the bed, the Alpha male snoring with his back turned to her. Making her way to the bathroom, she splashed water on her face and began brushing her teeth. 

Athalia was no prude, she had had her fair share of boyfriends and encounters though she had never had s*x. In truth, what she had done with Vince was likely the raunchiest thing she'd ever done. It didn't feel right to have given herself in such a way to someone who was not her mate.

At the mere thought of Remy, her heart felt like it was about to collapse. She missed him fiercely, the memory of his voice flowing through her mind the night before making her feel hopelessly lonely. Her entire body and mind craved his presence. It felt wrong to wear her bracelets then.

She stared at herself in the mirror, the glint of her bracelets seeming to mock her. Hesitantly, she pulled on the silver links, sliding them off her wrist before inhaling deeply. The onslaught of emotion nearly winded her, Cecilia taking the opportunity to snap at her with incessant insults and whines. 

Are you happy with yourself, Luna? The voice grumbled, filled with pain and guilt.

Athalia blinked back tears, the panic attack she was so desperately trying to curb threatening to spill onto her cheeks, No...

Cecilia withdrew, the feeling of her chest heaving making Athalia feel exponentially worse, You can only imagine what it'd feel like to reject our mate. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg.

The Luna shook her head, hanging her head in shame. She didn't want to reject Remy. Truthfully, it may kill her. But now she had opened a can of worms trying to force herself onto Vince, the very friend who had stood by her side her entire life. Surely she would lose him if she took back her plan. 

They fight tonight. What will you do?

Athalia hesitated. If Remy won, she would get her mate and keep her title. But where would that leave Vince? She did not doubt that Remy would forgive her but he was unlikely to keep Vince as his Beta. But if Vince won - which was entirely likely considering their fighting history - Remy would be disgraced. Vince may even try to turn him rogue for challenging him. It was all too messy either way. 

The Luna shook her head. She truly did not know what to do.