The Lunam Ceremony (Book One), page 1
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, whether living or dead is entirely coincidental.
THE LUNAM CEREMONY, BOOK 1
ISBN: 978-0-9964946-1-8
Copyright © 2016 by Nicole Loufas
www.nicoleloufas.com
Editing by Holly Kothe and KD Phillips with Indie Solutions, www.murphyrae.net
Cover design by Murphy Rae, www.murphyrae.net
Interior Formatting by Elaine York/Allusion Graphics, LLC/Publishing & Book Formatting
Except for the original material written by the author, all song titles and lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.
All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in book reviews.
Chapter One: Destiny
Chapter Two: Meeting Family
Chapter Three: Prep
Chapter Four: Socializing
Chapter Five: Lunam
Chapter Six: Hangover
Chapter Seven: Outcast
Chapter Eight: Meeting Family
Chapter Nine: Duty
Chapter Ten: Home Sweet Home
Chapter Eleven: Shasta Clause
Chapter Twelve: Snow and More Snow
Chapter Thirteen: Game Changer
Chapter Fourteen: Secrets
Chapter Fifteen: Visitors
Chapter Sixteen: Mind Lost
Chapter Seventeen: Not in The Plan
Chapter Eighteen: Lost and Broken
Chapter Nineteen: Jase
Chapter Twenty: Think with Your Heart
Chapter Twenty-One: Damage Control
Chapter Twenty-Two: Layla
Chapter Twenty-Three: Awkward
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Inevitable
Chapter Twenty-Five: Reality Check
Chapter Twenty-Six: Full Moon Envy
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Party Time
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Revelations
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Only Mom Can Help
Chapter Thirty: Game Plan
Chapter Thirty-One: Coming Clean
Acknowledgements
About the Author
I pull out the top drawer of my dresser and unceremoniously dump its contents into the empty suitcase on my bed. I shove the drawer back into the slot and move on to the next. I’m not concerned with how or what I pack. The only thing running through my mind is where I will unpack. If it were up to me, my next home would be a dorm room at the University of Las Vegas, but my life isn’t my own. I don’t get to decide where I live. Hell, I don’t even get to choose who I love. My life is in the hands of fate, Mother Nature, destiny, whatever you want to call it. If you ask me, which nobody ever does, my life isn’t ruled by fate or the moon. It is ruled by my mother, Layla.
I empty the last drawer into my suitcase then move on to the closet. It’s almost empty; there is only one thing in there I would take. I run my hand down the pink taffeta dress I wore to my senior prom. Layla only let me go because she chaperoned. I didn’t get to go to the after party or even to dinner with my friends. Prom, my high school graduation, the letter I received from UNLV saying I was accepted into their class of 2019—all of those things, those human things, mean nothing to my mother. I was put on this earth for one purpose, to maintain my family’s bloodline.
My friends, if you can call them that, left for college months ago. I told them I was taking a year off to find myself. I was never really close to any of the girls at school. Layla said making ties to this world would only make it harder to leave. She was wrong. I may have been the “other” friend, but that doesn’t make leaving this life any easier.
“Mom, what do people wear to a Lunam ceremony?” Lunam is like a quinceanera, a bar mitzvah, and spring break all rolled into one night. The girls become women, the boys become men, everyone gets laid, and nobody remembers a goddamned thing.
“It isn’t a formal affair, Kalysia,” Layla yells from across the hall. She’s packing too. In a few hours I’ll be heading to a new life and she will return to her old one. She took a leave of absence from her job at the women’s prison so she could escort me to Lunam. The job is perfect for her. She loves to be in control of other people’s lives. It will give her something to do once I’m gone. After Lunam she will no longer be the boss of me. I’ll have my own pack. One I am supposed to lead. In less than a week I will be in charge of other people’s lives and I can’t even cook. I’m only eighteen, I should be worrying about midterms and homework assignments, not how long my pack will survive on frozen burritos. I could have pulled student loans and applied for housing. I could’ve had the life I want, not the one I was born into. I could have. I should have. I didn’t. I couldn’t do that to my mom. She’s given up so much for me. I owe it to her to go to Lunam.
“You ready?” Layla appears in my doorway. She looks stunning in a pair of old jeans and a light blue sweater set. She has wavy brown hair that goes on for days, and eyes so blue they look like gemstones have been jammed into her eye sockets. As a human my mother is beautiful, but when I saw her as a wolf, I thought nature could not have created a more perfect being. I was eight when she took me into the desert to show me what we are. Her fur was dark brown with small white tufts around her ears. It was the softest thing I’d ever felt. Her eyes were the same sapphire blue, the only marker of her human self. While most little girls heard fairytales about castles and princesses, my mom told me stories about witches and wolves. We call ourselves Lunam because we were born from the moon. Not really born—we were turned by Gaia, the mother of our kind.
