The Tripartite Mate Bond Chapter 74: CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

But before I could come up with something, Kane responded for me.

“Her foster parents are the Wilson's and that's how far we've gone in our investigation into her background. You know the ceremony will be void if we use the wrong surname” he said in my defense, making everywhere go quiet again. I didn't want to imagine how much danger I'll be in if anything goes wrong tonight.

I had not been expecting the Luna Ceremony to happen so suddenly but now that Kane was going to be traveling, we didn't have much of a choice.

“Alright. DarkMoon, we have gathered here to crown the moon goddess’ daughter by mateship, Aurora Arkonos Luna of our pack. She is intelligent, kind, hardworking and loving. The elders of our pack have decided that she shall not be challenged due to her background so we shall proceed without further ado” he said and I heard hushed whispers again.

I was given the rundown of how this was supposed to go and I had told them the consequences of someone hurting me was that my dragons would probably burn the entire Pack to the ground but what I couldn't tell them was that a scratch on me would affect their Alphas as well. I felt bad for the numerous things we were hiding from the pack but with a traitor on the loose, it was important.

“Elder Andrew, how are we going to trust a Luna that can't defend her people? It's quite unfair. If she's not capable of defending her position, she should step down so someone else can do it” Crystal spoke up from the crowd.

Damn, these drama queens. I hated how they were going to turn this beautiful ceremony into mindless banter.

“And who will this better option be Crystal, you?” I ask in annoyance.

“Huh! The human has an attitude” she whispered to her friends but I could hear her and so could everyone else.

“Speak up, if you want to challenge me, the best you can do is talk to me directly or swallow your tongue” I said to her. I don't know where the confidence or annoyance came from but I was damn tired of dealing with these girls.

At every point of my journey, they've been those pesky little rats that try to undermine me and make me feel less confident in myself but I am pissed now and if it'll mean endangering everything I'm supposed to protect to permanently shut them up, I will.

To my annoyance, Maya stepped out of the crowd and came closer to the altar, hands akimbo

“She won't fight you, but I will. This is my chance to take what is rightly mine and no elder will deny me that opportunity so you either yield without any more attitude or come and fight me. In fact, Aurora whatever the fuck your name is, I challenge you to a duel for the position of DarkMoo’s Luna. You can't say no now. I'll be in my wolf form!” She declared and everyone gasped.

I looked at my mates and they shook their heads. They weren't allowed to talk to me even using the mindlink so their indirect message confused me. What did they mean? I do not know. On one end, they might be saying don't fight her but that'll mean giving her the right to become the mate and Luna to Kane, Ares and Axel and on the other hand, they might be saying I shouldn't show my power so how on earth was I supposed to defeat a wolf in a way that wouldn't raise suspicion?

I took off the veil and gave it to a panic-stricken Cora and came down from the altar. Then I tore off the down part of my gown, making it shorter as I chased away every atom of fear trying to cloud my mind. I was a strong woman, I had two dragons and three mates damnit! There must be a way out of this.

My thoughts were going in this manner before I decided to ask for help from my support system who no one even knew I could talk to.

“Lyra, any ideas?” I asked my dragon who was watching the whole thing unfold through my eyes.

“She can't hurt you if you freeze her to death.” It was Scarlett who replied to me and I felt a ripple of fear at such a possibility. I wasn't a killer and I wasn't planning on becoming one tonight.

“Don't be dramatic, Scar. She doesn't need to do that. You can beat her in her wolf form, Aurora. She's very confident and proud. Use that to your advantage. Instead of producing fire, just heat up your hands and slap her hard! That will confuse her and give you a chance to deal a landing blow. But make sure you are very fast. If you fail, you will risk everything coming apart” Lyra spoke to me in a regal and cool voice, helping to calm my raging mind.

Everyone watched me as I went like a willing sacrifice and I began to heat up my hand, slowly and with little intensity. I refuse to allow doubt in my mind, believing that Lyra knew way much more than me and her plan was solid. My body's resistance to fire made it impossible for their sensitive nose to detect what was going on. I had one shot at this and I was going to make it count.

As she cracked her bones and made her body shift to a blonde wolf, I remembered the first time I witnessed this back in beta Jayden’s office. How far I've come is a story that will be determined tonight. Have I gotten stronger or dug a pit for myself?

Without any time to spare, Maya went straight for my neck, but I didn't let her.

As she jumped with self assurance and confidence, a smirk on her wolfish features, I faked a look of fear and quickly ran to the side, forcing her to land on the ground with brute force.

I moved away like I was running from hell.

The pack was quiet with tension so thick a knife could cut through but with difficulty. I guess they had expected me to have yielded by now but I was going to confuse the hell out of everyone here tonight.

And that was the thought that crossed my mind as we did this dance two more times; Maya coming at me, quite sure the last miss was a mistake and she was going to get me the next time and me moving away just in time for her to miss me.

Once I had planted that seed of doubt in her mind, I knew it was time for the next step.

This time, I didn't wait for her to pounce. As she ran towards me, I also ran at her like my life depended on it, and indeed it did. And as we clashed, I slapped her wolf face so hard, my hand tingled from the sensation.

Right as I was about to go in for another blow, she began to shift back, but in a raggedy motion, like she was fighting with her wolf. Her features kept shifting from human to wolf, making me scared that I had done something horrible to her. But finally, her human side won and I stood over her, half naked, angry and as confused as everyone else as she went on her knees.

“I yield, Luna” she whispered and everyone cheered for me even though the shock in the air was palpable.

“Thank you, Lyra. You're amazing” I said to my dragon, a smile on my face as the second elder with gray hair took my hand and raised it, making the pack cheer louder.