Eclipse On Luna

Chapter-1

[Irene Miles’ POV]



We share scars together and so we share a story too. He bore the curse and I his cure.

Our relationship was never meant to be more than those two words — curse and cure. But we added another word to it. An emotion he couldn’t feel — love. That is how our relationship ended with a whole nother meaning. Cursed, love, cure. But I had to take this relationship to a point where those words would be arranged as — cursed, loved and cured.

It’s been two years since our marriage and Zane has changed and also hasn’t changed at all. I wake up to his morning kisses and sleep in his calm embrace. The way he is around me, I feel as if he falls in love with me afresh every single day. People say love withers with time, he renews our love all over again without fail every single day. He makes me feel as if I am the most beautiful person, I am needed. He says very little and when he does, he makes my heart flutter in the same way as he did when I first met him. His touch still sends adrenaline rushing through my veins.

He showers me with so much love that sometimes I fear if I am reciprocating equally or not. It bothers me. A lot.

I know I should get up and get ready for the all alpha meeting today. But, I don’t want to. Not with him holding me so gently in his arms, with such care that elates that he never wants to lose me. Sometimes, it hurts to even think that one day I will wake up and he will be gone. I will wake up and this beautiful dream will end. I hate to admit it, but I fear this happiness. I fear I will lose it all.

I hate to be so negative when everything is just perfect, but I know he might not love me forever. Zane has started showing and understanding almost every emotion. I fear that a lot. Because I still think someday, he will realise how ugly I look and then he might find someone better. He will fall in love with some earthly beauty and I will lose him forever.

Starting the morning with such negativity, I must be the most ungrateful person alive. But I fear what lies ahead. I came out of his embrace slowly, careful not to wake him up. I draped the night robe around my body and was about to get up when I was lying on the bed again with him lying upon me. His gaze was as gentle and warm as the first rays of the sun on a cold winter morning.

“Zane?”

“How can a husband sleep when his wife is thinking about all sorts of things early in the morning?” He said, and I averted my eyes.

“I am sorry. My thoughts ran wild again. I will keep them low…” I grabbed his shoulders to get up. He slid the robe down my shoulder and dewed on my neck, kissing every inch of my skin from my ears to my shoulder.

“Irene. Don’t hide your thoughts from me.” The feel of his breath against my skin was all I needed to make things right. Make that morning right. “Let me know from your worst to your best thoughts. I promise we will work things out together. All you need to do is trust me. You are my moon, Irene. My love for you is like darkness. When the sun is up, like the vicissitudes of life, you might not see it, but it's still there. Just like darkness, my love for you exists eternally. If not as space, then as a shadow. So my moon, all you need to do is trust that the sun will set and I will wrap you like the night sky. Because this night sky is ugly, gloomy and lonely without his moon. You add warmth to my frozen heart, Irene. You k****e my emotions. You make me beautiful, Irene.”

I didn't know where to look, where to place my hands or where to escape? My eyes became misty and immediately rubbed away my tears. Because at that moment I wanted to see him, absorb him into the depths of my soul. I placed my palm on his cheek and he closed his eyes, leaning on my touch.

"If there was a word greater than love... it would be Zane. I Zane you, Zane." I didn't know if my voice was audible or not, but I knew it reached him.

"I Irene you, Irene." His harmonizing voice was like a treat to ears and a morning lullaby. "Because for me, love or any other emotion starts with you and ends on you."

He leaned in for a kiss, but I pushed him gently so that I could look into his eyes. All I wanted to do was look at him, contemplate him and rethink my karma and thank the stars for bringing him into my life. For making him all mine.

It was scary how his thoughts and words always matched. I tilted my head slightly and adjusted myself under him. “A few days ago when we were strolling in the garden, you remember what you said looking at the flowers?”

He blinked with a soft gaze and said, “they look beautiful.”

“Exactly. You can differentiate between beautiful and... ugly. Which means you are attracted to beautiful and repel the ones that are ugly and…” he shut my lips, placing his index finger on them.

