Asena
"Are you willing to attend every night for thirty days?"
The elder's voice was flat and ceremonial as he stared hard at us.
"Yes," I nodded.
"Yes," Caspian echoed. His gaze was locked on mine across the narrow space between us, like he was daring me to look away first.
"Are you willing to be seen in public together? To perform the appearance of courtship for the duration of the Festival of the Seven Moons?"
My breath caught. "Yes."
"Yes." His voice was low and rough at the edges.
"You will be observed, evaluated and held to the standards of the selection process. You may be placed in situations that require both physical and social proximity. Can you set aside whatever exists between you for the sake of this arrangement?"
I swallowed hard. My eyes dragging to him slowly, against my better judgment, while wondering how much the Council knew about what was going on between him and me.
Did they already know I'd broken the one rule that could get a woman killed?
"I can," I said.
"I can," he answered, and the corner of his mouth moved, barely – not quite a smile. Something more dangerous than a smile
The air between us pulled tight with everything we weren't saying.
How did we even get here?
I asked myself again, and the answer unravelled from the beginning, the way all complicated things did – slowly, and then all at once.
Let me start from the start.
~~~
If Asena Riven were a different kind of girl – the soft, patient, quietly suffering kind that Black Seed Pack preferred—she would tell this story gently.
She would begin with once upon a time and arrange the facts into something palatable, moving carefully around the parts that made her sound like someone with very little left to lose.
Well, she's not that kind of girl.
So here is the truth, plainly:
My name is Asena Riven, the illegitimate daughter of Alpha Thierry Riven of Black Seed Pack, located in the Southern Mountains. By day, I am a maid in my father's pack house, picking up after everyone and existing in whatever corner I'm allowed to occupy.
By night, I am the Midnight Luna—the best-kept secret in the territory.
I won't explain the full details of what that means just yet. You'll have to keep reading to find out.
What I'll tell you is this: I have a gift. Something that lives inside me that is not quite wolf. I have never shown it to anyone, nor have I tried to explain it. I discovered it when I was ten years old and decided it was safer as a secret.
For ten years—almost eleven now—I've built my entire nightlife around it.
For twenty years, I've endured being treated as a misfit by everyone, but I'm done with it. Done with this pack and its rigid, suffocating rules and done with a world that decided, one hundred years ago, to replace the mate bond with a social ladder and call it civilisation.
I'll be twenty-one in thirty-three days, which is the only thing I care about right now. Thirty-three days is how long I have to survive before I can walk out of this pack and never look back.
The problem is…I've been selected, for the first time, as one of the candidates for the Festival of the Seven Moons. And if I don't pass the Rite of Verification first, I wouldn't make it to my twenty-first birthday at all.
"Let me reach my twenty-first birthday," I murmured to the circle of old stones blackened by years of offerings. I knelt before the largest rock, my knees pressing into damp earth. "Save me from the Seven Moons Festival. Convince Alpha Riven to let me leave. That's all I'm asking for."
I rose to my feet and spread the handful of dried silver-bark leaves across the stone, followed by a pinch of salt, a drizzle of honey I'd stolen from the kitchen last night and a sliver of dried fruit.
The Moon goddess didn't need much. She wasn't a greedy deity.
I took a deep breath and bowed my head until my forehead nearly touched the stone, sincerely hoping she would answer my prayers this time.
Just as I turned to pack up my praying gear, a faint horn sounded from the direction of the pack house.
I lifted my head, frowning as the sound came again. It wasn't the morning call for servants or a patrol signal. What could it be?
I listened for the third blast and gasped, immediately grabbing my praying bag before breaking into a sprint. It was the sound used to alert the pack when important guests were arriving.
But at this hour? It was barely seven in the morning.
Regardless, I kept running.
I reached the front of the pack house just as multiple black cars rolled to a stop in the circular drive. I slipped into the servant's line at the back, smoothing my hair and trying to breathe normally.
Alpha Riven stood at the top of the front steps in his formal collar, his rank displayed proudly. Beside him were Beta James and two senior pack elders, all dressed in ceremonial attire. They'd clearly known the guests were coming.
One of the guards rushed to open the first car's door, and immediately, the air grew dense as a thick alpha aura flooded the courtyard.
The servants around me, who were mostly omegas, began trembling, their lips quivering under the pressure. Thanks to my alpha bloodline—the one useful thing my father had ever given me—I was barely affected.
From the first car, two men stepped out. I kept my gaze lowered, catching only glimpses of expensive, polished shoes and the hems of identical travel coats.
Out of curiosity, I lifted my eyes just enough to catch a glimpse of their faces.
I suppressed a gasp as identical faces stared at me.
They were alphas from their signet rings and collars like my father's, and were identical twins. They also had golden hair and, of course, the unmistakable arrogance of young alphas who saw no reason to suppress their aura.
Someone kicked me from behind, a warning to keep my head down. I lowered my gaze quickly, but not before catching a glimpse of the third man.
It was another alpha with darker hair, a quiet smile and surprisingly, his aura was contained.
The three Alphas started up the stairs toward Alpha Riven. Since I stood closest to the steps, the twin Alphas passed directly in front of me, their combined aura swept over me like a wave, choking me.
A dizzying spell hit me hard, and my vision blurred at the edges. I was sure I was going to fall when I felt strong arms catch my waist, steadying me.
The dizzying spell passed, and I found myself looking into the greenest pair of eyes I'd ever seen. It was the dark-haired Alpha.
"Are you alright?" the Alpha asked quietly.
Everyone was staring in our direction now. I even felt my father's glare burning a hole through me.
I righted myself and stepped back from the Alpha's hand.
"I'm fine," I said.
"You nearly –"
"I said I'm fine," I snapped.
Then, because thirty-three days was a long time and patience had always been my least developed virtue, I added at a volume I perhaps should have reconsidered carefully:
"No thanks to whoever decided it was acceptable to walk through a crowd of omegas with an uncontrolled aura. Some of us have to stand here."
The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them instantly.
One of the twins on the top of the stairs stopped mid-step and turned. He was staring at me now, his expression unreadable.
I had the decency to lower my eyes, not feeling slightly remorseful.
"Did the maid just…" he started.
"She did," his twin confirmed, amusement colouring his voice.
The first twin descended two steps, his aura wrapping around me, tightening like a fist until I could feel my knees threatening to buckle. Still, I didn't give him the satisfaction of crumbling.
"You should," he said with hardness in his eyes, "be very careful about what comes out of your mouth next."
"And you," I replied in the same quiet tone, meeting his eyes, "should be very careful about what comes out of yours. Aura, specifically. There are people on the ground."
And I was not wrong. Two maids had actually sunk to their knees. Most of the others were barely keeping their composure.
The twin's expression shifted into something colder, and his aura intensified, pressing me harder as he took another step.
My gaze dropped to the ground as I fought against the pressure seeping into every pore in my body.
The crowd had gone completely still. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for some reaction, which of course would not be death. I wasn't even afraid of dying.
He was in my face now. Slowly, I raised my gaze and met his, refusing to take a step back.
At the back of my already aura-addled brain, I knew this was probably the least intelligent thing I'd done all week. I could die instantly if he raises his aura more than this, but for some stubborn reason, I refused to back down.
"Asena."
Everything stopped.
The voice came from the top of the stairs. Slowly, I broke my gaze from the twin alpha and looked up.
Alpha Riven. His expression was unreadable.
"That's enough," He said quietly. "Step back."