The Sun was slightly going down giving a presence to the moon hoping to perk up in the Sky. The Crescent moon pack was as quiet as it could ever be ruled by a strong and considerate Alpha, Alpha Nathan.
He made the pack to be as peaceful as ever ruling it with a fine touch, he was ruthless and cocky at the same time but he never neglected his pack.
A beautiful house close to the woods with a tiny garden and a small porch lived the brother of the Alpha with his family, he had a beautiful and cheerful daughter with a young and agile son.
"Bella come down for dinner?" His wife Whitney called and Bella came running down with her little brother Olive.
"Careful kids" Isaiah their father said.
"Dad, after eating can we play in the woods just for a little while?" Olive requested of his father shining his perfectly white teeth at him. The seven year old boy knew his father could never resist his smile and he was right.
"Okay but don't stay out too long?" He reprimanded even the woods was safe because it was still within the Crescent moon pack.
Olive grinned happily, he always liked the beautiful moments when Bella would tell him a story while the moon raised up in the sky.
He hastily finished his dinner and grabbed his seventeen year old sister by the hand out of the house.
"Slow down" Bella said but he wasn't having it as he ran through the woods to their usual spot.
Bella placed a blanket on the ground and they sat on it with his tiny head resting on her arm.
"Bella, do you think I can ever be Alpha" he asked his knowledgeable sister for the confirmation of words his father told him.
"You can be anything you want to be, I believe in you" she answered him carefully.
"I don't want to be an Alpha, it has a lot of responsibilities and Dad told me that Uncle Nathan doesn't have a son so the Alpha title will fall on me. Even Uncle Nathan said so himself" Olive explained the fruitful events that lead to his question.
"Don't you want to be the greatest Alpha this pack has ever seen, Strong, Kind and powerful" She asked.
"I am strong" he answered hastily.
"You are not strong enough because you don't want to be the Alpha" She stated and he frowned.
"Will being the Alpha make me strong?" He questioned looking up to the already dark skies as he clasped his fingers with his sister's.
"No title can make you strong, only you can do that with the will of your heart and mind" she touched his chest and he laughed gesturing it was ticklish.
"Do you know why there are no stars today?" She turned to her naive little brother who in turn looked back at her and shaked his head.
"Its because.."
"Ahhhhh" Bella heard a scream and was interrupted.
"Mom" Olive didn't bother waiting for her because he knew it was their mother's voice he ran with speed towards the house.
"Olive wait up" she stood up to chase after him but she dashed her feet on a stone falling down.
Looking up, she found out that Olive was gone, she quickly stood running back home. Just a little further from home she saw two bodies on the floor and knew it was her mother and Father, Olive was being held by a wolf who slashed his neck with his claws and ripped his body apart.
"Noooooo" she screamed running towards the wolf but it threw her to a tree where she got unconscious for a minute, when she opened her eyes, she found a young man in a royal attire standing in front of the bodies, his hair was long to his waist and a perfect build, he looked down on the bodies and then at her giving her a chance to see his face properly before he left.
Bella got up and ran towards her dead family,
"Mom, Dad, Olive" she cried kneeling down close to them, her whole family was murdered and that did not go well with her.
She let out a bellowed scream in the air expressing her pain and sorrow, the only family she had had been taken away from her, all she could remember was the face of the man who killed them and she vowed to exact her revenge for her family.
Bella was taken to the pack house where she was being comforted by Luna Diana and her cousin Hava, she had been told that the pack was under attack and she had seen other houses and family in ruins on her way to the castle.
"Don't cry Bella, I am here for you" Hava said hugging her tightly, the tears coming out of Bella eyes wet her cloth and she could also feel her pain. Isaiah was her uncle and so was Bella's family her family. She didn't know the extent of which Bella was hurt but she also fell grief for her.
"Bella, your uncle Nathan needs to see you" Diana said standing by the door of Hava's room, she has watched Bella cry for a while and was sorry for her.
"I will go with you" Hava said ready to join her when her mother stopped her.
"Just Bella" she said.
Bella walked quietly and slowly until she got to the Alpha's office and opened it.
"Bella, have a seat" Alpha Nathan gestured and she sat down.
"How are you holding up, you have been mourning for a week now for your family" he stated and she looked up to him with puffy eyes.
