Page 197 of Crystal Luna

“She’s fierce, brave, and true to herself. Luna Velora, come to our sides so your pack may welcome their mother—and warrior.”

Velora felt frozen in place as Gemma pulled off her coat. Only the twins’ mental pull made her put one foot in front of the other. It was as if she were walking towards her own execution. Trying to hide her true struggle, she inhaled the icy air and forced her lips up into a smile.

The crowd parted before her, warm faces meeting hers with little whispers here and there—commenting on her, on the dress. Her heart thawed with each step she took as they welcomed her with bright eyes.

Then she saw them standing beyond the crowd, their jaws slack and their eyes wide as they saw their luna—truly saw their luna for the first time. Her smile was no longer fake as she trudged through the thick snow towards her mates. The looks in their eyes told her they absolutely adored her to pieces. Though they hadn’t been good to her in the past, Velora now felt comfortable that they would be—for the rest of their lives. They would do anything to make her happy and nothing said it more than how they stared at her in that moment. It was hard to let the realisation truly manifest in her mind—it had already been there a while. The life ahead, the one they would share together, would be far longer than the time they’d tormented her. She had to focus on the future. She knew it would be hard to forget the past, but it was time for her to move forward.

She hated it but it was the right thing to do.

When she was within arms reach, they each offered her a hand. As their palms touched, the weight of the past lifted itself from her soul. Only some of it, but it was a start. She fought tears as she looked up at them, her fingers weaving with theirs.

“You two can close your mouths now,” she whispered.

They stared at her for just another moment, before their cheeks flushed pink and their mouths snapped shut.

“You look beautiful.”

“Stunning,” Asher commented, trying to trump his brother even in that moment.

She grinned up at them, painfully aware that they were being watched by what felt like a million eyes. “Thank you.”

After another moment of silence, she bit her inner cheek and shifted in place.

Isaiah took the hint and continued the ceremony. “I believe our luna just made us speechless,” he chuckled, looking over her shoulder at the pack with an apologetic smile. “We had all these things planned to say but everything left our minds the moment we laid eyes on her.”

She was glad she wasn’t facing the pack as heat crept up her face. She thought the cold would keep her from blushing, but at the realisation that she was wrong she wished the entire thing would be over so she could hide in her room.

“Vel, the moment you returned, we knew the road ahead of us would be tough. We knew we’d done you wrong and we knew you would never let us forget.”

“You made that clear when you threw me into that damn mirror,” Asher laughed, earning himself a few bellows from the pack. “But seeing you as the strong wolf you have become is worth the embarrassment of having my ass handed to me. You are our world.”

Isaiah used his free hand to brush her hair back and expose her neck. “Our soul. We love you with all our hearts.”

As they leaned down, she gripped their hands so tight that her nails dug into their skin. Her skin prickled, her eyes closed, and her wolf hummed in the back of her mind. There was a small part of her that didn’t want this to happen. Though the part of her that had found peace in their gaze just moments ago looked forward to feeling their mark. Their lips gently caressed the curves of her neck and shoulders with a kiss on either side before their canines scraped her skin.

As they slowly sank into Velora’s flesh, the pain was washed away with euphoria—one that didn’t only belong to her. Just as slowly as they marked her, their minds melted into one. Though they took their time, it was overwhelming. Her mind spun and her knees turned to jelly as her hands began to shake.

‘You’re doing so well, little luna.’

‘We won’t let you fall, moonlight.’

‘I still hate you.’

They both chuckled because they could now feel it wasn’t necessarily the truth. They felt the shift she’d had within herself, that she’d submitted to her future with them and accepted her fate.

‘We love that you hate us.’

Velora felt their entire being, knowing that they felt every part of her—right down to her deepest essence. Her soul was now theirs and their souls belonged to her. It felt good—like coming home after a long trip. It was odd because now that they were bonded, it felt as if her previous life was missing something.

Once the marks were completed, they healed her wounds with their tongue. ‘We’d better not be the first ones to get blood on the dress,’ Asher laughed, adding a soft kiss to her bruised skin.

She opened her eyes and found herself lost in Isaiah’s as he dropped her hair and cupped her cheek. ‘Ours.’

‘Always ours,’ Asher corrected.

With sighs and teary sobs from the pack behind her, she remembered she still had to face a crowd.

Isaiah lifted her hand and spun her around, her knees still wobbly. The second she faced the pack, Asher wrapped his arm around her waist and steadied her.