The "Boy" Mated to Five

Chapter 2

Three days later, the entire Red Moon Pack had gathered for the funeral.

I watched as Silas stood hunched over beside the Alpha.

Serena, his sister and my best friend, was missing.

She couldn’t still be at school could she?

Something must have happened…

I shook those thoughts away.

No.

The Alpha would have said something.

But still...

I knew nothing would have stopped Serena from coming to say goodbye.

And without her, Silas was alone.

I wanted to go to him, to hug him tightly and tell him how sorry I was. That I would do anything to bring our Luna back.

But he hadn’t spoken to me since that day.

I could feel the utter pain and sadness through our bond. But I could also feel the rage.

The rage he still felt towards me.

I stood at the edge of the cemetery, clutching a small bouquet of white lilies.

Our Luna’s favorite flowers.

The ones she used to braid into my hair when I was small while telling me stories to cheer me up.

I was ten years old, sobbing in her arms after the others had called me a "runt" for being the smallest in my age group. My messenger training had just begun, and I'd failed miserably at keeping up with the rest.

I had found her in her garden, her favorite place, and had collapsed on her in a puddle of tears, knowing she would soothe me as she always did.

The Luna had become a mother to me after my own mother had passed away while giving birth to my younger brother.

"I'm never going to be fast enough," I had hiccupped against her shoulder, my face hot with shame. "Maybe they're right. Maybe I don't belong with the messengers."

She had pulled back, her silver eyes fierce as she gently gripped my shoulders. "Elara Greene, look at me. Do you know why I chose to plant lilies in my garden?"

I had shaken my head, still sniffling.

"Because everyone told me they were too delicate for our climate. Too fragile. They said I was wasting my time." She had picked one of the pristine white blooms, holding it up to catch the sunlight. "But I planted them anyway. And do you know what happened?"

"They grew?" I had whispered.

"They didn't just grow…they flourished."

I had looked at her with wide eyed awe.

“They were different but they had found their strength in their own way," she’d whispered.

Twining a lily into my hair with infinite gentleness, she continued. "Just like Luna Mira did."

"Who's Luna Mira?" I had asked, always eager to hear stories about other Lunas.

"A tiny thing, smaller than even you. Her pack called her weak, said she'd never be able to protect them. But when enemy wolves surrounded their territory, Luna Mira didn't meet them with brute force. She used her speed, her cleverness. She led them on a chase through the mountains while her pack escaped to safety, running farther and faster than anyone thought possible."

She had cupped my face gently. "Size isn't strength, my darling. Heart is. And you have the biggest heart I've ever seen."

The memory felt like a knife twisting in my chest as I stared at the empty casket.

I had learned to run…I now ran faster than anyone else.

And yet it hadn’t been enough.

Now the woman who had taught me that being different was a strength was gone, and all her faith in me felt like the cruelest joke the Moon Goddess had ever played.

I stared at the closed casket beneath the ancient willow tree.

It was beautiful, polished oak adorned with silver moons, but it lay there empty.

Just like the hollow ache in my chest.

I waited until most of the formal ceremony was over before approaching. My legs felt unsteady, whether from my injuries or the weight of hostile stares, I couldn't tell.

Each step toward the gravesite felt like trudging through mud.

The lilies trembled in my hands as I knelt beside the headstone. "I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "I'm so sorry. I should have—"

"Get away from there."

The command cracked through the air like a whip.

I looked up to find Alpha Thorick towering over me, his face twisted with disgust.

The remaining mourners turned to watch, their expressions ranging from curious to openly hostile.

"You have no right to be here," he continued, his voice carrying to every corner of the cemetery. "No right to lay flowers on her grave when you're the reason she's dead."

I clutched the lilies tighter, their stems cutting into my palms. "I was following her orders—"

"Her orders?" Alpha Thorick's laugh was harsh, bitter. "You ran like a coward while our Luna faced three rogues alone. You abandoned her to save your own worthless hide."

The words hit like physical blows.

Around us, I could hear murmurs of agreement, whispers of "coward" and "selfish" carried on the wind.

I caught a glimpse of Silas in the crowd, his jaw clenched tight, his eyes burning with something between anguish and anger. The mate bond between us pulsed with his conflicted emotions.

"That's not what happened," I said, struggling to my feet. "She told me to get help. She—"

"Enough!" Alpha Thorick's aura slammed into me, forcing me to my knees. "I've heard enough of your excuses. You want to know what I found at that clearing, Elara? Blood. So much blood. Pieces of her fur. Claw marks gouged so deep in the trees that it looked like a massacre."

Each word was chosen to wound, to paint a picture of violence that would haunt me forever.

I could see it in his eyes, the calculated cruelty behind his grief.

"She died alone," he continued, his voice dropping to a whisper that somehow carried to every person present. "Torn apart by monsters while the girl she died to save ran away to live another day."

"Please," I breathed, but he wasn't finished.

"The question now is what to do with you." Alpha Thorick circled me like a predator, and I remained on my knees, trapped by his Alpha dominance. "You are Beta Jared's daughter, elevated beyond your station because of our Luna’s soft heart. But look how you repaid that kindness."

From the crowd, my father stepped forward.

My heart leaped with desperate hope. Hope that he would make them understand that I hadn’t meant for this to happen.

"Alpha Thorick is right," my father said, his voice steady and cold. "My daughter has brought shame upon our family and our pack. Her cowardice cost us our Luna."

The words of his betrayal felt more painful than ever.

My own father was throwing me away to save himself.

"I propose," my father continued, not meeting my eyes, "that she be stripped of her Beta lineage and demoted to an Omega servant. Let her spend her days atoning for her failure through service to the pack she's wronged."

A collective gasp went up from the crowd.

Through the mate bond, I felt Silas's shock.

An Omega servant.

The lowest rank possible.

To fall from Beta's daughter to pack servant…there was no greater humiliation .

"An excellent suggestion," Alpha Thorick said, satisfaction dripping from his voice. "That rank suits you perfectly, Elara. After all, servants know their place. They know when to run."

I looked at Silas hoping that even with everything that he would say something…do something, but he looked away.

My heart clenched. The boy I had grown up with, fell in love with…my mate.

I watched as the expression on his face hardened.

The tears welled in my eyes as I felt all the air being ripped out of my lungs.

This couldn’t be happening.