Moon Goddess's POV
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Layla walked drunkenly to the 'enchanting' forest, the moon an ever present guide in the dark leading her
When she got to the entrance, she felt like the forest was over exaggerated by the natives as it looked dark and dull from outside.
She lifted the caution tape used to seal the entrance and bent her way in.
There was no way she could have known the decision to come out wasn't hers at all, it was all her 'subconscious'. An irresistible force of attraction was making her an induspitable character in the play of destinies entwined and she had no idea.
"It's funny how there are no fireflies here tonight. Were they ever here?" she thought out loud with her lazy drunken voice, feeling sad because she particularly wanted to see the 'fireflies' which was said to make the forest more beautiful at night.
The paved path before continued to open up and few minutes into her walk on the path, she had to stop, mesmerized by the beauty of the forest around her.
Flowers of different colours and shapes, popping up from different parts of the forest and lighting up beautifully the dark fringes of all she could see. The sight felt magical to her. It made her so happy that she decided to lay down for a while so she can embrace its goodness under the soft glow of the moonlight.
Her subconscious must have also gotten carried away because she laid there for a while. She only became aware of her surroundings when she was startled by the rustling of leaves in the distance.
"Wait a moment, is that what I think it is?" she questioned her drunk brain. Unable to find an answer, she decided to move forward and find out herself.
The rustling she heard was the night guard guarding Bane's pack local border taking a leak.
By the time she got to where she thought she heard the rustling, she found nothing which she felt was very weird and that compelled her to dig more into the forest.
Losing a bit of the alcohol in her system through walking, she thought back to what she was doing
"Why the fuck am I being so nosy? I am out of my apartment for goodness sake" she said to absolutely no one, but not having full control of herself, she moved further through the unmanned territory of the local border
All guards had by then moved into the Pack's square getting ready for the Moon Rite.
The rite is performed every three years as a sign of devotion to their goddess and also as a means to pray so their Alpha can find his mate.
Encountering no hindrance other than flies and moonflowers, she made her way into Bane's Pack.
Thinking that she somehow made her way back to Cashville, she concluded that where she was is the other side of the town, the one she doesn't know about.
Looking behind her, she saw how truly beautiful the forest was, it was a 'glowing piece of art' and she understood why June wanted to take a walk that evening
Deciding to just find her way back home and take a good nap since she 'luckily' wasn't caught by the officials or animals, she moved forward in her 'journey'
As she moved forward,the path ahead diverged into two, and she paused for a moment to think but her alcohol induced brain couldn't do much of the lifting. With a small prayer, she made her choice and took the left path
And with that choice, she walked for a long while, making her wonder if she had somehow lost her way, especially since she couldn't see any trace of houses or people.
The fear that she was actually lost was starting to wear her out so she decided to turn back and pick the other path.
She was about to turn back and take the other route when she heard people clapping and wondered what was happening
"Wait a moment, who are those? I thought we were on curfew, is it off already?" she questioned as her legs took her to where the noise was coming from.
The people ahead of her had their backs turned to her, but she couldn't move. She found herself rooted to where she was
"A party was going on and no one told me?" she thought, feeling betrayed "so I thought they liked me, they didn't, they were only showing what they wanted me to see," she thought feeling bad
"Where are these thoughts coming from?" she thought, still rooted in one position
With her thoughts all over the place, she didn't realize that the people in front of her were now looking at her and among them was the male she belonged to.
Feeling a very piercing stare directed at her, she raised her head and she saw him.
Growling under his breath, which she thought was weird since humans weren't supposed to be growling, and rapidly moving towards her was a man, not just a man but the most ravishing, mouth-watering, and 'down to earth' most handsome man she has ever seen in her life.
Handsome was an understatement, his facial features were well defined and his eyes were beautiful lazy eyes with a color she has never seen, a swirl of silver and red, and it was glowing, his hair black and well sleek and his dark clothing were like his second skin. He couldn't be any more than 6'4, and the way his muscles flexed with his movements, she could tell he was more than ripped underneath his shirt
"Mate," he said he got to her and that brought her out of her reverie.
She couldn't look anywhere else, not that she had to, she was being pulled by the mate bond which has been used to bind them from up here, and right then is where its work begins, afresh.
She looked direct into his eyes and realized how awfully close they were, close enough to see that his eyes were glowing and more red than silver,
'I am fucked' she thought as she still couldn't look away, she felt like she was trapped in it.
After another long second, she looked around to see the people around staring blatantly at her with a little or maybe more contempt than she's seen in years and immediately, she felt she was in trouble and the feeling made the hair on her skin rise and the need for survival surge.
It wasn't the people's fault though, they knew her scent was different, they knew she's human and none of them could have thought that in a thousand years hey would have a human as their Luna.
It has never been recorded in their pack's history and they didn't think it could be.
Well, history is about to have a new page in it as the Alpha of the most popular and ferocious pack now has a mate, a Luna and she is a human.
Some of these people staring at her she recognized as they are from Cashville but most of them she doesn't and something was very off to her curious mind.
Everyone's eyes was glowing brightly under the moonlight and that made her feel like she was in some kind of occult.
"Probably 'mate' is something they say to a person they want to use for sacrifice" she thought as the hair on her body started rising and she started feeling cold.
"I shouldn't have come out of the house, no, I shouldn't have drank too much, I shouldn't have lost my sense of reasoning, that way I wouldn't have gotten lost in the woods. I'm very, very sorry for interrupting this peaceful gathering and I'll love to go back now" she said out loud, directed her words to everyone she could see and most especially to the male in front of her and got ready to run for her dare life.
Because with the sinister smirk on this man's face and the way it turned her stomach and also made her heart skip some beats, she felt she was seconds away from death.