Twins of the Moon

Chapter Three – Blood Moon, Blood Oath

POV: Selene Harlow

The air vibrated with a pulse I could feel in my bones. The Blood Moon Ceremony always did that—an electric anticipation that hummed through the clearing, promising power, promising destiny. Wolves packed tightly around the sacred grounds, their voices low and restless, and the night sky bathed in the crimson hue of the full Blood Moon. Tonight was the night every wolf my age had been waiting for. Tonight, our wolves would awaken.

And very interestingly-- tonight was my eighteenth birthday.

My palms were damp, fingers twitching as I clutched the edge of my robe. My heartbeat wasn’t steady—it stumbled, faltered, leapt forward again as if my chest couldn’t contain it. I had prayed for this moment, prayed for a wolf strong enough to erase years of whispers, beatings, sneers. The Moon Goddess couldn’t have ignored me, not when I had begged on my knees, bloodied and broken from the wickedness of that Amara Silvershadow.

Please, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. Please don’t let me be weak. Please, Goddess. Just this once, hear my heart cry. I clutched at my dress.

“Look at her,” Amara’s voice floated through the crowd like poisoned honey. Loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, soft enough that only those watching me would notice. “Shaking like a leaf. As if a wolf will come out of that pathetic body. Perhaps she’ll shift into a rabbit instead.”

Laughter rippled through the pack. My nails bit into my palms. I didn’t turn, didn’t give her the satisfaction.

But then a sharp sting came across my arm. I gasped, spinning slightly to see Amara’s perfectly manicured hand pulling back. She had slapped me in the middle of the sacred circle.

“You’re too weak to be here,” she said, smiling sweetly for those who could see. “What you should be doing is serve.”

Humiliation burned hot in my chest, but before I could speak, her palms came again to my face, but this time was stopped halfway by a masculine hand—it was the same Kael.

“You have been warned lady. Stop treating her that way.” “For the last time, I will warn you.”

Amara chuckled, “And what makes you think I will be scared of your empty treats.” “Just because I allowed you la those filthy hands on me yesterday doesn’t mean you think you can have your way today.”

All eyes were already locked on the scene we had built. Amara had initiated.

“But can you please stop acting like a guardian that you’re not.” I burst, my voice was trembling but I stayed steadfast, “Please sir. Just stop. I don’t need your services.”

Silence.

Alpha Kieran stood at the edge of the platform, his black cloak lined in silver thread. The Blood Moon gleamed in his eyes as he closed the distance between us. His face covered in anger as we were trying to ruin his occasion.

“What is this?” he asked.

But as he grabbed my arms to punish me, it was more like a sigil of bright light that burst round about us. The strong aroma of mixed lavender, pine and rose filled my senses as though to eat the male wolf in front of me whole from the butterfly that ravaged deep inside my belly.

The crowd fell quiet.

Although I observed we were the only ones that saw and felt the sigil light.

“No way Selene. No way.” Kieran said, his voice barely above a whisper, “Just get away from me. You’re not a wolf Selene and you will never be.” He spat.

Facing the crowd immediately as though nothing had happened, “Tonight the Blood Moon blesses us. Our young wolves will rise. Their wolves will reveal who they are, and in doing so, the Goddess will reveal our future.”

Future. The word pierced me like a blade. My future was balanced on the edge of tonight.

One by one, the eighteen-year-olds were called into the center, kneeling before the altar of stone. I watched as familiar faces stepped forward, bodies convulsing, fur tearing through flesh as bones cracked and reshaped. Screams turned to howls. Wolves of every shade emerged—black, brown, tawny gold as I watched the entire pack cheer and embraced them.

“Let’s have Selene Harlow move to the center.” Elder Morris spoke.

I swallowed, legs trembling as I stepped into the center. All eyes locked on my skin as the pack’s whispers rose like a swarm of flies.

“I am very certain that she will never shift. Never.”

“She’s cursed.”

“Bet she doesn’t even have a wolf.”

I lowered myself to the altar stone, closing my eyes. My lungs heaved as the energy of the Blood Moon pressed against me, seeping into my veins.

“Moon goddess please. Please don’t put me to shame.” I prayed in my heart.

Just a few seconds in heat flared, blinding and searing. My body convulsed, fire ripping through my bones as my screams echoed, and then—light.

White-silver light.

Gasps filled the night.