“I was never attracted to you, Irene. Attraction happens between two distinct bodies. We were always one. The only thing that happened between us was love and bonding. I won’t give it any other name.” His voice was serious and so were his eyes. I always end up hurting him. Something useless comes into my mind and I end up being a complete doofus, ruining the entire moment.

“Will it always be there, between us, love? You won’t love anyone else, right? You will always be mine, right?”

“Until death do us part.” He repeated our marriage vow, and I broke into a smile. He gave me a soft smile and kissed my forehead, nose, and my lips. “I know you are worried about my curse. I don’t even know if I can love you forever, because I don’t really understand this forever. So I will love you today — every day — like forever.”

He reached out to untie my robe, but I held his hand. “Wait! I know what your forever love means, but I don’t have the forever strength to keep up with it. So keep that forever love aside for now and get ready for the all alpha meeting. It’s about the Umbra pack again.” He groaned and nuzzled up against me. I was more reluctant to leave him than he was, but we had to go. It was our responsibility.

“Please, Irene, just once.” Oh God, how could I say no to him? But I had to. I hate this Luna job.

“Zane! Didn’t you have enough last night?”

“I can never have enough of you.” He slid his hand under the robe, from my thighs to my waist. There was no way to stop every racing beat in my heart and breath in my chest.

“Zane!” The more I tried pushing him away, the more he dominated me. He tickled me all over, making me laugh. “Stop!” Giggling, I got out of his hands.

I went down to the bed across from him. “A kiss?” He looked at me with his innocently fervent eyes. Two swift crawls on the bed and he almost caught me. I ran around the bed.

“You never stop on a kiss. We need to attend a very important meeting.”

“I know. It’s important, but loving my wife is always my priority.” His words made me blush blood red.

“No means no, Zane. You need to wait for our time at night.” I said, trying hard not to smile like an i***t at his disappointed pout. We had our time every day after working. At that time, we didn’t talk about anything or anyone else except us, our relationship and our lives. Talking about political matters was strictly prohibited in our times.

“Fine, I will wait until our time tonight. I am patient.” He was in his pants. He draped the night robe and headed to the bathroom.

I crossed my hands across my chest, “actually… I won’t mind a kiss.” I said, and bit my lower lip, raising my brows. He immediately looked at me and shook his head.

“I said I would wait until tonight. So I will…” he walked in reverse, opening the door of the bathroom while his eyes were fixed on me.

I shrugged and started making the bed. “Your wish.” He went inside. After I had changed the sheets, I heard the bathroom door creak open. I looked in that direction and found Zane standing completely drenched. Water slid down his fringes on his forehead. His robe was gone. Water traced his neck. He gulped, and they slid faster to his chest, to his abs. Finally disappearing into his pants.

“W-What?” I tried not to be allured by him. I tried so hard, but…

He slowly walked to me and increased my heartbeats. He pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss. “I don’t think I am that patient. Kiss it was, right?” He said, peering into my eyes. I bobbed my head, lost in him. My back arched against him and my robe was half drenched thanks to Zane. “You’re wet.” He glanced at my robe that had turned sheer after being drenched.

“Yeah, thanks to you.” He plotted that. He knew all my weaknesses. God, there was no way I could stop myself from falling for him more than I ever did every day.

“Need a bath?” He asked, raising his brows and tilting his head slightly towards the bathroom.

Biting my inner cheeks, I glared into his eyes, “you are such a…” before I knew, I was in his arms, my hands wrapped around his neck. “I promise I will make you pay for this tonight.”

“Trust me, I can’t wait.” He smiled, and I buried my head in his chest. His smile, all he needed to do was smile and, ugh! I love him so much! He knew how to set my heart ablaze and put my whole body on fire, even in water. That was the only thing I hated-loved about him. He always caught me off guard.

