Zira’s POV
I rubbed my temples as I tried to push back on the headache I felt coming. The past two days had passed in a blur of activity. Not only had I been ditched on my wedding day, but I had also gone from being the bride to the alpha to having to help his new bride get ready for their wedding.
I should have been hurt, angry, and somewhere away from the pack where I could get my emotions straight. Instead, father and Killian had tasked me with watching over their little, fragile Leah as she got used to living in our pack.
But deep down, I felt a bit of relief. Both families had carefully monitored the past eight years of my relationship with Killian, and although I had gotten used to loving him, the way he left me in a moment had been an eye-opener.
There was no way I could claim I knew a man that had not hesitated to push me aside just to rush toward his mate on our wedding day. More than that, since that day, Killian had treated me like air and had insisted on getting married to Leah two days from now. That was more than enough to convince me that there had been no deep-rooted love between us. At least on his part.
Now, my biggest challenge was acting like I was fine in front of their public display of love. It was also tiring, as Leah wanted a wedding three times larger than what I had planned for mine.
“How can you lose so much weight in two days?” Sandra exclaimed as she stood and quickly led me to the sofa. “You are even starting to have eye bags; just how little sleep have you been getting?” she asked, and I shrugged. The days had passed in a blur, and between waking up panting from my wedding nightmare and helping Leah run around the pack while she entertained me with her dreams of becoming the luna, I was nothing short of miserable.
Before I had a chance to answer Sandra, the door swung open, and Killian and Leah walked into the living room. Leah was sobbing, and Killian had his arms around her, doing his best to keep her under control.
As soon as Killian locked eyes with me, his expression turned stormy. He pulled away from Leah to meet me. “I know you are jealous about Leah becoming my wife and luna, which is understandable, but you can’t use such low methods to act against her.”
“Act against her?” My mind tried to think about what could have happened in the short time I had left her alone. It had barely been five minutes since she insisted on heading to see what a small crowd of people were doing. I had left her because I was so worn out and needed to come back and relax.
“Don’t act like you don’t know what you did!” he shot back and then released his alpha suppression. It pressed down on me like a huge rock.
“I did nothing bad to her!”
He scoffed, eyes filled with indignation. “How can you say you did nothing to her, regardless of anything we shared? Leah is my mate from the moon goddess. I’ll do anything possible to protect her,” he said, and I felt the urge to roll my eyes.
He had once said similar words to me, yet, when I needed his protection, he had turned his back on me like I didn’t matter.
“I don’t know what happened with you two,” I said, “but if leaving Leah alone for less than twenty minutes to get some rest means acting against her, you might want to get a guard for your mate, Killian!” I had never spoken to him like that before, but I was exhausted and infuriated at that moment.
Was I supposed to babysit her the whole day? In the past few days alone, Leah had already caused problems within the pack more than three times, forcing me to guide her actions.
Couldn’t she think at all?
Killian shot me a hard glare and stormed out of our house. As soon as the alpha suppression wore off, I let out a sigh of relief, even though I had dared to give him a reply. Years of being his girlfriend had been part of what fueled it, and even with that, my entire back was drenched in cold sweat.
“Sister,” Leah called out softly. She had remained silent during Killian’s attempt to shift responsibility for whatever she had done to me. Yet as soon as he was gone, she wanted to talk. Talk about what?
Thankfully, the door opened, and Dad rushed in, panting heavily. “You two get packing! We have to make an urgent trip to the capital now,” he yelled.
Capital?
“Is everything okay? Why are we suddenly going to the capital?” Going to the capital was not a trip that just anyone could take.
That was where the real royalty lived, and that included the Lycan king and his family. Most of the packs that stayed close to the capital had very strong and impressive wolves with powerful alphas.
On top of it, the capital was quite unsafe at the moment as the Lycan king had just passed away, which made the powers unstable.
“A new Lycan king is to be crowned,” my father replied impatiently. “We will be representing the pack with our attendance.” With that, he left.
“What’s dad saying?” Leah asked carelessly, still not standing up from where we were.
“That you should get your ass up and pack for a light trip,” I said, without waiting to see if she got the point. Then I went to my room to pack.
I was no stranger to journeys like these. Since I was chosen to be the next luna, Killian had been sending me on practice missions alongside him. Sandra followed me to my room, murmuring and scolding Leah and Killian every step of the way.
“Sandra, you’re unleashing so much unnecessary anger at them. I’ll be fine. I just need their wedding to be done, and I’ll be fine,” I told her, dragging out a travel bag.
“Are you sure? You’ve never really talked about it,” she said softly, and my heart melted at the deep concern in her eyes.
