It Is Too Late For Your Lunar Pearl

Start Reading

My fianc, Caleb Blackwood, the future Alpha of the Silverback Pack, vanished the night before our mating ceremony.

For three years, I waited for him while the pack whispered behind my back.

Then, the High Council issued a mandate for a political marriage with the Northern Wilds.

I had spent months sewing my ceremonial dress, only to find out Caleb had been traveling the world with his sickly cousin, Seraphina.

Driven by a desperate need for closure, I tracked them to a sacred grove in the distant frostlands.

There I saw him, dressed in his mating silks, bowing before an ancient altar with Seraphina to fulfill her wish of being his bride.

When Seraphina turned and saw me, Caleb's eyes remained cold.

He ordered his guards to throw me out into the blizzard, claiming my presence might trigger her heart condition.

I was left alone in the freezing waste, my horse gone and my hope dying.

Just as death was closing in, a wolf from the rival Northern Wilds found me.

Now, back in the city, Caleb has returned with a Lunar Pearl from the Abyss, demanding we honor our old engagement.

But it's too late. I'm already destined to be the Luna of the Northern Prince.

1.

On the night of my eighteenth birthday, the night I was supposed to shift and find my mate, Caleb Blackwood finally reappeared after three years.

"Elara, this Lunar Pearl is a treasure from the deep Abyss. It's your birthday gift," he said.

"Consider it an apology for the time I've been away."

In front of everyone, he leaned in and placed the glowing pearl around my neck, his voice as smooth as it had been years ago.

The girls in the ballroom exchanged uneasy glances.

Unlike years ago, when everyone envied our bond, many now looked at him with frowned brows and whispered doubts.

My best friend, Maya, couldn't help but speak up. "And in what capacity are you giving Elara a gift, Mr. Blackwood?"

I looked at his face, feeling a strange sense of vertigo.

He had been gone for three years, leaving me to face a reputation in tatters, and now he thought a pearl could wipe the slate clean.

Three years ago, on the eve of our mating, Caleb left his bride-to-be in the city to take his weak cousin across the continent just to see her smile.

They flew together while I became the laughingstock of the entire supernatural community.

"Caleb, what do you think you're doing standing here after all this time?" I asked, my voice flat.

He spoke casually, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd. "We are still engaged, Elara. I'm here as your future mate."

He picked up a piece of seared salmon and placed it on my plate with a practiced ease.

"The fifteenth of this month is an auspicious day for the moon. Let's set that as our mating date, shall we?"

I looked down at his hand.

There was a deep, faded scar on his wrist.

It was from three years ago, when Seraphina had threatened to end her life over our wedding and bit him in a fit of hysterical tears.

He had let her draw blood without even flinching.

Yet, when I had excitedly shown him the dress I'd sewn for our ceremony, he had backhanded me across the face.

"Elara, she almost died today! How can you be so cruel as to flaunt that dress in front of her?"

His eyes had been filled with nothing but pure disgust.

That night, he held Seraphina and comforted her until dawn.

I was kicked out of the Blackwood estate and nearly snatched by rogue wolves on the dark streets.

While I screamed for help, Caleb was singing the lullabies I'd taught him to soothe Seraphina's nightmares.

If my brother hadn't found me in time, I wouldn't have made it to this birthday.

I pushed his hand away.

"I've never liked salmon. It's too oily for me."

The person who loved salmon was Seraphina, who grew up by the coast.

Caleb's hand froze in mid-air.

He put his cutlery down, looking almost relieved. "It's fine. Once you move into my pack house, I'll make sure to remember your preferences."

I reached up and unclasped the Lunar Pearl he had just given me.

"No need. You don't have to remember anything."

A flash of disbelief crossed his eyes, but he quickly replaced it with a knowing, arrogant smirk.

"Elara, don't be petty. Our union was decided since we were pups. If I don't take you, who else will?"

Before I could respond, a frantic servant rushed into the room and whispered something in his ear.

The moment Caleb heard the name "Seraphina," his expression shifted instantly.

He turned and bolted toward the exit, ignoring the prying eyes of the guests.

