CHAPTER 139: The Luna’s Proof

CHAPTER 139: The Luna’s Proof
Alora’s POV

The arena looked more like a sports ground than anything sacred. From the way it looked, one could see that it had seen some good days. 

There was a wide circle cut into the earth, flat dirt in the middle, ringed with rows of concrete seating that climbed in rough tiers. The steps were cracked in places, patched with cement that didn’t match. Grass pushed through in the corners where nobody bothered to clean.

Four steel poles stood at equal points around the ring, each one wired with floodlights. 

There was a roof that made it look like a mini stadium. 

It also doubled as the training arena. Some omegas who had been sparring on hearing the commotion left their morning routine and stepped forward to have a glimpse of what was going on. 

Around the edges, the warriors, who acted as coaches while some doubled as pack security, lined up on the wall. 

The arena was not a sacred place. It was a place where the pack solved problems, settled challenges, and aired dirty truths in front of everyone.

And now it was the place where I stood, center of the circle, with Morgan’s hand locked around my waist while the entire pack decided whether I was a blessing or a curse.

Now I wished I stayed back like the Alpha had instructed. 

I turned to see Leo clutching Chloe like a vise, his eyes trained on me, red rimmed with tears. 

I gave him a little smile of reassurance. 

He didn't smile back, only pulled closer to Chloe, who instinctively patted his back in a comforting manner.

Jones stood with his new-found sister, Elena, his arms wrapped around her, and her head on his shoulder.

Warriors lined the bottom row, standing shoulder to shoulder, more like a barrier than an audience. 

As soon as the double doors of the council chambers opened, the rest of the pack filled the steps above them, knees pressed to the backs of the people in front, bodies squeezed in too close. 

There was a low ripple of voices, snapped words, sharp whispers, arguments starting and stopping without anyone bothering to hide them.

The arena wasn’t a place built for beauty. It was built for watching, for judgment. And right now, every set of eyes in it was fixed on me.

Morgan’s words still rang in my head like thunder.

“She stays. Alora does not leave this pack. Not now. Not ever.”

The arena went so quiet for half a second that I thought maybe, maybe, the declaration had silenced them all. 

By now the news of the Lycan king coming to the pack had spread far and wide, and almost all the pack members poured out to the arena to watch.

There were ripples of murmurs now. It was low at first until they began to filter into my ears. 

I heard snatches of phrases…“curse,” “Moonborn,” “danger,” “chosen.” And then, like wildfire, the murmurs grew into a dozen different conversations sparking across the room.

“Didn't you see how she turned into a wolf and hypnotized us during Alpha's birthday?”

“No, she’s a blessing, can’t you see?”

“The Goddess wouldn’t send this chaos without reason.”

“She’s not even fully a wolf yet…”

“Look at what happened when she shifted! You call that a blessing?”

“She saved the Alpha’s life!”

“She’ll destroy him just the same!”

Their voices scraped against my skin like claws.

I stood there frozen, feeling Morgan’s hand steady on the small of my back, his warmth trying to tether me, but the eyes…the eyes around me burned holes through my body. Some looked at me with reverence. Others with pure suspicion, like I was a flame left unattended, seconds away from burning the entire house down.

My breath hitched. The air felt thin.

Where were the pack members that supported me a few days ago when the Alpha was taken? 

They seem to have disappeared into thin air now.

Morgan’s voice cut through the noise. “Enough.”

One word, sharp as a blade. His tone carried the Alpha’s command. The whispers turned into tense, clipped arguments.

His eyes turned to everyone in the pack, including the elders that had come out to watch. “I am glad everyone is here, so I don't need to repeat myself. I am going to say this once and for all”. 

He turned to the elders “Elders, of Bloodfang pack, I have heard your concerns and pleas. Believe me when I say that they are all valid, and I appreciate you looking out for me and the pack. But at the end of the day, I will be making decisions that will not only benefit me but the pack. 

“You know how I have been looking for my mate for years. I finally found her and I would not be letting her go because of an ancient prophecy.

