The Heir of Crescent Moon

Prologue

Bellarose POV

“But why do I have to go Mom? I don’t want to meet my mate yet.” I grumbled.

“That’s fine Bella, but you know how important finding his mate is to your brother.” My mother countered.

“Yes, but why does that mean I have to go?”

“Because he’s your brother and you love him.”

“I hate when you use that line,” I grumbled. She kissed my forehead, and she laughed on her way out of my room.

I put on my earphones and blasted music, trying to ignore the fact that I could already hear people arriving for the big party tonight. I eyed the midnight blue dress my mother had given me for tonight. I knew it would look great on me, but I didn’t want to go.

Our mate might be here. - Coyo, my wolf temped me, but that was precisely what I didn’t want - I don’t understand why you’re so against our mate.

I am not against a mate. I just don’t want to find them so soon. - I answered her, my lips trembling. She didn’t understand. Her entire existence was meant to want her mate. She didn’t understand what that would cost us.

I do understand, but this is the natural course of life. We are born and nurtured so that we can walk alone and find our own family. - She said a little softer - Leaving doesn’t stop them from being a part of us or less family. It just means we’re destined for something that is our own.

I sighed, I was not going to get her to understand. A few moments later, I felt Cory enter my room. I removed my headphones and sighed when he came over to sit by my bed.

“Mom guilt trip ya?”

“You know how she is,” I grumbled. Cory chuckled, then grabbed my hand.

“What’s wrong Bells? Talk to me.” My lip quivered. I could hide things from my parents and my other siblings, but Cory was my twin. He could feel my emotions, almost as if we shared a weaker version of the mate bond. We could link to each other no matter the distance and I couldn’t keep secrets from him.

“I don’t want to leave home.” I finally confessed.

“What makes you think going to the - Oh because there’s going to be people from all over and one might be your mate?” He asked. I nodded, the tears gathering in my eyes despite hating showing weakness.

“You don’t know that they won’t be from the pack. Or someone from a nearby pack.” He said gently.

“And if they aren’t?”

“Then we make them move to our pack.”

“Cory… if my mate is a ranked member, I won’t have a choice. Mom is the daughter of Alphas, dad is an Alpha. I don’t care who my mate is, but the chances are high that my mate will be ranked.”

“Bells.” Cory sighed, pulling me into a hug. “It doesn’t matter where you end up. This will always be home. I will always go look for you. You’re my twin. You’ll always be my smelly Belly. Do you think I’d let you go off without being able to go see you? No matter where you go, I’ll make sure to visit and our mind link still works, no matter where you are. I’ll bug you so much that you’ll block me so you can go do naughty things with your mate.”

“Why are you gross?” I laugh.

“I’m a guy. It’s part of my DNA. Come on. There’s a lot of people here today.” He said, handing me the dress mom had picked out for me. It really was a gorgeous dress.

“Fine, but wait for me,” I grumbled. Cory was already dressed, and I knew he couldn’t wait to go see if he could find his mate tonight. He’s been waiting for her. Not dating, not going out. He’s never even bothered to have a girlfriend since he turned eighteen.

I went into the bathroom and changed, tried to do something with my curls and put on a bit of mascara and lip-gloss. Cory smiled at me when I came back out.

“You look awesome.”

“Yeah, well, you have to say that,” I said, grabbing onto his arm as we walked out to the stairs. We stopped at the third floor and looked. The front hall was packed already, and I could hear just as many people in the dining room. This was going to be a disaster.

“There are so many people,” Cory said, half excited, half nervous, fiddling with the old mal de ojo (evil eye) charm Uncle Helios had given us.

“Yeah, there are so many bitches wanting to see if they can be Luna.” I rolled my eyes.

“Please. It looks like there are just as many young guys here for you.” He made a gagging noise.

“Well, with all these people, I can’t stand all the smells. Did they bathe in perfume? How are you going to know if your mate is around with all the perfume flying around?”

“I don’t know….” Cory said slowly, worry making it into his face for the first time. “It does stink really bad…” he whispered.

“Hey, I’m sure once we’re outside, the perfume will dissipate and you’ll be able to smell your mate,” I said, feeling bad for ruining his moment.

“Yeah… yeah,” He said. James came bounding down the halls and put his arms around both of us.

