The Hidden Luna of Blackmoor Valley

Talia's POV

The slap came out of nowhere.

My cheek stung, my ear rang, and I stumbled back against the wall of the storage room,with my hand flying to my face. I did not need to look in the mirror to know a red mark was already blooming across my skin.

Celeste stood in front of me, her hand still raised, and her face twisted with fury. Her blonde hair was perfect, and her pale blue gown was flawless. But her eyes were wild, like a wolf that had been cornered.

"Look what you did," she spat.

I looked, but I saw nothing.

She pointed at her face, but precisely at her chin. She pointed at a tiny red bump that I would not have noticed if she had not shoved her jaw in my direction.

"There's a pimple," she shrieked. "On the day the Alpha of Shadowfang arrives. You did this. It's all because of your ugliness, and your bad luck. It has contaminated me."

I did not say anything, because I learned years ago that silence was safer than words.

Celeste stepped closer. Her perfume was thick and sweet, like flowers trying to cover up the smell of something rotten. "If you ruin this for me, I will make your life so much worse than it already is. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

She stared at me for a long moment, with her chest heaving. Then she smoothed her gown, lifted her chin, and walked out of my storage room like nothing had happened.

The door did not close all the way. It never did, and the lock was on the outside.

I waited until her footsteps faded before I let myself breathe.

My hands were shaking. They always shook after Celeste's visits. It's been Fifteen years of hiding and my body still reacted the same way every time, with fast heartbeat, shallow breath, and cold fingers.

I touched my cheek, and it was warm, and I knew it would bruise, because it always did.

I turned to the cracked mirror hanging on the wall and looked at my reflection of plain face, dull eyes, brown hair that looked dead and dry, and skin that was the color of old paper.

I hated that face everyday, but it was not my real face.

I touched the necklace under my dress. The silver chain was cold against my skin, and the small charm at the end weighed nothing, but it felt heavy. It had been heavy for fifteen years.

My mother's dying words echoed in my memory. "Never remove the glamour charm before your twentieth birthday."

I was five years old when she put this necklace around my neck. The house was burning, smoke filled my lungs, and flames licked the walls. She knelt in front of me, with her face streaked with ash, and her eyes red from crying.

Wear this and they will not see you. Always wear this and they will not hurt you.

Then she went back into the fire.

I had not seen her since.

Everyone said she died, and everyone accused me of setting the fire. That I was a cursed child who killed her own mother.

But they were wrong about both.

My mother was not dead. I felt it in my bones everyday that she was out there somewhere waiting for me, and I would find her.

But first, I had to survive today.

I washed my face in the small basin in the corner of my room, and the water was cold. It was always cold, because no one bothered to bring me warm water, not even in winter.

I put on the same old dress I always wore. It was too big and it made me look even smaller than I was. I did not brush my hair, and i did not try to look presentable, because there was no point.

No one looked at me anyway.

I was invisible. I had been invisible for fifteen years, and today was supposed to be just another day of being invisible.

But something told me it would not be.

A soft knock came from the door.

It was not the heavy slam of Celeste's fist, and it was not the impatient bang of a servant. This one was careful, and secretive, and I knew that knock.

I opened the door just wide enough to see who was there.

Piper Holloway slipped inside.

She was my best friend, and the only person in this pack who knew my secrets. Her hair was messy, her eyes were wide, and she was breathing hard like she had run all the way here.

"You will not believe what I just heard," she whispered.

"What?" I asked.

Piper grabbed my hands, and her fingers were cold. "The Alpha of Shadowfang is coming to Cresswood."

I stared at her. "Okay? Why?"

"To choose a mate." Her voice shook. "Vivienne is going to present Celeste to him. The whole pack is talking about it. Talia, this is huge."

I did not care about the Alpha of Shadowfang, and i did not care about Celeste. Infact I did not care about any of it.

But Piper was looking at me like I should care.

"When?" I asked.

"Today," she said. "He arrives today."

Today. I echoed the word in my head.

I looked at the small window near the ceiling. The sky was pale, the sun was rising, and today, everything would change.

I did not know how I knew that. But I just knew.

Piper squeezed my hands. "Be careful, Talia. Vivienne is planning something. I can feel it."

"She is always planning something," I said.