Then he turned to me, “This woman saved my life. You all were here when she battled to help the warriors, clean their wounds, and use her healing powers to keep this pack alive when I was not there” he paused and turned. There were murmurs of approval from some of the pack members at his words. 

Morgan’s voice rang across the arena. “It wasn’t you. It wasn’t the Elders. It was her.”

The noise faltered but didn’t die. Then, out of nowhere, an unexpected voice creaked up from the far left of the circle. 

“It was her.” 

The crowd turned, everyone’s heads snapping to the source.

He was an old and wrinkled man, leaning on his cane for support. 

It was the same omega that had come to me immediately after I was back in the pack the night Violet had lost her pup.

He rushed to me and bowed at my feet. I didn't know why he had done that because I had never met him.

I had asked Chloe about him, and she told me he had never shifted nor had he ever been mated because his mate left because he didn't have a wolf. 

It was unlikely for a male wolf not to have a wolf and if it happened, he was cast away. So his title as an elder was stripped from him and most of the young warriors probably didn’t even know his name. 

His hand trembled, but his voice didn’t.

“I have been mocked all my life” he began, coughing “Until the night of the Alpha’s birthday. I wanted to die because I saw no use in me living when I had never experienced my wolf nor had a mate. I had planned it all but the Luna saved my life that night. 

“The day she shifted in front of the whole pack, my wolf awakened. I shifted for the first time in my life and, ever since then, all I ever want to do is live.

“I feel young again, even those who know me can testify”.

There were murmurs all around him and a few people nodded, smiling.

The old man tightened his grip on his cane. “That is no curse. That is the Goddess’s hand. You can call her dangerous, you can call her Moonborn, but I stand here because of her.” When he was done, he walked up to me and bared his neck, showing his loyalty. 

The arena erupted in claps, and faces beamed up at me.

Then Chloe’s voice came from the front rows, where she was still holding Leo. She didn’t wait for anyone to grant her permission.

“She gave me my wolf back too.”

All eyes swung towards her. Her cheeks flushed, but her chin lifted higher.

“I was nothing. Everyone in this arena remembers me. A maid. A shadow. I served, I bowed, I was weak. I had no wolf, no voice. Until her.” She pointed straight at me, her hand trembling, but her eyes like fire. 

“The Luna made me whole. She awakened my dormant wolf through her kindness and love. She saw me when nobody did. She was the first person I spoke to through the mindlink. I couldn't even connect to the alpha, but somehow, even before my wolf came, I was able to connect with her.”

Harry’s eyes locked on hers, surprise and shock written on his face. “When did this happen”? He asked, taking a step as if to get to her, but she stopped him with her palm raised up. 

“The Luna saved me. I don't know about anybody else, but she is my Luna, and I will forever serve her” then she bared her throat to me. 

The crowd erupted again after that. They were shocks, arguments, disbelief. Some shouted it was all lies. Others snarled at the ones calling her a liar. 

I couldn’t breathe. Their eyes on me were too much. I felt like a fraud all of a sudden. I didn't do anything. All I did was love them like my own, do my job at the hospital and just live, but now there were people fighting for me without being asked. 

Harry stepped forward and gestured to the crowd to be silent. 

Once everywhere was silent, Morgan took my hands in his and bent down and kissed my forehead in front of the whole crowd. I felt hot and cold shivers chase down my spine at the contact and I smiled shyly.

Then he turned to King Adrian and gave a little bow. “King Adrian, with all due respect, you will not be going with my Luna. Besides wanting my mate, I also know that having her close will help me heal, and I need to heal fast in preparation for our mating ceremony which will be taking place soon”. 

I gasped and felt myself go red with his words.

There were murmurs and sprinkles of laughter erupted in the arena while some of the elders nodded and the majority frowned. 

My grandfather didn't speak. He walked up to me and cradled my face in his hands and smiled up at me. “Before your mating ceremony,” he murmured, “you will come to me. Both of you. Do not forget.” We both nodded, and he gave me a reassuring smile, kissed both my cheeks and patted Morgan on the back before he left the arena with Selene in tow.