The Perfect Luna

Riannon was locked in her room and the feeling was not new to her. Now that she had time to think about it, she had been trapped before. In her first marriage with Brayden. She was a hostage to that relationship and her own reputation. Trying to be perfect all the time was exhausting. It was funny that only death helped her to see the vicious cycle. Gideon helped her to get free from it. And just like that time, soon he would help her to her freedom once again. She knew it.

But by the time he came to get her, she was sure that she would destroy this place. And when she heard a knock on the door, a smirk formed on her lips.

“Onyx, help me out to scan this place,” she asked her wolf, and now she could sense that there was only one person behind the door. A female. Two guards were standing at a distance that would make it hard for a regular shifter to know what they were talking about. Those two were new. The Paddington and the fox she knew were replaced by Castiel and now no one was fulfilling her every request like before. The fox king learned his lesson.

“Riannon,” Bridgit whispered, “Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” she smiled, knowing that the presence of the werebear was the proof of her plan working.“ How did you manage to get here? I thought that everyone would be punished…”

“Everyone was punished,” Bridgit confirmed with a sigh, “But I am not everyone. I have some privileges around here and Castiel either trusted me or forgot to strip me of them yesterday.”

“Good for you,” Ria chuckled, “He didn’t forget to strip me of my privileges, as you can see.”

“Oh, Riannon, you are still the most privileged woman here. Just the fact that you are locked in the room that’s right opposite to his own is proof of that.”

Ria swallowed. She did not want to think of Castiel sleeping this close to her.

“Anyway, he is not here now,” Bridgit assured her, “and I want to speak to you again. Do you have any kind of a plan?”

She did have a plan. A few actually. But this right now was her number one plan. She wasn’t sure though that sharing the details with the werebear was a good idea though. All they had was two conversations and during the first one, Bridgit tried to kill her. This wasn’t a friendship built on trust just

yet.

She was probably silent for too long and the girl on the other side of the door got that right. “Listen,” Bridgit sighed,”you probably don’t get how it feels to be betrayed by a man you loved.” Oh, the irony of that statement was not lost on Ria, but she did not say a word.

“When we joined the harem one by one, we knew that he wasn’t exclusive with either of us. But each of us believed that there was a possibility of that. Castiel could make you feel like you are the only one for him. While he is with you… but over time, I think all of us realised that this would never be the case. However, it was too late because each of us had feelings for him.”

“Bridgit,” Riannon couldn’t stop herself from saying, “he is hot as hell, yes. But there is no way that every single woman could fall in love with him. Have you seen his lab? Have you seen what he is doing there? He learned to create scents that give you a similar response that you would have if you met your mate. I hate to be the one telling you that, but he is so good because he was experimenting a lot. And I think that he was experimenting on you. All of you.”

The werebear girl on the other end of the door was silent but then started speaking again with

“We all came here willingly, and we agreed to be with him willingly too. The rest is history.”

For a moment there Riannon was worried that she had lost her new ally. Was it too late for those girls? Was there some kind of addiction to those scents? After all, Brayden was an Alpha and he had fallen to the charm pretty fast. She always thought that it was because of Roxy’s siren abilities, but what if those artificial scents were to blame too?

“But,” Bridgit chose to continue her speech, giving her hope, “When we entered the Eden there was an

it on both ends. Each girl agreed to be with him and not to be the only one. Each of us had a

different reason for that. Some had no choice, like me, some already liked Castiel, some were seeking, political gains and some were so poor that living in the harem of the fox king did not seem like a bad thing at all. The list goes on and on. But there was one condition that he himself set for all of us. He was always saying that it’s important to him that each of us lived here willingly. He made it a big point and this was one of the reasons we all trusted him so much. He said that we could leave whenever we wanted.”

“And?” Ria leaned over the cold door.

“And when after the revelations of yesterday, a few girls expressed the desire to leave, he did not let them,” the she-bear’s voice trembled. “Everyone is locked in the Eden now. Now we know why there is only one door and no windows except for the ceiling that we can’t get to.”

“The Eden is locked yet you are here,” Riannon pointed out. She still wasn’t convinced she could trust the woman she was talking to.

“I know how it looks,” Bridgit replied to that calmly, “but I was here for years. I earned his trust. And he doesn’t know yet that he lost mine. I was thinking about what you told me. As long as I stay here, I will never meet my mate. And I want to try that, to experience that. I want to be the only one for someone. I don’t think I want to share anymore. I want to love and be loved in return. I want a mate who would never lock me up or lessen me. I want what you described to me. I want all of it if that makes sense.”

“It does.” Ria could feel that the girl was telling her the truth. “So? Do you have a plan?” she asked once again. “I do,” Ria finally admitted, “Do you think you can fight and open the door of the harem on your

Own?”

