Chapter 6: The Lunas Price

“Mine!”

He said aloud, incredulous, for he had never even dreamed that one day he would say those words from the bottom of his heart. He was Ares, The Cursed Alpha, feared even by his own people.

One of Deanera's minions looked at her sideways, and she motioned for him to do his job. He then rushed to open the cell and make way for the powerful Alpha. No one would want to stand in the way of the magnificent predator and his prey.

— Come to me, my female!

The Alpha commanded, and she instinctively obeyed, her beautiful green eyes fixed on his gaze.

— Yours? But she's human, how can a human be a Luna?—  Deanera asked, suspicious.

There was a possibility that Ares was only interested in a female to warm his bed, and nothing was easier than a weak and worthless human. No one would care enough about a human to go against the strongest Alpha in existence.

“Mine!”

His beast repeated, and Deanera understood that she was witnessing a historic scene, for the third form does not lie.

Behind him, in the other cell, his general recited the same word, recognizing his human companion, who fought against him, reeking of fear and resentment. The green-eyed female shuddered and looked away from Ares to the human, which made his beast growl with jealousy.

Ares felt empty when he ceased to be the focus of his female's attention.

The general, furious at the rejection, shouted that he would mark the human right there if he did not surrender, for he would not accept rejection from his soul mate. Ares sensed the general's excitement, whose nature was about to overpower the human male and mount him, as males do in the wild. Noticing his mate's horror, Ares, knowing she was incapable of understanding him, pulled her close in an awkward embrace, so she couldn't see what would inevitably happen if the human male insisted on rejecting the general.

— Deanera, my female does not understand our language.

— If you mark her, she will understand, Alpha, it is your right. She is only human, you do not need her consent.

Ares had been rejected by everyone in his existence, even his father had disowned him, willing to leave his inheritance to Alaor instead of his son, and attempted to humiliate him publicly. He knew that a human would not feel the bond, but he could not force her to accept him.

— You have the gift of languages, I will pay for your secret!

Deanera smiled, satisfied, before taking a bottle from the bag hanging from her belt.

— Make her drink this when you return to your land, so that she may understand your language. However, Alpha, she must drink it of her own free will.”

Ares accepted the vial without even asking how much she would charge. It didn't matter, he would pay whatever was fair. Nothing would be too expensive for his female, she was his treasure, a fragile human who had been given to him by the Goddess herself. His redemption lay in her, her very existence was a breath of light in his dark heart.

The human screamed once more, terrified, when the general made a move to undress the human male.

— General Igor, control yourself, I will not allow you to complete the bond against the human's will!

Ares' voice was even more powerful and authoritative, with the addition of his nature, which agreed with him. His Luna would fear him even more if she witnessed the brutality of one of his generals dominating the human and mounting him.

Igor's wolf had no choice but to obey the Alpha's order, and stopped tearing the human's strange clothes. The female, still frightened, watched as the general picked up the unconscious human in his arms and held him against his chest, full of joy and pride.

The human was marked, and although the general's nature burned to possess him as quickly as possible, admiring his mark on his companion's neck served to appease his instincts momentarily.

Ares pushed the human away just a bit, held her face in his hands, her beautiful green eyes staring at him, teary.

— Two humans, a mate of a first-rank general and a female Luna by birth. We will have a banquet to celebrate this happy occasion!

— I don't need a banquet.

— It's part of the tradition. You know how things work around here, Alpha Ares...

Deanera commented with a smile, calculating her profit for that night. If the value of a general's soul mate was already a small fortune, the price of a Luna of birth was incalculable.

— I know very well how things work around here, Elf! Let me tell you that my people are not bargaining chips, and I will not leave here without the humans!

Deanera frowned, irritated, because the Alpha had guessed that she intended to demand some males to serve as her guards, and, why not, sexually.

— Beta Alaor, pay the elf a fair price!

Ares took the human in his arms, she reacted, screaming in fear, trying to get him to let her go, in vain.

— That is not our custom, Alpha! Wait! The union ceremony must be performed on my lands!

Deanera ran after the Alpha who was taking her female away.

— I don't give a damn about your traditions, Elf! They are not the customs of my people, you do not obey the great Goddess!

Several of Deanera's guards surrounded the werewolves with spears in their hands.

— You should be ashamed of treating soulmates like merchandise, that is not the law of the gods! As a priestess of Aradia, you should not be so mercenary.

— You have no right to judge how I serve my Goddess when you are damned by your beloved Hecate! The Union Ceremony is greatly appreciated by my people, it is customary for your mates to serve us!

Ares paused, his wolves fell silent, fearful of the Alpha's reaction.

— None of my men will serve you to impregnate you, Deanera, but if you insist on carnal satisfaction...—  Ares signaled to Alaor and said, — Beta, give her a few extra gold coins to pay some demon who will agree to fuck her!

As he left the mansion of the elf priestess, Ares looked once more at the humanfemale,e who was still struggling in his arms. He wanted to be able to talk to her, explain who he was and what they meant to each other, but this was not the right moment to mark her. Tired of her incessant rejection, he touched the sensitive area of her collarbone with two fingers and made her lose consciousness with a simple, precise blow.

He looked up at the sky, where the moon bathed the night, and asked the great Goddess why she despised him so much. He knew he was not worthy of being loved by anyone, but a wolf mate would have the bond to share, yet giving him a human female, incapable of feeling any connection, was like torturing him even more.