Damon was the first one to shake off heavy droplets of water from his completely black fur, and Talia followed suit, making the necklace around her neck jingle. It was the necklace Damon gave her, and she already treasured it.
Damon stared at the light gray wolf that shimmered in silvery light under the moonlight. She was slightly smaller than Damon but equally impressive.
'You are beautiful.', Damon spoke, more to himself.
'You are not so bad yourself.', Talia responded through their mind-link.
Damon paused. The mind-link was working in the wolf form? 'I tried to talk to you before, and it didn't work.'
'I didn't want to talk to you.', Talia responded, feeling guilty about it now.
Damon sneered, showing her his long fangs. 'How many secrets are you keeping from me?'
Talia tilted her head. 'I guess you will need to stick around and find out.'
All Damon's dejection sizzled away in a second. Damon approached Talia and licked her cheek. 'I accept that task gladly, Mrs. Blake.'
Talia felt an ocean of emotions bubbling inside her, and she was not sure where the outlet was. 'What do I do with this?' She opened up for Damon to sense what was going on with her.
Damon chuckled. 'Follow my lead, kitten.'
He raised his head to look at the full moon, and then… "AWOOOO!"
Talia felt silly to just howl at the moon, but Damon was doing it, and something stirred inside her, so she did the same.
"AWOOOO!"
The whole experience was amplified when the pack members joined, and Talia could feel that this was much more than just howling; it was sharing the excitement with the pack, it was primal and raw, and she was glad to be a part of it.
Something nudged Talia from her right, and she turned to see Damon rubbing his head on her side.
'What are you doing?', Talia asked.
'I'm leaving my scent on you.', he responded matter-of-factly. 'I want everyone to know you are mine.'
'I'm pretty sure everyone knows.'
'Not like this. Let me do this, kitten. It's my first time, so I'm not sure if I'm doing it right…'
Talia's heart expanded. The big bad wolf was admitting his insecurities. And he wanted everyone to know that she was his. Wasn't he adorable?
Talia turned her head and licked Damon's nose, making him freeze on the spot.
'Did I do something wrong?', Talia asked nervously. Why did he just stare at her like that?
'No, kitten. Everything you do is right.', Damon responded. 'But… don't you dare do that to anyone else. Got it?'
Talia nodded obediently. She had no intention of licking other wolves. She didn't want to lick Damon either. She wanted to give him a kiss, but her lips were strange, and her tongue came out on its own and it happened.
Ah, this whole wolf thing was completely new to Talia, and she was not sure if she can handle it, but she had a feeling that as long as Damon was by her side, things will be alright.
From the crowd, a brown wolf with black patches was watching, and if wolves could pout, that would be it. It was Lisa.
She sensed that something was off when Damon was attending the ceremony on his own, and then he left without explanation, and Lisa was confident that her hunch was right.
People around Lisa spoke about Talia being Damon's fated mate and their Luna, yet Lisa was confident that was wrong because Talia was a wolf-less she-wolf. How can she be Luna? Luna should be beautiful and powerful, able to contribute to her Alpha, and Damon would never accept as his Luna someone without background who had such a big defect. That would be suicide for the whole pack, and Lisa knew very well that Damon prioritized his pack above everything else.
Lisa was aware that Damon was cold and calculative. If he allowed his emotions to guide him, with all the voluptuous she-wolves throwing themselves at Damon, one more impressive than the other, Damon would have had a Luna a long time ago, and not wait for his late twenties to name as his Luna a weak she-wolf.
Lisa remembered her mother's warnings about not stirring trouble, so she held her thoughts to herself while eagerly waiting for the evening to unfold. No matter what Talia was scheming, once the run starts, she will be exposed, and Lisa will be there to see it.
The Shaman ended the ceremony with all pack members feeling high due to the boost of energy from the Moon Goddess, and then Caden announced how the pack had a task to find their Alphas.
Lisa couldn't believe this. Alphas? Like, two of them? What kind of nonsense was that?
But everyone was cheering and getting excited, and she followed the crowd by shifting into her wolf form and following after Caden. They didn't run much when they met Maya and Zina, and a few more figures were further away, but they were not Damon or Talia, so Lisa didn't care much about them.
Lisa was delighted to see Damon and Talia in the river, both in their human form, which proved that Talia can't shift. Talia was definitely a wolf-less she-wolf, and Lisa was confident that the whole pack will ostracize her. Surely, no one will accept a Luna with a critical flaw, and Damon won't make her his Luna under all that pressure. Assuming that Talia was Damon's fated mate, at most, Talia would be Damon's mistress while a more prominent she-wolf takes the spot of his Luna.
Lisa remembered how she was discarded by Tony, and how all her so-called friends turned their back on her the moment they heard that Tony found his fated mate. No one cared about Kalina's background, it was all just because she was Tony's fated mate. Lisa came home only to see a no-name Omega sticking to Damon and pretending that she was important. And how can Talia be Damon's fated mate if she didn't have her wolf?
Lisa's belly full of grievances was directed at Talia as she recollected numerous scoldings she got because of Talia, and Lisa even ended up in the dungeon! Someone applied tremendous pressure on Lisa when she confronted Talia, and even some of Lisa's bones cracked, but Lisa didn't think it was Talia. It must be Maya or Damon or some other powerful wolf, and not a wolf-less she-wolf like Talia.
Lisa couldn't wait for Talia to be exposed as the weak fraud she is. Everyone will get to see that she was no one, and then Lisa will proudly say, 'I told you so!', and people will know that she was not just bitter because she lost her chance to be the Luna of the Lightclaw pack, but they will know that Lisa was right.
To Lisa's horror, Damon gave a speech where he said that he and Talia were equals and how Talia was important, and he gave her his necklace, and then they both emerged from the river as two wolves, and Lisa couldn't believe this! Was that a substitute?
