William's Dream

William had grown up watching the Moon Pairings ceremonies and wishing he'd be chosen one day to get a Moon Bride for himself. They were like stars in the night sky up on that stage under the lights with their glamorous dresses, sparkling makeup, and shiny hair. He'd look up to the Moon Grooms; the strongest males chosen by the Moon herself, destined to have a great future from her fateful blessing. That was what he wanted. That was what he had hoped for his whole life

Of course, all of that changed when it was announced that the Moon had chosen him as a Groom. The young William would've jumped in celebration at the chance to get up on that stage among the stars he grew admiring, but that was a naive boy that believed that the Moon was guiding their fates. William knew better now. He had overheard his father the night before the announcement.

It was all rigged. His father was Alpha of the Gray Moon Pack and had made a deal with the Alpha of the Azzora Moon Pack, which included the rigging of their son and daughter to marry. William didn't know the details. When he confronted his father, the Alpha cussed him out and refused to acknowledge the accusation, but William knew the truth. The Moon Pairing was staged, and his childhood dream of fate had been shattered.

That was months before the Moon Pairing. There is a separate event for pack leaders to attend that are participating in the ceremony. This event is for picking the Moon Brides and Grooms that will be paired. At this event, the leaders from each pack gather around a fire under the moon. Pack leaders usually include the Alphas, Betas, and one or two of the elders from the pack that are known for their wisdom and dedication. All the leaders drink an ancient recipe of herbs and tea that healers have been preparing for them for centuries. After they drink the natural concoction, the leaders fall into a trance-like state where they are supposed to be given a message from the moon directly to them, telling the leaders of each pack the names of their Moon Brides and Grooms.

It seemed so magical and enchanting, but now it was complete bullshit. It was a dream come true, until William overheard his father and Alpha Tyler discussing rigging the event, which included picking William and Tymarie to be their pack's chosen Moon Bride and Groom, no matter what happened at the fire under the Moon.

Then, William met Natasha and he could care less about any of it anymore. He had dated girls before, but in the back of his mind, he never let it get too serious because he had this dumb dream of being on that stage and pairing with his perfect Moon mate. After finding out it was fabricated bullshit, he allowed himself to take things further with Natasha, even if he was supposed to be participating in the Moon Pairing.

Natasha was a strong and stubborn female from a smaller neighboring pack. She was hot and sexy, with long black hair and a nice fit body. The female didn't need the Moon's blessing to be his mate. He believed he loved her, at least he told her so often. But he wasn't sure exactly what was love looked like, since his own parents never seemed to be in love with each other, nor did anyone couple around him. He supposed, maybe that's why those Moon Brides and Grooms had fascinated him so much growing up. If the Moon brought them together herself, surely, they had a love so strong, so unlike any he'd known; a love that wouldn't break the other's bones or cheat too many times to count. Certainly, the Moon Pairs would have a better marriage than that.

Growing up, his mother had often brought strange men to his house when his father wasn't home, humans that didn't know the danger of the Alpha or the pack that would have their leaders back. She'd yell at him if he knocked on her bedroom door while the men were in there visiting her. Not that he blames his mother for seeking affection elsewhere, he'd seen his father hit his mother too many times to count. The Alpha was cruel and cold to her. The only times William had ever even seen his father touch his mother was when he'd done so in anger. There was no love in his home, only rage, regret, and loneliness.

That's why having Natasha felt so great. She held his hand all the time, even if it was just while they sat on the couch watching TV and she was always texting or calling to check in on him. Sure, she could be possessive and clingy, but to him, that meant she cared about him and needed him like no one else in the world.

The two of them tried to run away together to elope before the Moon Pairing, but William got cold feet and turned the car around before they even got thirty miles away. He couldn't do it. That damn Moon was pulling him back, he could feel her tugging him, mocking him for thinking he could take choose his own destiny. The Moon may have been duped by the Alpha's rigging the ceremony, but she would not be abandoned by a Groom.

Natasha screamed at him the whole way back, crying and threatening to break up with him. Her tears bothered William, but he knew they couldn't run. Their packs would hunt them down and drag them back. They would be punished for breaking pack rules and orders, which for him wouldn't be as severe since he was the Alpha's son, but for her, it would be harsher since she was a low omega.

