Aria's POV 

I can recognize that voice anywhere. 

"I, Jessica Woods, challenge you, Luna Aria, for your position as Luna."

Gasps of surprise envelope the air. It's almost unheard of for a Luna to be challenged immediately after attaining the position. It can only mean that she is deemed as incompetent. 

"An Omega is unfit to rule the largest pack in Crescent Moon. She cannot even dream about filling the shoes that Former Luna, Margaret left." She finishes.

Loud murmurs fill the pack grounds, looks of disdain are thrown at me, in response to this revelation.

A loud snarl from my mate shakes the entire pack grounds. The whole place goes completely still. I grasp his arms tightly, the air feels suffocating, my palms grow wet with sweat.

He gently pries his arms off mine, taking powerful strides towards Jessica. Just as he gets to the farthest part of the podium, Aldin reaches out and grabs his shoulders whispering, though I could surprisingly make it out.

All this while, she stands completely still probably in order to avoid infuriating my mate more. 

"I know she deserves it but, please, it's not yet time."

My brows furrowed in confusion at this statement, what does he mean by that. 

"No one disrespects my mate, Aldin," my mate replies in utter irritation. 

"I know but if you do this, you prove that what she is saying is correct," Aldin continues, "Let Aria prove herself and gain respect, she has mine but needs the pack to look up to her."

"Fine, she better not spew any more nonsense," my mate all but growls out. He then scratches himself off Aldin and walks back to me.

"I'm sorry babe, I just couldn't stand and watch her disrespect you." 

I give him an award winning smile and mutter close to him, "You make me feel so special, I can't begin to explain how good that makes me feel."

His mouth opens to say something but a rough unladylike  voice cuts him off. 

"I, Misty Wardwick, challenge you Luna Aria to a fight for your position as Luna." A tall tan woman, with a short bob comes forward in the crowd. 

"I, Anita Miller, challenge you Luna Aria to a fight for your position as Luna."

I, Wendy Snow, challenge you Luna Aria to a fight for your position as Luna."

"What?" My mate roars at the challengers, they retreat in fear. 

"It's okay babe, I'll take care of this, okay," I say, taking a step in front of him to speak into the microphone. 

"At a point in my life, I would have succumbed to the doubts and harsh words, but now I have a loving mate and the best thing that ever happened to me, by my side." My mate's large hands wrap around my waist.

"Nothing can replace that, now I'm stronger than ever. The moon goddess knows exactly why she made us for each other and I think we're perfect for each other." I say with a loud voice giving the challengers a steely gaze.

"I accept your challenge, all of you," their eyes widened in shock. "If the moon goddess wills it I will emerge victorious, with or without a wolf." I finish cryptically. 

A pin drop can be heard in the silence. "That's the spirit, you go girl," Martha screams, pulling the crowd from their reverie. A round of applause breaks in the crowd, though I can still see some members of the pack shooting me disapproving looks.

"The Luna Trials will be held in three months," Kael says out loud. He then pulls me to his side and picks me up bridal style. With long strides, we get off the stage walking to his room.

He places me gently down, and heads towards his drawers, opening it in search of something. 

His room has a dull feel to it. Curtain drapes are plain black. The walls are painted grey, with a black duvet. He takes time in search of something then walks back to me in the dark. 

"Who is Margaret?" I ask, jealousy overtakes my senses.

He "She was my first mate, the one I mentioned in our conversation at the infirmary."

"I see," I don't know whether to give in to the jealousy that is clouding my senses. 

I take a deep breath, taking a moment to clear my head, his deep blue eyes peer at me in silence, probably gauging my actions. 

"Tell me more about her, I'd like to know why four she-wolves challenged me because she was mentioned."

He pulls on my arm and leads me towards the bed, sitting and getting comfortable. 

A heavy sigh escapes his lips, "She was my childhood friend and a sister to my Enforcer and close friend O'Brien. They were orphans from the wiped Maltis pack, the most powerful pack at the time. A lot of survivors from the pack had been appearing across pack borders. An older boy and girl were found and initiated into the pack. They grew nicely and were pretty strong, we suspected them to be of Alpha blood."

