The Rebel Alpha's Banished Mate

On the day of the Luna's funeral, the forest finally remembered itself.

Do you know that feeling when something's not quite how it should be?

You drink from the lake, but it doesn't really taste like anything. It doesn't quite quench your thirst.

You run through the forest without the breath of the wind on your skin.

The smell of morning dew - gone, the gentle evening breeze - gone.

The Old Forest.

The still forest. Not quite dead, yet. But not alive, either.

But not today. Today the forest itself cried. And it was angry.

I walked slowly among the trees, lantern in hand, protecting it from the storm.

I wasn't afraid. The forest was right to be angry. Besides, it was beautiful.

The sisters joined me along the way, each holding her own lantern. We were to initiate the ceremony.

But as I was walking, I couldn't shake this feeling. I kept looking west.

The feeling was always there. For whatever reason, my wolf had been reaching toward the west for as long as I could remember. But today, it was worse.

If not for the funeral, I don't know if I could have resisted it. Even though I knew what kind of people lived there, in the West Forest.

We emerged from the trees into the clearing. She was lying there, in the center. She looked as if she was sleeping. So peaceful.

After us, the pack members started to emerge. First came the old Alpha, led in by two Betas. Behind him came his son, Beta Garrett, who nevertheless already thought of himself as the Alpha. He was surrounded, as usual, by his sycophantic Elders, who always seemed to be whispering something in his ear.

Though he wasn't leading, everyone was watching him.

The Betas came after him. And Gammas, from all directions, holding their silver spears. Only then did the rest of the pack come. There were whispers. People were uneasy.

We surrounded the Luna and raised our lanterns. All pack members except the Alpha knelt. I glanced at him. He wasn't crying. He would, if he knew what was happening. He loved her, back when he still could.

My sisters and I started singing. I hated that part. I'd never seen any reason to do that. The Goddess didn't seem interested in our songs.

The forest sent a breeze. Our lanterns stopped burning at once, their fires going back into the forest. So did the Luna's wolf, presumably. If true, then she was finally at peace, free to roam the Old Forest forever.

I envied her.

Garrett, the Alpha's son, stepped forward. There was a murmur among the pack.

I stopped singing and observed. Garrett never wasted an opportunity to do something weird in public. Not even his mother's funeral seemed to have stopped him.

Garrett knelt before his father, who didn't even look in his direction.

Then he rose from his knees and started approaching us. I quickly stepped aside. He got past me and moved toward his mother.

"The Moon Goddess is crying with us tonight," he said, looking at the sky. "As well She should. She just lost her most devoted follower."

He knelt and touched her. It wasn't allowed, but he did it anyway. And no one dared say a word.

The Elders observed. They were right behind me now.

Then Garrett looked at me. My stomach tightened before I even knew what was going on.

"But we do need a Priestess, if not a Luna yet," he said.

Now the murmurs were louder. The Elders looked toward the people voicing their discomfort most loudly.

I hardly noticed. I just stood there, dumbfounded.

He stood up and started approaching.

I could feel my sisters' gaze. I opened my mouth, then took one step back.

The wolf within growled when I almost collided with the Elders standing right behind me.

"Grace, in the name of my father, I entrust this honor to your capable hands."

Saying that, he took my shaking hand in both of his.

"From this day forward, you will be our Priestess. Prove yourself, and you may become my mate someday."

I recoiled and pulled my hand free. It didn't seem to have bothered him.

"Goddess willing, a Luna," he whispered, so that only the Elders near us and I could hear him.

I slowly shook my head. People fell quiet.

The wolf within me stirred. She wanted out of here just as much as I did.

Why me?

I brushed a few strands of hair away from my cheek. They always did that. They never fell the way they were supposed to. People complimented me on my long, black hair, but I never understood why. I hated it.

Why was I thinking about my hair now?

"Grace?" Garrett narrowed his eyes.

Whatever he was plotting, I had absolutely no intention of being his toy.

I was given one choice here. But I decided to make another.

"I do whatever the Alpha commands," I said and turned to face his father. I bowed low.

The Alpha wasn't looking at me, though, or anything else for that matter.

For once, Garrett seemed to have forgotten how to speak. I looked him in the eye and waited.

I heard someone approaching from beyond the trees. It was Clover, the Gammas' general and my only real friend in this forest.

She knelt before the true Alpha. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she turned to Garrett.

"Beta Garrett." She stood up, leaning on her spear. "The scouts report rebels are moving against our positions. They'll arrive shortly."

All the air left my lungs in a sharp exhale.

A grimace appeared on Garrett's face. "Not even our mother's funeral is holy enough for my brother."

Clover glanced at me. "Beta Garrett, your brother Aaron is reported to be among the invaders."

That was the second time that day he'd forgotten how to speak. A reason to celebrate, if it weren't for the funeral.

What he had done to me moments ago almost didn't matter. The rebels were here. And their Alpha, too.

I'd waited years for this. A chance to get my revenge.

"The rebel king," Garrett said mockingly through his teeth. "Now? After all those years of hiding in the west?"

"What's more," Clover continued, ignoring his comment. "His mate, the rebels' so-called Luna, is coming, too."