It was good to see that despite everything happening, there was someone who was still on my team, regardless. Few in the pack were since my supposed wedding day. There was a drastic difference between the treatment I received when people thought I would become the next luna to the treatment I received since that was no longer the case.
Now most of the pack went out of their way to get on Leah’s good side—unless she was crossing lines she shouldn’t cross. I didn’t blame them for that.
Within thirty minutes, I finished packing for about three to four days. For the crowning ceremony, I included the ball gown I had prepared as a change of clothes for my wedding day.
“You should use this eye mask so you don’t ruin the fame your beauty has given you,” Sandra joked as she passed me a gel-like eye mask. I threw it in my bag. I couldn’t afford to use it at the moment. My father had allotted little time for us to reach the capital city, and we had an hour drive ahead of us.
Dad was already there when we came downstairs. I sat across from him while Sandra made her way back home. Leah came down ten minutes later with a strap bag and nothing else. I looked around the room, wondering where her travel bag was.
“Leah, where’s your travel bag?” Dad asked, obviously sharing my feelings.
“Travel bag? Aren’t we coming back today?” Leah asked, and I felt like walking over to give her a smack. Hadn’t she heard when Dad said to pack our bags?
“We’ll spend about three days there, so pack enough,” Dad said and sat back.
“Three days? My wedding is in two days, and we have a trip for three days?” Leah shrieked as she shot me a gaze filled with accusations.
“Leah, you are already Luna,” Dad said in a patronizing manner. “The wedding is just the process, and going to the capital is one of the first signs to let the pack members know you are now Luna.”
“What of Killian? Is he coming?”
“No, he has something urgent to handle and will meet us there instead,” my father replied patiently, which was quite surprising as that wasn’t one of his strongest suits. But I guessed it could be when he wanted something.
“Then why is she going?” Leah asked a little harshly.
“Unlike regular pack members, you can’t afford to make even a single mistake. Otherwise, even the pack won’t be saved, so we have to make sure someone is escorting you,” he explained.
Oh great! Now I had to be an official escort.
Satisfied with his explanation, Leah gave me a look and then went back upstairs. She returned a few minutes later with a bag that appeared to be made for a month’s travel.
The trip to the capital was quick with no glitches, and Father said we arrived early enough to have dinner with the pack representatives before the next day’s crowning ceremony.
I sighed in relief as he handed me my room card. I had been worried that he would want us to pair together.
“Zira,” I heard a familiar and sickly sweet voice call out from behind me.
“Fuck! I thought my day couldn’t get any worse.”
Zira’s POVI didn’t need to turn to know who was behind me. Years of meeting her at almost every event I had, either close to home or in the capital, made Scarlett’s voice stick in my mind.I reluctantly turned and saw her, glamorously dressed. With our packs right beside each other, Scarlett had been obsessed with Killian and had pursued him for the past few years.And as his “betrothed,” I had encountered far too many of Scarlett’s dirty dealings and other aspects to believe her appearance was any reflection of who she was.“If it isn’t Blood Moon’s future Luna,” Scarlett said with a mocking smile, and I squared my shoulders, determined to let her see only my strong side.“Oops! I forgot, Ex-Luna,” she added hurriedly and then shot me a wink that had me thanking the moon goddess I had an empty stomach.I smiled sweetly and said vaguely, “Like usual, Scar, you never seem to think things through,” and only went on when I could tell she was getting impatient.“I was never Luna. I just
Zira’s POVThe scent of the man whose arms were wrapped around me was the most wonderful in the world. Just being in his embrace made me feel so at home I didn’t want to fight the need to remain there. Every part of me kept chanting that he was my mate, that he belonged to me….So when he finally released me from his tight hold, I didn’t react, but simply stared at him.Killian had always been the most handsome man I’d ever encountered. Not only did I think he was attractive, but so did Scarlett and the females of the other packs. He was widely regarded as the hottest alpha in the area.But the man in front of me made me feel like all of us had been blind all these years. Atop a build that made me feel like he was looking down at me from his eyes, his face was perfectly sculpted like a painting.It wasn’t easy to accept that this man, who appeared to be a reincarnation of the Greek mythology gods we had read about, was actually my mate. I shook my head twice and then told my mind to c
