Bound To The Alpha's Heart: His Silver-Eyed Luna

~Laia~

I stand in line with the others my age, and some a little older. The almost-19-year-olds who weren't old enough last year at this time, stand at the beginning of the line. Maybe they feel more eager than I do... or maybe they're just as nervous. All of us wait for the Moon Ritual to begin.

Elder Nyssara, wearing her ceremonial robes, chants in a self-important voice, "Once a year, under the sacred Winter Solstice Moon when the Longest Night rules the skies, the Goddess wanders the earth to bless this Water of Fate. Drink, and if not scorned by the Moon, you shall sense your destined one."

My eyes dart from the elder and the bowl of Water of Fate in her hands to the one person I can't stop thinking about. Blue eyes lock on me, face cold and demanding my obedience.

The line shuffles forward, the girl in the front eyeing the pearl bowl with at least 5 emotions on her pretty face. I rub my sweaty palms on my jeans, my heart in my throat, and look back at him again.

His eyes, full of malice, haven't moved from me.

Oh, damn me for daring to dream. For daring to wish. For thinking, even for a second, I could have this night like a normal girl. For f*ck's sake, I shouldn't even be excited.

Cael, our Alpha's eldest son... All I can remember is last night and the threat he pressed into me.

"Say you're mateless, Laia." His warning crashes into my head, flat and cold as river ice, leaving no room for argument.

I blink. Once. Twice. Reality rushes back.

Drums beat low and steady in the night, each sound matching the fast thump of my heart. The full moon shines high above the peaks of the trees, its silver light covering the clearing where the giant fires burn bright on both sides.

I'm about to walk down and drink that water. The same water I dreamed about for eighteen years. And even after I drink, I'll have to lie.

What if I don't? What if...

"No matter what you feel, Laia... don't you dare say a thing." His voice thunders in my skull again. It isn't last night anymore, but I can still feel his fingers like iron around my wrist, his stare like winter. He barked orders and didn't stop.

Even if I wanted to refuse...I can't. Cael's trying to prove more than a f*cking point.

"Think carefully, Laia. Whatever stupid decision you make, remember your little brother. Unless you want Liam to lose everything, his Alpha's favor, his school, his meals, his future. I can strip it all away with a single word." The words landed like hammer blows.

Liam's face flashes in my mind, small, stubborn, trusting. The memory pins me harder than any hand ever could.

Names are called. One by one, people step up to the stone basin.

My gaze darts to Cael again, looking for something, anything