Never Getting The Luna Ritual Chapter 03

Never Getting The Luna Ritual Chapter 03

Dusk had settled when I finally lay down. My phone buzzed with an incoming call.

“What’s going on with the Alpha and Lila?”

“It’s Lila’s birthday, and the Alpha threw her a lavish celebration. She’s just an Omega who’s never contributed a thing to the pack!”

“What gift did Forrest give her?” I suddenly asked, curious.

“Looked like some kind of necklace. All fancy in a red gift bag,” my friend said, her voice tight with disapproval.

So that was why Forrest had rushed back at noon—to pick up Lila’s birthday present.

My friend was still fuming. “That girl doesn’t even have the decency to pretend to respect you. Has Forrest lost his damn mind, blatantly ignoring you for her?”

“We never held the Luna Ritual,” I said quietly. “He never marked me.”

A heavy silence fell over the call.

It stretched on for a long moment before her disbelieving voice came through. “What?”

“He never marked me.”

I repeated the words, my tone flat and unchanging.

“We only lived together for a while. We’re both still free.”

Another long pause followed. Finally, her voice softened with helplessness.

“What are you going to do now?”

I looked at my packed suitcase by the door.

A faint, humorless smile touched my lips. “I’m returning to my duty as a Warden. I move on to the next forest.”

“How could the Alpha not care about you? You two were so happy together all those years…” My friend sounded genuinely upset. “Isn’t he going to stop you from leaving?”

“He doesn’t know,” I answered.

And he wouldn’t care, either.

“Send Lila my wishes,” I said, my voice rough.

It was ten o’clock at night when Forrest came home.

He reached to hang up his coat out of habit, then froze mid-motion.

“Where’s the photo frame by the door?”

He didn’t even bother taking off his coat, walking straight into the bedroom with a hint of panic in his tone.

“Darling, where’s our picture?”

I leaned against the headboard, my tone calm and detached. “It fell off the wall and shattered.”

He glanced at the broken glass in the trash can and visibly relaxed.

Then he pulled a small, blue gift bag from his jacket pocket and offered it to me.

“I, uh, said I’d get you something yesterday. Didn’t have time. Made up for it today.”

I froze for a second.

It was then I remembered his words before he left the day before.

“I’ll bring you a gift when I get back.”

I hadn’t thought he’d actually remember.

But my eyes quickly caught the time on the receipt tucked inside—the gift had been bought barely half an hour ago.

My friend must have said something to him. Guilty and flustered, he’d stopped by a random trinket shop on the way home to grab a last-minute gift.

I set the blue bag aside without a word.

Forrest hesitated for a moment, then spoke up awkwardly.

“By the way, for the dance segment at next month’s Moonlight Celebration, would you mind…”

I cut him off, reading his mind straight away. “You want Lila to perform the Blessing Dance.”

He looked caught off guard that I’d guessed it, nodding sheepishly.

“She’s just an Omega. Our werewolf society no longer treats Omegas as servants, but she still struggles with lingering prejudice. She badly needs this recognition. You’ve danced the Blessing Dance so many times already…”

Any female werewolf was allowed to perform the Blessing Dance.

It was just an unspoken rule that once an Alpha marked his Luna, only the Luna could take the role.

And I was still unmarked.

It broke no rules at all. I nodded softly. “Fine.”

He stared at me, clearly surprised by how easily I’d agreed. “You… you’re not upset?”

I shook my head.

There was nothing to be upset about.

From now on, everything she craved—status within the pack, Forrest’s affection—would have nothing to do with me.

The tension drained from his posture.

“See? Lila’s just a fragile Omega. And you’re a strong Warden. It’s only right to be generous.”

He smiled, as if proud of his own logic.

“Hey, how about we do the Luna Ritual tomorrow morning?”

I stared at him in silence.

He suddenly remembered something. “I almost forgot you’re off to visit your friend. What time are you planning to leave tomorrow?”

“Three in the afternoon,” I said.

“That’s plenty of time,” he said at once, tone certain. “We’ll meet at the moon altar at ten tomorrow morning. Don’t worry about decorations—I’ve got everything ready. It’ll be the flower party you love most.”

I stayed quiet.

Serena spoke inside me. “He seems sincere this time! What are you going to do? Will you let him mark you?”

Just then, his phone rang again.

Lila’s name lit up the screen.

Her voice was a soft, pained whisper, thick with tears. She was begging him to come, saying the pain was unbearable, that she needed to get to the healer.

He hung up, a rare flicker of hesitation crossing his face.

He rushed to explain on his own. “It’s Lila. I thought it inappropriate for her to keep reaching me through the mind link before, so I told her to call me if she needed anything. I never expected her to reach out this late…”

Serena let out a long, weary sigh inside me.

I nodded simply. “Go on.”

The relief was instant and palpable.

He stepped forward and pulled me into a quick, almost perfunctory hug. “Wear your favorite dress. I’ll be there. I promise.”

With that, he grabbed his coat and hurried out the door.

The moment the door clicked shut, I glanced at the blue gift bag on the bed.

I left it unopened, folded it back up neatly, and placed it on the highest shelf of the wardrobe.

Two identical blue bags from the same shop sat there already—both last-minute gifts he’d grabbed casually in the past.