I staggered as my wolf broke free, my body stretching, cracking and shifting. When I opened my eyes again, the world was sharper, clearer. My paws pressed into the earth as my fur glowed faintly under the Blood Moon’s crimson light—silver, white, ethereal. A hush fell over the crowd.

“By the Goddess,” Elder Morris whispered. “This seem to be a Luna’s mark.”

“A white-silver wolf—that’s impossible.”

The pack stared as if they’d never seen me before. For once, their faces weren’t twisted with disdain. For once, their eyes widened in awe.

And then I felt it.

A snap. A thread pulling tight, burning through me like wildfire. My wolf’s head jerked, instincts howling as the bond surged. My heart slammed against my ribs.

“I am Lyra, your wolf.” The voice was gentle.

“Hey Lyra.” For once in my life I found happiness. “Lyra what is happening to me?”

“Selene, that’s the mate bond. The mate bond with your mate.”

My gaze shot across the crowd, searching desperately—and locked onto him.

Kieran.

The same Alpha.

His eyes widened, his breath caught, and I knew he felt it too. The bond. The undeniable connection of the Moon Goddess’s will. For a heartbeat, hope swelled inside me. For a heartbeat, I thought my prayers had been answered.

But the hope shattered as quickly as it bloomed.

Kieran’s face hardened. His lips curved, not in wonder, but in disdain.

“No,” he said, his voice slicing through the night like a blade. “This cannot be.”

My wolf whimpered, stumbling inside me. I staggered back, shifting painfully into my human form again, naked, trembling, clutching the robe someone tossed over me. “Alpha—Kieran—” My voice broke. “It’s the bond. We’re mates for crying out loud Kieran. Can’t you see for yourself? This is the second sign.”

“Second sign my foot.” She spat, as she pushed me on the floor, “Leave him alone for goddess sake. And I this being the last you ever come anywhere close to him.”

Gasps rippled again as excitement filled the air. But Kieran raised his hand, silencing them.

“Elvis, hand over the file.” he said coldly, his eyes burning into mine.

For a moment it was as though the air grew still. But the smile on Amara’s face, Kieran’s cold face and Kael’s confused façade.

“Take this.” He commanded. “I have signed already, just for you to sign to make it official and bound in mating.”

I took the paper. Although was a paper, but felt very heavy as I held it.

That was when it hit me. “The Council of Bonds.”

Below was a rejection notice, “Signing this document from both parties gives the fate bind law of rejection whether for better or worst.”

It wouldn’t have been any better.

“Be fast with the signing b***h,” Amara intercepted, “Or I do it for you.”

The words struck like daggers. My chest convulsed as the rejection seared through me, tearing flesh from soul. My knees buckled. The crowd erupted, some in shock, others in laughter.

“Kieran—please,” I gasped, clutching my chest, the pain unbearable. “I can’t do this.”

But he turned away. “That is our business. Whether you sign or not, just know this can’t work.” he said, his voice rising. “Amara Silvershadow is my Luna and that’s final.”

The pack roared in approval. Amara stepped forward, her smirk wide, her eyes glittering with triumph that she wrapped herself around Kieran’s arm, pressing her lips against his cheek.

“Pathetic,” she whispered, her voice carrying enough for the crowd to hear.

“No—” I choked, the rejection pain twisting like hot iron through my veins. My body convulsed, claws scraping the earth as if trying to claw the bond back. My wolf howled inside me, broken and wailing.

Amara crouched down, grabbing my chin so I’d meet her eyes. She smiled sweetly, venom dripping from every word.

“Did you really think the Moon Goddess would give you something so precious? You? A nobody with no family, no name, no worth?” She slapped me again, hard enough that I crumpled sideways into the dirt. “You are nothing but a curse—cursed to be unloved and uncared for.”

Laughter rippled through the pack. My ears rang with it, my vision blurring as tears stung. I clawed at the ground, desperate to breathe through the pain ripping me apart.

And then I felt another gaze.

As for Kael. His eyes burned into me from across the circle, unblinking. His expression wasn’t pity—it was possession. His jaw tightened, his fists clenched. I remembered the rumors, the whispers that he once felt a pull toward me too. A bond that was never fulfilled. His eyes promised something dark and dangerous.

Amara leaned down again, her breath hot against my ear. “This is just the beginning Selene. Get ready for tomorrow for you won’t even have a pack to call your own.”