The Alpha's Forbidden Luna

Twenty-Two Years Ago

Aria couldn't stop thinking about the number.

Twenty-two.

It followed her through the corridors of the packhouse.

Twenty-two years ago.

The same year she was born.

She barely noticed where she was walking until she realized she had stopped outside the Alpha's study.

The door was slightly open.

Voices came from inside.

"...if she finds out, everything changes."

It was Cassian.

Aria froze.

Another voice answered.

Damon.

"She won't find out."

Aria's heart tightened.

They were talking about her.

She moved closer.

"What if the stranger tells her?" Cassian asked.

"He won't."

"You can't be certain."

"I'm the Alpha."

"That doesn't make you certain."

Silence.

Aria pushed the door open.

Both men turned.

"What won't I find out?"

Cassian went quiet.

Damon's expression hardened.

"You shouldn't be listening outside doors."

"And you shouldn't be discussing me behind my back."

She stepped into the room.

"What happened twenty-two years ago?"

Damon didn't answer.

Aria looked at Cassian.

"You're the one who mentioned it."

Cassian glanced at Damon.

"Alpha..."

"Leave us."

Cassian hesitated.

Then he walked past Aria and closed the door behind him.

Aria turned toward Damon.

"Tell me."

Damon walked toward the window.

"There was a war."

"What kind of war?"

"Between Nightfall and a rival pack."

"Which pack?"

Damon didn't answer.

Aria's frustration grew.

"You keep giving me half-truths."

"Because you aren't ready for the rest."

"That's not your decision."

Damon turned.

"Actually, it is."

Aria stared at him.

"Because you're Alpha?"

"Yes."

"Then you're no different from the elders."

His expression changed.

Aria immediately regretted the words.

But she didn't take them back.

Damon's voice lowered.

"You think I enjoy keeping secrets from you?"

"I think you don't trust me."

"I don't know you."

"Then maybe you should."

Silence.

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the anger between them disappeared.

Damon looked away first.

"Your mother."

Aria frowned.

"What about her?"

"She was part of the healer's council twenty-two years ago."

"I know."

"Do you know where she lived before Nightfall?"

Aria shook her head.

"My mother has never talked about it."

Damon nodded slowly.

"That's what I thought."

A knock sounded.

Cassian entered.

"I found something."

He placed a small wooden box on the desk.

Aria stared at it.

"Where did you get that?"

"It was hidden beneath a loose floorboard in the old healer's quarters."

Her heart began beating faster.

"Those were my mother's rooms."

Cassian nodded.

Damon opened the box.

Inside was a faded piece of cloth, an old pendant, and a folded letter.

Aria recognized the pendant immediately.

Her mother had one exactly like it.

"Give me that."

Damon handed it to her.

Aria turned it over.

There was an engraving on the back.

A crescent.

Three stars.

Her fingers trembled.

"This belonged to my mother."

Cassian unfolded the letter.

"The handwriting is hers."

Aria took it.

The paper was old and yellow.

She read the first line.

If my daughter ever discovers the mark, she must never remain in Nightfall.

Aria stopped breathing.

She looked at Damon.

"What does this mean?"

Damon's expression had gone completely still.

Cassian read over her shoulder.

His face changed.

"There was a daughter."

Aria's voice shook.

"Me."

Nobody spoke.

She continued reading.

They will tell her that she is ordinary. They will tell her that her father died before she was born. They will tell her that the Moon Goddess has forgotten our bloodline.

Aria's eyes filled with tears.

Her father.

She had always believed he died before she was born.

She read the next line.

But if the mark appears, the lie is over.

The letter ended there.

No name.

No explanation.

Just one final sentence.

Do not let the Alpha find out who her father was.

Aria slowly lowered the letter.

Her eyes met Damon's.

"Why would my mother be afraid of the Alpha?"

Damon didn't answer.

Aria's voice became quieter.

"Who was my father?"

The room seemed to shrink around them.

Cassian looked at Damon.

Damon stared at the letter.

Then he said something that made Aria's blood run cold.

"Your father wasn't a healer."

"Then who was he?"

Damon finally looked at her.

"He was an Alpha."

Aria's lips parted.

"Which Alpha?"

Damon's silence was answer enough.

Aria stepped backward.

"No."

Cassian looked down.

Damon said nothing.

Aria shook her head.

"That's impossible."

But somewhere deep inside her, a part of her already knew.

The mark.

The records.

Her mother's warning.

The stranger.

Everything was beginning to fit together.

And if Damon was right...

Then Aria hadn't been born an ordinary wolf.

She had been born into the very bloodline Nightfall had spent twenty-two years trying to erase.