"No, don't cry again" he went to her and wiped her tears, it hurt him to see his little niece crying, the death of his brother and his family also pained him as much as it pained Bella.
"They were all I had" Bella wept more remembering the last moments she had with them, the peaceful times and the evening chat she always had with her brother.
"I know and I am sorry" he answered her guilty about what he was about to say next.
He suddenly went on his knees startling her,
"Uncle what are you doing?" She asked confused by his actions.
"Please save us Bella, please" he pleaded,
Bella was more perplexed by what he said, what did he mean by she should save them, "What is going on?".
"Our pack would be under attack again if we don't give him a bride" he blurted getting up on his feet and holding her hand.
"Bella you know I will never do this to you but my daughter is quite younger than you and you would be eighteen in two months. Please save the pack and be the bride" he stated.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Bella stood up angrily, she was still mourning her parents and he had the guts to tell her to be married to someone else.
"I got a letter three days ago that our pack would be under another attack if we don't present a bride to the Alpha, please Bella, look on the bright side you can start a new life there" he tried convincing her to listen to him, he had so much fear in his eyes, the Alpha he was referring to was the strongest in all lands and others referred to him as the Alpha King.
Compared to him, the Crescent moon pack was nothing before him.
"No I cannot do it" Bella refused.
"Bella listen to me, you may have lost your family but you can save other families from the same thing happening to them. Think about your cousin Hava who looks up to you" he reasoned with her again but Bella wasn't having it and pushed opened the door.
She found Hava standing there with swollen eyes, she must have heard everything they said, she could see how scared she was from just finding out the truth.
Bella took a deep breath and did what she had never expected she would do.
"Fine, I will be the bride" she said and then walked away.
***
Two days later Bella was picked up by the Gamma of the Red moon pack, the pack was quite different from what she had expected, it was spacious and more lively than the Crescent moon pack.
The castle wasn't just a castle but an estate enough to occupy hundreds of people in it.
Gamma Lucian of the red moon pack ushered her in until they waited at the massive Hall for the arrival of the Alpha.
Bella watched a man walk down the stairs, short brown hair, tall and had a huge body, a chisel jaw face and a vibrant smile.
"He isn't all that bad" she muttered to herself as he walked closer to her and held her hand.
"Hi, you must be Bella, I am Beta Arthur" he introduced himself.
Down the drain went the thoughts that he could be the Alpha she was contracted to.
Bella could hear another set of footsteps, slow and steady coming down the stairs, she watched a man walk down in a white shirt and black jeans, long black hair with a half bun, a stern face and brown eyes.
He stood by the stairs without coming closer to her neither did he utter a word.
Bella immediately recognized him as the man who killed her parents.
Bella had never for once thought she would be given as a bride to the man who murdered her family. She had thought she would be sent off to a powerful and cruel Alpha which he was but definitely not to him.
"You murderer" she yelled running to reach him but Beta Arthur caught her immediately restraining her. He couldn't let her get past him or he would be reprimanded by the Alpha.
"You killed my family, you deserve to die" she screamed at the top of her lungs, seeing the man who murdered her parents brought past memories to her and her hunger for revenge slipped up. She saw how calm and coded he was while she was ranting and screaming and it annoyed her more, he had killed her parents and now he also got her as a bride, what kind of twisted fate was that.
"You murdered them, you killed my family, you deserve to die" she kicked and screamed to be set free, she wanted to kill him at that spot avenging her family for their death.
"Let me go" she struggled with Arthur yet his grip on her was stronger keeping her away from him. It was his duty to protect the Alpha from harm.
"Get her out of my sight" Alpha Coast ordered.
Those words hurt Bella like a stab wound to her heart, after killing her family he had the guts to act all tough with no sense of guilt or regret. There was no hint of remorse in his face, she knew he could recognize her as the girl he knocked out to a tree.
"I will kill you, do you hear me you bastard, I will kill you!" Her last words echoed in the hall before she was taken away by Beta Arthur to a little flat away from the castle and there he locked her in.
"Open the door" Bella pounced on the door with the little strength she had even though she knew she couldn't break it down with that same strength.
It didn't have to be this way, she wasn't supposed to be bethroted to the same man who murdered her family in cold blood.