Finding out I was part wolf was the coolest thing that ever happened to me. After seeing my mom turn, I was obsessed. I kept calendars in my room, counting down the days until my eighteenth birthday when I would have my first phase. I begged to hear stories about my mother’s Lunam and how she met my father. Lunam isn’t just a coming of age ceremony where I will phase; it’s also where I am supposed to meet my true love. I can’t even think about that without rolling my eyes. Phasing from a human into a wolf is more realistic to me than love at first sight. I’ve seen my mom phase; I know it’s real. I’ve never seen her in love.
When I turned thirteen I stopped keeping the calendars. I was more interested in makeup and boys. Layla’s stories began to feel like nothing more than fairytales. By the time I was fifteen, I ran from the room whenever my mother said the word Lunam. This prehistoric ritual was the reason I couldn’t go to school dances or have sleepovers with my friends. I wasn’t allowed a social life because I was born into a bloodline that an entire species depended on. A species I had no ties to. Layla left my father when I was four. She moved us to a small town in the middle of the Nevada desert. I have no contact with my father or Layla’s family. Now she expects me to give up my dreams, my life, for a family she ran away from—all in the name of destiny.
There were so many nights I cried myself to sleep, vowing I would never go to Lunam. I wouldn’t let Layla win. All of that changed last year when she told me I was the last living heir to her family’s bloodline. I tried to pretend the pain in her voice didn’t cause a knot in my stomach. I didn’t think anything would change my feelings about Lunam until Layla promised I’d still be able to go to college. Not this year or next, but someday. And with the promise of someday paired with the guilt of my mother’s legacy resting comfortably on my shoulders, I quit resisting. I started telling myself going to Lunam was the right thing to do. I may have my doubts; but I know Layla wouldn’t send me to Lunam if it wasn’t something she believed would benefit me and my future. I trust my mother has my best interest at heart.
I close my closet door, leaving the dress behind. “I’m ready.” I zip my suitcase without much effort. My entire life fits into carry-on luggage.
Layla smiles at me but doesn’t say a word. There have been a lot of silent moments lately. I will miss my mom, she’s all I’ve ever had, but I’m not sure she’s going to miss me. Layla is going to the Lunam ceremony with me; after that, she’s free. I won’t be her responsibility anymore. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m the young one; I should have the world at my feet, not her. But I guess she’s paid her dues. Eighteen years ago she had me, and she hasn’t made a single decision that wasn’t in my best interest since. My mother is overbearing at times, but she is also the most selfless person I know. I assume all mothers are to a certain degree. It comes with the title. You’re a mom; you give up your life, your dreams, your body, to give life to another human. I may be destined to produce an heir to my bloodline, but I am in no way ready to give up on my happiness or dreams for that to happen.
I look around the room one last time. I won’t miss the twin-size bed I grew out of five years ago. I won’t miss the smell of mold in the closet or the warm desert air that creeps in through the torn weather stripping around my window. I don’t have posters on my walls or stuffed animals on my bed. Holding sentimental value in toys or obsessing over boy bands are human connections that Layla didn’t want me to form. She tried, but I still love One Direction, and nothing will ever change that. Layla allowed me toys when I was little, bu
The road to the Lunam ceremony consists of a sixty-mile drive from the small desert town where I was raised to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The shuttle cost my mother one hundred hard-earned dollars. The shuttle is also late, and we have to rush through the airport to make our flight to San Francisco. Layla lets me have the window seat since this is my first time on a plane. She hands me a pack of gum and a magazine. “You’ll need the gum when we take off or else your ears will pop.” She folds a piece of gum into her mouth and shoves her purse under the seat in front her. I have no clue what she means by my ears popping, but I chew the gum anyway. I learned a long time ago never to question my mother. There’s no point; she’s always right.
We land an hour and a half later, and I decide flying is my new favorite thing. I’m lightheaded as we walk towards baggage claim. I’m finally out of Pahrump, Nevada. I take in everything. The smells, the people, the long line for the bathroom. I don’t care. Nothing is bringing me down. I want to see it all, starting with San Francisco, but Layla is on a schedule. Sightseeing is not on the itinerary. “We’ll come back someday and ride the cable car.” She pulls her bag from the carousel. “I promise, Kalysia.” She places her hand on my shoulder and smiles. Even though I want to sulk a little longer, her assurance makes me smile. My mother never breaks a promise.
