"Armani, really?" I whisper to my mom, but she hushes me up. Goddess forbid one of them hears us making fun of their tastes and start a war over it.The Alpha holds his head so high I almost laugh. Goddess knows how he doesn't trip as he walks. Axel is standing next to his father to greet the esteemed guests one by one as they get out of their fancy cars in their fancy suits. The Alpha ceremony is tomorrow, so today, we celebrate the former Alpha's life before he steps down from power. An impressive event and an excuse to showcase money and power in front of others.I look around. The whole pack has to be here, grouped in different classes, careful not to touch each other. Omegas, exhausted after having to do most of the preparations, have to sit at the back, with their heads down, ashamed of their lack of power. The families of warriors in front of them. Then the warriors themselves, the gammas, the Beta's family and then, finally, the Alpha. The difference between rogues and packs i

"You are so beautiful, sweetheart." My mother gushes around me, puffing my dress and making sure my hair is in place. She is dangerously close to putting a little tiara on top of this."Beautiful or not, it won't matter much."I have a bad feeling about this and the closer to the naming ceremony we get, the faster my heart is beating in my chest. It's like my body refuses to move. With all the Alphas, the pack hating on me while the prophecy of the Moon Goddess predicts the possible end of the world, I am a bit... stressed."They won't start throwing stones at you, Rose. Whether they like it or not, their Alpha made you Luna and they will respect that as they respect and follow all his orders. Isn't this the law of their kind?" My mother tries to soothe me, but I can sense that she is hesitant to go to the ceremony too.My grandma has to knock on the door, warning that we would be late to make us move.So just like that, full of dread, but also high hopes, I take my seat, at the very e

"Hello." I am hesitant to say anything else as I don't know who else is with her, but my mother recognizes my voice immediately and bursts out crying. "I'm ok. I really am."I reassure her, but in fact, I start crying too. All the pain that this mess has caused everyone that I love. All this pain that they didn't deserve just because I was naive and I thought I could trust him. He showed me who he was. For all our lives, he showed me time and time again who he is as a person and I was stupid enough to think that the mate bond would miraculously transform him into something else."Is it her?" Someone asks in the background, but my mom can't answer through the sobs so she just passes the phone. "Rose? Oh, my dear, are you alright? Are you safe?"Her voice is weak and she's on the verge of tears too. It takes me a bit until I can answer."Yeah. I'm safe now. It's a long story." I manage to explain in between loud sobs and I hear her sigh in relief."Are you hurt? Do you need anything? To

I sit next to Damon as he introduces the rest of his people to me. I try hard to memorize the names and the faces, but I already know I'll fail miserably. In total, there are about twenty people. Not all live in the house, but in the neighboring houses too. The street is rented by Damon. Apparently, he opened a business with medicinal herbs and stuff like that when he first arrived in the city and it grew into a pretty profitable thing over time. His knowledge of plants from the rogues of the Amazonian forest helped him. That is how he met Diana, as she was a rogue healer in the first city he ended up in after running away. The rest came with time, happy to join his cause instead of being forced to work for his father."We welcome whoever wants to join after we check their background. Of course, since we are all part of a resistance, if you want to call it that, we don't trust people easily. But we try to protect them if we can." Damon explains."Except for you. Cause you know, you we

I scream in my pillow, but I'm not sure why. Embarrassment? Butterflies? Guilt?How will I even face Damon tomorrow after the disaster from earlier? And what the hell happened earlier? Was he really leaning down to kiss me or was it my imagination?I take a deep breath. Not a chance I will clear the mess in my head on my own so I call my mom. Big thanks to Damon for the untraceable phone he gave me after dinner. Apparently, one of the guys, Robert is a technical genius."Mom... How are you?""Hello, sweetheart. Your grandma introduced me to Spanish telenovelas. What about you? Something happened? You said we should limit contact." She answers and I can hear in the background my grandma asking about me too."I know I said, but Damon said this phone should be fine and I really need to talk to you.""Damon?" I can hear her going into another room and closing the door. "Rose, please tell me where you are or with who. I'm dying over here...""I couldn't earlier. I'm sorry. I don't think it