The Alpha Luna

Chapter 1.

Diane’s POV.

The whole family was to gather for dinner, alongside every high-standing member of the pack. We usually have dinner like this once a year after every mating ceremony, but I was really confused as to why we were gathered today. The next mating ceremony wasn’t until another two weeks.

“Why are we gathered today?” I lean over and whisper to my twin brother, Daniel, seated beside me.

“Father said Grace called for the gathering.” He answered stoically.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat as I recalled the events that played out earlier today. Dad’s private investigator has confirmed the suspicions we’ve been having for a while now, Mom’s affair. It was the first time I saw my dad break down completely and Daniel lose his s**t. Despite my broken heart, I stayed back to comfort Dad while trying my best to keep the news from spreading. I don’t know how well the latter went because Daniel had left the house in furry immediately after.

“All rise.” A voice announced and I snapped out of my thoughts to see my father walk into the dining room.

“Welcome, Alpha.” We chorused after Father had taken his seat at the head of the table. He nodded for us to resume our seats.

I couldn’t help but stare at my dad from my seat. My heart broke into a million pieces all over as I took in his facial features, from his wrinkled skin to his dull eyes that had no trace of the humor it once held. He had aged significantly from his weeks of constant worrying and sleep deprivation.

I trailed my eyes away from my father and fought to suppress my tears as my eyes landed on one of the pack elders and caught on to his pitiful glance before he looked away. They probably knew.

The Alpha was seated, and dinner was meant to begin right away regardless of who was absent but seeing as my dad hadn’t made a notion to the servants, I understood we were waiting on the last person. How ironic that it was my mother.

“Alpha, I don’t think the Luna would be joining us today.” One of the elders spoke up, ten minutes later.

The entrance doors to the dining room opened a second after and we all watched my mother stroll in. She took her seat without uttering a single word to anyone. The room had fallen silent, and the tension had increased to an unbearable extent.

“What’s the issue, Amore?” My father asked, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. We turned to see him staring directly at my mother.

An almost inaudible growl emitted from my brother at my father’s use of endearment, but he remained silent.

“Nothing, let’s eat.” My mother mumbled.

“Let’s eat.” My father announced and the servants began to file out and serve everyone.

I ate in silence as I wondered what was going to become of my once-loving family. Was Father going to keep pretending like nothing happened and allow the pain to eat him from inside? My father did not deserve this, he is a good man.

Daniel pushed his chair back abruptly and stood up. The table fell silent again at the sudden interruption during the meal. I glanced at my brother’s plate to find it still untouched before looking back at him.

“I’d be back.” He said to no one as he turned and left the room.

Dad’s eyes followed him till he left but he didn’t question him.

“Is there a reason you asked for this unusual gathering?” My father finally spoke up addressing my mother.

Everyone continued eating, trying to stay as silent as possible. Mom dropped her cutlery and sat up straight in her chair. It was then I noticed her appearance. For the first time in my mother’s life, she was clad in black clothing, the one color she had said she could never wear, from head to toe. Her face was clean of any makeup and she had left her hair in its naturally curly state.

She continued to stare off into the abyss as we waited for her response to my father’s question. I thought I saw her lips quiver for a second but as I blinked my eye, her face was void of any emotion.

“I asked you a question, Grace.” My father spoke lowly in his Alpha tone, taking everyone by surprise.

Mom seemed to snap out of her thoughts and coughed into her palms

“I don’t know what to say-.” She began with a hoarse voice, cracking off at the end. She took a minute to gather herself before she spoke again, more confidently.

“I’m sorry, Ronan.”

“For what exactly?” My father questioned.

Mom took a deep breath before continuing, “Everything, Ronan. I’m aware of what you know but there’s far more to it than you’d ever know.”

“What more could there be to the cause of your unfaithfulness other than your deep-rooted greed and heartlessness?” My father lashed out slamming his hands on the table as a few cutleries rattled to the ground. “You betrayed me, you betrayed your family, you betrayed your pack!!!”

All heads were cowered in fear and respect for the shift in the Alpha’s aura. My ears perked up as the first sob left my mother’s lips. My father sat back in his seat as he tried to regulate his breathing. He cooled down after a while and we all slowly raised our heads.

Daniel chose this time to return but stopped short in his strides as he took in the mood of the atmosphere.

“I’m so sorry, Daniel.” Mom beat him to speak. “I wish I could go back in time and change things; I wish there was a whole lot I did differently bu-but I can’t.”

Then she faced me, “I’m so sorry, my princess, I never meant for all these to happen. I-I was only trying to help. I thought I could- I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Grace?” Dad bellowed.

Mom faced everyone at the table, her eyes landing last on my father. “I’m so sorry, Ronan. I’d always love you.”

“Grace, what-.”

The shrilling scream from outside interrupted my father mid speech, causing us all to snap our heads to the direction it came from. Everything else happened in a flash. The windows of the dining room came shattering to the ground a millisecond after as three mighty wolves crashed through them.

A terrifying scream left my lips as I jumped up from my seat along with others. These wolves looked unkept and haggard and had a deranged look in their eye which automatically confirmed one thing. These were not wolves from our pack.

Materials were ripped apart and skewed everywhere as people transformed into their wolf form. I stood, frozen in fear, as the fight broke out. Many more crazed-looking wolves made their way in through the windows as guards came bursting through the door to defend the attack.

“Diane, we have to go.” I felt a hand pull me from behind. I turned to see my brother pulling me out of the room.

“Daniel, what’s going on?” I asked while running along with him.

“Dad mind linked me, he said we should get to the white towers now.”

We ran with everything we had, trying to stay unnoticed as more wolves had broken into parts of the house and battling with pack warriors. We had just gotten to the top of the stairs when a wolf came flying through one of the windows directly at us.

Daniel pushed me forward with so much force that he slipped and fell down the stairs. The wolf missed me by an inch and went out the opposite window.

“Daniel!”

“Keep going, Diane, I’d meet you there, I promise.”

I had only taken two steps forward when another wolf came flying through the same window as the first, grabbed me, and jumped out the opposite window, sending me to the ground with a heavy thud. A snarl erupted from the creature pinning me down and just as it raised its claws to my face; a strong force sent it flying off me.

I got to my feet and ran to make my way back inside. Just as I was reached to open the door, I caught sight of a golden-brown object. I turned in time to see a wolf I recognized too well hit the ground, a short distance from me. A werewolf pounced on it reached down, and ripped the head of the golden-brown wolf off its shoulder.

“Dad!” I screamed, causing the wolf’s head to snap towards me. It flashed an unhinged smile at me before flinging my father’s body into the raging fire behind us.

The last thing I remembered before a bag was thrown over my face and I fell unconscious was the unusual black color of the fire and the screams of those who burned in it.