Born to be Luna

How Not to Raise a True Luna

Her reflection peered back at her, and she sat, with Maisie carefully curling her long fiery red hair behind her. Her almond shaped green eyes were blinking back at her emotionless.

Natalia wished she could say that she was boring to look at, plain and underwhelming but she noted the long dark eyelashes that framed her eyes, her small straight nose, and her full pouty lips. She was small in height at only five foot four inches, but her body was slightly round with a perfect hourglass shape. High perky breast and luscious full hips. Natalia knew she had a beauty beyond anyone else in her pack which only further pushed her into isolation within her pack.

“Shall I pin your hair up Natalia?” Maisie asked, pulling Natalia from her thoughts.

“If I say no, are you going to argue that it would be more appropriate to pin it up” Natalia replied with a sigh.

Giggling slightly Maisie said “Well, it is dinner with Alpha Greythorn, and your dress has a lovely neckline...”

“Fine. Fine just pin it up please” Natalia interrupted with a grin on her face. They looked at each other in the mirror and both laughed.

“Come on Natalia, it is dinner with the Alpha. Your Mother and Father would have a fit if you were not presented as if you were a perfectly styled robot. All pretty with no brain!” Maisie exclaimed.

Oh, Natalia knew this extremely well. Since her birth 20 years ago, on the brightest Blood Moon known in existence, Natalia was made aware that she has no individual identity and no free will. She was a True Luna. Born only to bring her pack from the brink of extinction.

Natalia had been told stories that her birth was celebrated for a fortnight by the pack. There was lavish meals, expensive wines, and gifts. So many gifts. Her Mother, Penelope, languished in the attention that her birth had brought the family.

Her parents, Penelope, and Bobby were well respected but held no prominent position in the pack prior to her birth. They had run a small crops farm that had served them well in their youth and provided fruitfully to the pack. She knew from the stories told by her Father that he and her mother were happy in their early marriage. They had dreams of small living with many babies filling their farmhouse. They wished to serve their Alpha and live happily together, avoiding the despair that threatened the pack. Unfortunately, they were not blessed with pups for many years until they miraculously conceived her in their mid-thirties.

Natalia looked around her room with its tall ceilings and elegant furnishing, you would never have known her parent’s humble beginnings from the luxury they now live in. Natalia’s walk-in wardrobe held gowns glittering with jewels, her tables filled with gold trinkets she had received over the years. No, this is a far cry from the homey farmhouse where she had been born.

A few days after her birth, Alpha Greythorn had promptly moved her parents from their farm into a large stately home that he had built after his visit with the Moon Goddess. Her parent’s farm was taken over by another young couple in the pack, Haley and Arden, whose youngest child, a daughter was born but three days after Natalia - Maisie.

She and Maisie had grown up together as close to sisters as you could get on an emotional level. In a physical sense her Mother had looked down on the friendship and Natalia and Maisie had had to sneak around to maintain their closeness. That was until Natalia’s 16th birthday when she was granted permission to move Maisie into their home to act as her companion. A paid position by the Alpha that allowed her best friend to be by her side everyday as she navigated the burdens of her title.

Natalia did not want to seem ungrateful; she knew she was extremely fortunate to be a True Luna, but she still felt that the title held Natalia by chains and each passing day it was squeezing her tighter and tighter.

Natalia did not have an idyllic childhood. Her Mother, having not needed to lift a finger since the day of her birth, turned all her focus into Natalia. Natalia spent her younger years being moulded into a quiet child with manicured nails and puffy dresses that ate slowly and had impeccable manners. She was not allowed to join the other children in the pack school and so she was home schooled in Pack affairs, elocution, reading, music, and dancing. She was often paraded in front of the affluent members of the pack who would coo and comment on how perfect their little True Luna was. This gave her Mother an inflated sense of important and gave Natalia the urge to rip her hair loose and run through the forest in wild abandonment. Her Mother was not outwardly cruel to Natalia, she just had impossible expectations of her and had a sharp tongue when Natalia failed to live up to those expectations.

Natalia knew from an early age that she didn’t fit with the image her Mother was trying to portray. Natalia often came home with dirty nails, stained clothes, and unruly hair. Her Wolf, Haven, was a free spirit and was often found lounging around in mud pits and chasing birds through the bushes much to her Mother’s disgust. Natalia also urged to learn history, English literature, and devour a cheeseburger in three bites once again things her Mother would be horrified at. Sometimes, she did not want to be a True Luna, she wanted to be Natalia the slightly awkward silly girl that only Maisie and her Wolf knew.

“Natalia” her Mother’s fake sing song voice called from outside her bedroom door.

Natalia winced.

“I’m coming Mother” Natalia responded. Looking at Maisie with pleading eyes, as if she could magically whisk Natalia away.

“Oh Natalia” Maisie said sadly “come on, let’s get your dress on before your Mother busts the door down to get you.”

After putting on a beautiful deep green dress that shimmered purple under the light and slipping on her matching shoes, Natalia left her room and wandered down the stairs.

“Come on Natalia, we must not keep Alpha Greythorn waiting.” Her mother complained standing at the bottom of the stairs with agitation clear in her stance.

“Oh darling, you look lovely” her Father said as he stepped from the living room and walked towards her. He gave her a soft kiss on her forehead and held out his arm to her. Completely ignoring her Mother, she wrapped her arm in her Father’s, and they exited the house.

It was always bittersweet visiting with Alpha Greythorn. In private they would eat cakes and discuss pack history, play board games, and argue the politics of the world. Natalia saw Alpha Greythorn as a grandfather figure and had a much closer relationship with him than just her Alpha. In public, however, she would smile sweetly, only speak when spoken too and try and fade into the background.

“Natalia my love” Alpha Greythorn exclaimed as he took her hands. “You looked lovely as usual. I am so pleased you could join us tonight, there are a few things we must discuss” he looked at with joy in his eyes. Although she would typically join in his joy, his words cause worry to course through her veins.

As Alpha Greythorn released her, she looked around the room. Surprised to see many other Alphas from packs near and far. She shot a glance at her Father, hoping he would pull her aside if he knew what was happening, but he merely gave her a slight shrug.

Her Mother in typical form performed to the room and pranced between groups introducing herself as the mother of the True Luna. She was all but dragging Natalia around with her but silencing her with a firm grip on her wrist if she dared open her mouth other than to say hello. Seen but not heard – no surprise there.

Natalia was grateful when dinner was finally announced, and she could avoid any more introductions. Natalia was escorted into the dining room and seated to the right of Alpha Greythorn, who headed the table. On her right was her Father, thankfully hiding her from most of the table, and her Mother was seated to Alpha Greythorn’s left.

“Thank you all for joining us tonight.” Alpha Greythorn began “I know many of you have travelled a long distance to be here for this dinner and discussion. Firstly, those of you who have not yet met her this is Natalia. Our blessing from the Moon Goddess and our True Luna, who will shortly be turning 21 years old” Alpha Greythorn shot her a wink and Natalia’s blood froze.