His Reluctant Luna

Prologue

ATTENTION RADISH READERS! Please don't leave any spoilers in here or you'll be getting a spanking from Iona. Or Kole. Or Konnor. Whoever you'd prefer. 😘

Kole

The earth flew under my paws, pounding the dirt. The scent of my prey filling my nose. This was stupid, my skin side knew it. There was a doe, slower, easier and safer to catch, but my wolf, my ever wilding wolf, wanted the buck.

We leapt and our jaws closed on it's throat, latching on and closing in until the animal sank to the ground almost lifeless, then we tore out it's throat.

We gorged ourselves fat and when we were done, we moved on from the kill, leaving the rest to our brothers to feast on. We lay in the rising sun, full but not sated. A constant state for us, a state we had lived for many years but had never gotten used to.

Our spirit was restless, his growing wilder, more reckless by the day. All over one simple thing, the thing that came so easily to others but had alluded us entirely.

A mate.

It was rare that I wished I was human, but there were moments, in the dark of night when I wished I was. If I were human, I would be free of this pain, this deep rooted need that was pushing my wolf into the wild. The moon made us as half creatures, unable to exist without our mates.

For a regular wolf, being without a mate would drive them to ruin, to madness. They would live a half life, become hermits or outcasts at best, but for an Alpha, the stakes were higher because the power was so much greater. Without my Luna I was incomplete, unbalanced and the longer I went without her, the closer my wolf came to running mad.

I saw the fear of it in my eyes every time I looked in the mirror, I saw it in the eyes of my brothers, my sister, my parents, my pack. They knew time was running out. At twenty nine, to still be without a mate was unheard of. A mateless Alpha was an unstable Alpha and an unstable Alpha left his pack vulnerable. A vulnerable pack brought the jackals sniffing around, waiting to pick us off. They circled, ever closer as year after year crept by and every year my mate evaded me.

Where was she? Why was the moon doing this to me? Perhaps my mate was already dead...the thought had occurred to me and yet...it didn't feel true. My wolf shifted, restless, agitated and my brothers whined. I gave them a reassuring grumble. I was still here, I hadn't gotten lost in my wild yet. Yet.

Each time I shifted it became harder to shift back. My temper was harder to control, my strength growing to insane proportions. Reaching infamy. But there was no glory in it. We all knew this was how it would go. I would grow stronger, more potent, my wolf doing everything it could to attract my mate to me until eventually, my mind would snap and my wolf would take over. A wild, rabid animal that would need to be put down.

It was a shameful way to go but a fate I had to consider every day, a fate I had discussed with my family. They knew the drill and they understood. When it's time, put me down, don't lock me up in the dungeon and let me linger. Let me go.

Even if I did find my mate, there was no guarantee my wolf wouldn't compel me to claim her immediately, harming her in the process. I had searched the world over for her but she'd alluded me and now, with the Gulf pack testing our defences more and more, I could no longer leave my pack to continue my search. So, I remained, watching my pack's numbers dwindle every year. Only one female had gone into heat this year, it was a miracle she had gotten pregnant at all and we all prayed to the moon that her pup would survive. It would be the first one in years.