I wonder how long it will be until we can come back. In a week I will be matched with a boy I’ve never met. We’ll be linked together for the rest of our lives. If I’m being honest, the one small perk about this whole Lunam thing would be the boys. What girl wouldn’t at least entertain the idea of love at first sight? Layla swears my match will blow all my book boyfriends out of the water. This is one fact I pray my mother isn’t wrong about. My mother’s relationship did not end in happily-ever-after. The details of my parents’ split are also a mystery to me. I don’t know anything about my father other than he was a pureblood alpha and is the leader of our pack. Every time I mustered the courage to ask about him, Layla’s eyes filled with so much sadness. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer, so I stopped inquiring. He isn’t worth it. In fourteen years, he’s never sent me a birthday card or even tried to see me. If there is one thing I’m not looking forward to in the next few days, it’s meeting my father.
The last leg of our journey is a one-hundred-mile drive to Middleton. A pit-stop on our way to Clearlake where the Lunam Ceremony is held. The man at the car rental counter gives Layla a convertible, even though she reserved an economy car. Typical. Layla is always getting special treatment because, well, she’s beautiful. She’s only nineteen years older than me, so people mistake us for sisters all the time, which is why I started calling her Layla in public. It stopped the crazy looks from old ladies in the grocery store.
The convertible is red and totally Layla. She insists on driving with the top down even though the sky is filled with low, menacing clouds. When I voice my weather concerns, Layla laughs. “Its fog, Kalysia, not clouds. My God, you’ve never seen fog,” she howls as we drive over the Golden Gate Bridge.
“I don’t care what it is. I’m freezing!” I yell from the cocoon I created with my hoodie. I was raised in the desert; I’m not used to the frigid cold air. I’ve never even seen snow, and now I’m about to live in it. Layla says my Lunam class will be settled somewhere in the Sierra Mountains. Which means snow, lots of snow. This year is the Altum Lunam. That’s when the last of the pureblood heirs, like me, turn eighteen and a new branch is formed. We are the future of our kind. The leaders. The shit.
Both of my parents are descendants of the first wolves turned by Gaia, which makes me some kind of super alpha. Every eighteen years for the last six hundred years, someone in my family has not only participated in Lunam, they also produced an heir for our bloodline. It’s overwhelming and also incredible. In six hundred years, nobody in my family tree has ever let our pack down. Now it’s my turn to continue the legacy. The pressure is very real. Especially since the only future I ever wanted consists of term papers and sororities. Maybe a few romances and a couple of walks of shame. I don’t want to be a leader. Not like this. I want to go to business school, run a company that does some good in the world. I don’t want an entire species riding on my shoulders.
“Can you at least turn on the heater?” I pull the strings on my hood until it tightens around my face and squeeze my knees to my chest. The cold isn’t really bothering me. I’m just complaining for the sake of complaining. I am giving up my dream for her bloodline, the least she can do is make sure I don’t freeze to death.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. On the other side of that mountain is blue sky, I guarantee it.” She points to the large mountain standing in front of us, its peak hidden by the dank, ocean-scented fog. We drive into the tunnel, and I can see the exit on the other side. The highway is bathed in sunlight. Bright, hot, burning sunbeams hit my face and I flinch. As always, my mother is right. I stay hidden under my hoodie to avoid a sunburn until the world around me disappears.
“Kalysia, wake up. We’re here.” Layla strokes my ratted, windblown hair.
My eyes are barely open when I hear someone yell, “She’s here!” A steady stream of women comes out of the small ranch-style house. My mother greets each woman with a hug. I see a few of them swipe tears from their cheeks, my mother included. I’ve never seen Layla emotional about anything or anyone.
“Kalysia, come here.” She waves me over. “This is my sister, Jessie.” Layla has told me a few stories about Jessie. I don’t think they’re actually sisters. Women in the same pack use the term as a sign of endearment. Sort of like sorority sisters. Layla introduces me to Bonnie next. They were also in the Lunam Ceremony together and became good friends. Bonnie’s daughters—Sophie Ann and Krystal, are fraternal twins a year younger than me. They will have their own Lunam next year. Every Lunam class for the next eighteen years will join the new pack, until the next Altum Lunam, when the last of the next pureblood heirs come of age. That won’t be for at least another nineteen years, when my child goes to Lunam. Just thinking about that gives me chills. I haven’t even met the father of my child, and its future is already set in stone. The cycle will never end. It will keep going as long as purebloods keep going to Lunam. Six hundred years of tradition can’t be wrong, can it?
A tall brown-haired beauty queen walks out of the house with a camera in her hand. She snaps a picture while Jessie introduces her. “This is my daughter, Tandy.” Layla leaves Jessie’s side to give Tandy a huge hug. “She came down for the weekend just to meet you. She has to go home tomorrow, back to her new baby boy.” Jessie’s face beams with pride as she gives Layla the baby’s stats. Weight: 8 pounds. Length: 22 inches. Name: Warner. Current age: 2 weeks.
