Read THE RIPENING (Dark Side of the Moon Book 1) Online
Authors: MJ Riley
THE RIPENING (Dark Side of the Moon Book 1) (14 page)
The raw emotion on Luther's face was enough to tell her how it had affected him. Feet from him, Liam's head hung between his legs as his chest heaved with the effort to take a breath. Magnus looked like he had stopped breathing altogether.
How had Luther's mother kept such a thing from them? It had to have been killing her.
All at once, the frailty of humans took on a whole new meaning in the young woman's mind.
Upon giving birth to Elias' child, Laura had lost her mind. Human children were helpless against potential wolf parents, so they were forbidden, saved from a horrible fate. Dear God, could the Elders be right? Could humans be so incompatible with Luther's kind?
“I hid this from you for the sake of our clan.” Marilyn went on miserably, her gaze apologetic as it hovered over her family. “Laura's family was convinced that she was murdered, that there was some foul play. Any chance that they might find us out had to be stifled, so I withheld the truth. I buried our boy myself and said that a fire had incinerated his body. I cradled the still form of my first grandchild... and unlike I had done with my first son, I let Luther have his friendship. Forbidden fruit is much more tempting than the readily available. The freedom I gave him and his loyalty to his family were supposed to save him. Would you really put him through that?”
Yuna froze as Marilyn finally fixed her with the tortured gaze of a grieving mother. “Will you cleave to Luther until you hate him? If you do carry his child, can you stand against the fear of what might happen during its coming?”
Yuna shivered at the chill the woman's words brought on.
She had no reply.
What could she possibly say?
Yuna's eyes met Viola's in the half-lit room and found nothing but pain in her gaze.
Even Luther had been struck down by his mother's secret, and when no one else spoke. Elder Agatha filled the silence.
“It's settled then. Luther cannot have a human mate.”
“We must follow the law on the matter. The law has always protected us.” Aremis nodded in agreement. “Breaking it only brings obvious strife. Our bloodline must remain pure.”
“It will be done tomorrow at dawn.” Numb, Yuna listened wordlessly as they planned her murder. Ian revealed the details with a toneless finality that made her stomach curdle. “Only a few of us will be needed in attendance. As the ripening is over, we will need you, Magnus. You are still Alpha, and your power is strongest. You must-”
“No.”
Everyone in the room looked around at the sudden, impassioned word from opposite the Elders. Yuna gasped at the sight of Luther glaring at the five sitting before him, his gaze intense. “You can't kill her.”
“Luther, your brother was killed by a human mate. In more ways than one.” Dame Strauss' quiet reminder wasn't completely without empathy, but she still seemed on the side of her fellows.
“If you murder Yuna, I will not accept the Alpha strain.”
A conglomeration of shocked filled the room, including but not limited to Marilyn's moan of dismay and Viola's sharp cry of betrayal.
“You what?” Ian's fist slammed against the wall behind him, the ensuing sound revealing the strength still remaining in his bent limbs. “Your insolence knows no bounds, boy!”
“Don't you see what she can do to you, Luther? To us?” Agatha’s eyes were narrow on him as she demanded his enlightenment.
“Humanity is not what killed my brother.” Ignoring them, Luther went on as if no one in the room had spoken. “Lack of knowledge is. My mother herself revealed that Laura never truly understood our kind. She cited her as brittle and easily breakable. Elias never explained to her, never told her anything beyond the physical aspect. She mated with him unprepared and unable to cope with the realities of our people. Atop that, she idolized us simply for our strength... for the strangeness of our animal side. It was this baseless idolization that caused her family's downfall. That she just happened to be human is just coincidence enough for you to condemn Yuna.”
“Luther!” Magnus's dangerous warning should have stayed his son, but it didn't.
“The same covetous behavior would be the downfall of anyone, moon-ripened or human. Believe me when I tell you that Yuna is strong/ She has always been strong.” He turned to meet the young woman's gaze and Yuna's heart swelled in her chest. “She has been to the precipice of hell and come back from it. Upon discovering what I was she neither idolized nor feared me, she merely accepted me, and sought the similarities between our races rather than citing our differences. She is different than Laura in every possible way. If you take her from me, you won't have an Alpha.”
“Luther, stop.”
She couldn't let him do it.
She just couldn't.
Despite what they'd planned, and despite what he believed about his race, Yuna couldn't sit by and watch him help condemn it to extinction. Whatever the moon-ripened were, ancient and outdated, violent and barbaric, they were still a unique people.
A people that would be lost if Luther didn't fulfill his duty.
“Your mother's right.” Her mate's mouth dropped open when she spoke. “The elders are right. They're all right.”
“Yuna....” The man she loved was visibly struggling for words now. “What-”
“Humans are fragile. We can be weak and prideful. Whoever I am now, who's to say that wouldn't change if I had your children? How do we know I'm a one-in-one-hundred million genetic anomaly? Say I did get pregnant, our children are born, and I turn out to be no stronger than Laura? You'd lose me anyway. But not just me... our child, our love...all of it would be gone.” Though the words killed her to say, listening to Luther's family had finally convinced her that the bond was not just about what one wanted, it was about what one needed- and Luther needed his race. His family. Turning on them now, just for her sake, would be a disaster. You are one of the last remaining mysteries of the world.” As she continued, tears leaked from the corners of her eyes to drip copiously down her face. “You might be ancient and outdated, and your laws might suck, but you're still here. You deserve to go on as much as any other race. If that's what I'm dying for... Luther... then isn't my life worth giving up?”
“No. Yuna, no.” Luther was shaking his head now, in complete denial of her words, but she wasn't finished.
“Just imagine, Luther. Maybe you can't change things now, but what if it's your daughter or your son that does? What if it's their children? What if one of your offspring finds the answer to this whole mess? They’ll prove to be stronger than I am. They'll change rules and rewrite laws and everything will be better!” Yuna's eyes met Viola's briefly and the redhead covered her mouth in shock. “What if you can't have them unless you let me go?”
Her mate stared at her, his expression one of utter disbelief. Before he could say anything, Yuna's eyes slid closed and she made the decision. “I'll do it.”
“Wait.”
Green orbs snapped open once more as Aremis' voice swept through the room. The smaller male met her watery green gaze over the table that separated them, his gaze piercing. “You would let us take your life... willingly?”
Yuna nodded. “I can't let this come between you. You'll be all Luther has left regardless of whether I agree or not.”
“You are... different than I would have anticipated.” This time Baccus spoke, making his wife's eyes widen in shock.
“It matters not.” Ian snapped, his own expression no less harsh than before. “The law is clear on what must be done to pave the way for the Alpha. She must die.”
“The law is also clear on the murder of innocent pups.” Dame Strauss' voice rang over his, silencing him almost immediately.
Incensed, the man turned to her, his eyes narrow. “What does that have to do with the current issue?”
“Everything.” Raising a finger with relish, the German woman gestured to where Yuna stood in the middle of the room. “That girl is already carrying the Douglas progeny.”
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