"Elara, we'll discuss the wedding details later!" he called back over his shoulder.

He didn't look back once.

He didn't see that my eyes were calm, devoid of the heartbreak and hysteria that used to consume me.

2.

In the past, the mere sight of Caleb and Seraphina together would send me into a spiral.

We were childhood sweethearts, betrothed before we could even walk, and he had spent years doting on me.

But everything changed when his cousin, with her fragile heart and her scent of fading lilies, arrived to seek refuge.

At first, Caleb avoided her, swearing to me that taking her in was only because his mother insisted.

He kept his distance, still sneaking over the pack walls every night to bring me my favorite sweets.

But slowly, things shifted. He started wearing the wolf-fur charms she made for him.

When he brought me treats, he always had a portion saved for her.

Even the nickname "Cal" was no longer mine alone.

I felt the change and fought it with everything I had, crying and screaming at him for his divided attention.

Even then, he would just sigh and pull me into a kiss, silencing my protests with a possessive touch.

For a while, it worked. He moved Seraphina to a remote cottage and stopped taking her gifts.

But one afternoon, when I went to surprise him, I found him in that cottage. Seraphina was on her knees, sobbing.

"I have no one left, Cal. Are you really going to throw me away too?"

That was the day I lost my temper and pushed her. She collapsed, and the pack doctor diagnosed her with a rare spiritual heart defect.

As she lay in bed, pale and whispering his name, my heart broke for a different reason.

Caleb didn't say a word to me. He just took her hand and rubbed her back, ignoring my presence.

When I demanded an explanation, he shouted at me for the first time.

"Elara! What is wrong with you? Do you really want her dead before you're satisfied?"

That condition gave Seraphina the ultimate victory. She became the object of his eternal pity.

I left in a rage, expecting him to follow. He didn't come for weeks.

When we finally met, he was as cold as ice.

I was terrified of losing him, so I swallowed my pride and begged for his forgiveness just to keep things the way they were.

But nothing was ever the same.

Seraphina became a shadow in our lives. She was the one Caleb helped out of the carriage at every gala.

She was the one who received his most tender blessings on her birthday.

He even spent hours in the kitchen, despite his clumsiness, making her a traditional bowl of longevity noodles.

I watched from the doorway as he looked at her with such softness, while my own eyes burned with unshed tears.

He had forgotten it was the anniversary of my mother's deathDthe one night he usually spent with me, lighting candles in the woods.

I begged him to come with me that night, just for an hour.

He hesitated, then finally agreed.

But while we were in the woods, Seraphina had an episode. She nearly flatlined.

When we returned, Caleb was consumed by guilt. He scooped her up and whispered, "Seraphina, I will never leave you alone again."

I stood there like a ghost, suddenly the villain in their tragic romance.

Three years ago, on the night before our mating ceremony, the Blackwood family tried to keep the news from Seraphina to avoid a relapse.

But she found out. She tried to end it all with a silver blade in her room.

Caleb found her just in time.

She looked at him through tears and whispered, "Go get mated, Cal. Don't let me be a burden to Elara anymore."

She survived. Caleb vanished.

He took his precious cousin and ran, giving her a private ceremony in the Northern Wilds where no one could judge them.

He wanted her to smile, even if it cost me my dignity.

I was left behind, a discarded mate-to-be, a joke to the entire town.

Caleb thinks I'm still that girl, waiting for him with bated breath.

But he has no idea that I almost died in those wastes, and once you've faced death, you don't care about a man's fickle heart anymore.

3.

At my own birthday party, Caleb abandoned me yet again.

Thankfully, I wasn't the same girl who would sit in a corner and weep.

A branch of red plum blossoms suddenly appeared over my shoulder.

I followed the branch up to see the grinning face of Kaelen Voss.

He spoke with a slight Northern accent, his voice deep and melodic. "Elara, I found you."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "The treaty ceremony isn't for another month. Why are you here in the city?"

He ignored the gasps of the guests and sat down beside me, his eyes sparking with mischief.

"I couldn't sleep thinking about you finally being mine. I rode through three horses to get here early."

Six months ago, Caleb's mother was on her deathbed.

