The Perfect Luna by Marissa Gilbert

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Chapter 59. The Shift
Riannon felt power circling through her bloodstream. It felt as if the shifting took her ages when in fact it had just been seconds.
But the overall sensations were very new.
She felt powerful, she felt capable of lifting mountains... and also she felt very different from how she was supposed to feel in her
wolf form.
Onyx was always a strong wolf, but this time it was a whole new level.
What happened to her? She looked around, growling, and noticed that the battle had stopped momentarily and now her friends
and her enemies were staring at her in shock. No one dared to move, and she didn’t know why.
“What is going on?” She asked her wolf and felt her smirking in their mind.
“You see, Riannon,” she said matter-of-factly, “I wasn’t appearing for so long for a reason. And today you will finally find out why.”
“Well?!” Ria tried to push Onyx into elaborating on that, but at the same time one of the bears woke up and charged at her with
fury in his red eyes. She never fought a bear in her life. They were known to be bigger and stronger. Almost a match for Lycans.
Yet she sprinted at him and took a jump, easily knocking him off and going straight for his furry neck with her claws. She didn’t
even need to do anything else as she felt the life under her slipping away quickly.
Onyx took the control from her and let out a loud growl that resembled more of a roar, From the corner of her eye, she noticed
how a few foxes sprinted away, running for their lives.
She noticed Roxy and charged in her direction. The desire to kill the b*tch who caused so much trouble in her life was
overwhelming. However, three foxes threw themselves at her, followed by another bear and she had to stop to deal with those.
Gideon watched his mate from afar, trying to get to her. He still couldn’t believe what he just saw.
What was she? Because sure as hell she wasn’t a regular werewolf with her bigger than average form and glowing silvery fur.
Her wolf was perfection, the most beautiful beast he had ever seen. And as he saw her dealing with their enemies with ease, he
admired her strength and grace.
Riannon would never stop surprising him. His mate... His woman... His queen.
The battle was over fast and to her disappointment, there was no trace of Roxy when

they were done.
“Don’t worry,” Onyx said, “We will still get her. She will be ours to kill.”
of times!”
“I am happy to be back too,” her wolf admitted with a chuckle, “And, Ria, you did so well on your own. You never gave up and
you stayed strong. You fought for us and our mate. And all this taken together helped me heal and get to this point.”
“Heal?” she asked.
“Yes, Riannon,” Onyx confessed, “Our rebirth came at a price. The moon goddess could only do this using my life force. It almost
killed me permanently. My spirit was crushed but she put me into hibernation to save me. This was why I was only able to
respond to you when something big was happening, something that almost made me awaken. But I was still too weak then and
couldn’t help you much.”
“At least you told me about our mate,” Ria let out a little laugh, “You have no idea how confusing that was without you there.”
“And yet you managed just fine,” the wolf snorted, “He helped us the most, you know. The closer you were to him the more my
healing was accelerated.”
“He helped me to heal too,” Riannon admitted the truth out loud for the first time, “Onyx, was so broken inside after everything.

Our death, your absence, the last year with Brayden... It all took a toll on me. Sometimes it felt as if I was beyond repair... And if
not for Gideon, then I don’t know if I could do it.”
“You would still do it,” Onyx sighed,” because you are that strong. I am proud to have you as my human.”
“And I am proud to have you as my wolf,” she said, “It was horrible to be alone. But!
wouldn’t want any other wolf. Just you.”
“Don’t make me cry, Riannon!” Onyx snorted, “You know that I am an Alpha. I don’t do that. And especially now of all the time!”
“Yeah, about that,” this reminded her of all the new sensations, “What is wrong with us? What happened? Everything seems so
new and... strange.”
“Nothing is wrong with us,” her wolf corrected her, “If anything, everything is amazing with us. The Moon Goddess returned us for
a reason. We have a mission in life now. And to help us with it, she gave us her blessing.”

“The Goddess herself?” Riannon couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It sounded
surreal even to her that happened. Too many things went wrong in our past life. You had already started fixing some of those on
your own and this is how Selene knew that her choice was right. Thanks to you, she blessed us. It is a very special type of
blessing and it changes us. Over time, we will only get stronger. So no enemy could defeat us in the war that is to come. For we
are the ones who would put an end to this.”
“A war...” the words echoed in her mind, making her shiver.
“After we died, Riannon,” Onyx went on, “It got really bad. Everything was so messed up. And wolves were practically wiped
out...”
“Wait, but how do you know this?” She asked, trying to comprehend the information she was given.
“The goddess showed me everything,” the wolf informed her, “I know about everything that happened in our past life and what
happened after we died. I will tell you. But not now.”
“Ria,” she heard the voice that she loved more than anything in her life and that brought her back to reality. She looked at
Gideon, who stood before her wearing absolutely nothing. He looked worried and each muscle on his perfectly carved body was
tense.
“We got ourselves a fine mate there,” Onyx growled in approval, “We need to mark him asap! I am not letting him go.”
“Neither am 1,” Riannon agreed and saw Gideon stretching his hand towards her. He looked worried, as if he wasn’t sure how
she would react. The glowing fur was not helping probably and she tried to dial that down. Surprisingly, it worked and her fur
returned to it’s normal silvery white colour.
Gideon’s fingers brushed over her and she purred at his touch, letting him closer.
“Thank Goddess, Ria,” he kneeled before her and embraced her, “You scared the hell out of me right now. Come back to me...
She shifted back into her human form and he pulled her closer, pressing her right against his torso.
“I love you so much,” he whispered as she wrapped her hands around him too.
“I love you too. I got Onyx back,” she mumbled, and he chuckled at that.

