Ancient Moonlight

The New Alpha

The weeks following the failed bonding ritual were a blur. Everything I had been raised to expect disappeared in the blink of an eye, or the death of a man. When the Elders realized Cassian had fallen to his death, everything stopped. It was expected. How could we celebrate a bonding on the edge of the life of the Alpha, the only Alpha most of us had known in our lifetimes. What was less expected, was what came after.

“Miss, I’m so sorry to bother you, but Alpha Theron has requested your presence.” A servant had peaked his head into the room I had been held in the last three weeks. It almost felt like home, if I could ignore the splintered wood beams holding up crumbling stone walls. If I could ignore I was being held in a locked room. If I could ignore that I hadn’t been allowed to leave, or even talk to anyone outside the servants sent to provide me food and water. The only clothes I had were the ones I wore that fateful night.

“Do…do you know what he wants?” I asked in a small voice. The changes had come so swiftly, so unexpectedly, I felt like I was almost in shock.

The servant stepped into my room, holding in his hands a small bundle he placed on the table next to my bed. The only pieces of furniture provided for me in what I was hesitant to admit was my prison. At best, it was a cage. “I do not know, Miss.” He looked into my eyes and held my gaze. “I was simply told to bring you fresh clothing, and escort you to the clearing.”

My heart stuttered. The clearing. I wasn’t sure I was ready to go back, but it seemed I would have no other choice. “Ok, I will change and meet you outside.”

“No, I was instructed to stay in the room, to not leave you unaccompanied until your arrival into the Alpha’s custody.” The man at least looked uncomfortable sharing this news, but I could see in the squaring of his shoulders and the tightening of his jaw that these were orders he would be following, regardless of my comfort.

I stepped slowly toward the small bundle he had left on the table and picked up the clothing I would be wearing. Carefully unfolding the fabric, I realized there was much less of it than I expected. A simple shift dress, in white. No fresh undergarments, no finery, no frills. At least it wasn’t any later into the year, or I would freeze on the walk through the woods with how thin it was.

Dressing quickly, I smoothed my curls as much as I could, and turning around to face the servant, I gave him a quick smile. It wasn’t his fault, he had no more control than I did in the face of the authority of Theron now that he had become Alpha. Maybe if I was polite, docile, he would be able to tell me what had occurred in the village while I was trapped here. I hadn’t heard word of anything since being sent here by a hysterical Seris, barely able to look away from the body of her husband laying on the ground underneath that moonless sky.

We walked in step together, as he escorted me to the clearing. The place I had been held was in the village center, so I was forced to walk along the familiar pathways to the forest, past the bakery and the meeting hall used to entertain foreign Alphas when they came to discuss political machinations. I kept my eyes down, but I could feel the eyes of the villagers on me as we walked toward the forest. The questions in their gaze. How could the future Luna be displayed this way? The fabric felt so thin it was if I were walking naked amongst them. The indignity of it stung, but after weeks cooped up in the tiny, dilapidated room, I wasn’t about to let my chance for a meeting with Theron go for something as inconsequential as my modesty. Once we reached the forest, I dared a glance toward my escort. The same servant who had been entering my room with plates of food for last weeks. We hadn’t spoken much, but his deferential use of the word Miss when addressing me gave me hope.

“Are you sure you don’t know anything about what will happen when we arrive?” I asked him, knowing he was more than likely forbidden to answer, I was confused when he put a hand on my elbow and pulled me a step back.

“You are going to meet your new Alpha.” He said to me, looking deep into my eyes. Maintaining eye contact in a way that made me instinctively want to pull away from him. But his grip tightened.

“I’ve known Theron all my life,” I muttered. “What do you mean?” He kept searching my gaze, trying to convey something. I just couldn’t understand what.

“Alpha Theron is our new Alpha,” he said.

“What does that mean? Of course he’s our new Alpha, he was Cassian’s heir. I’m sure he’s been very busy since his father’s death. He must be so overwhelmed to have to take up the role so suddenly.” I replied, tilting my head in confusion.

“No, Miss, he is our new Alpha. He is the Alpha of this village. Of all the people born to it.” His words give me pause.

“I wasn’t born in this village,” I whisper.

“No, Miss, you were not.” There is a finality to his tone. “Which is why I have been instructed to take you to meet your new Alpha.”

The words suddenly make sense. I feel sick. I may not have been born to this village, but it is all I have ever known. Every memory I have made has been within the confines of the village walls or the forest beyond. I have lived every moment, preparing to be Luna one day. This is my home.

He can see I am starting to understand, his gaze softens and his hand on my elbow goes slack. “Who? I mean…who is my new Alpha?” I finally managed to speak the words as I look back into the face of the nameless servant who has changed everything I’ve ever known, and from the sound of it, wasn’t supposed to give me any warning at all that everything was about to change.

The sound of his voice sounds far away as I hear the words he says.

“Your new Alpha, Miss, is the Lycan King.”