***

The all alpha meetings became very frequent with the things happening in that pack. There had been news of the sudden disappearance of maidens. Their family members said that they were taken as maids, but years had passed and none of them returned or even wrote a letter to them. The other packs had been hostile towards the Umbra pack ever since Virgil showed up. Zane could stop the pack war by making all of them sit around a table and talk things out. But, now that the people of Umbra pack themselves were leaving the pack and reporting it, the cold war had started once again.

What made me believe that something was really wrong was — the spies, Zane and I, sent to investigate the Umbra pack never returned nor sent any news. Kage, the alpha of the Umbra pack, had tightened the security around his pack. To cross the borders, one needed to go through several security checks that took months to complete.

“I have been informed that the ladies are being sold to the Umbra pack by illegal smugglers,” Wade, alpha of the Lux pack, said.

“Yes, according to the information I could gather. Ladies within the Umbra pack are being abused, sacrificed, and then killed in some kind of game. The few that survive are being sold. We don’t know to whom, though,” Eligor, alpha of Urn pack, said.

“My crown prince, Arsun, tried to sneak and gather some information, but he came back beat up and covered in blood. He said something supernatural might be happening in that pack. Maybe something related to the powers you two possess,” Icarus, alpha of the Sun pack, said.

All the alphas looked at Zane and I, who sat next to each other and faced them from our throne.

Zane nodded. “My intel says that this game happens every year in the Umbra pack and most of the ladies don’t survive it and those who do never return to their family. It used to be limited to ladies in the Umbra pack and so wasn’t out until now. But now young maidens from all over the globe, from all packs, are missing. That is our major concern. This game, this year, is going to be held this month on the 15th. That will be the right time to catch them red-handed.”

“What do you mean to say?” I asked.

“A hidden attack. We will infiltrate their army. My people have already started working on it. They will stay low and follow the instructions from Alpha Kage. They will gather more proof against them during the game and…” I interrupted Zane.

“Wait! When you know how dangerous this game is going to be, why don’t we attack beforehand and save those ladies.” I asked.

“If we do that, they will easily slip from the situation. Moreover, if we do that, we might put people from our packs at higher risk.” Icarus said.

“Yes, I agree. We don’t have enough proof against them, anyway. When we attack during the games, there will be no escape for Kage.” Wade said, sliding his fingers on his beard.

“So, you are ready to sacrifice those lives?” I skimmed my eyes over all of them.

“I think they would have been at more risk if we hadn't investigated it thoroughly. See it this way, this year not all those ladies will lose their lives, a few of them will live.” Eligor said.

“What if someone disguises themselves as one of those maidens and protects them until you catch them?” I suggested.

“Putting more people at risk will in no way be intelligent. I think Alpha Zane’s plan involves the lowest risk to us and them. That pack and its people don’t come under our direct jurisdiction, anyway,” Icarus said, and all the other Alphas nodded.

The meeting ended, but I wasn’t convinced by them or their plan. It would be seeing a storm coming days before, but not moving from the shore to safety. It wasn’t their fault either. If the Umbra pack dissolved, its people would be called rogues. They will be treated as slaves or omegas of other packs. That’s how packs functioned. They didn’t sympathise with the innocent people of the rival pack. They would just trample without caring about who came under their feet. They were concerned this time only because a few ladies from their pack went missing.

I kept thinking of a way that would be less risky. Other important matters about trade, the economy, borders, transportation, etc, were discussed. The meeting concluded with Zane’s idea being accepted by them all.

But I didn’t agree with that completely. “Irene!” Zane tapped my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Don’t worry if we attack as soon as the game begins. We can save almost everyone. Trust me, I am using the best way to approach the situation.”

“Can’t we infiltrate the game too, like the army?”

“We have no intel on the games or how they are played. So even if we make our men infiltrate the games, there’s not much we can do than stand and watch from the sidelines.”

“Not as organisers of the game, but as the ladies who are forced to participate. There must be some criteria they choose ladies on, right?” I asked him.