Piper left the way she came. In the same quiet, careful, and secretive way.

I locked the door behind her and sat back down on my thin mattress.

Today, the Alpha of Shadowfang would come to Cresswood, Celeste would try to become a Luna, Vivienne would scheme, and I would stand in the back where I belonged. In my invisible, and safe space. That's if, am even allowed into the gathering or given a break from the kitchen.

But Piper's words kept echoing in my head.

Vivienne is planning something.

I did not know what she was planning, I did not know what the Alpha of Shadowfang looked like, and I did not know if today would change anything at all.

But I knew one thing for certain.

I stayed in this pack for two reasons. To find out what happened to my mother, and to make the Cress family pay for every year they abused me.

Whatever Vivienne was planning, I would survive it.

I had to, and that was a promise I would keep.

Talia's POV

The morning passed in a blur.

I was sent to the kitchen before sunrise, scrubbing pots while the pack prepared for the Alpha's arrival. The sun rose, the hours crawled, and I stayed invisible, just like always.

But few minutes to an hour after the ceremony began, I noticed something was wrong.

Because servants whispered in corners, guards exchanged looks, and the air felt heavy, like the moment before a storm.

Then the whispers reached me.

"The bonding stone did not react to Celeste."

"She is not his mate."

"The Alpha is furious, and he demanded to see every woman in the household."

I kept scrubbing, because it was not my concern, and none of this was my problem.

I thought about the last time I had been this afraid. It was two years ago, the night Celeste locked me in the root cellar with the rats. I had screamed for hours, but no one came. That was when I stopped screaming, and that was when I learned that crying never helped. So I scrubbed harder.

The pots were endless today due to bulk dishes that had been prepared for the ceremony. I scrubbed until my hands were raw and my arms ached. The water in the basin turned gray from the grime, and I dumped it out and filled it again. But honestly, this was the same cycle every day, and the same cycle every year.

I thought about Piper's warning. "Vivienne is planning something." But what? And why did it involve me? I was nobody, I was invisible, and I had nothing anyone would want.

Unless they wanted to hurt me, which was always a possibility. But really, Vivienne had been hurting me for fifteen years. Why would today be any different?

A younger servant named Mira brushed past me, with her eyes wide. "They say the Alpha threw a chair," she whispered. "Through a wall, Talia. Through a wall." Then she was gone before I could ask more.

I held my breath as the world tilted. I knew nothing would ever be the same after this moment. I could feel it in my bones.

I scrubbed harder because thinking about it would not change anything, and surviving was the only thing that mattered.

Then suddenly, Marta grabbed my arm.

"You," she said. "Come with me."

She dragged me out of the kitchen, through a hallway I had never seen.

The walls were lined with portraits of wolves I did not recognize. Probably dead Alphas, and dead Lunas. Their painted eyes followed me as Marta pulled me along, and I felt like a prisoner being led to her execution.

My heart pounded, my palms were sweaty, and I did not know what was waiting for me in the main hall, nor did i know why the Alpha wanted to see every woman in the household. But I knew one thing. Whatever was happening, I was not prepared for it.

Marta pulled me into a small room with a rack of dresses, and she shoved a plain gray dress into my hands.

"Change now. Hurry. The Alpha wants to see you." She said in a rush.

I did not argue even though I had questions running through my head. Because arguing only made it worse.

I changed as fast as I could. The dress was too big, just like all my dresses, but it was cleaner than what I had been wearing. Marta grabbed my arm again and pulled me toward the main hall.

"The ceremony was interrupted," she muttered. "Celeste is not his mate. Now he wants to see everyone. I mean EVERY SINGLE WOMAN IN THIS PACK."

I did not ask questions. I just followed.

The main hall was packed with wolves.

The ceiling soared high above, lost in shadows. Chandeliers of crystal hung from the rafters, catching the light and throwing rainbows across the walls. I had never been in this room before, because servants were not allowed here. Only the family, and the important wolves.

But today, I was here, and every wolf in the room was staring at me.

The heat of their bodies pressed against me from every direction. Perfume and fear-sweat mixed into a smell that made my stomach turn. Someone coughed directly into my ear, and another wolf laughed with a sharp, mean sound.

