CHAPTER ONE: THE CEREMONY OF BECOMING LUNA
1585 Words
POV: AMARA
“Hold still"
The dress was too tight around my ribs and Lira's fingers weren't helping,as she pulled and tightened the fabric over my shoulders,as though she had a personal issue with it.
“I am still",i muttered
No, you're not”, she stepped back, narrowing her eyes. You're breathing as if you're about to bolt.
I was.
Obviously.
But saying that out loud wouldn't change anything,as admitting it felt like tempting fate.
So i pressed my lips together and let her tug at the silver fabric. The silver gown hugged my body in a way that made me painfully aware of every breath, like it knew i didn't belong in it yet. Every Luna candidate in Moonfang history had worn white.
Perfect.
Pure and
Untouched.
Someone, somewhere, decided purity had a color. I'd spent three weeks not saying what I thought about that.
“Stop thinking out loud", Lira muttered as she adjusted the hem of the dress again.
" I'm not thinking”
" You are,i can hear it “
" That's not how sound works”
I rolled my eyes
She ignored me.
Which, honestly was her favorite response to anything logical.
Lira stepped back to examine her work with the specific scrutiny of someone who understood that tonight wasn't just a ceremony.
It was a selection.
A future.
Around us,the ceremonial ground was already full.
Wolves everywhere.
Moonfang warriors lined the stone path in black and silver armor. Pack banners swayed lazily in the night breeze, like they had all the time in the world. Elders seated near the raised platform.
Everything looked exactly as it should.
The moon overhead was too bright. The air was too still.
So why did something feel wrong?
And my wolf hadn't settled all evening.I rubbed my thumb against my palm
Once.
Twice.
Lira noticed immediately.
“You're doing it again".
“Doing what".
“That face".
" What face?”
"The one where it looks like you're listening to something nobody else can hear.”
I frowned slightly.
" I don't hear anything"
" That's exactly what worries me”
Before i had the chance to argue,the ceremonial horn echoed. Everything stopped. Movements ceased. Every breath in that crowd seemed to pause on command. The wind too,seemed to hesitate.
An elder stepped onto the stone platform, silver robes catching the torchlight, and when he spoke, his voice carried the kind of authority that didn't need volume.
"The Moon Ceremony begins".
Silence settled over the gathering.
Lira squeezed my hand once.
“ You'll be fine”
I think i stopped being fine somewhere around yesterday.
“How romantic" she said flatly.
I huffed
“You're absolutely useless".
“Yet you keep me around"
She wasn't wrong.
" You're not even trying to help my nerves"
“ That's not my job"
“ I hate you a little right now",i muttered silently.
"I know." She squeezed once, then lets go. "Now look forward. Stop letting them see you sweat."
I inhaled.
Straightened.
And looked up.
That was the moment I saw him.
Zayn Adevor. The Alpha king.
He wasn’t doing anything dramatic. That was the thing about him, he never needed to, as power surrounded him even in stillness. Just standing there on the raised platform was enough, in his black ceremonial clothing, silver edging catching the torchlight.
Shoulders squared like the weight of the entire kingdom had already agreed to sit there permanently. His face,calm.
Always calm.
Too calm, sometimes, like emotion was something he could choose to ignore.
People called it control.
I used to call it strength.
Now I wasn’t sure.
Before i realized I was staring,my chest tightened.
Lira noticed immediately.
“Oh…, don't start”, Lira said
“ I didn't say anything”
“ You made a sound,it was observational"
I simply tried to ignore her.
Mostly because I couldn't stop looking at him.
As if sensing my gaze, Zayn’s eyes lifted and found mine. And that was it. No scanning. No hesitation. No gradual drift across the crowd. Like he'd known already where i was standing.
My breath caught,in an annoyingly obvious way, like my body had decided to betray me in public and the world around me blurred slightly at the edges.
Not magical.
Not dramatic.
Just… too quiet.
I felt Lira lean in again.
“You’re staring too hard,” she whispered.
“I can’t help it.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I don’t think I can.”
That made her stop teasing for a second.
A long second passed.
I made myself blink.
Made myself breathe.
Dropped my gaze for three whole seconds before it climbed back to him like it had somewhere to be.
He was still watching.
But this time,differently.
Not on me.
Past me.
His expression didn’t change.
It rarely did.
But something in his focus shifted, small, almost invisible. Something subtle. Like he was confirming I was really there.
Then his attention sharpened.
His jaw tightened.
Slightly.
My stomach dropped a little.
“Lira”,i said quietly.
“I see it"
" Something's wrong”
"Alpha wolves don't lose focus during Luna ceremonies, especially Alpha King's." My voice was barely above a whisper.
Yet Zayn's attention remained fixed somewhere beyond the crowd.
"Not for anything. Not for anyone."
Lira's teasing expression disappeared and she went very still beside me.
“I wasn't imagining it"
I watched Zayn's hand flex once at his side controlled and slow. Controlled and deliberate.
A warning only wolves trained to notice would understand.
It wasn't exactly fear. It was older than fear. It was deeper. The part of my wolf that didn't need my brain's permission to react. And the hairs on my arms lifted before I understood why.
Zayn's eyes cut across the crowd.
And stopped.
I turned before I could stop myself, following his gaze into the gathered pack, faces I recognized, wolves I'd trained beside, families from every corner of the territory.
Nothing wrong.
Nothing visible.
Just people, just firelight.
The elder raised his staff.
"The Luna selection ritual shall proceed."
My pulse jumped.
Right.
That was what this was.
Not just a ceremony.
A selection.
A binding.
A future.
I forced myself to breath in and out,so i could focus.
This was supposed to be the happiest night of my life.
Three years of preparation.
Three years of sacrifice.
Three years of dreaming.
Tonight I would become Luna.
The ceremony continued.
Ancient blessings were recited.
Sacred vows echoed through the grounds.
Offerings were placed before the Moon Goddess.
Zayn still hadn’t looked away from me.
But his attention wasn’t soft anymore.
It was sharp and focused.
Like he was tracking something behind me instead of me.
My brows pulled slightly together.
“What are you looking at?” I whispered under my breath, even though he couldn’t hear me.
A gust of wind moved through the grounds.
Every flame at once, in the same direction, like something massive had passed between us and the wind.
My wolf stirred not gently.
Not curiously.
But violently, like she'd been shaken awake, and she came up snarling.
"Something's here," I breathed.
Zayn's head turned.
Not toward the crowd anymore.
Toward me.
For one second, one fraction of a second, that composed, untouchable face cracked.
Not much.
But enough.
His eyes met mine across the distance and I saw something I had never once seen on Alpha King Zayn Adevor's face.
Not anger.
Not calm.
It was shock.
Like I was the thing he hadn't expected.
Like whatever had just arrived in this courtyard, whatever dark thing the torches had bent away from, had something to do with me.
- Writer