He looks at me with mild discomfort but continues, "She and I were particularly close and after the death of my father, I became an Alpha really young. When I became of age we discovered that we were mates, the whole pack was ecstatic. The attacks of the rogues had intensified by the borders, we tried having kids for awhile but it didn't work out. She was the best Luna to my pack, forming a personal bond with each and every one of them."

"I see," I mutter, feeling envious. My mate should only talk about me like this.

He chuckles at my expression, "No one can replace you my love. I'm just clarifying why the other she-wolves stepped up after what Jessica said."

"Okay, go on, I'd like to hear all of it."

"Sure, where was I again......., yes, she was ambushed and killed at the pack borders by rogues, it was a sudden and huge loss for myself and my pack."

I inhaled a sharp gasp, losing a mate was so painful that it made some wolves feral.

"I'm so sorry about that, but how did you get through it?" I asked in curiosity. 

"I almost went feral if not for the help of Aldin, O'Brien and the pack. Aldin took it upon himself to inject me with Wolf's bane in order to knock me out and stabilize me for short periods."

"Then why did you go for Jessica?" I ask, each word laced with so much venom.

"I needed an heir at the time, or else my lineage would be wiped out. The Elders of our pack chose Jessica, because she was strong and could give me "strong pups" as they claimed. There were no feelings attached to it, it was an obligation to the pack."

"Doesn't make me feel any better," I say with a pout evident on my lips. I fold my arms pushing my face to the side. I know I am being petty but I just want to be babied. I know none of these is his fault though.

A squeal escapes my lips as he pulls me to his laps then he places a necklace on my neck. Clasping it firmly, I place my fingers on the slightly weighty pendant. I lift myself off swiftly, rushing towards the mirror in his room.

My eyes widen at the intricate patterns around the pendant with a howling wolf at the middle of it.

"It's so beautiful," I utter in amazement.

"It has been in my family for over nine generations, given to Lunas at their mating ceremonies as a sign of eternal  commitment."

"Wait, so you gave it to your first mate?"

"This is about us, and no one else," he replies with a reassuring tone.

"No just answer me," I say pressing the matter.

"It never felt right to give her, I just never did," he says slowly, staring deep into my eyes.

A loud knock broke off our stare contest. My mate walks towards the door.

"I'd like you to meet someone." He mutters, twisting the  door knob and pulling it open.

"Come in, man." My mate turns towards me with a slightly shorter man towing behind him. With curly brown hair pulled up in a messy bun.

They approach me slowly, then stop right in front of me.

My mate clears his throat and says, "O'Brien meet my lovely mate, Aria. Aria, meet my Enforcer O'Brien.

"Well, hello Luna, it's an honour to finally meet you," the man says with a radiant smile on his face. 

My body goes completely still, his face looks eerily familiar. My mind spiralling, trying to remember a distant memory as I slip to the ground, my vision going completely dark.

Aria's POV 

I feel like I am teleporting to somewhere unfamiliar. The forest looks lush with a huge grassland and trees in sight.

An extremely beautiful blonde woman with white eyes, comes to view. She has a wooden staff in hand, the tip placed upon the head of a little girl. She begins to chant in an unfamiliar tongue.

"La thorno mobuele tinos vierde demunno lonas, pylas curo mantinis frielde kinku mun. Lonas kunfre mundi julnis modas."

A bluish glow surrounds the beautiful woman then swiftly slides into the wooden staff. The staff then explodes and the same bluish light envelopes the little girl. She rises above the ground for a short while and everything goes back to normal like it all didn't happen. 

The woman of mystery picks the little disoriented girl off the ground and turns behind her. I finally noticed a short unclear figure behind her, I hadn't seen it earlier. It seems to be a male probably early teens.

"Please, take her. I can't keep her safe any longer, he'll be here soon." She pushes the little girl into the hands of the figure.

He hesitates for a moment, then takes up the little girl and flees towards the opposite direction.

She follows them with a long gaze until they get out of sight. A loud growl disrupts the peace, what surprises me is that no one seems to notice me.

A huge black wolf littered with wounds slowly approaches the woman, its paws pounding hard against the forest floor. The mystery woman's face goes completely expressionless.

