The Lunam Legacy (The Lunam Series Book 3)

by Nicole Loufas

  Monte takes the stage to unenthusiastic clapping and a few hisses. He thanks everyone for being here, then launches into his speech.

  “The Lunam Ceremony has been a rite of passage for hundreds of years. As we evolved, we lost the true meaning of what it meant to be wolf. What it means to be family. The worst atrocities are done in the name of family.” Monte searches the crowd until he finds me. “I apologize for the sins of our past, and I promise we will have a better future. That starts with you. This is an Altum Lunam, when the heirs of the leaders phase. Tonight you all become leaders. You are the masters of your lives. How you choose to live is up to you. The Sierra and Shasta packs are a thing of the past. This Lunam is the beginning of a new era—the Meyers Pack. Those who pledge loyalty to Meyers will always have a job, a home, a family.”

  “Is he insane?” Jay says, “He’s starting a new pack.”

  “He’s offering them another choice.”

  “This doesn’t need to happen. Lauren won’t be sticking around.” Jay knows more than he’s telling me.

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “She’ll be gone tomorrow, for good.” His certainty is unnerving. I want to preach about honesty, but how can I when I still haven’t told him my secret?

  Monte ends his speech with an announcement that he will start a task force to help find others like us. “We have a hotline set up, offering complete anonymity. We are here to help for those who need it. Please, if you know someone with the gene, urge them to call.”

  “A hotline?” Jay doesn’t fully trust Monte’s motives.

  “He’s doing what he believes is right.” I turn in his arms to face him. “Let Ozzy and Raine worry about it. We’re out of here.” I tiptoe to kiss him as the crowd disperses around us.

  “I want to say goodbye to my father.”

  Out of respect for Dillan, Jay told his father our plan.

  “Are you sure he’s okay with you skipping the ceremony, even after Monte’s speech? I saw them standing together.”

  Monte and Dillan were adversaries in the past, this Lunam has brought them together for a common cause. Stopping Lauren.

  “My old man just wants me to be happy.”

  I wish I could say the same for my parents. We don’t always get along, but having my mother here would’ve been nice.

  “Besides, it isn’t like I’ll never phase. We’re going to have the best of both worlds.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  The ceremonial dresses have been hung on the wall in the locker room with our names taped to the hangers. I find Raine among the females clamoring for space at the mirrors.

  “Abbi!” She pushes through the throng. “It’s a madhouse!”

  She takes note of the shirt I’m wearing, my tasseled hair, and post-coital glow.

  “Did you have sex?” Raine doesn’t say this quietly.

  “Shhh. Tell the whole world.” I pull her to the corner where my dress is hanging.

  She does her Raine-dance then bows to me. “Abbi, you win.”

  “I didn’t know it was a competition.”

  “Do you know who was my first?”

  It’s been so long, and so many. “Anthony something.”

  “Yes! Anthony, the bug guy’s son. I lost my virginity in the back of his father’s pest control van. The smell of ant spray still turns me on.”

  She isn’t even kidding. That’s what I love about Raine, she finds the positive in everything.

  “I don’t even want to know the details. Kidding! You’re telling everything tomorrow.”

  My plan was to break the news about leaving right before the ceremony begins. Telling my mother I didn’t register for school was a piece of cake compared to this.

  “I don’t why they even bother putting on all that crap.” Raine gestures to the mound of make-up pallets and hair products. “We’re are shifting into wolves, you don’t need fake lashes!”

  I change out of Dillan’s Howlin’ Ale t-shirt and slip on the white dress. I think of mom. How strong she was, how fearless. Kalysia was certain she would turn, I won’t. She stole that from me. Guilt prevents her from being here tonight.

  “Are you ready, Abs?” Raine grips my hand. Without makeup, she looks young and fragile.

  “Are you ready?”

  “No. I’m freaking out. I’m about to turn into a wolf and possibly lose the love of my life.”

  “We’re not doing that.” I channel Monte. “You’re going to walk out there, confident in your decision. You are the future leader of the Meyers pack.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.” She loops our arms together as girls start migrating to the door. “I couldn’t do this without you.”

