Replacement Luna

The Vows and Warning

I tried to fight.

I really did.

But Alexander called in guards—too many to fight off—and before I knew it, he was pulling silver handcuffs from his jacket pocket.

"You're not seriously—"

He cuffed my wrists together with practiced efficiency. "Can't have you running off before we're properly married."

"You're insane!"

"So I've been told." He kissed me.

Just a brief press of lips, but it shocked me enough that when he lifted me over his shoulder, I was too stunned to react immediately.

"Put me down!"

"No."

He carried me through the halls like I weighed nothing, ignoring my kicks and curses, until we reached a massive set of doors. Church music swelled from inside.

"Last chance to cooperate," he said.

"Go to hell."

"Already there, darling." He pushed the doors open.

The church was full of people—all dressed in black, all watching us with expressions I couldn't read. Not quite human expressions. Something about their eyes...

Alexander carried me straight down the aisle. I was too mortified to keep fighting. When we reached the altar, he finally set me down but kept one hand locked around my wrist.

The priest looked ancient. His eyes, like everyone else's, seemed to see right through me.

"We are gathered here today—"

"Can we skip to the important part?" Alexander interrupted. "We're both aware this isn't a love match."

The priest's lips twitched. "Very well. The vows."

Alexander handed me a piece of paper. The parchment was old, yellowed, covered in handwritten calligraphy that looked like it belonged in a museum.

"Read it," he said quietly.

I looked at the words. Something about them felt wrong. Final.

"Out loud, Aurora."

I read:

"I vow to bind my soul to yours,

to walk in the shadow of your curse,

to bleed if you bleed, and to burn if you burn.

I vow to stand as your Luna,

whether in life... or in death."

The words seemed to echo in the silent church. Luna. That word again. Why did it feel important?

Alexander's turn:

"I vow to claim what is mine,

to break every chain that defies me,

and to keep you beneath my rule.

In blood, in darkness, and in eternity,

you are mine, Aurora Hayes—

my Luna, my curse, and my salvation."

His eyes met mine. Still that unsettling red.

"You may seal the vows with blood and kiss."

"Wait, blood—"

Alexander grabbed the back of my neck and kissed me hard. I felt his teeth—too sharp—pierce my lower lip. Blood welled up, and I gasped in pain.

When I opened my eyes, he was licking blood from his own lip, watching me with an expression I couldn't name.

Then I noticed it.

The birthmark on my hand—the little crescent moon shape I'd had since birth—was glowing. Actually glowing with silver light.

"What—what's happening?"

Alexander pulled me close and whispered, "Welcome to the family, little Luna."

Before I could demand answers, he was dragging me back down the aisle. Every single person we passed bowed their heads. Some even dropped to one knee. How powerful is he that everyone respects him like a god?

A limousine waited outside, the window so dark, I couldn't see inside.

Alexander all but threw me into the back seat and slid in beside me.

The door closed. We were alone.

"You bit me," I said, touching my still-bleeding lip.

"You'll heal." He was staring at me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. "You smell like her."

"Like who?"

"Someone I've been searching for. For a very, very long time." He leaned closer. "Two hundred years, to be exact."

"That's not possible. People don't live that long."

His smile showed too many teeth. "People don't. But I'm not people, Aurora. And after today, neither are you."

The limousine began to move. I watched the church disappear behind us, taking with it any chance I had of backing out of whatever I'd just agreed to.

"The mark on your hand," Alexander said, drawing my attention back. "That's a mate mark. It means you're bound to me now."

I looked down at the glowing crescent. As I watched, it seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat.

"What did I just do?"

"You married a monster." His expression didn't change. "Specifically, you married an Alpha werewolf. And that makes you Luna of the Crescent Pack."

I should've laughed. Should've told him he was crazy.

But looking into those red eyes, feeling the unnatural heat radiating from his body, seeing the way my mark responded to his presence...

"You're serious?" I said.

"Completely," he answered.

"Werewolves are real?"

"Yes."

"And I just married one..." I can't believe it.

"The one," he corrected. "I'm the Alpha, the strongest, and now you're mine."

I pulled my hand away from his. "I didn't agree to any of this."

"You spoke the vows. You bled on sacred ground. The bond is sealed." He caught my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. "There's no going back, Aurora. You're pack now. My pack. My mate."

"I don't even know what that means!"

"You will." He released me and settled back against the seat. "We have a long drive ahead. I suggest you rest. You'll need your strength for what comes next."

"And what comes next?"

His smile was sharp. "Your introduction to the rest of the family. Not everyone is happy I've taken a new Luna. Especially not a human one."

"I thought you said I wasn't human anymore."

"You're not, not entirely. The mate bond changes you. You'll start to notice it soon—heightened senses, faster healing, increased strength. You'll live as long as I do, which means..." He paused. "Well. Let's just say you should get comfortable with immortality."

This couldn't be real. This had to be some elaborate prank or drug-induced hallucination.

But the mark on my hand was still glowing. My lip, where he'd bitten it, had already stopped bleeding. And somewhere deep in my chest, I could feel something new—a thread connecting me to the man beside me, warm and alive and utterly foreign.

"I want answers," I said. "All of them. No more cryptic warnings and half-truths."

Alexander studied me for a long moment. Then he nodded. "Fair enough. Ask your questions, little Luna. I'll answer what I can."

"Why me? You said I smell like someone you've been searching for. Who?"

His expression darkened. "My first mate, her name Isabelle. She died two hundred years ago." He looked out the window. "She was murdered. By someone in my own pack. I never found out who."

"And you think I'm... what? Her reincarnation?"

"Maybe. Or maybe the Moon Goddess has a twisted sense of humor." He turned back to me. "Either way, you're here now. And I'm not letting you go."

The possessiveness in his voice should've scared me. Maybe it did, a little.

But there was something else there too. Something broken and desperate that I recognized because I'd felt it myself after Mom died.

"How did she die?"

"Wolfsbane poisoning. who kills someone slowly, no one is aware of it. And by the time I found her, it was too late." His jaw clenched. "I've spent two centuries hunting for answers. Trying to find peace. I never could, until you." He reached out and traced the mark on my hand. It flared brighter under his touch.

I pulled my hand back. "I'm not her. I'm not your second chance or your redemption or whatever you think I am. I'm just Aurora. A girl who got sold off because her stepmother is a b***h and her father is a coward."

"You're more than that." His certainty was unnerving. "You're my Luna, now you my equal, my mate."

I can't believe his words now. Maybe he's just so hurt, and he's hallucinating to that extent.

The limousine began to slow. Through the tinted windows, I could make out massive iron gates and a long driveway lined with stone wolves.

"We're here," Alexander said. "Welcome to Crescent Manor. Your new home."

I looked at the gothic mansion rising against the night sky and tried not to think about how much it looked like something from a horror movie.

"This is going to be a disaster," I muttered.

"Probably." Alexander opened the door and offered me his hand. "But it'll be interesting."

Against my better judgment, I took it.

His fingers closed around mine, warm and solid, and the mate mark pulsed with light.

"Ready, Luna?"

"Not even a little bit."

He grinned. "Good. I like a challenge."