"You will never win, maybe not today but you will reap the excruciating pain you have caused..."

The wolf pounces on her in a giffy, gruesomely tearing her head off before she could complete her words.

"Noooooo," a scream rips through my throat, how can someone kill another without batting an eyelid. 

The wolf lifts its snout and releases a loud howl. Several other wolves respond with similar howls in the distance. 

A force pulls me from wherever this is, and my eyes push open, I peer around. I'm in Kael's room it would seem. Drops of sweat trickled down my skin.

"You're awake," my mate says with glee.

"I......" my voice sounds patched. "Water," I say with my voice breaking. 

"Sure thing, Kitten." He rushes to the cupboard table beside me and gives me a hand pulling me in a sitting position. 

"Drink, love," he urges, placing the cup against my lips and tilting it a bit, soon it gets empty. 

"You want more?" He asks with concern.

"No, I'm good." My voice sounds a lot less croaky.

He heaves a loud sigh and sits by my bed, turning to face me.

"The doctor couldn't figure out why you were out cold, but he mentioned that you look a lot healthier than before," he stares at me lovingly. 

"He insisted that you're fine and it's probably something minor, you were out for six hours." He finishes with concern evident in his tone.

"I feel fine, I promise," I say soothingly to ease his worry. "Hope, I didn't make a bad first impression to your friend?"

"He is worried about you and is right outside the door. He's beating himself claiming that he probably overwhelmed you." My mate explains with a resounding chuckle. 

"Let him in, I feel bad he thinks so." I urge him, nodding towards the door.

"Fine, Kitten," my mate's eyes glaze over for a moment, not long after I hear a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in, O'Brien."

The door knob twists and the door pushes open. The familiar face from earlier comes into view, this time looking a little guilty but still friendly. 

He then clears his throat, "Hello, Luna I'm sorry if I overwhelmed you, it's nice to meet you again." He shifts uneasily on both feet.

I smile brightly at him which seems to ease him up a tad bit.

"Hello O'Brien, Kael has told me a lot about you, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Luna." He says finally at complete ease. He shoots my mate a brief look then stares back at me with a mischievous look.

"Would you like to know about Kael's embarrassing moments in middle and high school?" He asks with glee to the detriment of my poor mate, who releases a low growl paired with a dark glare.

I laugh at their childish antics and encourage him, "Sure, I'd love to hear every part of it."

"Well, well kids don't make me regret allowing you guys to meet." My mate says jabbing O'Brien a little hard. 

"Ouch, Kael," Obrien whines.

"I didn't even hit you that hard," My mate says blankly.

"Tell him sorry," I nudged him gently.

"Fine, sorry," he says, not sounding the least remorseful. 

"I'd better get out of here before your jealous mate eats me alive," O'Brien says playful, then heads out the door.

A comfortable silence fills the room.

"You know this is the third time you're getting unconscious within a rather short interval of time." My mate says unable to reach my eyes.

"It pains me to know that I'm unable to protect you as a mate should," he continues. 

"You are not at fault, Kael, you've protected me better than anyone ever did." I say with conviction. 

"Don't pull yourself down, you mean so much to me and my heart breaks seeing you beat yourself up like this."

"Calm mate down," Willow says soothingly in my head.

"Let me out, please Aria, I also want to talk to, mate." I allow her to take over.

"Hi mate," Willow says to our mate, taking off the blankets and sitting atop his laps facing him. Her voice sounds so powerful and soothing at the same time.

"What's your name, little one," Kael answers her with so much adoration. 

"I'm Willow," She bats her lashes at him, "Can I meet your wolf, please."

"Sure thing, Kitten, I can't tell you no." His eyes turn completely black.

"Hello mate, I finally get to meet you," Kael's wolf says with a deep authoritative voice.

"What's your name," Willow says in admiration, her usual sassy self now gone because of her mate. I'd make sure to use this against her soon.

"I'm Alec, and I've been waiting for you a while. We're worried for you my love, and feel you're carrying a lot of weight and past wounds but we can't do anything about them until you let us in."

Willow kisses her teeth, "Alec, you are the best mate ever, don't beat yourself over things that are out of your control and have happened before you even knew that I existed." 

