Temptations of a Luna

Mate

Alpha Morales took one step forward, closing the distance betwen the two of them, his eyes piercing her. She looked up, her breath hitching, her fists clenched.

She couldn't back down now. He needed to take responsibility for marking her. For taking her life away from her.

Slowly, he brought his hand to her neck, his fingers slowly tracing the fair skin underneath.

Slowly, he turned her around, pushing her till her back hit the wall and stole the breath away from her, his face close to hers.

"Why exactly would I do that, priestess? It is just a mark. A hickey. You can get rid of it easier than you can get mated to me."

She turned to him, fighting hard to keep down the way his scent was clouding over her senses. His fingers moved slowly around her neck, and his eyes dropped to follow the path his fingers were taking.

Slowly, he brought his eyes back to her face again, the darkness behind them seizing her breath.

"Talk to me, priestess."

She swallowed. "Are you more used to going through women with no regard for the mate bond or the stability of the pack? Is that what you would pefer? How beautiful is it that..the alpha here is only a manwhore who takes no responsibility for his own mark? How can you take responsibility for your pack then?"

His fingers around her neck tightened a little, before he slowly released her, his smile small and dark.

"I am doing a good enough job. And those women certainly have no complaints."

"Well, I do." Hailey said, pushing herself off the wall. "I demand to be mated, like any other normal wolf who has been marked. I demand for my rights from you, alpha."

He took a step back and let out a small breath, then nodded slowly. "Fine. I will take responsibility for that mark."

Her breath hitched in her throat as his eyes held her in place. She knew there was more. More she was still yet to see, more she didn't think she wanted to find out.

But this was her last option. Be mated to him or resign to a life of stigma. She would choose the former anytime.

"I, Alpha Archer Morales...take you..." he trailed off and she swallowed.

"Hailey. Hailey King."

He smirked a little. "I take you, Hailey King as my mate, and future Luna of waning moon pack."

Silence fell within the pack house, each struggling to make sense of what had just happened. Had the alpha just taken a mate? Had he really mated himself to a priestess? A taboo?

"We object."

Alpha Morales turned, just as Meghan walked in, her head held a little high.

Hailey felt tears well up behind her eyes, mixed emotions brewing in her heart. Had they come to claim her back? Had they come to restore her as one of them?

"Grand priestess." She started to walk to her, but Alpha Morales caught her arm, stopping her.

"Where are you going?"

Her brows furrowed in confusion as she turned to Meghan, as if she had answers.

"We will not allow a priestess of the temple take a mate. It is against the rule of the temple."

Alpha Morales shrugged. "From my understanding, your coven sent her out once she emerged with my mark."

"It is a temple," she replied, her gaze hardening. "And yes. She is currently impure for the temple. And we have no intentions to take her back."

Hailey felt her hopes crash again, as she sought the grand priestess's eyes, hers filled with all the pleas she couldn't bring herself to say. Alpha Morales still had his hand clasped around her wrist, his eyes cold as he assessed Meghan.

"I am afraid you have come too late."

"What do you mean? That you fully intend to take the moon goddess's priestess as your mate?"

He nodded. "I do not go back on my word. And I have already pronounced her as my mate. The moon goddess herself sent her to me. I would not mark just any woman."

"I do not believe your record agrees with you, Alpha."

"I do not believe your authority has started to surpass mine, priestess."

Meghan swallowed, then turned slowly to Hailey, who was now on the verge of breaking down.

"You are going to take your infidelity till the very end, are you not? Have you always been like this? Have you always been so devilish?"

"Grand priestess, please. I swear it is all a big misunderstanding. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I loved being a priestess."

Alpha Morales said nothing, just kept his grip on her wrist tight, refusing to let her go anywhere. She had asked for this herself, and he would give it to her. In full doses.

"Grand priestess, please." Hailey said again, leaning forward, attempting to go on her knees.

Alpha Morales stopped her before she got on her knees, his gaze hardening. "I do not appreciate the chaos here, priestesses. And a Luna does not go on her knees."

Meghan said nothing, but turned away, leaving the pack house, the six priestesses she had come with immediately trailing behind her. Hailey could see how they all looked at her, like she was some dirty stain. Like she was a sin herself.

Alpha Morales slowly let go of her, and she went to the floor, her hands coming to her face to shield it, as she broke down.

Her lower lids stung crazily, but it did nothing to ease the pain she felt inside.

"Escort her back home, Beta. I still have things to do."

With that, Alpha Morales walked away, leaving Hailey to drown in a pool of her own sadness and tears.

Beta Nico slowly took her to the grand palace, then stopped at the entrance. "You can go in on your own. I am sure the alpha will give orders when he comes back."

She nodded, her hair falling in front of her face. She turned to the large door, her heart skipping a beat. Now she had to abandon the life she had been preparing for, and embrace the one she had been forced into.

Nothing seemed more daunting.