Remembering his face brought disgust and anger to her troubled soul, she crashed to the floor holding her hair in her hand, she could hear the voices of her family, her father's advice, her mother's yelling and her little brother's laugh. It was still imprinted in her head staying fresh in her mind, if she had know that her uncle Nathan was referring to him then she would declined the offer not caring if a lot of people will die for that.
How could he do that to her, how could he give her off to him, Bella was distraught beyond measure, her heart was heavy and pained just by thinking of her family. It was an abomination to be the Luna of the man who caused her agony, who made her feel alone in the world, he took away her only family. She was Forbidden to ever have anything to do with him except make him go through the same pain he had caused her.
"I will make sure to kill you if that is the last thing i have to do" she swore to herself making those words sink in.
She thought about her chances again, maybe she was sent there to get her revenge on the man who killed her family, this could be her chance to eliminate him once and for all.
She beginning to see a new path where she could pay him back in ten folds for what he did to her. She could give her family the leave they deserved by avenging their death.
"I will make sure I kill you before I leave this pack" she muttered.
***
Alpha Coast returned to his chambers staring at the open window as he let his thoughts float around his head.
His decision to ask for a bride from the Crescent moon pack in exchange for peace was backfiring at him and he wished he hadn't done that.
Right from the moment he walked down the steps, he could feel her presence, her scent was the only thing drawing him and he did not expect that a girl who wanted him dead would turn out to be his mate.
Her vanilla scent drove him crazy and he stood there watching her, she was beautiful and perfect to him and he struggled to keep his urge to himself acting like her presence didn't affect him at all.
He could see pure hatred in her eyes for him and he didn't blame her yet he also didn't care about that.
"It changes nothing" he uttered, not because she was his mate that he would soften for her. Coast had asked for a bride because he thought he would be given the daughter of Alpha Nathan that he had no feelings or attraction to. He wanted a bride to be his Luna just for the name and for the pleasure without having any relationship or bond with her.
He hated the mate bond because it always made wolves weak, using their mates as a source of weakness to tear down packs.
He was known as ruthless Alpha who never cared about entanglement, his status in the pack was prominent for not having anything to do with a lady that most time the women would think that he was gay but none actually voiced it out and kept it in their hearts.
He hated the fact that it had to be her, he had to be blessed with a mate who wanted nothing to with him, looking on a bright side it was also better for him aside from the part that if he ever let his guard down then she could kill him.
He swore to turn her hatred into fierceness making her the most feared Luna in the land, no one would be able to use her as a weakness against him because he promised to have no entanglement with her.
"Alpha" Arthur mind-linked him,
"She has been taken to the flat and there are several guards watching her, she won't be able to escape" he relayed to him and Coast listened attentively.
"Good, you can open the doors tomorrow but do not remove the guards" he ordered. Coast had kept guards to prevent Bella from running away, now that she was there there was no turning back for her.
The banquet was coming up in a few months time and he needed her by his side to prevent lurking eyes of Alpha's and their daughters on him showing them that he already had a Luna.
"Yes, Alpha" Arthur answered and returned to his room to have some rest, his shirt was torn because of Bella's scratches and struggles.
"What a feisty bride" he said as he laughed at the predicament Alpha Coast had gotten himself into by having such bride.
Bella had slept off on the floor until the next morning, she stretched her body a bit and tried once again to get out of the house.
The once locked doors were now open unto her and she stepped out to meet two guards watching her.
She walked slowly to not let them suspect that she wanted to run away, she had completely forgotten that she had decided to stay and exact her revenge on Coast, her instincts to get out of there took the better of her and that was what she attempted to do.
"Luna, you can't leave this house" the guard on the right blocked her path.
Bella turned to him mad that he called her the Luna.
"Who the hell is your Luna?" She fired back at him harshly, how dare he to call her Luna to the Alpha she despised so much.
"Listen here, I am not your Luna and I will never be" she reverted back taking a few steps but he blocked her again.
"I am sorry but you can't leave" the guard said yet again ready to take drastic measures if she tried something stupid.
"Did he put you to this, what the hell does he want to achieve having me locked up and now he won't let me move freely" She stated.
"Please return back to the house" the other guard ordered.
"No" she sneered boldly, she wasn't going to stay put and accept all that was going on, she need to escape from the pack as soon as possible.
A guard stretched his hand to block and she screamed at him
"Don't you dare" luckily for her he heeded to her and moved away but little did she know that Coast was watching her and mindlinked them to let her go.
