The True Luna's Forbidden Temptation - Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Ten Years Ago.
The memory burns inside my brain. Sudden. Violent. Inescapable.
I thought I have forgotten this. But here I am. I’m back there again. This moment that I consider the darkest moment of my life.
I just turned twenty-two. By this time, the weight of becoming the next Alpha of the Blackwood pack, the strongest, the most influential pack in the country, feels heavier, more excruciating—almost becoming unbearable.
My heart pounded like war drums as I race through the corridors of the Blackwood pack mansion, my wolf snarling inside me with raw panic.
Julian’s message had been brief but devastating: "Reid, come to the mansion quickly! The Elders know about her now!”
Six words. That’s all it took to shatter the illusion of safety I had carefully built around Analise.
Until this day, I thought I could keep her safe. I could protect her. And that someday, I could build a life with her—as her equal. As human.
I rounded the corner to the council hall, moving at a speed no human could survive. Julian was already there, waiting beside the massive oak doors carved with the sigils of our pack ancestors. His jaw was tight. His entire stance screamed urgency.
"Reid," he hissed, calling me by my second name, rather than my first—a private nickname only he had been allowed to use.
He gripped my arm the moment I got close. His voice was low, almost a growl. "They know about your human mate. They're deciding what to do with her right now."
A cold fear sliced through me, colder than silver, sharper than any blade. "How? How the hell did they find out?"
"You were spotted watching her. In the woods behind her estate. You were too close, Reid. Too often. You slipped."
Damn it!
I thought I’d masked my scent well enough. That I’d been careful. But the mate bond had pulled me toward her like gravity I could never escape. I guess, it had made me reckless.
"They can't touch her," I growled, already shoving past him. "She’s mine. And I will die to protect her.”
The doors flew open under my force, slamming against the stone walls with a thunderous boom. The sound echoed like a war cry.
The Elders sat in a semi-circle, robed and grim, their faces like carved stone. My grandfather, the High Elder and current Alpha of the Blackwood Pack, sat at the center. His crystal blue eyes—a mirror of my own—narrowed as they landed on me.
"You dare interrupt a closed council meeting?" he asked, his voice like a blade dipped in frost.
I didn't flinch. "This concerns me and my mate. I have every right to be here."
Whispers stirred like dry leaves. My grandfather remained unmoved.
"The human girl is not yet your mate," he said coldly. "You have not marked her yet.”
"But she is going to be my mate. There could only be one Luna in the world for me!”
Now, that I was here, now that they all knew about her anyway, there was no sense in lying, denying that Analise is my mate, and if this pack wanted me to be the next Alpha, they’re just gonna have to accept her!
Elder Lydia leaned forward, her voice acidic. "An Alpha cannot mate with a human. It is our first law, written in blood."
I clenched my fists, my wolf clawing inside my skin. "She doesn’t even know about our world! How can you judge someone who hasn’t even been given the choice?"
"Fairness is irrelevant here," my grandfather said. "This is about survival. An Alpha with a human mate is a risk—to himself and to the entire pack."
"I would never betray this pack!" I growled. “And I know—neither would she if she would be given a chance.”
Elder Marcus leaned forward, his voice deceptively calm. "Not willingly. But love blinds even the strongest. The bond would compel you to protect her—above all else. Even your own kind."
Lydia added, "We are the strongest pack in the land. And for us to maintain that strength, our Luna must be fit to hold the title. Having a human Luna will only weaken us! Open us to attacks!”
“And even if we choose the right she-wolf to be your Luna, you will never be faithful to her while you're bound to your human mate. You will never be complete in your duty. And your reign will be questionable.”
“We will suffer both internal and external attacks. We cannot allow that!”
They were tightening the noose with every word. Their fear disguised as wisdom. Their prejudice wrapped in the banner of tradition.
"Then what are you really saying?" I demanded, my voice barely more than a whisper.
"There is only one solution to this, son. She must… die," my grandfather said.
The words knocked the breath from my lungs. I staggered, rage bursting in my chest like wildfire. I saw red. My wolf surged to the surface, barely held back.
"No," I growled. "You will not lay a single finger on her."
My grandfather's eyes widened as darkness began seeping from my skin, pooling around my feet like living shadow. The torches along the council walls flickered, their flames cowering as if sensing a greater predator.
"What is this?" Elder Lydia whispered, rising from her seat.
I felt it then—something ancient awakening inside me. Not just my wolf, but something else. Something darker. The shadows responded to my rage, swirling around my legs, climbing up my body like sentient smoke.
"Reid," Julian breathed behind me, "your eyes..."
My grandfather stood slowly, recognition and fear mingling on his face. "The Shadow Wolf," he whispered. "After all these generations...”
The shadows grew denser, extending from me like wings. Every Elder in the room shrank back. This power—I'd never felt anything like it. The darkness responded to my will, to my need to protect what was mine.
"You will not touch her," I said, my voice layered with something that is not my own.
"But… you are bound by law. We all are," Elder Marcus stammered. Clearly, they are now all scared of me, acknowledging that I’m the most powerful creature in the room—and the only one fit to be their future Alpha.
“Sebastian,” I hear my grandmother’s voice in the distance. “Child.”
I turn to her. Her presence calms me a little bit. The shadows begin to subside.
“You are strong and powerful,” she says. “There is no doubt about that. But there are other wolves with other ancient abilities like you, too. And they will try to attack us. Having a weak, and vulnerable human Luna will not only put the pack in danger. She will always be helpless to defend herself because she is not like us. Do you really want her to die at the hands of one of our kind?”
“Reid,” Julian whispers. “If it’s not the Council who will threaten her life, it will be someone else. Do you really want that life for her?”
What they are saying hurts. But now, that I’ve come to my senses, I also realize that they are right.
I am not strong enough yet to fight for her. If I keep fighting for her like this, her life will always be in danger.
And I know—I would rather not be with her, than live in a world where she does not exist.
I take a deep heavy breath. The shadows also dissipate, as if they’re being sucked back inside my skin.
"There is another way," I whispered. "The ancient laws—they allow it."
A hush fell over the council.
Yes, I did come prepared. I have researched about this before.
“I will reject her,” I said. Even saying the words out loud breaks me into pieces. "That will sever the mate bond. She will no longer be my mate. She will no longer be a threat.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
My grandfather studied me for a long, long moment. "You would do this? You understand the cost?"
"I do."
He nodded once. "You have until the next full moon. If the bond is not broken, she dies."
I turned on my heel and left, each step heavier than the last. My wolf screamed inside me, fighting the decision. But I didn’t care. She would live.
That night, I ran. I slipped past guards and barriers, scaled the estate wall like a shadow. Her room was dark. I entered through the balcony, the scent of lavender and warmth washing over me like a drug.
I stood there in silence, just breathing her in.
When she finally entered the room, she paused. Her head tilted slightly.
"Sebastian?" she whispered, eyes wide.
She always said my name like it meant something sacred.
I moved before I could think, closed the distance and captured her lips with mine. It was soft, reverent—then desperate. Her hands rose to my face, and in that second, I knew she felt it too. Even without knowing what it meant.
We fit.
Perfectly.
But it was the last time I could have her.
I pulled back, my chest hollowing out.
"I... reject you," I said.
It takes a moment for her to recover. She stands still in front of me. Shocked. Speechless. Her eyes closed.
A single tear roll down my cheek. I turn around and jumped out through her balcony, landing on the ground with perfect precision.
"What?" I hear her ask, finally able to recover from her shock.
But I was already gone. My heart was bleeding in my chest, torn into a million pieces that I knew would never heal.