Page 19 of Marked By Moonlight
There’s a stillness in me, a calmness that shouldn’t be there. But I ask the next question anyway.
“And if I’m marked by someone who isn’t my true mate?”
“You die.”
Chapter 8
Lumi
“It’s almost time,” a woman to my left says with long, golden blonde hair. I jump at the sound of her voice, and she chuckles at my response.
“Don’t pay any mind to Kaida. She was just being dramatic. Most don’t die at the offering.”
“So they find mates?” I ask.
Her laugh deepens. “No, none have since the curse began. Only those foolish enough to think they can actually find their mates die.” She looks me up and down. “But you’re not going to be foolish, so you have nothing to worry about. You won’t die tonight.” She pauses. “I’m Rowena.”
“Lumi,” I say, sucking in a deep breath, trying to believe this kind stranger.
Rowena is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She’s tall—at least half a foot taller than me with piercing yellow eyes and thick, peachy lips. There’s almost an unnatural glow about her that none of the others here possess.
“I’m Moonlight pack—that’s what the glow is about,” she states matter of factly, like she’s explained a hundred times.For her, it’s completely normal. Then she raises her eyebrows, waiting for me to respond with my own pack.
“I’m the Bloodmoon offering,” I reply.
Her eyes widen for only a millisecond, as the shock spreads through her body. She blinks it away a second later.
She takes my hand and squeezes it hard, in what I assume she thinks is a reassuring gesture. Instead, it feels like she’s cracking every bone in my hand as her strength far outweighs mine.
I swallow back my wince.
“All you have to do is say none of them is your mate. That’s how you survive. You say you don’t feel a bond with any of them, no matter what happens. They won’t force you to mate with anyone if you say you don’t feel a bond. Stay alive; I like you,” she winks at me.
I smile softly back as she shoves something into my hands. My stomach does somersaults despite her intended calming words.
“Change into this. Nothing but this,” Rowena says firmly.
I stare at the thin white fabric in my hand. Before I can ask Rowena what it is, she’s already walked away. I unravel it to discover a sheer white gown.
This can’t be what I’m expected to wear. But as I look all around me, the rest of the women are already changing into similar gowns.
“Hurry, she’s coming,” a woman with dark ringlets and brown skin to my left says.
I strip out of my clothes and into the white gown, moving as quickly as I can. The others finish dressing almost instantly, the speed of a wolf shifter on their side.
Somehow, I manage to get the gown on quick enough. My hand runs over the thin fabric on my body, my eyesight seeingstraight through it to my darkened nipples pebbling in the cold. I might as well be naked.
I scan the shadows of the cave, looking at the other women. None of them try to cover their bodies or fidget with embarrassment. As wolf shifters, this doesn’t feel strange to them.
“Line up single file, starting with the Moonlight pack and ending with Bloodmoon,” a woman from outside of the cave says.
I jump as her voice somehow carries throughout the cave, as loud as if she were standing right next to me.
“That’s Isolde—a witch from the Moonfire coven,” Rowena says before she walks to the entrance of the cave. Women start lining up behind her before I can question what a witch is doing getting involved in wolf shifter business.
I don’t know much beyond my own pack’s lifestyle, but I do know that witches are our enemies and not to be trusted.Or was that a lie my father told me to not seek their help in unlocking my wolf?
Isolde chants something in an ancient language as she waves her hand in front of the cave, lifting the spell that keeps us caged inside here. A tightness I didn’t realize was pressing against my chest lifts, and I take a deep breath.
