The Banished Luna's Awakening

Aureline Bloodline

The man leading the group in the center possessed an impossibly intimidating presence. He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed entirely in black, with piercing silver eyes that locked onto mine the exact second he entered the space. The air in the room grew heavy, thickening until it felt hard to draw a full breath. Every instinct in my body screamed to bow or run. Alpha.

To his right was the man I had bumped into when I was running away from Darlah. He had sharper, more angular features and cold, calculating eyes—Kael, the Beta. And on his left was a third man, whose playfully mischievous expression stood out from the others.

But the moment the Alpha's eyes found me, he froze.

Dead in his tracks.

His silver gaze slowly drifted downward, tracing the line of my neck until it anchored on the silver birthmark peeking out from my collarbone. Then, just as slowly, his eyes snapped back up to my face.

A storm of unreadable emotions flickered across his features—shock, utter disbelief, and a sudden, desperate flicker of hope. The very air around him shifted, turning thick and electric with his sudden spike in emotion.

“…Ryker?” the female elder ventured carefully, breaking the stillness.

But he didn’t answer her. He didn’t even look at her. Then Ryker finally moved.

Slowly, he stepped toward me until only a short distance remained between us. Up close, his presence was overwhelming enough to make my instincts scream at me to retreat.

“Lift your head,” he said quietly.

I hesitated before slowly obeying. The moment our eyes met fully, all three brothers froze.

Kael inhaled sharply beside him.

Lucien cursed softly under his breath. “Those are Mother’s eyes.”

Silence fell immediately afterward.

I looked between them nervously, confused by the strange expressions on their faces.

“When I saw her before, I thought maybe I was imagining it,” Kael admitted quietly, still staring at me. “But seeing her properly now…” He shook his head slightly. “She looks too much like her.”

The skeptical elder let out a sharp scoff, clearly unimpressed. His cold eyes settled on me once again, filled with open suspicion.

“This girl is already an adult without a wolf,” he said firmly. “That alone contradicts everything we know about the Aureline bloodline.” His lips curled slightly. “And let us not forget that this is not the first time desperate women have tried to imitate Alpha Katherine.”

The atmosphere shifted slightly at his words.

The elder continued mercilessly, “We’ve seen it before. Cosmetic alterations. Hair dyes. Contact lenses. Women obsessed with the bloodline trying to force connections that never existed.” His gaze swept over my face critically. “For all we know, this girl could simply be another fraud trying to deceive all of you.”

My fingers tightened painfully around my apron.

Fraud?

The accusation stung far more than I expected.

Because I had never asked for any of this. I didn’t even know these people before two days ago. When I was brought into this pack, unconscious, wounded, and terrified, all I had wanted was a quiet corner to survive in without attracting attention.

That was why I accepted the kitchen work immediately. The kitchen was hidden and safe. It was also far away from important officials.

I had planned to stay invisible there.

So how exactly had things spiraled into this?

How had I somehow become accused of trying to deceive an Alpha bloodline I knew absolutely nothing about?

The unfairness of it burned in my chest, but I kept my mouth shut. Arguing with an elder would only worsen things.

Before the silence could stretch further, Ryker’s cold voice cut through the room.

“Enough.”

The elder quickly shut his mouth and turned toward Ryker with his head bowed. The Alpha’s expression had gone dangerously calm, but the icy warning in his silver eyes was unmistakable.

Beside him, Kael’s jaw had tightened visibly.

“Elder Lorand, you’re scaring her,” he said quietly, his eyes still on me. “Can’t you see that?”

Lucien crossed his arms slowly, his expression unusually serious now. “And even if you’re right,” he added, “there’s still no harm in confirming the truth.”

The skeptical elder opened his mouth again, but the female elder interrupted him first. “The bond test will settle everything,” she said calmly. “Arguing before then serves no purpose.”

Her warm gaze returned to me afterward.

“Child,” she said gently, “look at me.”

I hesitated before slowly lifting my head once again. Her expression softened almost immediately at whatever she saw on my face.

“No one here will punish you if the results are negative,” she assured me softly. “And no one will force expectations onto you.”

“If the girl forms a bond with this pack, the mark will react if she truly belongs to the Alpha bloodline.” She gestured toward the silver mark near my collarbone. “Once a member of the Aureline bloodline fully connects to the pack, the birthmark transforms into a crescent moon”.

The skeptical elder folded his arms. “And if nothing happens?”

