Unscentable Luna

Elena Summers' POV:

On the night of the Full Moon Feast, my mate's first love, Sera Smith, came back.

Around her neck, she wore a moonstone pendant. A faint reddish streak lay at its center, one that could never be washed away. That streak was my blood.

I was making my way around the long table, pouring wine for the third time, when the doors to the party venue swung open. At that very moment, every werewolf in the room turned toward the entrance.

Standing in the doorway was Sera. She had on a thin white dress, and her face looked noticeably pale.

Years earlier, Imogen Blackwood, the mother of my mate, Rhys Blackwood, had driven her out of Somient. Sera had returned just three days earlier. According to the rumors, her wolf was weakening. Her scent faded a little more each day, and the doctors said she had no more than a year left.

A sudden rush of excited voices filled the entire pack's mind link.

"Sera's come back."

"Wasn't her scent supposed to be nearly gone?"

"She's the one who really has the scent of a Luna."

I couldn't detect any scent whatsoever. Of all the werewolves gathered together in that room, I alone had no wolf of my own.

From his chair, Rhys got to his feet. Striding right past me, he made his way straight to the entrance. In full view of the entire pack, he pressed his face into the curve of Sera's neck.

"It's been such a long time," he said in a trembling voice. "I believed my wolf had died. But it turns out you simply weren't around."

Still clutching the wine bottle, I remained standing in the same spot.

Five years had passed since our bond, yet he had never caught even a trace of my scent. Night after night, I slit my palm in the kitchen and dripped my blood into the pot of soup I made for him. He had no idea about any of it.

Yet there it was: a moonstone steeped in my blood, hanging from the neck against which he had pressed his face. I had obtained it after spending an entire day and night on my knees, praying at the Moon Goddess's temple. My son, Tyler Blackwood, had been three and gravely ill that year.

Tyler hopped down from the chair beside Imogen, hurried over to Sera, and took her by the hand.

"You smell wonderful, Ms. Smith!" he said brightly. "My mom doesn't smell like that. She always reeks of cooking oil or medicinal herbs."

Turning to look at me, he repeated what the adults always said. "She doesn't have any scent at all."

My little boy was just five years old. He had picked up those words from the grown-ups and was now repeating them exactly as he had heard them.

They weren't mistaken. Most werewolves underwent their first transformation at around the age of sixteen. I kept waiting, but that first shift never happened for me.

My mother had left behind a recipe for a concoction known as moonweed potion. Before her death, she held tightly to my hand and instructed me to drink one whole bottle every single morning, without skipping a day, until my twenty-fifth birthday. I had been drinking that potion ever since I was little, without ever once asking why I needed it.

That was how I came to be known as the scentless Luna of the Silverfang Pack. The pack members acknowledged me as their Luna only because their Alpha had marked me as his mate and I had borne his heir.

My daughter, Nova Blackwood, had not come tonight. She had been born seven minutes later than Tyler, and because she wasn't the heir, she had no place at the head table.

With one arm wrapped firmly around Sera, Rhys headed back toward the table. For the very first time that entire evening, he looked in my direction.

"From this day on, Sera is going to stay in the main house. Elena, prepare some of that soothing soup you make each night for her as well."

That meant I would be feeding his first love with my very own blood.

"Okay," I heard myself reply.

...

Sera came after me to the sink at the far end of the hallway. She drew the pendant out from between her collarbones, rested it on her palm, and swung it gently.

"Does this look familiar? Tyler told me wearing it would help me recover. That's why he gave it to me." Smiling, she added, "He told me he wishes I were his mother, too."

My hands tightened into fists until my nails sank into my palms, though I could feel nothing at all.

"And the Luna ceremony you've spent years waiting for? Rhys just gave me his word that he'll hold it for me at the next full moon."

"Naturally, there's no way I could measure up to you." My voice remained completely flat. "Rhys' sister adores you. His friends adore you. Both Rhys and Tyler are devoted to you. Even the Moon Goddess... favors people like you."

And those favored by the Moon Goddess were always summoned home sooner.

Sera immediately understood what I was suggesting. In the very next instant, tears began gathering in her eyes. "Elena, I've only just come back, and you're already hoping that I'll die?"

I saw no reason to turn around. The very instant her face changed, I realized that somebody had come up behind me.

"Elena, just who are you hoping will die?" Derek Jones, Rhys' childhood friend, came charging over with an angry roar.

I finally turned around. Behind Derek stood Rhys, with a look that was as cold as ice. "Elena, you need to apologize."

Five whole years had gone by. And every single time, he said the same thing.

Without answering, I moved to walk past him. He seized my wrist and squeezed until my bones made a creaking sound.

"I said you need to apologize," he said, towering above me. "Are you listening to me?"

The pain brought a cold sweat out across my forehead, but I still managed to force a strained smile. "Alpha Rhys tried to break his own mate's wrist during the Full Moon Feast. How do you suppose the Werewolf Council would react if word of this ever reached them?"

At once, his fingers relaxed around my wrist. A dark purple ring of bruises had already begun forming around my skin.

"Rhys," I asked in an even voice, "have you ever had any feelings for me during all these years?"

"I haven't. You're kind and considerate, and you make a fine Luna. But you're no different from a glass of water-tasteless, dull, and without the slightest scent." He paused, and the faintest hint of a smile appeared in his eyes. That smile wasn't meant for me, though. He added, "I'd started to believe there was something wrong with my wolf. Tonight was the first time I understood there wasn't."

I turned away and made my way back into the party venue.

Inside, the werewolves were all still holding up their glasses. The chair carved with a crescent moon, positioned to the Alpha's left, belonged to the Luna. Sera was the one occupying that seat now. Beside her stood Tyler, gripping the edge of her dress.

Stopping in the center of the room, I lifted my hand and laid it against the mark on the side of my neck.

"I, Elena Summers, Luna of the Silverfang Pack," I said in a firm, clear voice, "reject you, Rhys Blackwood, Alpha of the Silverfang Pack, as my mate before the Moon Goddess and the whole pack."

A wave of scorching pain erupted at the side of my neck and shot directly into my heart. It was as though someone had thrust a hand inside me and begun tearing out my soul. My ears rang with a loud hum as my vision turned completely white.

Gripping tightly onto a pillar for support, I managed to remain standing.

By the time that dazzling light disappeared, Rhys had taken his place in the doorway. For a long, weighty moment, he stared directly into my eyes without looking away.

"I refuse to accept it."