Chapter 1 The Rejected Luna.

Chapter 1

Mira's POV.

"By the power vested in me ..." His voice rang out, clear and commanding.

Then, nothing.

A hush swept through the crowd like a divine pause. Not murmur. Not a single...

But it wasn't fear that held us.

No. It was a joy. A glorious, unfilter joy.

The one that simmers in the belly before erupting into song and dance.

Everyone could feel it, like a firecracker rippling into the air waiting to explode.

Smiles boom like wildflowers and laughter on the edge of silence. This was my moment. My day. The day everything changed.

My hand trembled, not from fear but from joy, so violent in my chest that it would burst.

And then,

"I declared you an outcast!"

The word slices through like a blade through silk.

"What!" The word tore from my lips before I could stop.

Heavy gasp rippled through the crowd, sharp and unifying.

"Uhh..."

Like a stubborn wind that had knocked off mature fruit from a coconut tree. A stunned, collective moan of disbelief .

Then silence returned. This time it was different. It was Suffocating.

No celebration. No laughter. Just shock. Rude shock.

"Pack your things , get out of stormfang park now and never return! "

The word echoed into me. My heart dropped. I felt like I was drowning. Like the earth should open up and swallow me. Everything around me started spinning.

My eyes almost bulged out of my socket in shock. My vision became cloudy. Sweat trickled from the center of my head to every part of my body including my private parts.

It felt like every piece of my bones were shattered. Like It was shattered into pieces to be fed upon as lunch to the birds in the air.

This wasn't our plan. Never part of what I and Jax's planned.

"You are no longer a virgin, you have been deflowered... your blood has been stained and cursed for the land. Hence, you are not fit to be the ideal Luna for our newly crowned king."

I summoned the courage to speak. No one dared face him or challenge his decision. His authority is set in stone and shakes the four corners of our pack. His crimson eyeball speaks volume of the power he weld in this pack.

I quickly observed the elders on the seat murmuring and talking with one another.

I know them. I know their evil works. They are about to spread them like infectious diseases.

I summoned the courage.

If I die. I die. At Least fate would remember me for standing for the truth and standing against injustice.

"So what? Has this not been the wish of our ancestors since ages past, for the king to mate with her virgin Luna on the eve's night of his ascension to the throne? " I muttered to myself I wanted him to finish his statement.

"Oh! Sorry to shock you, you are very unlucky this time." Elder Dorian countered, his face devoid of remorse.

"About what exactly?" I uttered with annoyance. His words had begun to irritate me. I frowned my face, my vision strolled to and fro on him and all the elders on their seats backbiting while some of them looked at me in despair and hate.

I could not explain why I had been hated so much.

I could also not explain what came over me? When and how the trembling I had experienced a few moments back had suddenly transformed into boldness.

I needed an explanation. Someone needs to talk. Someone's dignity, hope, and aspiration is being dashed and toiled with here.

"A virgin who happens to be the king's Luna should be the only one to warm the king's bed on the night of his coronation." He stated cruelly and without remorse.

"It wasn't our choice either, it was from the oracle. And you too know the repercussions that follow the rebellions to the oracle's command." A voice from one the elders in the crowd added.

It happened 24 hours ago, When Jax Redmane stormed out of his black tinted sedan car. His regalia and perfume speaks volume of the command he welded and the home he emanated from . The two guards who had followed had stayed behind with the car.

Everyone in the neighborhood knows when such cars are packed in front of our house. It was to visit only one person.

Me.

He entered the house with authority.

I could hear the distance voice of him,

"I am here for Mira." I could hear the distant voice of Jax conversing with my aunt.

"Won't you say hello to ... ?" My aunt pointed to the direction of the stairs which links to ivy's room.

I could watch their conversation from upstairs from my little room.

"Is that how you forget things easily?" Jax questioned. His expression had changed from the little politeness he had offered my aunty earlier to rudeness. "How many times do I have to tell you that there is nothing your daughter and I can have together?

"I'm sorry my Lord." she responded. And as Jax began to walk away from her presence, "...and lest I forget,congratulations for stepping into the shoes of your father as the new king of stormfang pack. We are all preparing to meet in the palace tomorrow."

No response from Jax. I knew that didn't sit well with him. He hates such congratulatory messages full of praise-singing and mockery.

My aunt quickly cleared her path for Jax passage to locate me in my small room at the topmost floor of the building.

The expression was very easy to read on my aunt's face. Stoned face. Hatred mixed with...

I watched my aunt looking at Jax dejectedly and with intense fury as he turned his back to locate the stairs that connect to my room.

This had been my aunt's wish and plot with Sienna for a long time.

To be the Luna of the stormfang pack.

Jax came into my room without knocking.

I had to pretend. That my hands are tight. That I was busy. The ceremony wasn't until tomorrow. He could have sent one of his guards but he came himself.

I bent over the drawer, slowly folding my clothes just to look busy.

His footsteps were loud and steady, like a warrior returning from the battlefield, each step echoing with some unspoken weight. I took a glance at him.

His face was carved in stone. Eyes stormy, lips tight like someone had just died in the palace.

A kind of sadness clung to him like smoke. Very thick, silent and choking.

This wasn't Jax I knew. Not the boy who once tied ribbons on hair or taught me how to climb a sycamore tree.

Not the same boy who later became my fated mate. So, I knew everything about him like the back of my palm. His joy, his rage and even his heartbreak.

I dropped my shirt and moved towards him. The air between us thickens with something unspoken.

He didn't look up. His elbows rested on his knees, head bowed, eyes fixated to the ground like it had all the answers.

Jax." I whispered, kneeling in front of him. "What is wrong my king?"

At the sound of my voice, his head lifted slightly. His eyes met mine, deep, dark and swimming with something heavy. Regret. Maybe, Guilt or Pain.

His jaw twitched. He did speak but his eyes did. They clung to mine like they were searching for peace, like he was drowning and I was the only breath he had left.

The question, 'what is wrong my king?', I had whispered to him many times. When he was fifteen. When he lost his father. It was a key that always opened the door of his heart.

Jax didn't speak. He reached into his inner pocket of his coat and dropped something into my hand.

A red envelope.

I squeezed my brow, looked into Jax's face.

"What is this all about?"

"Open it." He managed to speak.

I eventually did.

It reads,

Congratulations alpha Jax Redmane for you to ascend your fathers' throne as the rightful alpha of stormfang pack. The following sacred rites must be done. The following sacred rites must be fulfilled

1. You must deflower your fated mate before the moon sets. Her virgin blood must seal your bond and your worthiness to be king.

2. The handkerchief enclosed must be used to collect your mate's blood for the final Passover of the high moon council.

3. Failure to perform this rites, before sunrise will lead to the throne passed to the Vexhood bloodline. The consequences from the gods will be swift and deadly. You have twenty four hours. The gods have spoken.