Nia: Betrothed Luna

Chapter 4: Change of Plans

I slowly stepped into the kitchen as my mother placed breakfast on the table. “Mom are you a werewolf too?” I ask.

“Sit down Nia, we all have to have an important conversation,” she looks at me briefly before continuing her daily routine. “We will answer any questions you have during breakfast okay? Now please sit down, your siblings are on their way down."

I slowly take my seat at the table. I can’t help but wonder what other secrets my family has been hiding from me. I know it may sound bad but a part of me didn’t want to know; in less than a day my house no longer felt like a home. The table is so silent that I had not noticed my entire family was seated before me.

“To answer your question Hun, we are all werewolves,” my mother states as she reaches for the banana pancakes.

“Can I know why you’ve never told me?” I believe that is the answer I wanted to know deep down I felt betrayed but maybe…. just maybe if their answer was good enough, I might be able to forgive them.

Everyone slowly looked at my father who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Nia, at one point in time you knew but we decided to let you live a normal life for a while.”

I can’t help but notice the sadness in his eyes, “Mom…Dad…this is your moment of truth! Why did you allow me to forget who I am until today? Is there a method behind your madness? I really need to know your reasons because I want to be forgiving; but I cannot do that if our relationship is still based on lies.” I couldn’t help but shed several tears. How could they sit there and still hold back, if this is to be my new reality then I need to be aware of everything, not just what they consider convenient.

“When you were eight, we went to a gorgeous wedding, do you remember being the flower girl at Aunt Rose’s wedding?” Sol practically whispers.

“Of course, I remember, I still have the pink dress that I wore upstairs, but what does that have to do with today?” I question.

“You met your mate. I mean your mate met you and Mom and Dad freaked out,” Mitch practically blurts out.

“My mate? What’s a mate?”

“Nia, a mate is a man or a woman that the Moon Goddess has chosen for someone. Some mates can be younger or older, but one thing is true, once you are mated you will be with that individual until they pass away or reject you.” My mother says as she stares at my father.

“So, you and Dad are mates? Have the two of you found your mates?” I say as I glance at them.

“Your mother is my mate and your brothers have not found theirs yet,” my father says.

“So, what does this mate have to do with you guys not telling me who I am and exactly who is he?”

“He is an Alpha of the strongest pack. I am the Alpha of our pack, the Crescent Moon Pack Nia. The tattoos that I proudly wear show my position. Everyone in the pack has a crescent moon tattooed on their left rib. Your mother who is our Luna has her tattoo on the small of her back and Mitch our future Beta has his similarly placed to ours since he could possibly be an Alpha if anything were to happen to your brother.” Although my father spoke slowly it took me several minutes to realize that this mate was the reason why they hid the truth.

“So, my mate; he knows about me? Is that why you initially hid the truth? Will he harm me?” I ask trying not to sound as worried as I was.

My mother was the first to speak, “well at first he wanted to take you to stay at within his pack….to protect you and keep watch over you.”

“But you were eight Nia and we couldn’t let you go; you see refusing a mate to an Alpha especially this one can lead to war. So, we reasoned with him.”

“We asked him to allow you to stay with us until you became of age,” my mother says with a hint of sadness in her voice.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips, “that’s great I have until my eighteenth birthday! I can meet him now that I know about him and who knows I may like him but if I don’t, I will not be with him okay!”

The silence in the room grew and I slowly began to feel the tension, “Sol, what are they not telling me?”

“Princess, we are werewolves when a girl turns sixteen she is of age…...she can find her mate….and begin that bond. You will also shift on the first full moon.”

“So, I will leave with him now!” I shriek.

“No,” Mitch chimed in, “you are an Alpha by blood so you will have a ball the night of the first full moon with our pack. You will shift for the first time with everyone else who has turned sixteen after the last full moon. You will meet your mate there.”

“So, you’re telling me I am not only going to meet this man for the first time on this night but I will also go and live with him too! Have you completely lost your minds? I must have woken up in an alternate reality because my parents have never sounded this full of crap!”

Before I could say another word, my mother’s hand slapped the right side of my face. I was shocked that she hit me and even more shocked that it hurt. Tears began to well up in my eyes as I stared at her in disbelief. In sixteen years, this is the first time she has ever hit me.

“Now I understand you are upset Nia, but I did not raise a disrespectful child. You can voice your opinion and be heard but you will not forget that you are our daughter is that understood. We love you deeply; so, in order to avoid a war that would have killed everyone except for you we reasoned with him.” She got up and continued talking as she fetched a bottle of water.

“Mom…...Dad…...I’m sorry” I said through tears, “please help me understand, I just feel lost.”

My mother nodded her head and continued to speak, “What is a girl without her mother, without her father. You needed me to show you how to become a strong, loving, independent woman. You needed your father to show you how to be fierce and properly loved and you needed your brothers to show you how to feel protected.”

“He was worried you would get close to another boy; he didn’t want you dating or around any other pack and so we reasoned with him.” My father said as he lowered his head.

“What was the deal,” I had to know this man’s terms. Exactly was my mate and how could he view me as an object already. Someone he can push around and set limitations for. He’s in for a rude awakening because I will not be silenced, and he will know how I feel about this.

“You were not to be allowed on the pack grounds until you turned sixteen. You were not allowed to date any boy or speak with them, at least to our knowledge and when you became of age you would go with him and take your rightful place as his Luna.” My mother stated through a forced smile.

“Yeah so, all the complaining you did growing up about going to an all-girls school, not being allowed to go to any parties or meet any of our friends is because of him.” Mitch bluntly threw out facts.

This man that I had never met has made every decision for me in life and I have never met him. My heart ached but my mind was furious. I would not allow him to think his actions are okay. I am not an object, I am a woman, his supposed “Luna” has he no respect.

“May I know his name?” I hopefully ask.

“No,” it was Sol’s turn to speak. “He wants you to meet him the day that you shift when the mate pull is in full force. He wants you to be unable to resist him……in a way I think he was nervous or scared of how you would react to all of this.”

“Okay,” I couldn’t help but start crying. I had never felt so hopeless in my life. If I refuse to leave with this man this agreement would be broken, and a war would ensue. I had no choice but to do what was right for my family and my pack. “May I please see this pack I have given my life up for?”

“We thought you’d never ask,” they say in unison.