Chapter 4

Talia's POV

The room was still spinning when Celeste lunged at me.

I did not see her coming. One moment I was standing in front of the bonding stone, trying to understand how I could be bonded to a stranger I had never met. The next moment, Celeste was in my face, her finger pointed at my chest like a dagger.

"You did this," she screamed. "You planned this. You wanted to steal him from me."

I stepped back and shook my head in disagreement. My shoulders hit the elder's table, and there was nowhere to go.

"You have always been jealous of me," Celeste continued, her voice rising with every word. "Your whole life, you have wanted what I have. But this? This is too far. Even for you."

Celeste's eyes narrowed, and she looked me up and down like I was something she had scraped off her shoe.

"You keep shaking your head. WHAT? You want to prove your innocence?" she said, her voice dripping with mockery. "Then undress right here and right now, in front of everyone. Let them see that you have nothing hidden under that ugly dress and disgusting face. Let them see that you are exactly the trash that you appear to be."

The room went quiet again. Wolves shifted uncomfortably, as some looked away, while others leaned forward, very eager to watch.

My face burned, and my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

I would not undress. I could not. If I did, I would be allowing Celeste to stripe me of the only part of myself that had kept me going.

I shook my head. "I did not plan anything. I did not even know who he was until…"

"Liar." Celeste screamed, and she raised her hand. I instantly flinched, but the slap never came.

Alpha Kaelen Frost moved faster than I could track.

One second he was standing at the front of the hall, with his gray eyes that were cold and unreadable. The next second, he was beside me, as his body blocked Celeste's raised hand, and his presence filled the space between us like a wall of ice.

Celeste stumbled back, with her face draining of color.

"You will not touch her," Kaelen said.

His voice was low, and quiet, but it carried through the hall like thunder, and every wolf in the room went still.

Celeste's mouth opened and closed. She looked like a fish out of water, gasping for air that would not come.

"Alpha Kaelen," Vivienne said, stepping forward with her hands raised. "Please. My daughter is just upset. She did not mean…"

"She demanded that my Luna undress in public," Kaelen said, cutting her off. His eyes did not leave Celeste's face. "She intended to humiliate her, in front of every wolf in this hall."

Vivienne's smile faltered because Celeste was gasping for breath as Alpha Kaelen released his Alpha aura in anger. Vivienne began to think fast and plead because, Alpha Kaelen’s alpha aura would cripple and even kill Celeste if he wasn't pacified. "She was not thinking clearly. The shock of the stone's mistake…"

"The stone does not make mistakes." Kaelen corrected and he turned to face the room, and his gaze swept across the crowd, and every wolf who met his eyes looked away first.

He made it clear without uttering a word that he was not asking for permission, and he was not asking for understanding. But he was stating a fact.

"If the bonding stone says Talia Ashford is my Luna, then she is my Luna. No one has the right to question it, no one has the right to humiliate her, and no one has the right to touch her."

The silence that followed was heavier than any words.

I stood frozen behind him.

I could not see his face. I could only see his back, that was broad and solid, blocking Celeste, and the whole room from me.

No one had ever stood between me and harm before.

No one had ever spoken for me, and no one had ever called me theirs.

I did not understand it. I was ugly, and I was just the girl who lived in a storage room and scrubbed pots while the rest of the pack celebrated.

Why was he defending me?

Celeste's face twisted with fury after Kaelen stopped his alpha aura. "She is not worthy of you Alpha. Just look at her, she is hideous, poor, and she is a nobody. I am the one who deserves to stand beside you. I am the one who has trained my whole life to be Luna."

Kaelen did not look at her.

"She is my Luna," he said again. "The stone, and the Moon Goddess chose her. Your training, and your opinion does not matter. So nothing you say will change what has been destined."

Vivienne grabbed Celeste's arm and pulled her back. Her face was pale, but her eyes were burning with hate. I saw it. The same hate she had looked at me with for fifteen years.

"Alpha Kaelen is right," Vivienne said, her voice tight. "The stone does not lie, and we would never suggest otherwise."

Celeste opened her mouth to argue, but Vivienne squeezed her arm so hard that Celeste winced.

"We will, of course, honor the bond," Vivienne continued. "Talia is a member of this family. If the Moon Goddess has chosen her to be your Luna, then we support her."

The words sounded wrong coming out of her mouth. It was like poison wrapped in honey.

I did not believe her, and neither did Kaelen, I think. But he did not argue.

The elder stepped forward, and his voice carried across the hall.

"The wedding will take place tonight. There is no reason to delay what the Moon Goddess has already decided."

Murmurs spread through the crowd. Some wolves looked surprised, others looked pleased, Celeste looked like she wanted to kill someone, and I just wanted to disappear.

But Kaelen did not look at me, and he did not ask if I was ready. He just stood there, cold and untouchable, like this was all just another duty to complete.

The crowd parted as he walked toward the doors holding my hand, and I followed because I did not know what else to do. My legs were shaking, and my hands were cold.

Behind me, Celeste was still screaming, Vivienne was still arguing with the elder again, while trying to calm Celeste down, and Edmund was still silent.

No one stopped us, and no one said goodbye, and I did not look back.

Outside, the air was cold and clean, and the sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. I had not been outside in days, and i had slowly begun to forget what the sky looked like.

Kaelen stopped walking and turned to face me.

"You will move into my room after the wedding tonight," he said.

I stared at him. "Tonight?"

“There is no reason to wait.” He said. “The bond is already registered, and the ceremony is just a formality.”

"I am not ready, and I do not even know you." I protested.

His gray eyes held mine. "Neither do I know you. But the Moon Goddess chose us for each other, and I will not dishonor that bond."

He called to a woman standing near the entrance. She was dressed in simple clothes, and her face was kind but serious.

"Prepare her for the wedding," Kaelen ordered.

The woman nodded. "Yes, Alpha."

Then Kaelen walked away before I could ask any more questions.

I stood in the fading light, with the assigned servant beside me, watching him go.

Tonight, I would become his Luna, and I had no idea what that meant.