The Mystic Luna: Embers of the Royal Blood

Chapter 1: The Ripped Contract The air was thick with smells at the Full Moon Festival. I could smell the meat and the pine needles. To me the air felt like I was breathing in crushed glass. I stood at the edge of the clearing. Watched the man I had spent five years with. Damon, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack was standing under the light of the moon. His hand was on Jasmine's, not mine. The contract was still in my desk drawer at the packhouse. It was old and unsigned. It was supposed to end that night. I had thought about this moment for months. We would stand in the moonlight. Tell everyone our bond was real. We would make our business arrangement last a lifetime. Instead I felt like I was not there. Jasmine whispered to Damon "She looks pale. I think the heat is getting to her. Maybe she should go inside?" Her voice was smooth. It hurt me. Damon looked at me. I saw no love in his eyes. Only guilt. "Jasmine is right, " he said. "You have worked hard on the festival. Go rest." "The festival is for the Alpha and the Luna " I told him. "I am Luna. She is your brother's widow. Why is she standing in my place?" Damon's expression scared me. He used to make me feel safe. Now he made me feel like I was in danger. "Joshua is gone, " he said. "She is alone. She is carrying his legacy. Do you have no heart?" "His legacy?" I asked him. "Joshua has been dead for eight weeks. Use your head. She is barely a month pregnant. The math does not protect her; it proves she is lying." Damon yelled at me "Enough! You will not insult her. You will not question her grief. She was my love long before you signed the contract." The world went quiet. The music stopped. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. A signature on a piece of paper. That was all I was to him. I had given him five years of my life. I had balanced the books, made peace with the North and fought in the wars. I had loved him when he was broken. "Is that all I'm? " I asked him, my voice shaking. "A transaction?" Jasmine's eyes sparkled with triumph. Damon did not see it. She suddenly grabbed her stomach. Swayed. "Damon it hurts. The baby..." Damon caught her. Swept her into his arms. He did not look back at me. He did not see me standing there, my heart turning to ash. Later I found them by the f*******n Lake. I had gone there to breathe to find the strength to leave with what dignity I had left. Jasmine was already there waiting. She stood by the pier, the moonlight making her tears shine like diamonds. She was not crying when she saw me. She smiled. "He will never choose you Lateefat, " she said. "You are a builder, a worker. Men like Damon do not marry the person who builds the house; they marry the view. I am the view he has always wanted." "You are a liar, " I told her. "That child is not Joshua's. If you think I will let you destroy this pack after everything I have sacrificed you are wrong." Jasmine laughed. "Let's give them a sacrifice, " she said. Before I could move she grabbed my wrists. Her grip was strong, her skin burning with energy. She shoved my hands against her shoulders. Fell backward into the lake. Damon saw it or rather he saw what Jasmine wanted him to see. He saw me with my arms outstretched. He saw his "pregnant" first love disappearing into the water. He did not hesitate. He dove in. Pulled Jasmine out. He climbed onto the shore cradling her like a doll. "She tried to kill us, Damon!" Jasmine sobbed, pointing at me. "She said if she could not have the Alpha title no one would!" Damon stood up. I felt the full weight of his Alpha power. It was not a shield; it was a mountain. "I gave you everything, " he hissed. "I gave you a home, a name and my trust. You tried to murder a widow of this pack?" "Damon, listen to me, she jumped! I did not touch her!" "Silence!" he turned to the guards. "Take her. Throw her in the Damp Cells. We will hold a trial at dawn for the attempted murder of the Luna-Apparent." "Luna-Apparent?" I gasped as the guards grabbed my arms. "We are still married to Damon! The contract has not expired!" "It just did, " he spat, pulling out my copy of the contract and ripping it in half. "I reject you Lateefat. Not just, as a mate. As a member of this pack." The pain of the rejection hit me like a blade. My wolf howled in agony retreating into the darkness. As they dragged me away a strange thumping started in my ears. It was not my heartbeat. It was deeper. Older. Awaken a thousand voices whispered in my head. I looked down at my hands. Beneath the silver shackles my veins were glowing with a light. The ground began to tremble. For a split second the iron gates of the dungeon did not look like a prison; they looked like a cage that would not be able to hold me. Then the world tilted. The cold, the rejection and the power were too much. My vision blurred. As the door of the cell slammed shut, locking me in darkness, the last thing I heard was not Damon's voice. It was the sound of a horn blowing from the border, a sound that only the blood of the High Alphas could hear. I realized, with a clarity, that I was not just a ghost. I was a secret that was about to be told.