Fated

❀ L I L Y ❀

"Stand up straight, Lilian," my mother said in a chiding tone, "A Luna is poised at all times."

I was usually a patient and dutiful daughter, but even I had my limits. After all, the fitting for my Luna ceremony dress had now stretched into its third hour, and I was feeling rather hot under all the tulle.

I scolded myself for thinking that way as my mother's words echoed in my head.

A Luna is never frustrated or upset; she must always be as sweet as candy, as delicate as a snowflake, and as graceful as a swan.

The anger and intensity was meant to be left up to Alphas while Lunas were more prized for their gentle hearts than their, often rather absent, minds.

This was simply the reality that I had grown up with, and the traditional roles of the Alpha and Luna spanned back for generations in our pack.

I brightened up and politely replied with my customary: "Yes, mother."

Although many of the Luna traits came naturally to me, the endless tutoring sessions with my mother had taken quite a toll on my composure.

But tonight that would all change, because Archer and I had reached our eighteenth birthday. At the age of eighteen, us werewolves have the ability to sense our mates by scent. Now, Archer and I could finally claim our rightful roles as mates and leaders of the pack, which means no more etiquette lessons for me.

I smiled dreamily thinking about my future with Archer. For the past eighteen years, the two of us had been practically inseparable.

There was a clear connection between us from the day we were born, the same day that is, only minutes apart from each other.

From the beginning, the differences in our personalities were quite clear: I came out so quiet, without a single cry, that my parents were worried there was something wrong with me. Archer on the other hand came out kicking and screaming so loud that patients across our pack hospital could hear him.

But the moment he saw me in the nursery, he calmed. The two of us had a very clear connection, even though I was the daughter of an Alpha and he was of no powerful lineage.

My parents were unsure of how to handle such a relationship, one that they had no experience with. The two of them had been arranged as mates, purely as a power play. But it seemed that the bond between Archer and I was something much more.

So they went to our pack's Elder, a shriveled woman who was more wrinkles than skin. When she came to our pack decades ago, she claimed to have been blessed by the Moon Goddess with the ability to see the future. All of her visions thus far have become a reality. The whole pack revered her for her gift, although she was known to be rather reclusive.

Upon seeing Archer and I, she was instantly granted a prophecy but one that was unlike any of the visions she had before.

She prophecised the existence of a strong and fierce future Alpha for our pack, but one that would have to overcome the obstacles of their own nature. Not only that, the Alpha's mate would be fragile and delicate, yet just as integral to the pack. She warned that without this Alpha pairing, the pack would undoubtedly collapse.

The pieces all fell into place in the minds of my parents. Archer would be able to overcome his low rank to be a powerful Alpha, and I fit the description of the Alpha's mate to a T. Because I was the firstborn daughter of an Alpha, it was customary for my mate to inherit the title anyway. Waiting until we were eighteen seemed to be just a formality considering the connection we already had and the prophecy we had heard.

My parents were disgruntled at first, being part of an earlier generation of weres who were not particularly fond of interclass mating. Nevertheless, they knew better than to tempt fate, and they reluctantly allowed Archer and I to develop our relationship.

Not that our relationship had gone very far beyond friendship. I had always been a bit traditional and a romantic, and I wanted to wait until we officially mated to start a more romantic relationship.

However that wasn't for a lack of daydreaming on my part. I had spent many a night lying in bed, imagining his strong arms around me. I would then scold myself for my impure thoughts, and my cheeks would take a rosy hue as they did often.

"It looks so good!" The voice of my friend Mara snapped me out of my daydream. She gazed at my dress with admiration. Mara was the Beta's daughter and, besides Archer, no one knew me better.

I looked into the full length mirror. I looked like a princess in my shimmery ball gown. All my life I had been called cute, as my dainty features and petite frame would suggest. But today, I felt beautiful.

"Are you ready?" Mara asks.

Before I could answer, my mom interrupted, barking orders to the seamstress to make yet another adjustment to my dress.

I wait patiently as I was trained to do before answering with slight hesitation: "Yes...I'm ready."

Tonight was the night I would finally step into my fated role. The night I would finally become the Luna.