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“Yeah, I noticed,” he said, kissing her neck and her hair and wherever else his lips could reach, while breathing heavily at the
same time, “We all did. Especially the foxes and the bears you slaughtered without sweating.”
embrace, letting herself relax in his arms as he stroked her back. But the sounds of sobs somewhere in the background brought
her back to the harsh reality.
Someone wrapped a piece of fabric around her and she turned to see Ash. He gave her a weak smile and continued distributing
the clothes from one of the many hideouts in this forest.
Riannon pulled on the simple cotton dress she received and rushed to Maya’s side, who was still on the ground, rocking her

dead brother. Reid was next to her, sitting awkwardly next to his mate and not knowing how to console her.
But what could be said when one lost a sibling?
Ria kneeled right next to her friend and laced her hands around the two of them, only
making her friend sob louder. ::
Maya wasn’t a crier. But at that moment in time, she felt so weak and hopeless that she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Dean... is... dead,” she whispered, stuttering between deep breaths of air which her body required her to take, “I was... late...
My...fault...”
“No, Maya, no,” Riannon hugged her tighter as hot tears rolled down her cheeks too, “It’s my fault. She did this because of me..”
“It’s none of your fault!” Reid growled angrily, “None of you did this to him! The one who slit his throat did this!”
Maya let out another weak sob, resting her head on Riannon’s shoulder and clenching her brother close. Gideon lowered himself
next to the three of them and carefully placed his hands on Dean’s body, making his sister flinch.
They were eye to eye now and he told her calmly, “We need to get him inside. I will take care of him. I promise.”
“Let him go,” Riannon whispered, “He will help.”
Maya unclenched her fingers and in the next moment, she was wrapped in the embrace between her best friend and her mate.
They helped her up and led her back to the house while Gideon lifted Dean’s body in his arms, walking behind them.

Closer to the mansion, Maya stumbled and Reid caught her in his arms. He couldn’t see her hurting so much and all he wanted
to do now was to give her his strength.
Their people were shocked to see them when they arrived, but like any werewolf pack, they knew what to do when someone
died and got stratght to work with the arrangements. It
Riannon gave orders that were required of her and then showed Reid to Maya’s old room. She left them alone, seeing how her
friend was starting to fall asleep in her mate’s arms. The mate bond was the best thing for Maya right now.
But as soon as she was done with all that, she raced to her bedroom to get dressed properly.
“What do you think you are doing?” Gideon, who followed her close behind, asked her.
“I am going to Brayden’s pack. I find that b*tch and I will kill her today for this!” she growled, unable to control the rage of her wolf
inside. Onyx indeed got stronger and hiding her emotions now was more problematic than ever.
“You cannot go like this,” her mate objected, “His pack is full of warriors according to Reid. I doubt that they will give you their
Luna just like that.”
“She is not a Luna yet,” Ria ignored him, “And even if she is – I don’t care! She doesn’t get to live another day after what she
did!”
He watched her intensely, assessing the determination on her face, and came to a . conclusion that she would probably do that
anyway.
“Fine,” he sighed, “I will go with you and so will my warriors. Savvy and Reid will stay here.”
She paused just for a second to look at him as she was buttoning her shirt.
“Thank you,” she nodded at him curtly, “I really appreciate that.”
The drive to the old packhouse of the Silver River pack was fast. Mainly because Riannon was driving and she was squeezing
the life out of the gas pedal.
“Onyx,” Ria called her wolf in the middle of the road, “You said you know what happened in our past life. Do you know who killed
us? Was it Dean?”
“No,” was all that the Alpha inside of her said, “It wasn’t Dean. It was someone else.”

“I see,” she gritted her teeth, “Don’t tell me now. This is a conversation for another time!”
The warriors got alerted when their car parked with a screeching sound and she got out of the car, followed by the lycans.
Brayden stormed out of his mansion, looking furious as hell, and Gideon had to growl at
him to make him stop.
“Where is she?!” Riannon snarled, not even bothering to try and pretend anymore.
“This is the question for you,” Brayden hissed at her, “What did you do to my mate?!