Ancient Moonlight

Censor Takers and Elimination

His mate.

It’s a concept I’ve heard of before, but so rarely it feels more myth than reality. Some of us are lucky enough to have a mate, chosen by our wolf and blessed by the moon goddess. Most of us aren’t. In my 18 years of life, I’ve never heard of anyone actually finding theirs, aside from history lessons of the first Alphas who all had Lunas chosen by fate. I never expected this; I fully intended to live my life as it was planned for me. Bonded to Theron, and learning to transform the mostly platonic love we had for each other into the type of love necessary to allow us to live happily as a bonded pair. A mate? To the Lycan King? The entire concept is laughable. So, that’s what I do. I laugh.

This apparently was the wrong move; Varek’s eyebrows shoot so high you can barely see them hidden under the hair hanging over his forehead. I suppose a Royal, and not just any Royal, but THE Royal, probably isn’t used to be laughed at. But I can’t help it. It’s not even that it’s funny exactly. Absurd feels more like the correct word. I’m no one. Just an abandoned baby taken in by a kindly Alpha.

It takes me a few moments to gather myself. “I’m so sorry,” I gasp out between trying to get my breathing under control enough to stop laughing. Despite my efforts a snort escapes before I can stop it. “It’s just…insane. Mates are mostly myth, what on earth do you mean I’m your mate? How is that even possible? Even if it were, why do you think it’s me of all people?”

The affronted look on his face softens. From this angle, and in this light, he almost looks tender. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but I can assure you there is no mistaking it. You are my mate. I’ve been dreaming of you since I was a child. Even the castle augurs have declared it to be true. A girl just a few years younger than I, with eyes that match the moon just as mine do. I’ve spent years looking for you. It wasn’t until just a few months ago that I finally found you or rather got the information I needed to find you.

I think back over the past few months, trying to determine what he could possibly be referencing. Then it hits me. The pageant. Just a few months ago, Royal emissaries had come into our village to take a census and make sure everyone was accounted for and had a lineage to be followed for the records the capital keeps of the village populations further from the capital. Cassian knew I would draw attention, as the only girl in the village with different coloring, and no proper lineage to speak of. It was a highly contested decision, I remember the Elders getting very upset with the decision, but in the end, Cassian decided to embrace me rather than hide me. He orchestrated a pageant of the youth you had yet to included on the census in years past. In it, we were paraded in front of the census takers and for most their lineage was declared along with a fascinating tidbit or talent. Theron was lauded as the next Alpha, Nyssa and her unique singing voice were presented, and when it came time for me to cross the stage, Cassian joined me. He declared I had no lineage but the Sacred Lineage of the Moon herself, that I appeared to the village in a time when a new Luna needed to be decided, so that girl could be raised for the role. That my very existence had been blessed by the Moon, as could be seen in my eyes and the color Cassian always insisted was proof of the blessing he so fully believed in. At the time, I thought no more of it than that it was slightly embarrassing to be singled out that way. Thinking back though, I do seem to remember at least one in the group from the capital gasping when I was presented.

“The census takers?” The words leave me on a breath, but nevertheless they are heard.

He nods in response, “One of the men in that group had been informed of the situation. He went to every single village in the kingdom, even when others came home and were replaced to ensure no one would become too fatigued on the trip. He came home immediately to inform me you had been found. I wasn’t expected to hear that the village you resided in had declared you sacred to them. When I contacted your previous Alpha, I was denied. No one has ever denied me before. That is when Theron reached out and offered a plan.”

“Ah, yes. The ‘elimination’ of Cassian.” I bite out. I know I sound spiteful, and that if I want more information, I should probably not anger him, but I just can’t help it. “It must have been such a good murder plan to have gotten your ok, Your Majesty.”

The glare he turns my way is full of both fire and ice, it’s weird to see such emotion coming out of eyes so similar to my own. “I had no choice. Your previous Alpha-”

“Cassian!” I practically shout his name into Varek’s face, though my voice starts to break there at the end. I still haven’t really gotten over how sudden his death was, and now with the added information of how it came to pass, I’m not sure I ever truly will. “His name was Cassian, and he wasn’t just my ‘previous Alpha’, he was the closest thing I’ve ever had to a father. He is the one who found me. He is the one who defended me. He is the only one in that village who was always kind. Always. And now he’s gone, because of you.”