  This is where I’m supposed to say goodbye. I remain at her side as we exit the house. I’ve followed Raine my entire life. Every decision I’ve made until this moment has been with her council. In her best interest. It’s time to let her go.

  “Abbi.” I hear my mother’s voice. It must be a hallucination.

  “Look.” Raine points towards the trees.

  My mother immerges from the crowd of white. I run downstairs and leap into her arms like a little girl.

  “Hi, Ms Kali.” Raine gives her a quick hug.

  Mom tells Raine her mother is waiting just around the corner. “She can’t wait to see you.”

  “I’ll see over there, Abs.” Raine looks skeptical.

  “Of course,” I lie. It’s the biggest lie I’ve ever told.

  After she leaves, I accost my mother. “I’m glad you’re here, but what made you change your mind? Is Dad…?” I look past her.

  “Monte called, he told me about Lauren.”

  Of course. She isn’t here for me. Kalysia sent me here knowing I wouldn’t turn, she was going to let me be humiliated.

  “Dr. Wyatt told me everything about the secret study you conducted with me, Rory, and Trevor.”

  The three of us represent each test group: Rory is the pureblood, I’m the offspring of a trueborn and a half-breed, and Trevor is the son of a half-breed and a human. “You used us as guinea pigs for R-249.”

  “Using our children was the only way to prove it was safe. I never put your life in danger.”

  “My life no, my choice—”

  “That’s why I’m here.” She pulls a vial from her purse. “This will reverse the effects of R-249 and allow you to phase tonight.”

  “Are you kidding me? I’m not taking this.”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you now.” She chokes. “Take it if you want to phase.”

  “Is there no end to your god-complex?”

  “I’m not playing god. We created an antidote as a failsafe, in case someone accidently ingested the wrong serum.”

  I hand the vial back. “I don’t need it. We’re not going to be part of the ceremony.”

  “We?”

  Jay walks up behind my mother. He’s a vision in the ceremonial white shorts. I will remember this moment the rest of my life. I throw my arms around him. His skin is damp with sweat. He smells like mint and fear.

  “Are you okay?” He looks past me to my mother. “Mrs. Kincaid, how are you?”

  He’s making small talk. This isn’t the time.

  “Hello, Jay. Abbi was just telling me you decided not to take part in the ceremony.” She doesn’t look convinced as she takes in the hacked up ceremonial gown I’m wearing. She offers the vial again. “Take it, Abbi. It’s the only way you’ll phase.”

  “What is she talking about?”

  Mom sanctimoniously glances at Jay. “He doesn’t know?”

  “He doesn’t care,” I snap, the address him. “You said it didn’t matter if I phased.”

  “For now, but I always assumed….” He does a poor job of hiding his disappointment. “If you don’t phase, then—”

  “Then you won’t love me?” I push him away. Not because I want to, I do it first, incase he rejects me.

  “Abbi!” Mom scolds me because being
rude is rude.

  “So you can’t love me if I’m human?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “What are you saying, then?”

  “I’m saying if you don’t phase, you can’t lead.”

  “Lead? Lead who?”

  “The pack.”

  “Ozzy and Raine are going to lead.”

  He shares a knowing look with Mom. “Ozzy and Raine are running. He just told me in the locker room. They’re going to slip out at the last minute.”

  “Why? He seemed all for it earlier today.”

  “Fear of losing Raine.” He grips my hands.

  She doesn’t know. She would’ve told me. Like I told her.

  Jay ignores the fire burning in my eyes. “I went to my father for help after I found out Lauren was being paid to recruit people for a new pack. They came up with a way to prevent that from happening.”

  “We know who is behind this.” Mom informs us. “Lauren was raised by Lowell Duke. He dosed her with R-49 when she was a baby. After Laruen’s father died from medical complications, Lowell raised her. He’s still alive. Monte’s men are tracking him down now.”

  I don’t need to ask what they will do to him. The fact that Dillan would allow the man who raised him to be harmed shows the strength of pack loyalty.