“Then we accept that we were mistaken,” she replied calmly.

Lucien’s gaze shifted back to me slowly.

“…I don’t think we are,” he said quietly.

Kael remained silent for a moment before finally speaking too. “I felt it the second I saw her in the garden,” he admitted, his voice lower now. “I can’t explain it properly, but…” He frowned slightly. “Something about her felt familiar.”

Ryker never once broke contact. His voice, when he finally spoke, was unnervingly calm. “Our sister disappeared twenty four years ago. We never found her body.”

My breath caught slightly. “No,” I said instinctively, shaking my head. “That can’t be me.”

Maybe it was the panic in my voice, because Ryker’s expression softened almost imperceptibly afterward. “Nobody is saying it’s confirmed,” he replied. “That’s why the elders proposed the bond test.”

The female elder stepped closer to me again, her tone gentle. “You would not be forced into anything, child. But if the mark changes…” She paused carefully. “Then we will finally know the truth.”

The truth.

The words made my chest tighten painfully.

Because for the first time in years…

A tiny part of me actually wanted answers, too.

The story of how I came to exist in the Red Moon Pack was not a mystery.

According to the woman who managed the pack's orphanage at the time, I had simply appeared — a baby left on their doorstep without explanation and without even a name scrawled on a scrap of cloth. Whoever had placed me there had vanished.

So they named me Lara. It was a plain name, chosen without affection, and it became one of the most well-known stories in the pack. The elders loved to reach for it when they needed to remind me of my place. A nobody, they would say. A girl who dared to reach for the top despite being classless.

And then a seer had opened her mouth, and everything had gotten so much worse.

A girl born marked, she had proclaimed. One who will bring destruction. Five words. That was all it had taken to seal my fate, and I couldn't do anything about it.

Ryker’s silver gaze lingered on me for a long moment before he finally turned toward the elders. “Prepare the bonding ceremony,” he ordered calmly. “It will begin in two hours.”

The room immediately shifted to an even more serious mood. Both elders straightened at once upon receiving the order.

“Yes, Alpha,” the female elder said respectfully.

Even Elder Lorand lowered his head despite the obvious reluctance written across his face. “As you command.”

Ryker’s expression remained unreadable. “Only the necessary witnesses will attend. I don’t want rumors spreading through the pack before the results are confirmed.”

“Understood.”

The female elder stepped toward me one last time before leaving. Unlike earlier, her smile carried unmistakable warmth now.

“Try not to be afraid, child,” she said gently. “Everything will be alright.”

I didn’t know how to answer that, so I simply nodded faintly. Then the elders bowed toward the three brothers and left the room together. The doors shut softly behind them and silence immediately followed.

But this silence felt less suffocating.

I tightened my grip on my apron instinctively, suddenly very aware that I was now alone with them.

Three pairs of silver eyes remained fixed on me, and it didn't fail to make me nervous.

Ryker noticed instantly.

“You can relax,” he said.

I almost wanted to laugh at that.

Relax?

How exactly was I supposed to relax when three impossibly powerful men were staring at me like I was some answer they had spent years searching for?

I stayed standing near the doorway anyway, my body tense enough that I could bolt at any second if necessary.

“… Have you eaten?” Kael asked suddenly.

I blinked in surprise at the random question.

“I ate earlier this morning.”

Lucien stared at me. “That was hours ago.”

“I’m fine,” I replied automatically.

The three of them frowned at the exact same time. The synchronized reaction startled me enough that I nearly stepped backward.

Ryker didn’t say anything at first. He just kept looking at me too closely. Like he was trying to memorize every expression on my face. “You’re not working in the kitchens today,” he said suddenly.

My eyes widened. “What?”

“You need to rest before the ceremony.”

“I can still work.”

“No.”

The single word carried quiet authority powerful enough to make my instincts immediately submit before my mind could argue further. My gaze dropped automatically. The second I realized what I had done, my stomach twisted. Because that reaction had been pure instinct. Years of surviving Red Moon Pack elders had conditioned it into me.

But when I looked back up, all three brothers had gone strangely still.

Ryker’s silver eyes darkened dangerously, and Kael’s jaw tightened hard enough that I thought I heard his teeth grind. Even Lucien’s usual playful expression disappeared completely. For some reason, they all suddenly looked angry.

Not at me. At something else. And I couldn't tell what.

Then Ryker spoke again, and this time his voice was softer, “You don’t have to be afraid here.”