Eighth-Born Luna (Emily and Nathan) novel Chapter 50

The ceremony hall felt completely silent.

Nathan pulled her closer, and something sharp caught the light. Stella’s arms were tight around his neck, and for a moment, I noticed her wrists.

Gold bracelets.

I didn’t remember seeing them before. They flashed with a strange brightness, reflecting the chandelier light so harply it almost hurt my eyes. The glow felt wrong, sickly, and unnatural. But I blinked, and the feeling lisappeared.

“What the hell…” Liam muttered, saying exactly what I couldn’t..

It felt like a knife twisting in my chest.

Just minutes ago, he held me like I was his whole world. Now he was holding my enemy, giving her the first kiss, I lad wanted so badly.

The Alpha King, Garrett, stood with an unreadable face. Beside him, Meredyth was in shock, her eyes darting

between Nathan and me.

Liam and I slowly approached them..

“Nathan?” I whispered, my voice cracking with a mix of raw pain and rising fury. “Why, Nathan? Why would you etray me?”

He pulled away from Stella slowly, but wouldn’t look at me. When he finally turned, I gasped. The man who had ooked at me with such passion in the car was gone. Now, a stranger stood there, his eyes clouded by a gray mist.

“What do you want?” he asked coldly, like I meant nothing to him.

Liam stepped forward, his face twisted with shock and anger. He grabbed Nathan’s shoulder. “Brother, what are

୮ ‘ou doing? You just told Emily she was yours! You told her she was your Luna!”

“That’s a lie,” Nathan snapped, shoving Liam’s hand off hard enough to make him stumble.

The air around him turned icy. His Alpha aura pressed down on us, heavy and suffocating.

He looked at the crowd, then back at me and Liam with pure disgust.

“Nathan… in the car…” I choked out, anger finally burning through my shock. “You were truly with me..”

“I don’t care what you think you saw in the car,” he snapped, his lip curling. “I choose who stands by my side. And I do not choose you.”

I could see Liam was ready to punch Nathan. But before he could move, Stella stepped closer to Nathan.

12

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5:30 pm

throat. She moved her hand in front of Nathan’s eyes.

All the Alphas are watching us,” she hissed, her voice loud enough for only us to hear. “Remember your manners, even with such a pitiful girl.”

Right away, Nathan’s eyes changed, replaced by a strange, glassy emptiness. It felt like someone had hollowed out

his soul.

He didn’t look at me again. He turned back to the altar, his hand dropping to Stella’s waist and pulling her close.

“Be grateful I don’t exile you both right now,” he said over his shoulder, his voice rough and cold.

I stood frozen.

“Let the ceremony begin,” Nathan commanded, his voice booming through the hall.

The crowd watched in anticipation as the High Priestesses stepped forward to the altar.

This was the moment of the Mating Ceremony, the sacred rite I had dreamed of since I was a little girl.

One by one, the visiting Alphas stepped to the altar. I watched in a daze as they drew ceremonial daggers, the ilver blades catching the torchlight. They sliced their palms with practiced precision, letting the blood drip into he chalice and mix with their mates‘.

“With this blood, I bind my soul to yours,” the first Alpha said to his mate, and she repeated the same words.

Woman after woman was crowned Luna, their faces glowing with joy that stabbed at me. Each cheer from the rowd, each howl, felt like a slap.

I remembered how Ryan stood on a similar stage, looking me in the eye right before he rejected me for my sister. I emembered the crushing shame of that moment. He chose her, casting me out like I was nothing but a mistake.

I remembered the tears that blinded me as I ran, and how I crashed into Nathan’s solid, warm chest while fleeing hat nightmare. I thought the Moon Goddess had sent him to me as my second chance. I truly believed he would reak the cycle of my pain–that he was the one man who would choose me over power.

Am I cursed?

Is this my fate? To always be the shadow in the corner? To always be the girl who watches from the sidelines while omeone else takes the title, the mate, and the life I was promised?

I looked at Nathan standing there with Stella. Nathan took the dagger, and my heart broke into so many pieces I lidn’t think it could ever be whole again.

He wasn’t looking at me. He wasn’t fighting it.

He was about to give her the blood that should have been mine.

I wouldn’t run. I wouldn’t give Stella the satisfaction of seeing me crumble. If I were going to be destroyed tonight, I would watch every second of it with my head held high.

Owen was right. I was a fool to trust an Alpha.

5:30 pm

The Alpha of the Blackwood Pack,” the Priestess announced, her voice echoing through the ceremony hall.

Nathan stepped forward to the altar. His movements were stiff, his face cold and unreadable. Stella followed, her hand clinging to his arm, her eyes shining with triumph.

Nathan’s hand tightened around the dagger. For a moment, the moonlight hit the silver blade, and Nathan stopped dead. The dagger slipped from his fingers, clattering loudly against the stone altar. His face twisted in itter confusion, and his eyes frantically locked onto mine.

“Please,” I whispered, holding his gaze with every bit of strength I had left. “Don’t do this.”

Before Stella could even grab his arm, a Beta slammed through the heavy doors, his face deathly pale. He ignored

he sacred rules of the ceremony and rushed straight to Nathan’s side.

“Alpha, we have trouble with rogue and that witch,” he barked. “It’s urgent. We need you, now.”

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