Betrayed by Blood, Claimed by the Alpha-Chapter 178

Betrayed by Blood

Three days later~

Avery sat down, her eyebrows pinched in confusion as she watched Lydia rummage through the drawer. Next to her was Millie. Suddenly, Lydia straightened up. "Aha!" She exclaimed, finally finding what she’d been searching for.

"Lydia, what are you—"The words died down her throat as Lydia turned around holding a massive leather-bound book in both hands. With a smug grin, Lydia plopped it down in front of Avery with a loud thud.

Avery blinked at it. Then back at Lydia. Then back at the book. "What is this?"

Lydia dusted off her hands. "The Luna’s Guide. You’ll need to study it."

Avery glanced at the book and then back at Lydia. "B-but you...but you took it away back then, so why not now?" She whined, staring at the book like it would bite her.

"Oh, stop whining. I told you already. You need to master everything...well, at least something’s in here. You are going to be Luna. Best you learn it."

"It’s huge, Lydia! It’s humongously large. Where would I even begin?"

Lydia rolled her eyes as she leaned forward, pulling the book open. "Here. You’ll start from here."

Avery groaned as she stared at the page Lydia had flipped to. Dense paragraphs filled the pages, filled with formal writing that already made her head hurt.

Millie peeked over her shoulder and whistled. "Wow. That’s a lot of words."

Avery slumped back in her seat. "See? This is why I said it’s too much!"

Lydia gave her a pointed look. "Too bad. You need to learn this."

Avery stared at her, hoping she would burst out laughing and say it was a joke, but the longer she looked, the firmer Lydia’s face grew.

"Give it up, Aves. You will have to learn it all as the future Luna of Vehiron," Millie said with a casual shrug.

"You’re ganging up on me," Avery muttered.

"Obviously," Lydia said, unbothered.

Avery let out a dramatic sigh but didn’t argue further. Instead, she dragged a hand down her face before reluctantly trailing her fingers over the book’s old, worn pages.

She sighed again, thinking about how much she would have to spend reading this. If only Selena were here, then she would’ve... Avery paused her train of thought.

Where is Selena?

It was extremely odd that she wasn’t here.

"Something wrong?" Lydia asked.

Avery hesitated before shaking her head. "No, it’s nothing."

Lydia narrowed her eyes but didn’t press. Instead, she changed the subject. "By the way, you’ve been slacking in training."

Avery immediately scowled. "I have not!"

"You have," Lydia countered. "And you need to get back into the groove."

Avery groaned, slamming her head against the large book. The last time she trained was before they left for Bloodmoon, which meant she’d been truly slacking. But could anyone blame her? Cain was draining the life out of her with every training. Then Lydia decided to be a good sport and support Cain. Every time after Cain was done with her, Lydia took it up to train her in the woods during the evenings. Her body was in pain daily, and there was nothing she could’ve done.

"You’ll get back to training tomorrow so you have today to mourn the loss of your training starting."

Avery huffed. "Fine, fine. I’ll make time for it."

She stood up, ready to leave, but of course, Lydia had to call her back. "The book, Avery. You need the book."

"Ah yes. The book. I didn’t leave it behind on purpose," she mumbled, grabbing the book.

Lydia hummed sarcastically, "No, the book just happened to be left behind." She replied, and Millie laughed.

"You know, Avery. This is the beginning. This book is compared to nothing. You will have to plan the entire ceremony to prove that you are the perfect Luna."

Avery froze, her eyes widening. "I will have to what?"

Vehiron was large. No, scratch that. The Vehiron pack was massive. The idea of planning a ceremony for something so important. Something that would have the entire pack watching her... it made her stomach twist.

Lydia smirked. "You heard me. The Luna ceremony is one of the biggest events in Vaheeran. It needs to be perfect."

Avery groaned again. "Why does being Luna sound exhausting?" She’d been trained to be Alpha of the Bloodmoon pack, but not even that was as exhausting as being Vehiron’s Luna. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Vehiron was massive.

"Because it is exhausting," Lydia said dryly. "Welcome to the real world."

Millie grinned. "But don’t worry! I’ll be here to help you with the planning!"

Avery gave her a deadpan stare. "Yeah, help indeed."

Lydia rolled her eyes and continued walking. They stepped outside, the morning air filling Avery’s lungs.

A particularly loud thud followed by a low groan.

Avery turned her head, and her gaze landed on Kendra. Kendra stood in the middle of the training grounds, victorious once again. The pack member she had just defeated lay sprawled on the dirt, groaning.

"Kendra is training?" Avery asked, shocked. She’d never seen the woman step into the training grounds until today. What the hell was happening?

Kendra smirked as she stretched, shaking out her legs as if the fight had barely warmed her up.

Avery, Lydia, and Millie stopped walking to watch for a moment. It wasn’t surprising to Lydia; Kendra was skilled, and she knew it.

They were about to keep walking when Kendra’s gaze suddenly snapped to them.

Her smirk widened. "Avery," she called out smoothly. "Perfect timing."

Avery frowned. "For what?"

Kendra took a few slow steps toward them, still smiling. "A spar."

Avery blinked. "What?"

Kendra tilted her head. "Come on, it’s just a friendly match. You know I’ve been out of the hospital, and this is supposed to help me gain my strength back. Besides, you’re going to be Luna, it’s only fair for everyone to see your skills, right?"

Millie immediately spoke up. "Avery is still learning—"

Kendra didn’t even glance at her. "Then this will be a fun learning experience. Unless..." She dragged out the pause, her eyes gleaming. "You’re scared?"

Lydia’s expression darkened instantly. "What are you doing, Kendra?" She hissed out. The people were beginning to gather around at the mention of a spar.

Kendra gasped, feigning ignorance. "What am I doing? Nothing! I was just asking the future Luna to spar with me. That’s all? I didn’t commit a crime by asking that, did I?"

Lydia frowned, about to step forward, but before she could say more, Avery stepped forward. "Yes."

"Avery—" Lydia hissed under her breath.

"I can handle it," Avery replied.

More warriors turned their attention toward them, their interest sparking.

Kendra’s smirk deepened. "Good."