The Coveted Luna of the Dark King

Irina Krytow:

Krasnoyarsk, Central Siberian Plateau, two years ago.

I went to bed excited that night, as I did every night, knowing that my father, the beta of the Krasnaya Luna pack, would come tuck me in and wish me a great day tomorrow. He took up this habit after promising my mother, who died in an attack when I was two. She protected me from a group of rogue wolves that attacked us. With her last breath, she made my father promise to always protect me.

My mother wasn't a normal wolf, and my father had a hard time accepting her because he found it difficult to be the mate of a wolf with witch powers. This was especially strange for a beta, but my grandmother was one of the most famous witches in all of Siberia and the second greatest enemy of my pack. The moon goddess made the daughter of the senior witch of the clan become my grandfather's mate, thus ending the feud between the witch clan and the pack. By order of the Alpha, no one interfered with the union of the Delta of the pack, my grandfather, and his mate, a witch.

From that union, my mother, who was half wolf and half witch, was born. Once again, the goddess intervened, choosing the alpha's brother, my father, to become her mate. It was another surprise that fate had in store for my family.

When my mother died when I was two, the witch powers she was supposed to pass on to me could not be transferred when I turned eighteen. That happens tomorrow, so the gift the goddess gave our pack ends with me.

"Dad, do you think Mom would be proud of who I'm going to become, even though I didn't inherit all her powers?" I asked my father before he left my room to say goodnight, as he always did.

He turned and looked at me fondly. Even though he didn't think so, I still felt responsible for my mother's death and for my father and older brother Nikolai losing her.

"Of course not, dear. Your mother loved you so much that she gave her life for you. Nothing will disappoint her. Remember that." After kissing my forehead, my father left my room.

Unfortunately, the next morning—the first day of my transformation—things did not go as everyone had expected.

Until then, we had all believed my grandmother, the witch, when she said that Nikolai and I would become important wolves in the pack. First, Nikolai would be the future beta to the future alpha, the son of my uncle Krytow Bykow, the current alpha of the pack. I would be the future Luna, the mate of my cousin Stefan, the future alpha of the pack.

Holding onto that hope, I went to bed that night. Stefan was very attractive—the most handsome werewolf in the pack. I just had to wait until tomorrow night for my transformation to begin. Soon, I would find out if the moon goddess had done her job well and made me Stefan's mate. He believed it too. Since I began to develop as a woman, he had warned all the men in the pack that I belonged to him and that no one should look at me. Even my protective brother had accepted this.

So, when I woke up that morning, I felt great. Stefan had sent other women from the pack to pamper me, the future Moon. Then they would take me to where the great ritual took place for every pack member undergoing new transformations. The ritual took place at a waterfall on the great plateau in the Krai of Krasnoyarsk. After immersing ourselves in the newly fallen waters of the magical waterfall, we waited on the shore for the transformation. Meanwhile, our family and the rest of the pack watched us from the top of the waterfall.

It was a ritual my pack had. Sometimes, as I expected with Stefan, after the transformation, one of the wolves or she-wolves of the pack would recognize their mate from the heights of the waterfall. After the transformation of the new member, they would come down transformed to the foot of the waterfall and claim each other. This ritual had been taking place in my pack for centuries, and today it was my turn. It wasn't going to be any different. The only difference was that if everything went as we imagined, I would not only meet my inner she-wolf today, but also become the next Moon of the pack.

I was nervous all day, enduring the giggles and raised voices of the other women as they discussed the night Stefan would claim me as his and mark me. Having grown up with the feeling that this would be my destiny, and despite the fact that I am only eighteen and a virgin, I had already accepted this union as normal. I just hoped the attraction predestined couples feel would manifest, as it did for my brother and Nikita when she transformed a year and a half ago.

Nikita was one of my best friends. She hated my brother because he is controlling with me. My brother thought Nikita was wild and crazy, and he didn't want me to date her.

However, as I said, the goddess Luna likes to play cruel jokes. On the night Nikita transformed, many of us were surprised when my brother suddenly transformed. He ran to the base of the waterfall and claimed her as his mate. Nowadays, many single wolves say that being around the two of them is horrible because you can only smell satisfaction and mating. I'm sure I'll smell it tonight when I transform. I'll also feel attracted to Stefan, which doesn't happen now. I see him more as an older brother.

When the three of us who were transforming that night were led to the foot of the waterfall in our white cotton robes, we were nervous. The whole pack was watching us from the top, cheering us on and wishing us luck. On a command from our Alpha, everyone fell silent. The three of us entered the lake at the foot of the waterfall with our robes on, submerging ourselves until we disappeared beneath the water. After two seconds underwater, we began the journey back to the shore. Time was running out; the moon was already high in the sky.

After a few minutes on the shore, I felt my body heat up as if it were burning. A voice spoke to me from within.

"Hello, Irina. I am Bella, your inner wolf," she said.

"Hello, Bella. I accept you. Let's be one," I said, as part of the transformation ritual.

Suddenly, I felt my body split in two as the robe began to tear. The pain was almost agonizing. I could feel every bone breaking and mending as my consciousness merged with Bella's. We both felt the pain and focused on enduring it. Soon, the agonizing pain ceased, and I found myself inside a wolf's body while silence fell over the entire pack.

Contrary to what I had been told, the only smells I noticed were grass, wet fur, the typical forest smells, water, and my entire pack looking down at me from above. There was no different smell—the one they describe as the delicious, unique scent of your mate. There was none of that.

Surprisingly, though, I saw Stefan running toward me from among the trees. He was transformed into a huge, strong, dark brown wolf with reddish eyes. Just as he was about to reach me, though, he turned aside at the last second toward Nadia, the daughter of the Delta of the pack and the only other female wolf transforming that night. Apparently, she would be the true Moon. From the way the light brown wolf looked at the future Alpha, she seemed happy.

"Damn it, she's a Gamma!" The Alpha's voice in my head made everyone freeze in fear at the anger in his voice—everyone except me. Incredibly, I wasn't affected, nor did I feel fear.

I turned to my father, expecting to see disappointment in his eyes at the idea of me not being the future Luna. But everyone was looking at me, amazed—even my father.

"Let's look at ourselves in the lake, and you'll understand. I just want to make it clear that we are special beings, Irina," Bella said to me.

When I looked at myself in the water, I knew. I was an extremely beautiful wolf with intense reddish fur, a white, moon-shaped mark on my chest, and intense blue eyes. I was much taller than normal wolves.

"What are we, Bella?" I asked.

"We are a gift. We are what any pack leader would want, but we are also the most coveted by any alpha. We are Gammas: healers and sorceresses among wolves. You owe nothing to anyone, not even an Alpha, except to the one the goddess has chosen as our mate, our love, and our future. You are our protector,” Bella told me, making me feel happy. Bella told me, making me happy. It was a gift from my mother and grandmother, and I received it with pride.

Unfortunately, it didn't take me long to realize that my pride would be short-lived. From that moment on, my world became a living hell—a nightmare for any Gamma wolf. It was a poisoned gift, one that would exact a high price from those who love me and all the packs that covet me.