Zira’s POVAlpha king of Eliza? “When did you get the right to bully my people? I called you here to lead the Luna of the Blood Moon packs to her hotel room,” Ronan’s voice rang out with a lot more command than when he had talked to us just now. The guard lowered his head a bit more while cupping his hands, “forgive me, your high…,” Before he could complete his words, Scarlett, who was standing next to Leah, fell to the floor with a loud thump that interrupted his speech.Her group immediately scattered as they watched her limp figure on the floor. The guards were faster instead, and two of them rushed out from the group of six and carried her away. As I watched her go, I remembered that she had boasted not too long about being selected to be a bride for the newly selected King. That was Ronan, right?!Leah looks just as shocked and keeps looking at Ronan with a dazed look; before I can even let myself process the news about his identity, I feel my wolf whining in me with fierce
Zira’s POVThe moment our lips met, it feltlike fireworks exploded within me. I had read it so many times. And felt it hadto be a lie. My first kiss with Killian had been okay. And yet, the real world was nothing closeto what the novelsmade it outto be. But with Ronan? It was my fairytalecoming awake,and I didn’t hesitate to grant him entrance into my mouth. He tasted like everything onecould call perfect!There was a splashof tequila and a minty-sweet flavor combination. There was also some third tastethat I couldn’t figure out as the loud chiming of a bell blared through everybuilding and broke the moment withhow loud it was. It was either just outside this door or high up somewhere toget to the palace. Ronan pulled away, and his handsmoved down to my arms as he tried to catch his breath. I was no better off. But withhim holding me, at the very least, my legs that felt like jelly didn’t win thebattle of having me flat on the floor. “I...I have to go. That bell s
Zira’s POVI had no idea what image my brain had conjured up when Ronan told me his Beta, Miles, was coming to pick me. But I was certain that image couldn’t resonate with you if you had been here with me. Miles was twice as huge as Ronan and just a little shorter, giving him a pretty intimidating look that had been backing me away the moment I pulled the door open for him. With a sly grin, he lifted his hands and said, “I don’t bite.” With a nod or perhaps a more emphatic shaking of the head, I gaze at his face and nod.A little bit of my fear evaporated as I realized that while his body and presence were overwhelming at first sight, his face didn’t seem that daunting and even made me feel like I could relax a little around him. “Ronan asked me to bring you over to the hall. Are you ready?” He asks and stretches his hands out. I nod but don’t raise my hand to him. Miles shrugs and chuckles at my refusal but still leads the way. With him leading the way, I realized that Ronan was r
“If I…” his words are broken by a familiar voice calling his name, and I looked behind him at the same time that Killian turned back to see Leah’s voluptuous figure walk up to us in her bright red dress.I had never been this happy to see Leah. And that had to be something.“Leah! Thank the goddess that you are saved!” I exclaim out of excitement and rush forward, planning to hug her, but I’m pushed back by Killian, who pulls her into a tight hug.“My sweet mate. I was almost scared that something had happened to you,” he crooned, then ran his hands on her back in circles.Memories of me being the girl in Killian’s arms flashed through my mind. But this time, they didn’t hurt.I had my mate now.“K...Killian… do... do you know how scary it was without you? I was all alone and got lost so many times,” Leah cried out, and I shot her a cynical look.She looked every bit fine with not a crease on her dress. It was hard to imagine that she had really been lost.Besides, she was right here
Zira’s POV I had never been one to likebeing touchy or anything of that sort. Despite how much Killian had wanted usto go all the way in our relationship, I had constantly refused. But somehow,around Ronan, I always seemed to lose any bit of restraint. “You should change,” I told him as I tried to step back. Henods and then starts to loosen all his buttons carefully. A part of me still felt guiltythat I had allowed his coronation to end with him having to jump in a pool tosave me, but I was grateful that he haddone that. I watch, entranced, as he pulls off the regalia, leaving a black shirt that wasglued to his body from all the dampness and heat. Earlier, when we met, he had been a lot more casual,but seeing him now with all his body outlines, it was easy to see that he wasone of those men that would look a lot slimmer when dressed. It was hard to look away fromit. Like every part of me seemed to want to reach out to him, I eventually pulled my gaze away. There was a
Zira’s POVI gasped in surprise as I watched myselfin the floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of me.The Royal Palace stylist certainly hadmagical hands,as I felt like my whole person had undergone some surgeries that humansloved to do so much. My hair was rolled up into ahigh bun with some curled tendrils framing myface while my make-upwas delicately done to highlight all of my features. The only thing wrong with all ofthese, with the stunning blue dress and the teardrop pearl necklace seated on mychest, and Ronan gifted, was that today, I was going to watch my mate getbetrothed to another woman. “Your beauty certainly has norival even in the capital,” Ana, the head stylist, says with an adoring smile as she looks at me through the mirror. “Thank you,” I mumble, notwanting to seem impolite. “If you are ready, I’ll lead youto the hall. Weare already quite late.” Itturns out Ana was correct; the entire buildingwas alive withmusic and conversation as soon as we steppe