Blackheart

.X.

As we walked down the aisle through the crowd and up to the front of the Alpha table, we were congratulated again and again, some inquiring as to when we would be bearing pups.

‘I hate these probing questions. What does the timing of my womb popping a pup out have to do with these bastards? They would sell their own kin for a sandwich.’

But it did worry me as he had knotted me just hours prior, and most wolves become pregnant immediately after being knotted; I was worried, yes, but not as much as I feared I should be, as I hoped being a Lycan hybrid would lessen those chances. As we made it up to the table, Atto’s parents stood at the table, only moving aside once we were standing at the front. His parents stepped aside, revealing two large throne-like chairs: the seats of the alpha and his mate. Walking around the table, Atto pulled the chair out for me and helped me to sit down, taking his seat beside me. As the evening went on, some came up, congratulating us, some unmated she-wolves inquired if Atto was really going to make me Luna, some inquiring if he would make them his concubines, and others lusting over him and Wyatt. Calypso and I, more Calypso than myself, had to contain our emotions and keep our heads held high as we were now the female figureheads of the pack.

“Father, mother, I’d like to propose a toast to my mate and Luna of the Crescent Night Pack...” Atto said, but was cut off by Zaria’s mother standing up, shouting from her seat.

“Oh, Atto! I knew you hadn’t forgotten about Zaria! Oh! She isn’t even wearing a dress to match your tux!” Zion said, “Hey, you! The wanna-be-luna! Remove your bastard self from my daughter’s mate this instant!” As she said that, a series of growls could be heard erupting around the hall, but they were silenced when I rose from my chair. My silence and cold demeanor made the room seem smaller.

Stepping down from the stage and walking up to her, she took a step back, looking back over her shoulder as she bumped into a pregnant omega, causing her mate to growl lowly at her. As I stood face to face with her, I caught a whiff of another scent I never expected to smell again. Overtaken by my rage, I slapped her to the floor.

“Shift! Now!” I demanded. Atto rose from his seat, calling down to me.

“Ororo! What are you doing?”

“She was there!” I thought loud enough for all to hear.

I took his silence as a sign of confusion. Appearing behind me, Calypso placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Ro, you sure about this? Are you sure it’s her?” Calypso asked, with Ilta standing right behind her.

“I’m sure. I’ll never forget the smell of the wolf that tore through my mother and killed my brother!” I yelled, my voice syncing with Eris and Nyx's. Everyone in the room was in complete shock.

“I said shift! Now!” I yelled again. As she picked herself up from the floor, her bones began to crack, and where she once stood, a reddish-golden brown wolf now stood.

“No! It can’t be true!” came Phoenix’s voice, “You killed our mother!” Zaria’s face fell as she watched her mother as she shifted back, Rebecca draping a shawl over her mother’s shoulders.

“Momma, say it ain’t true,” Zaria said, tears escaping her eyes. Her mother watched her and turned away. She broke down, falling into Zachary’s arms. He, too, looked at his mother in disbelief. “I had to,” was all she said.

I collapsed on the floor, tears staining my cheeks as years of rage, sorrow, and despair came out in a cacophony of wails. Before I realized what had happened, I sprouted wings as black as the night, a fox’s ears and tail, and deep purple eyes full of sorrow and anguish. I bounded out of the hall, Atto at my heels as I took off into the night’s sky. I went back to The Forbidden Mountain, tumbling out of the sky at the bank of the river. I cried up into the night's sky, the moon, as if mourning for the pain I felt hid behind the heavy clouds. I folded my wings in and lay on the riverbank, thinking back to all the times I was accused and beaten for the death of my parents and twin brother. All the things I had attempted, from killing myself to even dying my deep red hair a darker color in attempts to blend into the background. I lay there crying, but keeping my wings, a newfound barrier, pulled tightly into my curled-up form, hiding from the cruelty of the world. I lay still along the riverbank, long after I had finished crying.

“There you are!” Calypso said as she burst through the thicket of trees with Ilta.

“Atto, we found her. We're up the Forbidden Mountain.” Ilta sent through a mind-link. Atto came through the thicket, out of breath and sweating.

“What the hell are you doing up here!” Atto demanded. I didn’t reply. I stayed lying on the riverbank, my hand in the water.

“Her crown was silver. Her gown like frost. A queen of shadows. A kingdom lost. The sun turned her back. Burned her plea. Left her adrift on a midnight sea.” I sang, a lonesome tear falling to the ground where a small Moonflower began to bloom. Atto walks over to me, sitting beside me, and he beckons for the others to follow. They sat and listened to me sing. Calypso raised my wing to lay down on my thighs and stomach, resting it back onto herself whilst playing in my feathers and Ilta on hers, making herself comfortable wrapped in my tail. We spent the rest of that night upon The Forbidden Mountain, away from the rest of the pack. Away from everything, I grew to hate.