Cherry
A faint rustle sounded near my ears when I came to realize that Dylan was awake.
"Morning, my mate." Dylan smiled at me when my eyes met his.
"Dylan, you awake? How are you feeling?" My heart ached at the sight of Dylan's bandaged hand and pale face.
"Couldn't be better! I cannot stand to wait for one more day to announce you as the Luna of Starsmoon."
"But..." I didn't want to drain Dylan as he barely recovered from the cut on his hand.
"Shhh. There's no but. We'll make it happen today." Dylan landed a kiss on my lips, stopping me from continuing.
*********
Standing in front of the mirror in that classic silver dress from Heather, I felt all sorts of feelings welling up in me.
"You look gorgeous, as always." Dylan exclaimed while walking towards me.
My wolf purred as he reached out a hand.
“You nervous? My wolf felt it.”
“I can't help it. Some shifters blamed your memory loss on me. I'm afraid they still hate me.” Stretching my palm to him, I breathed out.
“They won't, I promise." Dylan cupped my cheeks, his forehead leaning against mine.
Our wolf purred, and that calmed me down bit by bit.
"In fact, they asked me to take you back when you were at Lune.”
"What happened?" I pulled away from him with a questioning look.
“Chelsea embezzled the monthly aid to the members in the outskirt. So they protested against her as the Luna and wanted you back.”
“What? Those shifters live on that aid! They safeguarded Starsmoon's borders!”
Dylan once again caught my face in his palms to hush away my worries.
"Don't worry. I've already got that covered. We'll visit them tomorrow, so you'll see for yourself that they're now well taken care of."
I nodded in relief when Dylan received a mind link from Bert, asking us out to the garden for the ceremony.
Standing shoulder by shoulder with Dylan, I looked into the eyes of every shifter present, feeling the love, trust and best wishes they had for us.
“I, Dylan, Alpha of the Starsmoon Pack, declares Cherry, my one true mate, as the Luna of the starsmoon pack.”
“I, Cherry, born and raised in Starsmoon Pack, wholeheartedly and with a passion, accepts the responsibility that comes from being the Luna of the pack.”
The ceremony was way much simpler, as I requested, than it was last time. But it carried way much greater significance than before.
“Congratulations, mommy and daddy!” Fern shouted in the crowd, bursting everyone into laughter.
Dylan hugged me, the tip of his nose nuzzling my neck, while every shifter in the garden rejoiced and clapped their hands.
“Bill!” I shouted in excitement, walking towards him through the crowd. “I hope you'll enjoying this party.”
"Congratulations." Bill gulped down the wine his glass when Dylan and Bert followed over.
“This doesn't seem like the perfect timing but...”
"How about a cup of coffee in my office?” Dylan suggested after taking the hint in Bill's words.
“Cherry, Bert and I all suspected that Chelsea could be Lucy." Dylan started straightforwar as Bert closed the door.
"Lucy?"
"Yes. Lucy from Bloodmoon." Dylan nodded and explained how we arrived at this conclusion.
“Bert confirmed that most shifters Chelsea had been meeting over these past few months were related to Lucy and Bloodmoon. But that's all that we got for now.”
“There's one more thing.” Our eyes turned to Bert immediately.
“I just found out that Chelsea was in Maldives when you were there for honeymoon. But I'm not sure whether it's a coincidence or not.”
“It's not a coincidence. She's there recovering from cosmetic surgery.” Bill showed us his phone, on which we saw a before-and-after image of Chelsea.
“Lucy had a face surgery?!” My jaw dropped on the floor.
While nodding to my question, Bill tapped on his phone again and played a recording, where Chelsea's Doctor confirming Chelsea to be Lucy.
“Hugo paid her bill.” As if seeing through the confusion on my face, Bill explained. "Maybe he has been helping Lucy out after she gets banished."
"Why is he doing this?" Bert looked even more puzzled. "I mean he'll get nothing from her. Lucy was a rogue."
“Not wrong. There's no reason Hugo even adopted Lucy as a daugther.” I echoed Bert.
“Has Starsmoon been in conflict with Whitemoon?” Bill turned to Dylan.
“None that I'm aware of,” Dylan answered.
Just as we were going through possible motives behind Hugo's behaviors, Bill's phone rang.
He slid to answer it. And the next thing we heard worked us all up.
“Alpha Bill, we found him. I'll send to you his location.”
Our feet sprunt towards the door in unison after Bill showed us the address.
"No, Bill." I reached out to stop Bill just as he was about to follow us out. "I cannot get you involved in this. Dylan and I will nail it."
"Call me if you need anything." Knowing that Dylan and I made an invincible pair together, Bill didn't insist.
"I will." After giving him an assuring nod, I darted outside with Dylan.
Bert's car had been gone by the time we got to the parking space. He was like an eager hunter, dashing towards his long-awaited prey.