The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

CHAPTER 1

Riannon stood there not quite believing her eyes. Her husband of six years had his arm wrapped around a petite girl in the middle of their pack house. The cute ginger head peeked at her discretely and Ria could swear that she saw a smirk for half of a second.

“Ri, dear,” Brayden, her legal husband, chosen mate and the Alpha of their pack addressed her in a way he always did when they were alone, “I need to confess… I have found my true mate. Her name is Roxanne.”

The silence in the room was deadly since the moment the two of them walked in, holding hands. Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and all eyes were on the three of them. The Alpha, the Luna and the Alpha’s mate.

Ria couldn’t force herself to say anything, so Brayden took the lead.

“Listen, I know that we are chosen mates and you will always be my Luna, I assure you of that. But since my wolf saw Roxy, he is going nuts. It will be bad for the pack if I rejected her now. He wouldn’t be able to deal with it. And it will weaken us.”

There it was – the excuse!

The two of them were school sweethearts, the perfect couple. Rhiannon was a daughter and the heiress of a powerful Alpha from a very strong pack. Brayden was her father’s best friend’s son and the future Alpha of his own pack. Since they started dating when she was just 15 and he was 16, everybody couldn’t stop buzzing that they were true mates. They always were the IT couple and everyone envied their love. Besides, as a daughter of any alpha, Ria was educated to become a Luna one day. And not just any Luna. The perfect one. She spent all her free time studying what she would have to do for the rest of her life. And she mastered every single thing to perfection. So that when she was 18 and ready to marry Bray, she would be prepared.

But Bray’s 18th birthday was first. She trembled to meet him on that day, longing to hear the one and only most significant word of both of their lives –  mate.

He came to her pack early that day and she ran down the stairs to greet him. But as she ran, both their smiles faded a bit. She couldn’t feel anything, but he already knew.

“We are not mates, aren’t we?” she asked, tears trickling down her chin.

“Not the fated ones,” Brayden sighed heavily and locked her in his arms, his lips in her hair. They stood like this for quite some time, waiting for the disappointment to wash away. And when they were ready, Bran took her face into his hands and said, “It doesn’t matter, Ri! I choose you! I will always choose you! No matter what, no one can break the love between us. You will be my mate, my chosen mate! My one and only!”

son anymore, since Riannon’s older brother died young trying to save their little twin sisters from the rogues. All of them died as a result and Ria was the only one left. So, there was a pressing matter of who would be inheriting the pack. And Bray seemed like the obvious choice.

Riannon was 19. He told her that he made his choice but wanted for her to try and find her mate before she made hers. They were visiting other packs for the whole year before

and merged both their packs into one, year by year working to make it stronger. And now at twenty-five, Ria was a renowned Luna whom

room and saw the shocked faces of her packmates. Yet she couldn’t help but notice that not everyone seemed startled by the recent events. Her

the most stunned among them all was still Riannon herself. Although not for the reasons that

she looked at her husband and his

she muttered, “It

in time when all her life turned

seconds ago, Ria was crawling over the ground in the woods, fighting for her life as two creatures followed her closely. The wolf found

drugged her with aconite, making her weak, unable to shift and practically

growled as he ripped a part of her thigh

stepped forward said, “No one is going

that voice at once. Her tormentor was none other than

it? You already took everything

she was too weak. The only thing that she knew was that the werewolf

Roxy smirked, rubbing her round belly, “And I don’t have to explain them to you. Not anymore. Your time has passed. You are done,

will find everything out!” the ex-Luna pleaded,

next to her and grabbed a fistful of her hair, “Dear,

towards the ground and ordered the wolf, “Finish her off. Make sure nothing

listening anymore as Riannon watched Roxy walk away leisurely. As if