His eyes lit up at that. He glanced at the Elders standing near him.

"Mobilize the Gammas at once," he ordered Clover. "I'll lead the defense."

He turned to me, smiling again.

"Priestess Grace. You'll support the soldiers during the defense. The rebels bring their false Luna. Let's see whose side the Goddess will choose."

Having said that, he transformed and ran off. Most of the pack followed him, but Clover stayed. I avoided her gaze. I needed her to be focused right now. We all did.

"Are you all right, Grace?" she asked anyway, of course.

"Go." It took me a moment. "Go, Clover. We need to be ready."

She looked at me for a while longer with those big, impossibly penetrating eyes of hers, but she knew me too well to press further. She turned and ran off.

I shot one last glance at the Luna in the center before I transformed too.

Anxiety, that was always the first thing I felt. My wolf was always anxious. Always reaching for something in the west.

So I reached for the trees and headed exactly there, like the others.

I tried not to think. Thinking was for later. I had this one chance to make things right. I knew my parents were counting on me.

I felt the rain on my face. I smelled the damp forest. These days, it was so rare for the forest to feel alive like that. Normally, I would cherish it. Not today.

I caught up to the rest of them. The Gammas were on the front lines, their silver spears ready. My sisters were already singing, trying to reach the Moon Goddess for the hundredth time.

On my right, far away, Garrett stood, and the Elders with their crimson hoods stood right behind him.

I looked ahead, into the West Forest. It didn't look that much different than ours.

But it felt different.

Not worse, exactly.

More dangerous?

But every new experience worth experiencing feels dangerous at first, doesn't it?

That was my wolf speaking. Here, now, on the edge of two worlds, she was so loud.

And, as usual, stupid.

Because I'd rather stay in the dying forest I could honestly call my home, among my friends, than mingle with murderers.

Clover approached me with her spear. "I heard what happened. The nerve this guy has..."

"He can say whatever he wants." I kept looking west. "It's not happening."

"Would it really be that bad, though?" Clover shrugged. "Garrett is wretched. That's exactly why we will need a great Luna."

"No."

She leaned on her spear, waiting for more, so I added: "I'm not meant to be anyone's Luna."

"Yes." Clover smiled. "If it was up to you, you'd just run around the forest all day."

She raised her spear and pointed it at me. "Grace, you were one of the Luna's disciples. You are not meant to just run around the forest forever."

I looked at the trees behind me. The storm was gone, but it was still raining.

"You don't get it," I said. "Running through the forest is the only time I can honestly worship Her. The only time I feel the Goddess."

I glanced at my sisters. "All this singing does nothing."

"Well, let's hope you're wrong," she said. "Because the rebels are close."

She nodded. I nodded back. Then she turned to her Gammas and howled.

And soon after, without any warning or grand entrance, the rebels appeared from among the trees.

The battle had begun.

I was supposed to be singing. Instead, I was observing the fight, ready to help if someone got injured.

Then I saw her, slowly walking from beyond the trees. And I knew at once where our Goddess had been.

The true Luna, I thought before I could form any other conscious sentence. I hated myself for thinking that.

But it was true.

She wasn't wearing white or any talismans. She wasn't even singing.

Her clothes were dirty and tattered. And yet wherever she looked, her soldiers were a little bit braver. Stronger. More devout.

And whenever someone was hurt and withdrew to the back lines, she was there to help.

The wolf within growled. But not at the rebels. I turned to see the Elders near Garrett. They were singing too, though I couldn't quite hear them.

It seemed to be working. Their songs distracted the Luna at first. Then she recoiled.

Before long, she wasn't helping anyone, fully consumed by the invisible battle she was waging against the Elders.

All of a sudden, I felt dizzy. I couldn't catch my breath. There were no songs. No battle.

I smelled him before I even saw him. Garrett's brother, the rebels' Alpha, Aaron.

They were twins, but they couldn't look more different.

Unlike Garrett, nothing about him was polished or controlled, except maybe the expression on his face. His black hair was ragged, his skin full of scars.

He was everything Garrett wished he was.

Somehow, I suddenly knew why my wolf had wanted to go West all this time.

I transformed before I even knew what I was doing. The wolf was leading now. There was no stopping it.

I was running toward him, charging right into the enemies' silver spears.

Before I reached them, someone ran into me. Clover and I both fell to the side.

"Grace, have you lost your mind?!" She transformed back and put her spear against my throat, her long blond hair now touching my face. "Transform back, now."

I bared my fangs, so she cut me with her spear. A narrow wound, just to make me feel the silver.

I howled, but I didn't care. All I could focus on was him.

I didn't have to look for him on the battlefield. I could smell him, even from here. The fresh water. The wind. The dew and the breeze. He was all that. He was what I had been searching for all this time, without even knowing it.

"Grace!" Clover screamed. She didn't have a choice but to let me go, because the enemy was already upon us.

I got to my feet. The Alpha was badly outnumbered now, defending his Luna, who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily. The Elders were closer to them now, and they sang louder.

My heart skipped a beat when our soldiers wounded him. He fell to the ground beside his mate. His soldiers went to his rescue at once.

I felt a sting of silver in my side.

And that was the last thing I felt.