Chapter 58: Hurdles and Obstacles

SELENE’S POV

The fallout after Lucian’s proposal was not entirely unexpected.

I was a breeder. Or I used to be ... because Lucian had made it very clear that I was no longer classified as one. He’d removed me from that category a long time ago, or so he told me. I had never truly trusted anyone in my life, and that was because I once trusted too much. I trusted Draven, and he ended up fucking my sister. He destroyed something in me that day ... something that was never fully repaired.

Lucian saw the doubt written all over my face.

"You don’t believe me?" he said. "I love you, Selene. I’m willing to make you Luna ... my wife, my queen. I bless the day I took you from Alpha Roran of the Bloodmoon Pack before he could kill you."

That was enough to pull me back from the edge of disbelief. I gathered myself and held onto his words.

But Lucian was the Alpha. His life was never private. It was always public. Beta Kael had barely heard of the proposal before he sent it out for publication.

"Congratulations, Selene," he said, standing right in front of me with a smile.

"Thank you," I replied.

The moment the news went out, the backlash came ... and it wasn’t pretty.

She can’t be our Luna. There’s too much blood on her hands.

She doesn’t deserve the position. She’s not of Winterwood bloodline. She’s a bastard.

If she becomes Luna, there’ll be inevitable war in this territory.

Those were just some of the attacks flooding in online.

I thought these people were happy I was back. Kael had brought them all up to speed on everything that happened to me. He told them I had been possessed by a dead girl ... a girl who was supposed to be Luna. Everyone knew the deaths weren’t my fault.

But people will always want you down, especially when they’re already on the ground themselves.

One person even claimed I had been sent by a terrorist group to infiltrate Winterwood as a breeder and destroy it from the inside. There was truly nothing people wouldn’t say.

They clearly didn’t want me. I couldn’t leave my room. I could barely breathe in there, let alone face them. They might have stoned me to death.

Lucian was furious. Dangerously so.

He wanted to have some of them arrested.

"How can they say such things about the woman I want to marry? Don’t they know they’re talking about their Alpha’s choice? I’ll teach every single one of them a lesson," he snapped.

I begged him. "Please, Lucian. Everyone has a mouth. People will always talk. Please spare them. Nothing you do will silence all of them. They don’t accept this ... and that’s the reality we have to face."

"We’ll find our way around this," he said firmly. "You’re my Luna. No matter what happens."

He kept comforting me while my heart felt like a block of iron had been pressed against it.

Eventually, I slipped out of my room to get food from downstairs. I wasn’t going to wait for anyone to bring it to me. What was happening in the territory was reason enough not to trust anyone’s hands near my plate.

At that same moment, Tessa stepped out of her room.

Our eyes met.

She looked better than the last time I’d seen her. Healthier. Rested. Infuriating.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," I answered.

"I heard you’re getting married to the Alpha."

"You heard right."

"You can’t take what belongs to me without a fucking fight," she said.

I laughed. I genuinely laughed. It was the best response I could give to something that ridiculous.

"You put me through hell," she continued, her voice sharpening. "I don’t care that you were possessed ... you caused me pain, and it’s coming back to you sevenfold."

"Enough with the threats," I said, meeting her eyes without flinching. "You should be having this conversation with Lucian, because he’s the one who proposed to me. And as for what happened to you ... I have no remorse. I wasn’t fully in control of my mind when it happened, but even so, I’d do it again if you pushed me."

Her eyes widened. She clearly hadn’t expected me to stand my ground and speak to her like that.

I walked away before she could find her voice again. She was still standing there, speechless.

I went downstairs, prepared my food, and carried it back up to eat in peace.

Lucian returned sometime later with Kael to address the situation.

"Kael has a suggestion," Lucian said. "I think you should hear it."

Kael stepped forward. "We hold a press conference. Lucian speaks directly as Alpha. The elders will be present. We don’t open the floor for questions ... we simply make it known that the marriage is happening, with or without public approval."

I liked it. It was clean. Direct.

"Let’s do it," I said.

Lucian looked pleased.

"Have everything ready in thirty minutes," he told Kael, who immediately stepped aside and started making calls.

Within the hour, we were assembled outside ... and so were the citizens of Winterwood. They had been notified and came out in numbers. The elders were present. Everyone who mattered was there.

And then there was Tessa.

The pretentious bitch had dragged herself out too. She never quit. Why couldn’t she accept that she had lost? She was never going to marry the Alpha. He didn’t even want her. She had thrown away her chance years ago and had been holding a grudge ever since.

We all took our seats. Only Lucian stood, microphone in hand, facing the crowd.

"I am here today to officially announce that I am getting married to Selene Ironheart," he said, his voice carrying like thunder. "In a few days, she will be Selene Thornveil."

The crowd booed.

"You can’t marry her, Alpha! She’s not our Luna ... she’s a bastard!" someone shouted from the crowd.

Lucian’s jaw tightened. "Who said that? Bring him forward."

They dragged the man out ... a commoner who thought his voice came without consequences.

"Get me a lit stake," Lucian ordered.

The man broke down immediately, crying and screaming for mercy.

"Shut up," Lucian said coldly. "Who gave you the right to speak on who I choose to marry? Is it your business?"

The stake was brought. "Open his mouth," Lucian commanded. He intended to burn it.

I wanted to beg for the man’s life, but I didn’t know how to do it in front of that many people without undermining Lucian. Thankfully, one of the elders stepped in and whispered something into Lucian’s ear that brought him down from the edge.

The press conference had nearly collapsed into chaos.

Then someone else raised their voice from the crowd ... this time about Tessa.

"Tessa was announced as your betrothed and our future Luna! You don’t get to do whatever you want ... there are rules! We want Tessa!"

And just like that, the whole crowd picked it up.

"We want Tessa! We want Tessa!"

I glanced at her. Tessa sat perfectly still, holding a carefully composed expression ... as if she wasn’t basking in every single chant. But I saw through it. I saw the satisfaction she was swallowing.

This was blood politics, nothing more. These people didn’t know who she really was. They only knew she was from Winterwood, that she wore the right name. If they had seen even half of what I had seen, they wouldn’t have been chanting at all.

I felt it ... that familiar, sinking weight in my chest. I shouldn’t have ever let myself believe I could become Luna. Tessa would always find a way to stand in my path. She had done it every time.

The elders began murmuring among themselves. Eventually one of them rose and approached the microphone. Lucian stepped aside.

I thought the elder was about to say something wise. Something that would cut through the noise and bring order.

He didn’t.

"Winterwood," the elder said, his voice steady and authoritative, "I speak on behalf of this territory ... to you, and to the Alpha. Lucian cannot marry Selene Ironheart of Bloodmoon. She is Bloodmoon-born, and the Alpha has long been betrothed to Tessa Crane. This territory will not be deceived."

The crowd erupted. Yes! Yes!

Tessa’s mask finally cracked. I saw the smile spread across her face ... slow, deliberate ... and she stopped hiding it entirely.

"On behalf of the elders and the authority of this land," the elder continued, "we are declaring that the Alpha cannot marry Selene."

Lucian said nothing. He stood there, silent, and I could see it ... the heaviness that had settled into him. The same weight I was carrying.

This was a hurdle. A hard one. And it felt almost impossible to get over.