Luna of the Golden Moon

The Wedding

Father stepped into the crowd, anxious about people talking and laughing, unlike my Mother, who moved accustomed to the larger gathering.

Pack members were still unsure if they were supposed to move out of her way, seeing that she was an Alpha, even if she had been of no importance since the days she mated my father, who was being towed along, the same as me.

I followed Mother; she wouldn't let me skip this part, the meeting and greeting, since we were in a pack that we didn't belong in. Exiled and barely welcomed back on the grace of the head Alpha, my Mother's younger brother.

I didn't stride like her, upright and proud. My shoulders were down, and I tried not to be seen. I wanted to hide from every strange and snobby Alpha and Beta around us, making me feel even worse in the blue dress Mother had compelled me to wear.

I watched in horror as my Mother steered toward her younger brother, Terrence, politely greeting everyone who attended his daughter's wedding.

Alpha Terrance was almost twenty years younger than my Mother. He wore a black tailored suit; even the shirt and tie were black, just like everyone else, making me more nervous. Looking at Father, he gave me a gentle smile, not to worry. Well, I was!

That made me even more anxious, eyeing down when the smirks around us got bigger, my blue dress sticking out like a big splash of color amid the darkness swarming around us, giving fake smiles and phony laughter. I really didn't like this.

The towering man standing in the middle of the sundeck was the most enormous wolf I had ever seen! Mother was staring rudely at the Head Alpha, who had taken an interest in the beautiful girl by his side, only to see my Mother walking up to him, just as tall and proud like she still had the right to be that and not just some exiled trash that was here for his daughter's wedding.

“Head Alpha Terrance.” Mother reluctantly bowed, as Father and I were already submissive, bowing down, feeling the intense Alpha power the man was emitting to us all.

He ruled, and we followed.

She was nobody in his cold charcoal eyes that were sizing her up, the same as my Mother did right back.

They were siblings with identical hard features. She was born an Alpha, the highest rank; it was almost unheard of for a female to be this rank, making her a rare find.

“Sister.” Head Alpha Terrance sneered when I was ashamed of her way of looking him in the eye. I knew I should have stayed home when I stared at the awful shoes and wished this charade would end soon.

The main Alpha held a drink in one hand and the other on a beautiful she-wolf, Beta, who smiled as fake as she could at the sister of the Head.

I almost threw up in my mouth when he let her go and looked more fiercely into my Mother’s equally angry eyes. They were not siblings, not even friends. They were enemies.

“Alpha Terrence, my family and I congratulate you and your daughter Melody on getting such a good mateship, a Beta; what more could you want?” She scornfully smiled.

Alpha Terrence became more annoyed that she mocked him for not getting his beta daughter an Alpha mate, which would have been more expected of Melody, the daughter of the Head Alpha. She made herself a lousy bargain by getting to marry herself only to a Beta male, no matter who he was.

Alpha Terrrance smiled faintly and looked like he was thinking about how he would hurt her the most. Clutching his big hands, he did not bother to answer her insults. He looked at me, where I hid behind her. Oh, moon goddess, no…

“Emilia, my dear niece, come forward…let me see you after all these years, hidden away by your mother.” Alpha Terrence did not ask. He commanded my small gulp, wanting to stay hidden; he was the biggest man I had ever seen and twice as scary!

I felt my blood compelling me to his words, stepping forward from my Mother's side, my eyes on the floor. I didn't dare look at him. He was bigger than most men here because of his genes and had a handsome face with cold grey eyes staring at me like he was amused that I was so afraid of him.

He was a pure example of what an Alpha male would look like; even in middle age, Alpha Terrance still had the posture of a proud man who did not bow to anyone or anything.

“Alpha.” I bowed my Head like it wasn't enough, making him chuckle like he thought I was entertaining. I was sweating in my horrible dress, pinning me down with his dominance.