  “They need a leader.” Mom gestures at the kids running toward the canopy. Their white garments glow against the darkness that surrounds them. “Until Lowell is found, they are vulnerable. You can guide them, Abbi. I believe in you.”

  My mother’s words are more powerful than any serum. Than Jay’s love. Her faith in me is all I’ve ever wanted.

  My faith isn’t as strong. “There’s still a chance Lauren and Jay could match.”

  “We took care of that.” Mom soothes my fear. “Earlier tonight, when Lauren gave a toast at the end of her speech. The drinks were dosed.”

  Daisy passed out the drinks, her mother works for Monte, which makes her loyal to my family.

  “That’s why you came,” I realize. “You brought the R-249 so Monte could stop her from phasing.”

  She nods and offers me with the vial again. This time I take it.

  Jay pulls me a few feet away for privacy. “I love you, Abbi, whether you phase or not.” He places a hand over my heart. “This is home.”

  I lay my hand on his heart then twist the top off the vial as I stare into the eyes of the first man I had sex with and the last man I’ll ever love. I drink the serum.

  Smoke billows into the sky. A yelp rips through the air as someone phases.

  “It’s starting.” Mom takes my hand with tears in her eyes. “I never thought we’d be here. I didn’t want this for you.”

  “I won’t make the same choices you made, mom.” I look back at Jay. “I’ll make better ones.”

  Dillan joins us in front of the house. He says goodbye to Jay, the reaches for my mother’s hand. “It’s time to let them go, Kalysia. Come with me. We can watch from the window.”

  “I love you, Abigayle.” Mom kisses my cheek, then ascends the stairs with Dillan. She stops at the stop. “Take care of my girl.”

  Jay kisses my hand. “With my life.”

  Mom and Dillan enter the house and close the door. Their destiny wasn’t to love each other. It was to bring me and Jay together.

  ◆◆◆

  Only three kids remain under the canopy. Several sit on the ground, crying.

  “They didn’t turn,” Jay guesses.

  “The serum?”

  He shrugs. “Could’ve been, or maybe they just aren’t wolf enough.”

  “Your alpha is showing.”

  He kisses my hand. “Do you feel it?”

  “Yes.” It’s like a surge, a pulse. Something in me is itching to come alive. It isn’t just inside of me; it surrounds me, Jay, the tent, the house, the woods. It’s everywhere. The air is me, I am the wind.

  An old woman guides us forward. She encircles us with smoke from the sacred sage. She chants and looks down at our entwined hands. “Step forward and be claimed by the light.”

  “Ladies first.” Jay waits for me to take the first step, he will follow.

  “What if I don’t phase?” I just took the serum, how fast does it work?

  “I won’t leave you behind, Abbi.”

  A heaviness overcomes me. It’s as if gravity no longer exists. I step into the light, the weight of moon on my back. I fall to the ground and run. Running feels right. Running feels good. I run for a long time. Through trees, over logs, under the stars. When I reach the end of the trees a fence turns me back in the direction I just came from. The territory is familiar now.

  I see him.

  He stops when I stop. He runs when I run.

  I saunter toward him and he cowers, but not in fear. Respect.

  I sniff his neck, he timidly smells mine. His tongue runs through the tuft behind my ear. Pleasure.

  I want to touch him, lick him, but not this way.

  Think.

  Who are you?

  What are you?

  I am Abbigayle Kincaid.

  I’m a woman.

  I’m a wolf.

  I’m a leader.

  Other Books by Nicole Loufas

  Lunam Series:

  The Lunam Ceremony

  The Lunam Deception

  Thizz Series:

  Thizz, A Love Story

  Illusion of Ecstasy

  Men of Trance:

  Got Mine

  Side Game

  Novellas:

  The Excursion: A vacation novella

  Scarlet

  Coming Soon: Alee

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  This book was a labor of love and wouldn't have been possible without the support from my readers. I love you all so much. THANK YOU for loving the Lunam Series, your love is the reason this book exists.