Luna's Surprise
Ava arrived at the mating ceremony with a lot of confidence as she moved around. Her hair was well combed and the gown she had sewn for herself sparkled when the light was shone on it. Asher had arranged a carriage to come and fetch her from the clan house and she was looking forward to being the one Asher would select as his Mate and Luna.
When she arrived at the hall, all the people looked at her, some of them murmuring, others just gazing expectantly. Ava immediately moved to the front of the stairs with her chin up and stood there in anticipation until the ceremony started.
At this point, she was almost ready to sit down, when a voice she knew all too well filled the hall loudly.
"Well, well, well. Look who it is." Ava turned to see her step-sister, Freya, standing behind her, flanked by her minion.
"I don't want any trouble with you tonight, Freya," Ava stated with a stern look on her face, she crossed her arms over her chest expecting to see what was going to unravel. "You know you cannot defeat me and any trick you will employ on me will not have an effect on me."
With a wicked glint in her eyes, Freya snarled, "You really are an idiot, you know that? Aren't you the witch coven or whatever, leading your people to their doom?" Ava cocked her head to the side, her face hard in a serious anger.
"Is that jealousy I smell?" Ava said, her tone sarcastic. "It must be really bad that you aren't part of the Capris clan at all, how must it feel to be an outcast witch's daughter with no powers of a witch but only a werewolf?"
Freya's cheeks burned and she moved closer to Ava, but the woman did not stop, her words slicing through Freya's heart continuously.
"You have to be so dumb not to understand that one side will always be superior to the other; witches are stronger than wolves, so your wolf is as puny as mine."
Freya's eyes glinted with fury, but before she could say anything, her mother, Melissa, interjected, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Don't you ever pick on your sister in that manner, Ava," Melissa said in a fake sympathetic tone.
Ava looked at her stepmother, her face hard. "At least I have a place where I am accepted, and I wasn't cast out of it with my powers and origin's blood taken from me. No matter how hard you try to fake it and act like a beta's wife, you are nothing but a woman who wants another woman's husband illegally."
Melissa's face went pale, uncomfortable, and she appeared to be shrinking under the words that Ava was saying to her. Freya appeared to be on the verge of slapping Ava out of anger, but she was not going to make a fool of herself in front of the men who she was so shamelessly flirting with. So she relinquished the thought.
Ava just sighed and looked back at the ceremony, her confidence and posture did not falter at all. She realized that she was in a better position than her stepmother and stepsister and the two could not confront her in public. When the ceremony started, Ava sat down, looking at Asher, her feelings towards him being only love and eagerness.
When she turned to look at the host, she smiled to herself as she knew that in a few minutes, she would be the Luna of the pack. She looked at Asher who was standing in front of her, smiling at her, and she felt the butterflies dance in her stomach and a red blush spread across her face. She was just falling in love with him over and over again and she could not believe that very soon, she would be his queen and Luna.
The host shouted out loud, "Welcome to the Mating Ceremony and the new Alpha." She listened carefully as he thanked the special guests and said that the new Alpha would be chosen and the Alpha would pick his mate with whom he has been bonding for the last few months.
When Asher was being crowned, happiness was evident on his face and she felt happy for him because he was finally getting what he wanted. All the things he said to her about using his power to make the pack and other packs better, she believed him, and she knew he would be a good Alpha, as he was a good mate to her.
Asher started his speech, expressing his gratitude for people coming to his coronation and stating that they knew about his work for the pack and the other neighboring ones.
He vowed to do even more as he was now the Alpha and also highlighted the importance of Luna in ensuring that they got what they wanted in the community at large.
He looked at her and she blushed, a pink tinge appeared on her cheeks and she placed her glass on the table, her pulse quickened. She could hardly believe it was actually happening, in the next few minutes she would be by his side as his Luna.
Asher went on, telling his future Luna that she would be a great partner and a leader, who would help him to make the pack better and lead she-wolves properly. He said that he loved her and the hall hushed in expectation waiting for him to shout out the name of his partner.
Then, he said it – "Freya!"
It was as if all life was pulled out of her. Had she heard right? This couldn't be right. She was the one he had been in love with for months now… what was going on? She was confused and shocked as she could not believe what she was going through.