“Yes, all the ladies who have been reported missing from our and other packs are mentioned to be exceptionally beautiful ladies of their regions. But we have a problem here. First, we don’t have women in the lower ranks of our army. They are courtiers or completely inexperienced in combat. Not every girl gets the education Alpha Theo gave you, Irene. Moreover, no alpha would use women on the battlefield. They said it would go against their pride and moral values,” Zane said. He wasn't wrong though. He was using the most practical approach to that situation.

“I am a girl too, Zane. And I have been on the battleground so many times. Why can’t other packs be as open-minded as the Carol pack? Even after I created the Cariezer pack, we rarely got female recruits. Why won’t people want to educate their daughters like they educate their sons?” I asked him, and he looked at me stoically.

“I don’t know, Irene. We still have a long way to go towards acceptance and equality. We need to work hard, together. You don’t have to worry about this attack. I will personally look into it.” He said and went to the main library to do some paperwork.

Even Zane was trying to keep me away from this situation. They were not taking it as seriously as it should have been taken. So what if not all those ladies were from our pack? They were still innocent ladies. Moreover, he said they were all beautiful and he would look into it personally. Every part of my body was alarmed. These were more than enough reasons for me to get involved, but without his knowledge.

I knew what I needed to do, and for that, I needed a mask. A mask that could make me look the most beautiful. The alphas would do what was right for them, and I would do what was right for me.

Making the preparations for my subtle move took longer than I thought it would. I reached our room at almost midnight. I wished he was asleep, but he opened the door from inside before I could open it.

“Zane!” I gave him a smile.

“Where were you? You have never been this late before. I was going to look for you,” he said in a serious tone.

“Y-Yes! I got a little busy. I was chatting with maids about… girly things…” I said, but didn’t look convinced at my answer.

“Irene, if there’s something on your mind, you can tell me,” Zane said.

“Yeah! I will leave for Roginash for a few days. It has been months since I visited.”

“Ok. I will come with you.”

“No! I mean, you are busy. Moreover, we can’t leave the Liezer palace unattended. It’s only for a week or two. So don’t worry.” I said, taking off my cloak and placing it on the table.

Zane wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and placed his chin on my shoulder. “For weeks? That’s too long. I can’t stay away from you for so long.”

I kissed the side of his head and turned to look at him. “I will return soon. It won’t take too long. You will get enough time to look into the preparations for the attack. I thought you would need some space.”

“Hmm. Did you eat?”

“Uh-hm and you?”

“I was waiting for you.” He said. “I am dying from hunger.”

“Oh, God! Zane. Why don’t you eat on time? I will bring you your dinner.”

“I wasn’t talking about that hunger.” His whisper and hands around my hips and neck froze me in my place.

“Your insatiable hunger forever, Zane. I can’t believe you sometimes. I will go take a quick bath.” I told him and he smiled, letting go of me. I entered the bathroom and pulled the drawer beneath the marble sink.

I have been hiding this from him for two years now. I grabbed a paper pouch and poured the churned green medicine into my mouth. It was bitter as always, so I drank water to rinse off its bitterness in my throat.

“What did you eat?” Flinching at Zane’s voice, I fumbled with the jar of medicine in the drawer, shoving it in a dark corner, then turned and looked at him.

I forgot to lock the door, damn it! Did he understand? I gulped.

He looked at the drawer and asked again, “what did you eat, Irene?”

“Umm. Headache medicine.” I smiled nervously.

“Oh, you have a headache? Why didn’t you tell me? I came here to give you your bathrobe. But it looks like I can give you a head massage now.” He said, stepping close to me.

“No! Don’t! I will be fine. Took the med.” I snatched the robe from his hand. “I will come out soon.”

“You sure you don’t want me here?” His words reminded me of the time we had that morning in the bathroom. Flustered, I pushed him out and shut the door. Leaning against the door, I let out a sigh of relief, “safe for now. I have to hide this from him. At least for now...”