The Luna Trials by Marissa Gilbert

63. True Mates 

Savannah charged at him, and this time she was too fast for Bjorn to detect. That’s when she gave him another sla.sh of the divine 

dagger over his chest, making a clean cut. 

“We are mates!” He said bitterly, covering the new wound with his fingers. 

“No. We’re not!” She replied without hesitation. “I’d rather die than be your mate!” 

The words hurt him more than the dagger did, but it wasn’t enough for her. He could see it in her eyes as she lifted her hand to try to 

kill him again. He’d had enough of this. She had to be contained! 

He caught her wrist this time and overpowered her easily, bringing her closer. 

“It’s over!” he roared, shaking her roughly, hoping that she’d return to her senses. 

However, it only made the princess sneer. 

“Bjorn, Bjorn, Bjorn,” she whispered and clicked her tongue. “I am just getting started!” 

Savannah’s bones started snapping before his eyes at unnatural angles, and in a few moments, she was able to free her hand from 

his grasp. Bjorn stepped away, panting, and watching her turn into something else completely. He’d already seen this when he and Joran 

went to observe the battle with Castiel’s men a few months ago and also when Kai did it so effortlessly many times in the past. 

It was harder for Savannah, he could see it, but she was determined to go through with this. 

“Savvy, no!” Darius‘ voice broke. He knew what it meant to her. Other royals rarely used their feral third forms because they were 

next to impossible to control. If they didn’t shift back soon enough, they risked never being able to revert back to their human form again. 

The realisation that she was ready to die or stay a beast for the rest of her life just to kill him, hurt him more deeply than the divine weapon ever could. 

But the monster with glowing golden eyes already stood in front of him. Tall, mighty and deadly. And she was out for blood.  blood. 

His 

Savannah tried to keep control just like Kai had taught her. Lycans were primal beasts who were born at the beginning of times, but her Lycan wasn’t a separate entity; It was a part of her. The part she was taught to suppress, the part she was taught to hide. 

Today she was going to embrace it. 

Bjorn looked like he was suffocating, but she decided just to end him immediately. However, when she took the first step, something invisible stopped her. 

“Enough!” The Serpent said, looking as calm as if people weren’t killing each other left and right around them. He didn’t even spare the Lycaness a glance. He didn’t take part in the fighting. He just defended Bjorn once and that was it. 

Wolves that came with Ash were dying. One of the bears almost grabbed Petra, who was still in her human form. From the corner of her eye, Savvy saw how Chloe shifted into a golden–coloured wolf, and Claude was quickly tying something around her neck. 

She wanted so badly to kill Bjorn… but… her friends were more important. If the Serpent didn’t plan to act, and it looked like he had something else in mind, then they had a chance to survive. If she would help them, of course. 

Growling angrily, Savvy flipped the table and was down next to Petra and Ash in seconds, leaving Bjorn behind. 

“Shift!” she commanded in the beast’s voice, and, luckily, they understood her instantly, following her lead. Petra’s wolf was the smallest, but even in the middle of the chaos, Savvy paused, seeing her unusual colour. The wolf was black with soft pink waves of fur all over her in a beautiful pattern. No wonder everyone wanted her! Someone like her was rare indeed! 

Chloe was next to the group already and Claude shifted in one jump, joining them as well. 

Now all they had to do was get out of that castle. 

If only it was that easy… 

1/5 

The bears were shifting too and Savvy let out a roar so loud that the ground underneath their feet shook. 

crowd and made a clean sweep, clearing the path for her friends. Thanks

now they were struggling to get through

everyone they met tried to attack them, slow them down… Yet, Savvy knew she only had minutes left of sanity, feeling how she was starting to enjoy the scent of blood and

from this place and her – as

the marking ceremony, and there

Ash’s team were already missing, either killed or sacrificing themselves to delay

twins were. Fortunately for all of them, she knew exactly what she was doing when she turned into a small passage and then paused by an old wooden bear statue. One movement

went all the way down while still in their wolf forms, and this got them several minutes

thing left to do now – get Aspen.

come back for

behind her back. “There is something I

she growled and pushed the door that led to the

there was a thick circle of bears guarding Aspen and

they wouldn’t have to wait anymore.

Savannah threw herself at the enemy, tearing, snapping, breaking, destroying… At some point, she felt like she had found a rhythm to all this.

do it. While there was still sanity

unfocused. There were cuts and bruises all over him, and Savvy almost

her fingers. Claude was surprisingly the nearest to him and offered

was practically unconscious, and the princess was worried that he’d fall off during their escape. She wanted to say something, but it was becoming harder and harder to form words. The beast was

she regretted it. They needed a beast now. They needed a monster.

Savvy roared, and surprisingly, that helped Aspen to come back

blurry so it wasn’t surprising he took

name. “I knew you’d

more and more bears in the square, and Savvy was starting to worry about how they were going to leave this

surrounded from each side, and Savannah could already feel the desire to sn.ap all those necks. There were more of them than she could handle, but at least she would die trying. She didn’t mind. If she died, maybe the

mentally for the m**** “e that was to follow, and Sawy closed her eyes just for a second, feeling how her mind was slipping

silently, “but if there is at least the tiniest chance of me saving them and

were landing around them, hitting some of the white

piercing their ears this time because it was so much closer. Ash growled excitedly, knowing that his little

bears believed that she did. Moreover,

hesitate and unleashed herself on the startled enemies, tearing their flesh off and ending as many of their lives as she could. She pounced, and she dodged. She ignored the pain when they managed to hurt

when she created a safe corridor for them through one of the broken castle walls. She knew that Ash would have help somewhere nearby. She just needed to give them

not follow her friends. All their eyes were on her, tracing her every move, and this was when she realised

fours, charging into the darkness outside Bjorn’s home. She knew where her friends went; she could feel it. Thanks to that, she

to make sure that the bears followed her and that none of them got lost on the way. Slowly, her priorities were changing.

flew over her head, screeching, but she ignored it. Birds did not interest her anymore. She wanted to be killing bears. Her instincts were telling her to kill them all, and each roar she heard from them excited her. A fight. A hunt. Only they weren’t the

in the middle of a clearing and waited. The annoying bird was still circling over her head, and she was

soon because the bears finally arrived.

but the primal lycan inside of her couldn’t wait anymore. She pounced at the closest one, tearing him to pieces on the

killing them all, feeling only pure rage running through

started to overpower her, cornering her to a rocky hill. She wanted to kill them even more now, to taste their blood and to see life leave their eyes, so she kept fighting, kept slaying… Lost in this

were multiplying by the minute, and it didn’t look like there were fewer bears around her. She roared in frustration, realising that this could be her end. She would

was a sound of a dying, desperate animal, and she put

time, she felt cold. The ground under her feet was icy, the darkness was replaced by clouds of snow. Everything happened so

felt something. Something she couldn’t explain, some kind of strange pull that made her think that she did want to

finish her off now. However,

Something moved in between all the warriors so fast that none

Or something else. 

pieces of ice flew in the air. Only that the

getting back to her against all odds, and she

weren’t her problem anymore, and she felt a strong desire to shift back

clawed her way to

she was back. She was alive and she didn’t turn into a lycan

on her mind now. Why?

frame. Some parts of

some kind of coverage. Even if it

the pain, but she already knew there was nothing lethal.