I felt their eyes on my skin, on my ugly face, and on my too-big dress. I heard their whispers. "Who is she?" "Look at her." "She does not belong here."

They were right. I really did not belong here, but here I was.

I had never seen so many Wolves in one place. They filled every corner, with their bodies pressed together, and their voices buzzing like flies. Some looked afraid, others looked curious, and some looked like they wanted to run.

Marta pushed me through the crowd, and Wolves stared at me as I passed. But I kept my head down and my shoulders hunched.

Then I looked up, and I saw him.

He stood at the front of the hall, tall and broad, with his shoulders filling out his black suit like he had been carved from stone. His hair was dark, almost black. His jaw was sharp, and his eyes.

His eyes were gray. Not a soft gray, like morning fog, but a hard gray, like steel, or ice, or like something that had never been warm in its entire existence.

He was Kaelen Frost, the Alpha of Shadowfang.

I had never seen him before, but something inside my chest pulled like a tug or a string connecting my heart to something I could not see.

I did not understand it.

His gray eyes locked onto mine, and something flickered across his face for just a tiny, and almost unnoticeable moment. Then his expression returned to its cold nature.

But I saw it, and I knew he felt the same pull too.

I looked away first. I had to, because I didn't want to draw attention to myself. But I think I already did anyway.

The elder gestured for me to approach, and I walked forward on shaking legs. The bonding stone sat on a pedestal of black marble. It was smooth and dark, like a piece of the night sky had been carved into a full circle.

I stopped in front of it, and the stone began to glow.

It was soft at first, then it began to glow brighter, and then the glow was so bright I had to shield my eyes with my hands. The light filled the hall, washing over every face, every wall, and every corner. Wolves gasped, while someone screamed.

Then the light faded.

What I did not know was that, before I was pulled from the kitchen, other servants had been made to stand before the bonding stone, but nothing happened.

And the only reason I was brought out, was because Alpha Kaelen's mate was without a doubt in Cresswood, and after Celeste and other servants had been rejected, Alpha Kaelen's anger surged, prompting Marta to pull me from the kitchen.

The elder stared at the stone. His mouth opened, Closed, and opened again.

"Alpha Kaelen," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "This woman. Talia Ashford. she is already bonded to you, from two years ago."

The room went silent, and I could not breathe.

My mind raced. Two years ago, that was when I turned eighteen. I vividly remembered that year. It was the year Piper snuck me a book about the outside world, It was the year Celeste broke my favorite cup just to watch me cry, and it was the year I stopped hoping my father would ever look at me.

But I did not remember any ceremony. I did not remember leaving Cresswood, or meeting anyone, let alone an Alpha.

How could I be bonded to someone I had never seen?

It made no sense. None of this made sense.

But the stone did not lie. The elder said so himself, that the bond was registered, and it was unbreakable.

I was tied to Kaelen Frost. A stranger, and a cold-eyed Alpha who looked at me like I was a problem he did not ask for.

"The ceremony has already been completed," the elder said again for all to hear. "Two years ago. The bond is registered, and it is unbreakable."

I shook my head. "That is not possible. I have never met him. I have never left Cresswood, and i have never."

But no one was listening.

Celeste was screaming, Vivienne was arguing, and Edmund stood frozen, saying nothing.

Celeste's face was red, her perfect makeup ruined by tears. "This cannot be happening," she shrieked. "She is nobody. She is nothing but trash, and I am the one who deserves to be Luna."

Vivienne grabbed her daughter's arm, trying to calm her, but her own face was pale with fury. Her eyes locked onto mine. I saw pure, burning hate there.

"The stone is wrong," Vivienne insisted. "There must be a mistake. We demand another reading."

The elder shook his head. "The stone does not make mistakes."

Edmund still said nothing. He just stared at the floor, with his hands hanging limp at his sides. He looked like a man who had already given up.

And Kaelen Frost was still looking at me.

His gray eyes did not leave my face, and his expression did not change. But I knew he felt the pull too. He just did not show it.

I was extremely confused and afraid at this point, because I have been keeping my head down, and I stayed in this pack for two reasons. To find out what happened to my mother, and to make the Cress family pay for every year they abused me.

I did not ask for this bond, and i did not ask for any of this.

But whatever was coming, I would survive it.

I just had to stay strong as always.