“We can, but there are more guards here than usual. We wouldn’t be able to tackle them on our own.”

“You won’t have to,” the Alpha smirked, “All you have to do is wait for my signal to act.”

“What will the signal be?” Bridgit asked.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Riannon chuckled, “You will recognise it when you hear it.”

“I hope you do understand that we entrust our lives to you,” the werebear said, a slight hesitation in her voice.

asking for your trust, yes. But I cannot promise you that when the action starts every one and each of you will survive. If you want to have your freedom, you will have to fight for it yourselves. I will be with you – this is something that I can promise. Because I will be fighting for my own freedom and the freedom of my people. I have already been fighting for it for a while. I

this wasn’t what the werebear wanted to hear. But she sensed how the girl placed her hand on

others,” she said, “I can’t speak for them now. But I am willing

her and she smiled to herself. This was exactly what

go now,” Bridgit whispered, “The ones willing to fight will be waiting for your

– it would be hard

closer and closer with his best warriors to the place where, according to the little fox, his mate was kept. They took mostly lycans and some of the very best werewolves since Maya insisted on it. A huge force was left slightly behind them in case things got really bad. He couldn’t march with them into this territory and give themselves away

of warriors guarding the perimeter hit his nostrils and he motioned for his people to stop. Through the bushy branches of trees, Gideon noticed the glimmering of the distant lights. The palace of the fox king was well hidden deep inside the woods. This kind was used to not being together all the time and hiding in small

her to be moved into a better cell now.

could feel that she was agitated and not happy. He could also feel that, despite all that, she wasn’t broken. She was determined and stayed strong. And the feeling of pride for her filled

felt a wave of happiness and relief coming from

her voice. He knew that she had been waiting for him, that she missed him. He never admitted it to himself, but he had been worried. He had been worried that Castiel would do something to her, trick her, bewitch her or whatever. He had been worried that he could hurt her even though he

you okay?” he

and he could tell that she was smiling through tears. He could

chuckled, “Just give me a moment or two.” “I will wait for you for the eternity if

he gave her a promise that he intended to keep. But then suddenly he felt her worried and distressed. “Riannon, are you all right? What is happening? Speak to me!” he was desperate to

“He knows that

have been anything else,” he tried to calm her down and give

I will help you,” his mate

said into the emptiness before him, hoping

shifted his

enemies could even see them, digging their sharp

out, each kill bringing him closer

glass dome towering over its

the

from this side I guess,” his Beta notified him,

the Lycan king asked. “Yes, but it will

when you are done there, come here. Since they know already, there is no point in

meant that he was in the very heart of a battle. And Gideon hated it. He hated that someone tried to take his mate and his friends away from him. This made him and Mars even more furious. Their common beast was threatening to overtake them too. Because it hated that someone tried to take what was

already near the entrance when he heard the loudest and most piercing

coming with me!” Castiel burst into Riannon’s room, grabbed her hand roughly and pulled

easy for him. Onyx inside of her was ready to

place! I don’t want you to get hurt!” he gritted his teeth, throwing her into the arms of two werebears, whose

you are trying to cover yourself with me! And why don’t you try to take your girls to that wonderful

her head, tugging

itself inside and trying to dominate her. The two guards were

lava. It spread down her veins

him as hard as she could, spilling the warm ruby liquid from his tongue and

a few seconds to process what she had done, but then a

growls

onto the immaculate marble floor of the passage they used, “Bring her to the dungeons and lock her in the best cell until it’s over. Tripple

my king,” one of the bears said, and Riannon burst out laughing. She couldn’t stop for a while and

and tilted her head slightly, “this is exactly your problem! You recognised me as this special, perfect Luna but even now you are not taking

my dear,” Castiel smirked, “but I know that you haven’t been able to shift

she snorted, relaxing in her captors’ hands to give them a false feeling of overpowering

king’s face changed but it was too

snarled, her eyes glowing with pure light, “The

than one breath to let Onyx out in all her glory, their silvery-white fur glowing just like the last time. She could feel how power was streaming through her and she knew that she could destroy anyone in

two bears were looking at her in shock and she used that moment to lift her head up to the moon and let out the deepest and longest howl of her life.

in red heard that howl and Bridgit’s mouth opened when she recognised the sign they all had been waiting for. They felt the ancient goddess’ call and most of

turning into their beasts – wolves, bears, lionesses, panthers, birds, reptiles… Castiel sure got

outside of it. But

they all craved freedom

yet another bear when

with them at ease, amazed by the sight of a huge eagle pecking

men bursting inside through windows at the very

surrounding them and warmth spread over both of their hearts. Some fox dared to attack him and he snapped its neck in two, moving towards his