Luna of the Golden Moon

“Don't move; I'm almost done!” I stared at myself, turning nervously and looking in the mirror inside my parents' smaller bedroom. I was standing on a shaky old chair to let my Mother put the finishing touches on a dress she had found at half-price at a local thrift shop. The blue dress with ruffles looked like something a six-year-old would wear and not me, who had turned eighteen right after school was over. My few friends left after the summer for college, leaving me behind to care for my elderly parents. Mother was humming, curling my blonde hair with the iron in her steady hands. She seemed happy, and that was what made me do this. I wanted her to be that since she still had difficulty accepting the past, even if it was so long ago. I looked like a doll; only one lamb was missing under my arm. For reasons I would never understand, I could be a shepherdess like the little figures on the bookshelf she collected. My Mother finally looked up and examined me head to toe before picking up a pair of white low heels to my suffering. Not that I would fight back; my Mother was not someone who would care if you tried telling her that she was wrong. She was an Alpha’s daughter and didn't have to listen to my father or me, being lower in rank than she ever had seen herself as. “Do I really have to go, Mother?” I was staring at my reflection in agony, not wanting to show my face at the head Alphas headquarters, our destination for the wedding my Mother was taking my father and me to, no matter if we wanted to come along! “Yes, you have to go, Emilia Jackson.” My Mother answered without looking at me when I sighed again and spun around; this was embarrassing! Mother smiled, happy that she was done with what she had in mind with the awful blue dress she had been working on for the last couple of days. I turned around, freezing up from seeing her sly smile; I would have to be immortalized with the horrible blue creation that wore more ruffles than what would be legal in our state! “Don't move. Just stand perfectly still....” She smiled and picked up the old camera before snapping pictures she wouldn't post anywhere online. Thank the goddess for that! ” Smile, Emilia!" Mother frowned when I smiled more at her order. I didn't want to go to a wedding without knowing anyone, and I sure didn't want to see my Mother's side of the family. "Roger! Tell your daughter she will look most presentable of all the girls coming to the wedding!” She scolded my father, who didn't answer. I sighed and gave her a weak, fake smile before going down the tiny chair I had been standing on. I died inside knowing I had to show myself in this, especially at my cousin's wedding, where everyone would be. It was my Mother's younger brother, whose daughter Melody was getting married. I had never been to the mansion my Mother came from; I only heard the stories from her time living there as a young girl. “Please, tell me you're finally done?” I begged her as she nodded and shouted at my father again, who entered the bedroom. He had a suffering face, standing in a suit, yanking at its collar every minute he wore it. I stared at Father, trying to plead with him to stay home, but it was useless. He couldn't save me even if he tried; my Mother was a force to be reckoned with. “Roger, don't forget the wedding gift!” Mother was snapping; father rolled his eyes behind her back, making me giggle without being able to help it as I followed obediently without saying anything. “Yes, dear.” My father stared at me, not trying to hide his amusement. He was old, but even he could see how wrong this dress was on me. Before my first shift, I would be the laughingstock of our whole pack. Fantastic. We said nothing, getting into the car. Mother chatted as usual about what was going through her head when she stopped and looked at me in the backseat. I was dying of boredom with her tutoring and reprimands like she always had towards me. “Get yourself together, Emilia. We are not only there to see your cousin marry her mate but also to find yours! The pack will be there; with a little luck, maybe one of those with higher rank will be your other half!” I rolled my eyes when Mother wasn’t looking; this was ridiculous! She wanted to marry me to a good family as if we lived in a completely different century. She was anyway. I huffed, showing her my dislike that she didn't care about. She never did. “Yes, Mother.” I couldn’t say no to her, and honestly, in this dress, I was not afraid that any of the higher-ranked pack members would even look at me twice or the lower ones maybe stare at the ridiculous dress she had chosen for me. “Let her be dear. Hopefully, Emilia has time left before she goes through the shift; she is still a child.” Father's words were reassuring; I wasn't, even if he called me a child! Mother sighed and looked like he might be correct, but she would never admit it. She was sitting in her black dress against us in odd colors as if she were attending a funeral more than a wedding. "Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that he could be there, and if we can get her to a good mate, we are not getting any younger, Roger. And who will care for her when we are gone?" My Mother's voice was stern and determined, like we were not leaving this wedding without my mate. I was sooo going to hide somewhere the second we arrived. “You are right, my dear, as always...” Father said nothing more; I knew he had tried to make her stop, and I was grateful for it, even if it had been doomed from the beginning. The forest road leading to the vast structure where the head Alpha family lived ended with my father looking more upset every second. He didn't want to be here, like me, and it made me want to hide even more at this wedding. My Mother had lived once upon a time before she met her mate and had to abandon everything for him. The law was old and patriarchal if you asked me, but nobody did. Mother looked at the massive yard with pride. She missed this place, as my father when he looked over for a spot to park when there wasn't any, making us go full circle before finally stopping. This would be awful; Mother hadn’t lied when she said that the whole pack was here, and I hesitantly got out of the car after sitting for too long and looked at the mansion uncertainly where it was filled to the brim with people who were here to celebrate my cousin Melody and Brad, her mate. I gulped hard. Gazing at the sea of people scurrying around like ants, celebrating and drinking, I wasn’t the most social person. I liked people in general, but I was more used to humans. I was shy, unlike my Mother, who was already charging through the crowd, having her eyes on the only man I didn't want to see, the head Alpha...