The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

7. Beauty In Broken Things

Some wolflings were too nervous to sit down, and were pacing around in the room. I eyed an empty spot on a sofa next to a blonde girl, and decided to sit down. I feared pacing would only make my feelings worse, and I really had to gather myself if I wanted to stand any chance tonight. Especially now that I had seen the competition.

On our way to the room, Leya had told me how many wolves had come from each pack. I had listened, but only barely, my mind straying out of control.

One of the blessed ones came from Healing Moon, and I remembered Leya had told me her name was Mage. She had started showing signs of possessing the powers of the Healing Moon at a very young age, so she was a very promising wolfling. I cursed myself for it, but my heart envied her. I was sure all the packs would want her.

Hidden Moon's also had a wolfling that showed some signs of powers, and even in this room it was very clear that he did. I assumed it was the lone wolfling who was hiding in the shadows, barely visible but still in plain sight.

Only Mage and the wolfling from Hidden Moon seemed to have the powers of our Moons, or at least in this group of Wolflings. But as I sat into this room and I looked at the others, I could see that even though they did not possess the blessing, they made up for it on other fronts. Even with my gown, I fell flat in comparison to them all.

When I grabbed myself a piece of some fruit I didn't recognize, the blonde wolf looked me up and down before giving me a short smile. "You must be Fire Moon," she stated. As if it was something everyone knew, and I suddenly felt laid open. Before I even had the chance to confirm her hypothesis, she already continued. "I'm Mage, from Healing Moon."

Not only was Mage a soon-to-be powerful wolf, she was absolutely breathtaking. She was blessed in every sense of the word. Her golden hair smoothly flowed over her shoulders and it reminded me of sunshine of a summer morning, glimmering in the remaining dew and casting a golden hue on the world. 

She looked at me with eyes in the most intense blue I'd ever seen. The blue matched the color of our gowns, and the way the clothing fit her, it seemed as if it was made for her and her alone, and we just had to make do with what we got. I think I even gasped a little when I had looked her over, but that could have been in my head, too.

"I'm Sari," I said, crumbling under the idea of being recognized as nothing more than Fire Moon. But the closer we got to the Ascension, the more sure I became that that was exactly what I was and would be until my end.

Her lips twinkled a bit before she turned back to the conversation the others were having. She only needed my introduction to lose her interest in me--and she wasn't even an Alpha.

What if no Alpha would want me tonight? Seeing myself after Leya had cleaned me up had given me some hope, but now that I saw that everyone else looked better too, that hope had vanished again. It had been foolish of me to think that the bathing and the clothing would only benefit me.

So, what if no Alpha wanted me? Would I be forced to stay in Fire Moon? No, I decided. I knew it deep in my bones that that wouldn't happen. I'd sooner go rogue. 

But someone would pick me. There would be eleven Alphas present. The chances of none of them seeing what Beckett was doing to me and trying to help me were so small. How Beckett treated me was a disgrace to our Moons, and the Alphas honored our Moons. Surely, someone would choose me and get me out of Fire Moon.

But what if that would be another tyrant ruler, like Beckett? Some power-hungry Alpha looking for a new plaything. I was just that, clearly. I had heard horror stories of the Alphas of Strong Moon and Death Moon. I had no idea of knowing whether they were true, but I could distinctly remember my parents talking about Strong Moon's visits to our pack multiple time. And that had scared them each time. They'd tried to hide it from me, but at a certain age I was too old to look past that.