Moonlit betrayal

CHAPTER 1: AN UNANTICIPATED MEETING

The warm evening air hummed with delight as the streets of Silverwood Town filled for the yearly fair. There were twinkling lights on trees and joyful laughter all around. With her closest friend Selene, Luna, a kind woman with brilliant blue eyes, meandered among the crowd.

"Luna, check out those fluffy toys!" Selene waved toward a display where children were fighting for awards.

Luna shot a smile. "They're great! Should we try it?"

As they neared the stand, Selene handed some cash to the game operator. "Let's try to grab one."

Selene was trying her hand when Luna watched the happy faces all around her. In Silverwood, everyone knew each other and the community was tight. Luna loved this place. She had built a simple, quiet life, but occasionally she felt a gap she couldn't quite name.

Selene yelled, "You did it!" and won a little, fluffy wolf. She presented that to Luna. For you is "this."

Luna giggled. "Thanks, Selene; it's appealing."

Luna saw something odd as they meandered on. She felt a strange flutter in the air for a split second, as though someone were calling her. She turned it off as a simple fantasy.

Ryder watched the people near the edge of the fair, where lights faded, and the woods loomed. Tall and strong, with almost all-seeing emerald eyes. Duty-bound to keep his pack hidden from humans, he was the Alpha of the Silverclaw Pack.

Still, tonight felt different. Ryder turned to study the assembly and smelled something strange. Sweet and unusual, unlike anything he had ever come across. His wolf instincts awakened, and he grew uncomfortable.

He whispered, trying to follow the scent: "What's that?" It brought him right toward the centre of the fair, where sounds got louder, and lights blazed brighter.

Ryder's eyes caught on a young woman with flowing brown hair as he negotiated the throng. Holding a plush toy, she was laughing with a friend. The aroma came from her.

Ryder wondered, feeling an odd draw, "Who is she?" For him, an uncommon occurrence, his heart raced. Alpha was typically calm, but this woman aroused something strange in him.

Seeking a peaceful place to gather her ideas, Luna felt the need to distance herself from the thrashing crowd. She floated from the brilliant lights, toward the edge of the woodland. The noises of the festival vanished as she strolled farther in appreciation of the peace.

She came to a stop abruptly. Tall and forceful, a man stood in the shadows. Luna's heart flew when his emerald eyes locked hers.

She murmured, "Hello," not sure why she felt so pulled to this stranger.

Ryder answered, his voice rich and melodic, "Hi." He approached, the moonlight highlighting his arresting features. "Are you loving the fair?"

Unable to turn away from Luna, she said, "Yes, it's always a delight." "I'm Luna; I'm not sure we've crossed paths before."

"I'm Ryder," he said, fixed on hers. Unspoken ties developed between them, hard to dismiss.

Silent however staring at one another where they stood. Though she had only met them, Luna felt as though she would know him always. Ryder felt the same; his inner wolf was restless and ready to be close to her.

Luna replied at last, "I should go back to my friend," but she was hesitant to go. "It was good meeting you, Ryder."

" Likewise, Luna," Ryder answered as he watched her go. He couldn't get rid of the notion that their encounter was meant to happen even as she left.

Luna came home to her cozy house, her head whirling with ideas of the mysterious man from the fair. Setting the stuffed wolf on her table, she groaned and tried to understand the unusual feelings inside of her.

Pacing the room, she murmured, "Why can't I stop thinking about him?" Though she hardly knew him, it felt as though he had aroused something deep inside her.

Ryder, meantime, was buried in ideas of Luna as he sat in his study at his estate and stared outside. He knew he shouldn't be very fascinated by a human, yet something about her seemed tough to discount.

"Who are you, Luna?" he asked out loud. His heart and head conflicted, and he felt that seeing her was only the start of something far more.

Luna lay in bed that evening, fixated on the ceiling. She closed her eyes and felt Ryder's strong gaze every time. Though she had no idea what the future contained, she couldn't get rid of the sense that her life was about to turn in directions she never would have thought possible.

Luna fell off to sleep, and visions of the mysterious man she had just seen flooded her head along with the unexplainable link that appeared to bind them.