The Luna's broken daughter

Talia Grey.

This was bad; this was very bad.

It was so complicated too. Not to mention that it would put Alpha Kael Fang in a tight spot. Alpha Kael was a rigid man, but the Moonfang clan would not deny the fact that he was a good leader. Surely, he would know what to do.

I dashed off as fast as my feet could carry me. Alpha Kael was the only one I trusted to make the best decision at this moment.

I moved so fast my eyes blurred, and my senses were too blunt to recognize the presence of a powerful wolf, but I ran into Luna Selene Fang.

"Why are you in so much of a hurry, Talia?" As usual, Luna Selene's voice was cold. I feared this woman, so my fingers began to shake automatically. My tongue felt numb. "Answer me, slave girl!" She snapped. Luna Selene was a very tall woman; unfortunately, her patience was not directly proportional to her height.

My lips trembled; my intuition told me to be quiet, to lie, to get out of her presence, but fear ruled with a stronger hand. "I found it," I breathed.

For several weeks now, the Alpha had been searching for his amulet. The amulet held so much power, and without it, he was almost raw and exposed. It was a powerful piece that had been passed down through generations of Alphas, too. It kept our village safe; its sacredness was the only reason for our peaceful living. And now, I had found it.

"Where? Where did you find it?" she asked, her eyes glowing with curiosity.

This was the hard part. "Jade's old trunk." My heart slammed against my ribcage as I said the words. This was bad. Because Jade was Luna Selene's first daughter. Luna Selene had only one child with the Alpha, Jared. She had brought Jade into the marriage. Nevertheless, the Alpha was kind enough to treat both children like they were his.

"I do not believe you!" the Luna snapped. "Take me to it!"

I obeyed immediately. Who was I not to? I had been a slave to the Alpha since I was 10, and now I was 19. I remembered nothing of who I was before I got here, but I remembered my first day in this house like it was a book I read yesterday. I discovered only when I was 15 that my previous memories had been erased because I wouldn't stop trying to run away.

"How did you find it?" Luna Selene snarled when we opened the box. Jade's trunk wasn't something I got to open on any random day, but today I could swear I had heard something call out to me from inside the box. It had called me by my name. Talia. But there were too many strange things inside the box, and I could not figure out what did it, and then the amulet caught my eye.

Luna Selene would not believe the truth. So I lied. "I wanted to clean it. It seemed too dusty."

She seemed to buy that, so she nodded her head and sighed. She looked disturbed, but I knew why. Just the day before, the Alpha had announced a death sentence for whosoever had stolen the amulet. When found, the person would be given thirty lashes for thirty days and would be killed if he did not die before the thirty days were over. It was a threat he made in a state of emergency; we had a festival by the weekend, and he needed the amulet for it.

To my surprise, Luna Selene's voice became calm and slightly warm. "Thank you so much for telling me about this, Talia; you do not know how grateful I am. I'll make sure to reward you. Who knows, maybe your days of being a slave will finally come to an end. Come here." She pulled me in for a very quick hug. "Now go back to the servant quarters and let me handle this. You will not tell a soul about what this is. Promise me." She pushed me. Her iciness was coming back to the surface.

I answered with trembling lips, "I promise."

"Good. Now leave," she ordered, but just as I turned, she pulled me back and draped her coat over me. "Here, take this; it's cold outside. Don't bother to return it. You deserve it."

It was the first gift she had given me in all my 19 years of working my ass off in this house. My heart wanted to burst. I fell to my knees in reverence of her as Luna. "Thank you, Luna."

She snorted but said nothing. I knew what she meant; such actions were meaningless from a werewolf without a wolf. I pushed the thought out of my mind; I would not let it ruin my mood.

The coat was warm against my shoulders. I had not gotten any new clothes since I was 16, and now the clothes I had were small and tight. It was still easy to wear because I had a small body. There was no extra nutrient to aid my growth when I worked my ass off for every meal I ate. We slaves ate twice each day, and it was always the survival of the fittest. I went a whole day sometimes without eating because I had no strength to fight for food. I had no wolf. Even kids younger than me would beat me to a pulp if I dared to challenge them.

I gathered the coat around my neck as I lay in a corner at the female servants' quarters. I wondered how the Luna intended to tell the Alpha that her daughter had stolen the amulet.

But an hour had barely passed by when I heard commotion outside; the door was kicked open before I made it to it, and it fell directly against my head, and my body slid to the floor as pain enveloped my head.

My world seemed to stop revolving when a guard pointed at me. "Seize the thief!"