"Aria has some past wounds she's yet to heal from. The members of the Blood Moon pack really hurt her. She was an orphan in the pack and was always looked down upon. It got worse when she couldn't shift, they deemed her wolfless and worthless. In fact, even when I made my presence known to her in the back of her mind she told no one."

"She never knew what it meant to be cared for until she came to this pack." Willow finishes.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, I wouldn't have even let them in the pack if I had known it was this bad " he says in regret. "I knew that your former pack treated lower ranking wolves badly but didn't know it was this bad."

"Even Omegas treated her badly, at least they had wolves." Willow says with venom. "They thought her to be nothing but trash and even the fact that they called her runt or worthless Omega was an elevation."

"They also abused her physically, the scars faded after I reappeared again. A painful occurrence had almost killed me since I took most of the pain."

A deep guttural sound escapes his lips, "Who laid their hands on you, tell me and they will be taken care of. Also what was the painful occurrence that occurred."

"Should I tell him about the rejection?" Willow asks me in my mind.

I whimper softly remembering the ache it caused me. "Go ahead, I don't have the strength to tell him yet."

"Well I was....."

A knock on the door interrupts me. A loud voice follows.

"Alpha, Luna there's an issue at the borders."

Alpha Kael's POV 

Alec gives her an inquisitive stare. She is opening herself to us and there is also an emergency with the pack. Alec slowly drifts back to my mind giving me back control.

She nods approvingly and I dash towards the door, twisting the doorknob open. I race down the hallway, shouting orders to my warriors to make sure women who aren't warriors and children are hidden well. 

Wait, I need to warn her not to leave the pack house for any reason.

I turn around, and return to our room, "Babe," She lifts her head, a curious gaze on her face. 

"Please, don't leave the pack house for anything, in fact don't leave my room at all."

I mindlink Martha to rush down here and stay with my Kitten, and also bring a guard along to protect them both in case there has been an infiltration.

Martha pushes the door open, I give her a nod and speed past her out of the door. Partially shifted, I let Alec have control of certain parts of my consciousness. Perks of being a Lycan, I still had reign over my consciousness. 

My warriors wait for me and follow me closely behind in a trained and orderly file. We are the most powerful pack for a reason, forming a wide V shape. An eerie feeling creeps into my mind like something bad is going to happen. I'm certain Martha sealed them in my room but I can't seem to shake off the feeling.

My head warrior, Gad, fills me in on what happened earlier. "Alpha, a group of eight rogues, carried out a surprise attack on the Eastern border patrol. They were overpowered but the last one left alive for questioning insisted on asking a message to you."

"Any casualties?" I ask, pride bubbling in my chest, at their defeat. Those rogues never give up, no matter how many times we win.

"Nothing serious, Alpha. Wade got bitten but he's been taken to the infirmary. It's a minor injury." 

"Well, you seem to have trained them all very well, I'm impressed." I say out of character.

Gad's eyes met mine and widened in shock then stammered out "Th.....thank you, Alpha."

Aria's presence has done something to me. My harsh and abusive childhood made me cold and unyielding until she came along.

A pungent stench fills my nostrils as I race into the trees heading towards the Eastern borders, where the issue stemmed from. We reach the borders in minutes, since we wolves can cover miles in minutes. 

I shift back to my human form, and collect a pair of pants given to me by a warrior. Several bodies littered the grassy ground and two men and a young lady stood over a bloody man. 

His eyes were blood shot and unfocused, the pungent stench from earlier is worse now showing their feral state.

"Alpha," the border patrol greeted me in unison, bowing their heads with respect. 

I give them a firm nod. Then I address the bloody rogue, "You said you have a message for me?"

"'Ahhhh Alpha Kael, I'm privileged to be in your presence," the bloodied rogue exclaims with a mocking bow.

"To what do I owe this cowardly attack?"

"Well, my Alpha has a message for you, he says that he that has great treasure should try by all means to keep it safe." He gives me a wry smile.

"Speak plainly rogue," I say, infuriated by his cryptic words. 

"Keep your darling Luna safe, because my Alpha is coming to collect." His voice resounds in the open forest.

A guttural growl escapes my lips, how dare he threaten my mate. Alec pushes forward in my mind and I let him, partially shifting. 