Her final wish was to see Caleb and me finally mated.

I had risked my reputation to find him in the Northern Wilds with a marriage contract, only for him to leave me for dead in a snowstorm.

Kaelen was the one who saved me.

And he was the Northern Prince I was now destined to marry.

As the party ended, he insisted I show him the old cathedral on the outskirts of the city.

Legend said that couples who prayed there would be bound for eternity.

I couldn't say no to him. We walked up the stone steps together.

He stayed half a step behind me, watching over me like a guardian.

I was laughing at something he said when I saw them.

Caleb, who had rushed away from my party, was carefully tucking a blossom into Seraphina's hair.

Kaelen's grip on my hand tightened.

I didn't blink. I just looked away.

Caleb turned and saw us. His face darkened instantly.

He stepped in front of Seraphina, his voice growling. "Elara? What kind of game is this?"

I couldn't blame him for the assumption. The old Elara would have caused a scene.

But that girl was dead.

Seraphina did her usual routine, clutching her chest. "Elara, please don't be mad. I just missed Cal so much"

"I didn't mean to steal him from your party. I know he's your fianc."

I let out a short, cold laugh. "Seraphina, keep your drama for someone who cares. Caleb and I have nothing. He isn't my fianc."

Caleb's eyes were fixed on Seraphina's well-being, but he froze at my words.

He never expected to hear me draw such a sharp line between us.

Before he could speak, Seraphina let out a soft whimper. "Cal, my heart it hurts."

Tears streamed down her face, the exact same way they did three years ago.

I rolled my eyes.

Kaelen, who had been watching the performance, let out a loud, mocking laugh.

"If she's sick, call a doctor. Is 'Cousin' just a local word for 'Paramedic' here?"

4.

Caleb's face went pale with rage as he held Seraphina.

"An unmarried woman spending her nights with a foreign man? You have no shame, Elara," he spat.

I didn't back down. "Your 'cousin' seems to be doing the same, doesn't she?"

"Besides, who told you he's just a foreign man?"

Seraphina saw Caleb's pulse jumping in his neck and started sobbing harder. "Elara, I know you're bitter about the last three years, but don't ruin your life just to spite us."

Kaelen laughed again and pulled the official High Council Treaty from his jacket, tossing it at Caleb's face.

"Open your eyes, dog. Read it."

"What makes you think a mutt like you deserves a woman like Elara?"

Caleb saw the gold seal of the Council, and fear flickered in his eyes.

Seraphina reached out and grabbed the scroll first. "Elara, Cal already said he'd mate with you on the fifteenth. You don't need to forge documents to force him."

"My heart is breaking, Cal. Let's just go."

Caleb lost his composure, scooping her up in his arms.

He glared at me one last time. "Elara, stop this embarrassing pursuit. It's pathetic."

"If you stress Seraphina out again, I'll make sure you never set foot in the Blackwood estate!"

Kaelen balled his fists, ready to shift.

I grabbed his arm. "Don't. You can't reason with a dog."

We watched them disappear down the hill.

5.

As Caleb carried Seraphina down the steps, something nagged at him.

"Didn't you take your medicine before we left? Why is your heart acting up again?" he asked.

Seraphina's expression faltered for a second. "Maybe the dose was too low I don't know"

He nodded slowly. "After the mating ceremony on the fifteenth, you're going back to the southern coast."

"The air there is better for your recovery."

She gave him a tragic, weak smile, but her hand was shoving the treaty scroll into her pocket.

Caleb stopped at the carriage and held out his hand. "Give me the scroll. It's an official document; you shouldn't be carrying it."

Seraphina gritted her teeth, refusing to let go.

"Cal please" she whimpered.

Caleb's patience snapped.

The image of Elara's indifferent face and the way she looked at the Northern Prince flashed in his mind.

He ignored Seraphina's protests and ripped the scroll from her hand.

"Elara Sterling, of the Sterling Pack, is hereby granted a union of peace. She is to be wed to the Northern Prince to secure the borders and ensure the stability of the realms."

Caleb's hands began to shake.

Every word on the parchment felt like a physical blow to his chest, making his vision go dark.

%%%