He explained this all to Natasha over and over until she finally began to see his point, but she only calmed down once he agreed that he would go through with the Moon Pairing only for show, and he'd never have a real relationship with his Moon Bride. William promised Natasha that he'd never be intimate with his bride. He claimed that Natasha would be his true bride. Besides, it wasn't unheard of for a male to take more than one female mate and he knew enough about Tymarie Redwood to be certain that she wouldn't care what he did as long as she had her own freedom and his credit card.

But something had gone wrong, and Tymarie didn't walk out onto that stage and pick his rock, her sister Tyla did. From what he'd heard, Tyla was different than her sister. She was less materialistic and more of a pain in the ass. The girl belonged to a female wolf rights group, and she'd been involved in a small movement to bring awareness to equal rights for omegas in packs. Most of these antics of hers were hardly paid attention to by the leaders and were shut down before any change ever happened, but packs gossiped, and an Alpha's daughter being a part of such activity definitely raised chatter.

When Tyla picked his rock and came face to face with him, he was caught off guard. Sure, she was pretty; beautiful red hair and plump lips made for kissing, but she looked rough up on that stage. It was obvious that there had been some kind of struggle, her hair was disheveled, her lipstick smeared, her face looked red like she'd fallen or been attacked. And oddly, she was barefoot. Still, he found her kind of hot as she stood there a mess.

"I still don't get why you were in the closet with her, Fritz." Natasha was gabbing in his ear. "Like, why did you have to go behind a closed door?"

"I told you, I wanted to let Tyla know right away that I didn't want her, I only want you," he said.

"So, you had to go in a closet to do that? That's weird. You're lying! You're a liar." The girl continued nagging.

The Moon Pairing ceremony had been over for a few hours now, but his girlfriend wouldn't let it go. It had been a long night and all he wanted was to go to sleep. They'd gotten back to their apartment thirty minutes before, but Natasha was hell-bent on guilt-tripping him instead of sleeping. At one point, things between them had gotten so heated that she threatened to sleep on the couch, but William begged her not to leave his bed. Now he was wishing he'd let her follow through with her threat so he could close his eyes and get some sleep.

"Can we just go to bed?" He asked her. "I'm really tired."

"Tired from your big night with your new wife?"

William had enough of her mouth, he lunged onto her and flipped her over onto her back playfully. Natasha laughed as she tried to get out from under him.

"You're my only true wife." He pressed against her.

She pulled his face to her, and her lips met his, but William was horrified when the image of Tyla came to his mind, and his desire inflamed at the idea of kissing her instead of Natasha. The memory of the two of them wrapped together so closely in the closet hit him and he jerked back away from Natasha. Below him, Natasha sensed something was off.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing." He jumped up from the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. Why the hell was he lusting for Tyla? He didn't want her; he couldn't be with her. Damn it. "I need some air."

Natasha called his name, but William ignored her and hurried out of the apartment. The night air was cool on his skin as he stepped outside. He looked up at the Moon and cursed.

"I suppose this is funny to you, huh?" He yelled up at the Moon. "Our lives are just a game to you."

William paced the sidewalk as he tried to clear his mind. None of this made sense. He wasn't even a real chosen Moon Groom, it was rigged, along with the pairing. And Tymarie was supposed to be the fake Moon Bride, but Tyla showed up in her place. And the closet, the damn closet make-out session he'd had with Tyla…poor Natasha. She'd be crushed if she knew exactly what he'd done and what he would've done if she hadn't interrupted. Even more so, he couldn't get his damn Moon Bride out of his head.

He loved Natasha though, he was certain, well mostly certain. He wanted to be with her, and he wouldn't let anyone ruin that, including his father, Tyla, or even the Moon. Feeling overwhelmed with guilt, he sighed up at the sky one last time and then turned to head back inside.

Suddenly, he was hit upside the head from behind. Confused, he stumbled to the ground and tried to figure out what was going on, but soon he was grabbed and pulled towards a van. Someone stuck a towel over his face, and whatever they put on it caused him to blackout within seconds.

The last thing he saw was the Moon above, surely enjoying the sight of him being defeated.