I draw my claws across his face slowly tearing into it. His screams are like songs to my ears. Alec growls in anger and says, "I'll give you a taste of why I'm feared across the packs in Crescent Moon, since you have the audacity to threaten my mate."

I pull him by his neck from the ground and rip his head off clean with my teeth. I raise my head and release a loud howl. Most members of my pack fall to their knees at the powerful aura I was emitting.

I catch a whiff of a strange scent immediately noting that we are under attack.

"Protect the borders, don't let anything or anyone pass the borders." I bark orders to my warriors through the mindlink. I am able to speak with particular persons at the same time through the mindlink if I please.

"For Cantara,"  I shout out. 

"For Cantara," they chorus.

I can see figures rush in our direction from outside the pack lands. As they approach us a horrible stench fills our nostrils. 

"It can be a trap, let them approach us," I caution. "I sense eighty heartbeats, we can take them out, let the remaining warriors stay at their stations."

"Archers, ready," Gad orders. Unknown to most, Omegas within my pack that do not have a wolf are trained in Archery, swords and other weapons. I do not believe that any one is weak even when they don't have a wolf.

The Archers are hidden within the trees and have mastered the art of hiding their scent. They are an elite team, very few people know of their existence. 

The rogues are finally close enough, "Fire, now," Gad shouts into the mindlink. A rain of silver arrows laced with a good amount of Wolf's bane pours out at the unsuspecting assailants. More than half of them drop convulsing on the ground, the rest show confusion and seem to want to retreat.

"Attack, now," I order authoritatively through the mindlink. We go after them, with me taking the lead, followed by high ranking wolves. I had left Aldin on pack grounds in case of emergencies. 

I tear into a sandy brown wolf in front of me, ripping his neck out in seconds. I then turn and fling off a large grey wolf, going for the neck of a young warrior, who had blood gushing out from a large slash on his leg.

The young warrior gives me a grateful stare and I utter, "Go on high ground, you're too wounded to keep up with the fight." He nods in appreciation and limps away. My eyes follow him to ensure his safety. 

A loud snarl makes me tear my gaze from him. An enormous brown wolf with white stripes has its eyes on me, giving me a silent challenge. I sense nine other wolves discreetly covering him.

I return his predatory gaze with a menacing growl and speed at him. I dash towards him in the twinkle of an eye, funny how he thinks he can challenge me and live. I rip his heart out before he can flinch.

I move swiftly and almost unseen, ripping through the remnants of the wolves left. After my last kill, I let out a loud howl of victory. Countless howls can be heard across the entire pack. 

"Good job, guys." I say rie seeing through each word.

"Kael, Kael someone is here I can sense it," my mate whispers through the mindlink.

I take a turn speeding, towards the pack house where I had left her. My warriors sensing my distress follow not far behind.

"Aldin check on your Luna and Martha," I say with worry to Aldin through the mindlink.

"She's not here, Alpha," he replies in seconds. "It seems they got out the window, the guard you left is still at the door."

"Where the hell are you, mate," I ask her through the mindlink.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was a trap, I heard a scream for help and I convinced Martha to come along." She replies timidly, guilt evident in her tone.

"Where are you now?"

"We headed west to an abandoned cabin, but when we noticed it being a trap, we hid by a tree close to the waterfall," She says.

"Hold on, Kitten, stay close to Martha. She is a seasoned warrior and will take good care of you." I say consoling her.

"We are outnumbered, three to two and the worst thing is I'm no warrior. Please hurry, Kael."

"I'm almost there, my love." The thing is I have a very vast land mass. Now they are in the west and I'm coming from the Eastern border. 

"Noel," I called out through the mindlink of the head of the West border patrol. He doesn't reply. "Carter," I called out again to his second still no reply.

"Something is definitely wrong," I tell Gad. "Go check out those patrolling the west," I finished.

A loud scream sounding like that of my mate pulls me from this and I speed up, if that even possible towards the sound. 

I reached the scene way before anyone else could. First, I see three mangled, lifeless bodies by the waterfall. Then, there was my mate crouched over crying over an almost lifeless Martha with blood gushing out her throat.