Bastard Luna: Tribute Bride For The Nothern Alphas

Chapter 4

Raphael's POV

The seer had told me long ago that I would never have a mate. Twenty-nine years of age and already nearing thirty, I had begun to feel my wolf weakening, growing dormant with every passing day, because of the absence of a bond that was never meant to be. I had accepted it, even believed I was crafted without one.

And now suddenly my enemy’s daughter is my fated mate? Of all people? I found that impossible to accept.

I had never once allowed myself to consider the idea of a mate.

Thor, my Beta, stepped forward, his hand raised to shove the girl toward me. Our eyes met briefly and I shook my head. Through the mind link, my silent command reminded him it was unnecessary.

I could already see the glimmer of satisfaction etched across her parents’ faces. To them, this was victory. That I would take their daughter instead of razing their lands in war. Damn the Alpha council. None of those self-righteous bastards had intervened when Darius rode north, ambushing my parents and slaughtering part of my pack while they slept. But now, when I had sent a formal war declaration before my retaliation, he had tucked his tail and run crying to them.

Coward.

Among the women I saw standing there, I didn’t know which one was Luna nor did I care. It mattered little. I had already ensured that Darius’s heir was dead. And from this moment onward, no matter if he tried to father another, no matter if his pregnant daughter carried to term, I would not allow their line to continue. I would cut it off at the root.

This daughter the Moon Goddess had dared to tie to me would serve as my little gift to the Westerners. A memory carved so deep they would learn to dread the North for generations to come when they would get news of what would happen to her at the North.

“You should treat your Luna with more respect, Thor,” I whispered, my voice low but sharp, my expression cold and unyielding as my gaze swept over the murmuring crowd. “The mate bond has snapped and she has been marked as queen. That is no way to treat her.”

The words hung in the air like steel, heavy, undeniable.

The mate bond snapping, my public claim of her as Luna, it was already too much for them to swallow on a night such as this for them to handle.

An enemy who had defeated their Alpha, standing here for retribution, only to discover the Moon Goddess herself had bound his soul to the daughter of his sworn enemy? Even I struggled to believe it.

Thor’s eyes flickered uncertainly between me and the girl, his grip faltering. He obeyed, but I could see the conflict written all over his face, still processing what I had relayed through the link.

And me? I stood there, the crowd restless, my wolf silent, my chest heavy with disbelief, claiming a fate I had never wanted and never imagined could be mine.

I still didn't trust the West. And even if I had their daughter, this wouldn't end here.

I needed other avenues and ways to squeeze what I wanted from them.

“Alpha Darius. I must commend you for keeping your end of the pact,” I said, staring at him. My eyes hollow, a smirk tugged at my lips as I watched him recoil under the weight of his humiliation. I didn't care. Hell, I didn't even bother to hide how much I wanted him to feel it — more of that pride crushed, right before his pack while he could do nothing.

“But there's quite a problem,” I added, forcing steel into my voice. He jolted where he sat, watching me with a forbidding expression as if fearful I would demand something else. I savored it — the flicker of fear in his eyes, the way dread coiled in his throat at the thought that I might be up to mischief.

“The mate bond has made her my Luna,” I began, relishing every twitch of his features.

“Surely you wouldn't expect her to arrive at my pack like this. She must be given the hand-welcome reserved for a Luna,” I continued, my gaze flicking to the carriage behind me. “Even if we ride in a modest carriage.”

He swallowed and turned to one of his Lunas. The lady stepped forward, tugging the bound woman with her as she hastened into the pack grounds.

My Beta moved to follow them, but one word from me stopped him.

“She is your Luna, Thor. Surely you must give her privacy lest others think she is not your Alpha’s woman,” I said casually, a smile cutting my face.

I began to count the stars, timing it the way I always did. After the minutes I’d expected, the woman reappeared, transformed, nothing like the modestly clothed girl who’d been brought in. She wore herself like royalty. If she’d been of the North, I might have claimed her for myself from her parents. But she wasn't and in their eyes that made her less than mine. She would be used for the purpose I intended, nothing more, nothing less.

They handed her a bag she clutched it loosely as Thor led her toward where I waited, already in the carriage.

“Alpha,” he mind-linked me as they came closer. “I do not think this is a good idea. She is clearly an enemy’s daughter. How can we trust her to ride with you?” His protest rang louder, but I did nothing to silence him. I only smiled, cruel and slow, thinking of the precise ways I could break her and the ways it would wound her father’s pride.

Surprisingly, as she walked on, no one rushed toward her with tears or wailings on their lips. Like a bride being sent away, I had expected it — her servants, her mother, the women of her pack. I had expected them to hurl themselves toward her, moaning and lamenting her departure. But none stepped forward.

I shoved it aside, assuming they recoiled out of fear of me. Fear of making noise while I stood in their midst. Their daughter, their princess, was leaving — yet everywhere was swallowed by silence.

Although suspicion tugged at me, I pushed it down. Perhaps the girl wasn’t a good one. Perhaps she had inherited her father’s cruelty, the villainess in their midst, and that was why her people despised her.

Instead, I fixed my gaze on her as she walked. Tall, slender, an hourglass figure that would have driven most men mad. But not me. I cared nothing for her beauty. Her gait was unshaken, her hips swaying with every deliberate step.

She wasn’t crying either. Not once did she glance back at her pack. She seemed utterly unperturbed by the silence that followed her. If anything, she looked relieved. Perhaps it was just my mind playing tricks, but to me she appeared almost glad to be leaving.

Bad thing for her was that I already knew what she was. I already knew why they were sending her to my pack.

A dark chuckle escaped me, a smirk curling my lips. It would be interesting to teach her her place. A vow I silently made to myself.

When she reached the carriage, I shifted aside like a gentleman, creating space for her. Shock rippled through her pack members at the gesture. She ignored them, taking my Beta’s hand as she climbed inside and settled beside me. She wasn’t afraid. She didn’t tremble, didn’t hesitate to sit so close to her father’s enemy.

And that unsettled me.

As the wheels began to turn and we rode out of Western territory, the thoughts threatened to consume me. Was she unaware of who I was? Was she ignorant of what awaited her in the North?

We passed the Brba River, and I ordered the carriage to halt. Behind us, my soldiers stumbled to a stop, boots striking the ground in unison.

My eyes flickered to the bag her parents had handed her — no doubt filled with her royal clothes and trinkets. Without hesitation, I flung open the carriage door, seized the bag, and hurled it into the rushing water below before slamming the door shut.

“You’re not going to the North to be a princess, Francine,” I whispered coldly, my words slicing through the tense silence. “You will remain what you were always meant to be.”

She trembled. Finally. Fear crossed her face — exactly what I had wanted to see.

Before we continued, I mind-linked Thor.

“No one is to speak of what happened here.”

I caught his quick obedience before severing the link.

No one must ever hear about the mate bond. I sealed that vow within myself as the carriage rolled forward again. Absolutely no one.