Chapter 5

SELENA’S POV

It was a blood moon.

A blood moon had not been seen since many countless years.

It was the sort of event that the High Priestess would have had a prophecy of for many months before the event.

The hush around the crowd was so complete that it was unnatural.

The red light of the moon painted the entire arena with an undertone of blood.

It seemed like a clear portent of blood and death to come for the pack.

I was the first to move as I stood up from my seat. My mother, who had been quietly watching the execution beside me, tried to hold my hand. But I didn’t allow her.

I wasn’t going to be scared just because the moon had turned red. Even if blood rained from the sky I would not waver.

I was the bringer of blood and death to the pack. And I had already shared it as I saw fit.

I would get to the bottom of this event. I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I stepped away from my mother and headed towards the exit of the arena.

My movement seemed to bring the crowd back to life. They started talking. 

As I passed by, I caught snippets of their conversations.

‘It’s a blood moon! Nothing like it has been seen in thousands of years!’

‘She paved the path to her rule with blood! Now the heavens is raining back blood at us!’

‘Does this mean the Moongoddess has forsaken us!?’

'You see! I warned you all! A female Alpha is an abomination! This is the evidence!’

‘Oh the Moongoddess has forsaken us! The only way is to get rid of the female Alpha!’

Some knelt down and wept as they prayed to the Moongoddess for salvation. While others who had been singing my praises mere moments ago suddenly started wishing that I had never come back. 

Even some of my fellow women, raged that a female Alpha shouldn’t exist. I could have executed anyone of them. They were too distracted by the horrific sign in the sky to notice that I heard them. But I knew that it wasn’t their fault. Years of oppression and suppression by rules written by men to be unfavorable to women had taken their toll. That was why I was here to liberate them.

I ignored all the conversations I heard and I walked out of the arena.

While they all wailed and cried and waited for someone to save them, I would take action.

That was what it meant to be an Alpha.

The blood moon lighted my path with red light.

It was truly a disturbing sight. It reminded me of the days after my father died. I was so blind with rage after I escaped into the wilderness, that everything I saw seemed to have a red tint. It was that pure rage and hatred that helped me survive the first few months in the wilderness.

The blood moon was definitely a sign from the Moongoddess. That meant that I would have to seek guidance in the temple from the High Priestess.

By the time I arrived at the temple, my head had been cleared by the walk. Whatever uncertainty that had managed to creep into my mind has been banished into the void of my mind where they belonged. I left all my uncertainty in the wilderness. Right now my pack needed an Alpha, and that was what I would give them.

I stepped into the temple through the always open door.

A statue of the Moongoddess graced the center. She wore a giant crescent crown over head.

She was an inspiration to me. That was why I never believed the words of the men around me when they claimed that a female could never be Alpha.

In a land ruled by old patriarchal rules, power was always passed from father to son, pack to pack, and always from the hands of men. No woman had ever led a pack, and no woman had ever tried.

I decided to break that rule.

The junior Priestesses of the temple spotted me as I walked in.

My total regalia was impossible to miss. They scurried away.

Not long after, the High Priestess walked out of a side door into the room I awaited her in.

“Alpha Selena.” She greeted. Her voice was a prolonged croak.

She stared me down with cloudy blue eyes.

The snow white curly hair around her head made her seem ancient. Her crooked and short posture, along with her thin narrow lips completed the visage.

Weird tattoos decorated the bottom of her eyes.

“I have come for-.” I stared.

“I know what you have come for. The blood moon that escaped my eye.” She said.

“What shall I do then?” I asked. Wasting no time with frivolities and going straight to the point.

“I must consult the sacred ledger.” The High Priestess proclaimed.

As if on cue, a junior priestess came out of the back with a giant old book. The leather cover of the sacred ledger was peeling and I could smell the thick dust from it.

The High Priestess turned to consult the ledger. I waited a few minutes before she turned back.

“You must perform an ancient ritual. Otherwise, unimaginable destruction will cover the land and an ocean if blood will flow.” She warned.

I nodded my head. I needed no more encouragement for my pack.

“Show me the way Priestess.”

I followed her to a dark room filled with candles.

Junior priestesses came with many items and dropped them around.

The sacred ledger was dropped in front of me to a page.

“You know how to read its words. Read from here to here in a chant. Do not mispronounce a single word and do not stop once you start.” The High Priestess instructed.

I nodded my head.

The room was left empty for me.

I started the chant.

It took me three hours to chant. Then towards the end something happened.

A rat fell from the ceiling on to my shoulders. I ignored it. I couldn’t skip a word.

Then it bit me. I tossed it off reflexively and it splattered on the wall behind me.

I turned back. I had stopped right before the last word.

I felt a sudden flash of light cover my vision. Something was happening.

I felt it even as it happened.

My scent was changing.