Bella immediately took to her heels running, she ran for an hour and yet couldn't find the way out, she was new to the place and didn't know which direction to go, she might as well just be moving in cross directions. The land was just too big for her to escape on foot, reaching no where she heard the roar of a wolf from afar and she thought Alpha Coast had just found out she escaped, she took to her heels again running away from the noise, she believed that where it came from most be the castle so she ran far away from it but ended up right in front of the castle.
"What!" She said in desperation, how she ended up back there brought so much confusion to her mind, she ran back again and returned to the castle in an hour.
There was a bit difference from the first time she appeared, she found the person she hated so much waiting her from the balcony, the entrance to the castle was closed so she couldn't go up to him.
"No matter how far you run Bella, you will always come back here. Give up on your fantasies that you can escape from me because you can't" he said coldly to her watching her breath from such a race.
The Castle was located in a place that seemed like a maze, any visitor would get lost moving around in circles for hours which was what Bella did. The only way out was behind a wall but if it was looked at from afar anyone would think that the wall was a dead end.
That was a parting gift from a dark Druid to protect the castle from attack.
"There is no way out Bella" he uttered those last words and went back inside. The two guard from earlier who were now Bella's personal guard grabbed her hand and took her back to the house.
"Let me go" she grunted looking up to see if she could see Alpha Coast and give him a piece of her mind but he never came out again. They harshly dropped her to the floor just at the porch but Bella was too stubborn and ran out again.
"Luna please stop, we don't want to hurt you" Landon said and she hissed at him.
"I told you I am not your Luna" she yelled angrily, he was getting on her nerves calling her that acursed name she despised so much.
He carried her on his back into the house and locked her inside.
Bella sat on the chair with nothing else to do, it was useless kicking the door or even banging it because no one would answer, she could hear her stomach grumble because she hadn't had anything since yesterday and she felt so hungry.
She went to the kitchen and made Breakfast for herself, she took a huge bite of the food but it was tasteless to her, she had lost her appetite despite being hungry yet she had to force herself for the sake of her stomach.
As she ate, a tear drop fell from her eyes, she recalled the moments her family sat together on the table eating and chatting, that was the last dinner she had with her family who made her feel at home but now she was all alone to eat by herself, it was a painful and disheartening experience for her, she threw the plate away and it crashed to the ground making a shattering noise.
"Luna are you okay?" Landon appeared once again and she couldn't control herself, she jumped on him dragging his hair as he screamed.
"I told you I am not your Luna" she warned him wishing to pull out all the hair from his head.
"What the hell is going on here?" Beta Arthur's voice echoed in the room, he was shocked to see such a scene of Bella fighting with a guard.
"I am sorry Beta, she just jumped on me" Landon apologized.
"Bella will you get down this instant" he ordered her and Landon was already on his knees giving her an easy way to get off his neck.
"You can remain in here and think about the mess you have created, you are lucky it wasn't the Alpha who caught you then you would have been chained and beaten for such act" Beta Arthur advised her and then he locked her back inside again.
They all did that perfectly, acting like she wasn't a human and was a slave who deserved to be locked up. Her right was taken away, her happiness, her freedom was all taken away from her, this was worse than the treatment she had expected atleast she wasn't in chains being beaten up for her stupid acts with a common guard just as the Beta had said.
Beta Arthur reprimanded Landon after a good amount of lashing from him, it may have been Bella who initiated the act but he was also at fault for touching or having any physical contact with the future Luna without the Alpha's permission.
A while back they were authorized to carry her back to the house that was why he was able to touch her but after that his privilege had disappeared and he went beyond the line.
"You are lucky you aren't beheaded for such behaviour" Beta Arthur stated,
Bella was beginning to be a pain in the neck in just a day she arrived, he could understand that she was grieving and wanted revenge on the Alpha for murdering her family but picking a fight with just anyone was over the top.
Landon quickly went down on his knees to apologize, he knew the punishment he got from the Beta was mild compared to the harsh punishment he could have gotten from the Alpha.
"I am very sorry Beta" he stated and Arthur calmed down.
"Go back to your duty post and never let such act happen again or else you would be dead" Beta Arthur strictly warned him before he left, he had to keep his mouth sealed about what happened or else Bella and the guard would be severely punished, he didn't want the first week of the Luna to be terrifying for her, she was already going through a lot by being there.