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Chapter one
Celeste
-Eleven Years Ago-
“Comeback,Celeste.It’snot safe! Please. Come back.”
I pushed through the chaos of the crowd. I could hear him screaming my name, asking me to stop. I couldn’t. I needed to see for myself. I felt the break of the familial connection, but I wouldn’t believe it. I needed my eyes to confirm what my heart refused to accept.
It couldn’t be him.
He was invincible.
I made it to the front of the crowd. As I pushed past the last leg blocking my view, my knees gave way at the scene before me, and tears ran down my face.
In front of me stood the alpha of the Blood Moon Pack, looking at my mother, holding the head of my father. A vile smirk displayed on his face while she sobbed. Sorrow and anger overwhelmed me, and I tried to get up and run toward my family, but my father's gamma, Lucien, finally caught up and pushed me behind him.
‘You can’t, Celeste. He can’t know it’s you,’he mind-linked me. Not everyone could mind-link as a pup, but I found out early that while I couldn’t connect back with them, they could connect to me. I swallowed a sob and held onto Lucien’s leg with all my might, peeking around it. My mother was on her knees, crying and trying to reach my father’s body, while Alpha Geoff laughed and bounced my father’s head from his foot like a hacky sack.
“Your mighty Alpha didn’t stand a chance, Luna. Your pack now belongs to me. You belong to me.” Alpha Geoff smirked and laughed again. My mother looked over the pack huddled together in grief and fear. She stopped sobbing, even as tears continued to flow freely down her face. My father was challenged, and by werewolf law, what Alpha Geoff said was true. Sky Moon now belonged to the Blood Moon Pack. Her eyes made contact with mine. I could see that her heart was shattered. Alpha Geoff pulled my mother up by the arm and squashed her to his side.
‘I have failed you. I’m sorry,’I heard her say over the pack mind-link. As luna, she could project to everyone in the pack at once. Still looking at my eyes, her breath hitched.
‘I love you, Celeste, my little piece of sky. I hope you can forgive me one day. Don’t let them know how special you are. Don’t let them use you, pequeña (little one),’she said privately to me.
My gift pulled me forward in time, and I saw a flash of the future, but there wasn’t enough time to prevent it. I saw the same image of what my gift showed me play out in front of my eyes only moments later. I sobbed as my mother grabbed the bloody knife from Alpha Geoff’s waistband and flashed it across her throat. A pain burst forth in my head, and I buried my head in the leg that was holding me up when I heard Alpha Geoff roar.
“Stupid bitch!” He kicked the lifeless body of my mother over my father’s.
“Grab all the unmated females and baby males. KILL THE REST,” he screamed. I heard the snarls of his warriors and the screams of my people as his orders were carried out.
I was lifted and carried through the crowd. He didn’t stop until we reached the cliffs behind the pack house, but even with this distance, I could still hear the screams of my pack as they were ripped to shreds.
“Look at me,” my father’s gamma, Lucien, said. He shook me a little when I didn’t obey. “Look at me, little Celeste!” he said urgently. I looked up at him, trying to stifle my sobs. “I can’t take you with me, little one. I don’t know if I’ll make it out alive. You have to lie. You have to lie about who you are. Do you understand?” he said.
“I have to lie,” I said.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “If they ask you, what is your name?”
“I don’t know,” I cried. All I wanted to do was wake up from this nightmare.
“Your name is Celeste Pierce. You are the daughter of the deceased gamma, Lucien Pierce. Say it.”
“My name is Celeste Pierce. My daddy was Lucien Pierce. Daddy’s g- gamma of Alpha Cory,” I said, my breath hitching.
“Good,” he said, giving me a hug and a kiss on my forehead. “I would be honored for you to carry my name for a little while,” he said. “I have to go, little one. I will look for you. You hear me? I will find help and look for you. I will get you out.” He looked toward the river before he turned back to me.
“I want you to repeat what you said over and over until it feels natural, okay? Until you no longer want to say your daddy’s last name. You can’t let them know who you are. Bad things will happen if they know. Promise me, Celeste, promise me you will say the right words.” he said.
“My name is Celeste Pierce. My daddy was Lucien Pierce, Gamma to the Alpha,” I repeated. He gave me another tight hug.
“Good girl. I will find you. Flourish and live, little one,” he said, and I watched with horror as he jumped off the cliff. He shifted halfway through the jump and dropped into the river. I heard a yelp when he hit the water, and I stared for what felt like hours, waiting for him to resurface, but I saw nothing. I sobbed and fell to the ground, curling into a ball.
“My name is Celeste Pierce. My daddy was Lucien Pierce, Gamma to the Alpha,” I said.
“My name is Celeste Pierce. My daddy was Lucien Pierce, Gamma to the Alpha,” I sobbed into the night.
“My name is Celeste Pierce. My daddy was Lucien Pierce, Gamma to the Alpha.”