I wanted to escape from his eyes. It didn't matter if we were related; I didn't want him to look at me with his cold, dark grey eyes, judging my family and me in black suits and formal dresses.

“You're older than Melody, dear niece; where is your mate?” He looked around like he didn't already know that I was mateless. Goddess, I was among the lowest ranked in the pack; none of the males here would want to touch me.

I was a nobody here, even more so, with almost only higher-ranking pack members circling around us. The only Delta I saw was holding a trey in their hand or parking cars around us, servants.

“She has none.” Mother got annoyed, making Alpha Terrence chuckle with the dark voice, seeming even more threatening than before when he stood and was challenged by his older sister. He loved this, seeing the stressed look on my Mother’s face. He was a bastard.

“Yes, of course, there is time for that; not everyone is like my beautiful Melody and finds their mate fast.” His dark voice was scornful, and I got goosebumps all over my body, hating every second.

I didn't know why he despised my Mother, but he took it out on me; I would die alone if I didn’t find a Delta male who was my mate. No higher rank would try to take a mate lower than their own, except for the Alphas, since they were fewer and had a beta female as their mate.

“My eldest has not found his mate either, but I'm not worried, considering that there are a lot of candidates out there, and not anyone can be the new Luna of the Golden Moon...”

Alpha Terrence said his words composed and cunningly, making me raise my eyebrows. He had no control over that. We were drawn to each other, usually within our rank but only sometimes; the bond between two mates could never be broken.

Look at my Mother; she was mated with my father, a Delta male, making her go from a rare Alpha female to an ordinary Delta. She never accepted that, never.

There were basically four strict levels of our hierarchy.

First, there were the Alphas, the leaders and ultimate fighters who protected the pack, putting down their lives for the rest of us.

They were the first and the last defense if war was to break out again. Between our kind or any other real threat that appeared, they were far more aggressive and powerful than any other rank.

Second, the Betas. The warriors obeyed under the Alphas, making sure everyone else followed suit and obeyed the Alphas' commands.

Third, there were the Deltas, my rank. We were servants who did not fight but cleaned, cooked, and provided the Alphas and Betas that protected us. Most didn't complain; we weren't warriors.

You could even tell by the stature or physics of a pack member who they were on the hierarchy; the bigger and more muscle you got, the higher up the ranks; that’s why the Alphas were the biggest ones, and Alphas were ten out of ten times male.

They were taller and more evolved than a Delta male, who was still stronger than a human but not equal to the bigger Beta males and didn’t stand a chance against an Alpha male.

Last, there was the Omega. My pack had none, and I didn’t know why; we were a pack of hundreds of wolves, yet I had seen none.

My Mother, the born Alpha as she was, couldn't resist making fun of her younger brother, completely ignoring that he oversaw every wolf in our pack.

I wanted the ground to open and swallow me whole when her pretty face with the sharp grey eyes burrowed right into her brother's.

That was also a genetic advance over being an alpha female gave her. She was a hundred times more beautiful than a Beta female, even if she was far older than most of the younger Beta females swarming around our Head, Alpha, looking for favors.

“Ah yes, the future head...” Mother looked amused, as if it were still her right to talk trash about the next person in line, Head Alpha.

I didn't know him, never seen him, to be honest.

We were almost the same age. The unknown Alpha heir was a few years older than me, or at least that is what my Mother had told me.

I hadn't asked, and she didn't want to talk about him, or her brother, for that matter. She only wanted to teach me the history I thought was boring: capital letters.

My estranged cousin was going to be the Head after his father.

Every pack had its lead Alpha or the Head, used loosely around packs.

He was the king and our pack representative; the Head Alphas' words were law and not to be broken or negotiated.

Pure tyranny if you asked me... glancing into my uncle's eyes the slightest being focused on someone in the distance.

My stomach turned, spinning around. I felt my blood pressure spike in my already heated body. I saw the tall young man approaching us on the crowded patio. Oh, my goddess...