“Look at all these women here just to see my man.” He said. “And my lady.” He added when I rolled my eyes.

Cory and James ran off together and I finished walking down the stairs by myself. I wrinkled my nose as I tried to get used to the smells. We had only gotten our wolves about seven months ago. We shifted six months earlier than most people. We still didn’t know why, but Uncle Helios thinks it has something to do with the battle coming in a couple of decades. We needed to be strong, and he thinks we needed a deeper connection to our wolves. But we were still pretty new and all the scents were overwhelming. For a moment, I thought I smelled something familiar, but it was quickly drowned by everyone walking around me.

I shook my head and went to look for my sister. Violet was, as usual, in the kitchen, sneaking whatever she could find. I grabbed her by the arm and whisked her away with me outside to get some air.

“Hey! I need to get a few more before they are all gone. Mom made the empanadas, and you know they’ll disappear.” She whined. I smiled smugly and pulled out two empanadas that I’d swiped on my way out.

“Here, I just need to breathe. There are too many smells in there.”

“I can’t wait until I get my wolf.” She sighed as she bit into the beef empanada. They really are amazing. Mom is an amazing cook. Even more things to miss if I have to leave. I shook myself and tried to get rid of my depressing sights. Mom and Dad always said things happened for a reason, so if I am destined to be somewhere else, I just have to trust her.

I spent the rest of the afternoon outside. I even took a walk in the forest to calm my nerves. I could feel the electricity in the air. It was more than just the full moon rising. I could tell today would change my life. I walked back into the pack house to use the restroom before the moon peaked. I could already feel Mom trying to push a mind link, but I just had no spoons to deal with anyone right now. I was too stuck in my own head.

“Bells!” I heard someone call my name.

“Everly! What are you doing here? I thought you were at MIT?” Everly was a little younger than we were, but she was a genius like her dad and skipped two years back when we were in Sophomore year.

“I am. I am on winter break. I go back in a few days.”

“Wow. How are you liking University?”

“It’s great. Are you heading to college after graduation?”

“Yes. I want to study business. I want to see if Dad will let me work in the company with him.”

“Oh, that’d be awesome. Dad works there, and he loves it.”

“Yeah. We’ll see.” I said. We walked out together and I had to leave her because I could see Mom already looking for me.

“Good luck.” She said sweetly.

“Thanks,” I answered absentmindedly as I continued to walk.

“Bells,” Mom said…

“I’m here. I’m here.” I said.

“Just give her a break, sweetie. You know how hard she works for these things. She doesn’t even like them.” Dad answered.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”

Dad started his speech and, as usual, the howls and calls started before he could finish. In all the years I’ve been allowed to join him out here, he has never been able to finish before the moon’s peak. It was a running joke at this point. I stared out at the crowd as I watched them find their mates. I looked over at Cory and he kept trying to sniff the air. Was he smelling his future Luna? After a few minutes, he seemed to deflate with disappointment.

I stopped looking at him when I suddenly smelled something amazing. It was like… lemon curd and cherries. I inhaled deeply, trying to fill my lungs with it. It smelled familiar, but not. I started looking around until I met the eyes of a man I hadn’t seen in a few years. I smiled, but it was the man next to him that captured my attention. When his eyes met mine, I felt the sizzle of the mate bond snap in place and I gasped.

“Mine,” I whispered. The man smiled and began walking towards me. He jumped the last step and placed his forehead on mine.

“Mine.” He growled low in his chest.

“Bells?” Dad’s voice brought me out of my trance.

“Alpha Markus, my name is Alpha Brandon of the Redmon Moon Pack.” He said, extending his hand out to shake Dad’s. Dad took his hand, but there was a pain in his eyes as well. I scoured my memory for the pack he mentioned and my heart sank. Redmon Moon Pack was in Montana.

’It’s OK Bells, we’ll make it work. I promise.’ Cory’s mind link did little to minimize my heartache. I was going to leave this weekend, and I was going to be so far away.

I tried to smile and remember that he was probably also really disappointed that he hadn’t found his mate.

As usual, Cory could guess my every thought. ‘Don’t even think about that. This is an amazing night. You found your mate. It’s a happy night.’

I shivered as Brandon touched my arm, sparks traveling lightly through my entire body. I looked up at him and smiled. This was my mate. I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.