MOONLIGHT: ORIGINAL EDITION

Suddenly, a bright light came from behind Luca and Rosa. Everyone was shocked at the person who came out of the light. They all gasped and kneeled, including Luca and Rosa, once they realised who the person was. It was Selene, otherwise known as the Moon Goddess, the creator of the werewolves. Selene looked over the pack before smiling and turning her gaze onto Luca and Rosa and then said to them, “Rise my children,” she told them all, and they rose from where they had been kneeling. Some were assisting older people to rise when Selene asked Luca, “If l may, Alpha Luca, l would like to officiate the ceremony if it’s okay with you?” Luca replies on behalf of everyone present, “It would be an honour if you would”, he said to her, bowing his head in respect. The pack, including Rosa, followed his example and bowed their heads about the Moon Goddess. Selene looks at everyone, showing their respect for her. She smiled before returning to Luca and Rosa. She then looks at the table,s the ceremonial knife, and says to them, “We won’t be needing that”, meaning the knife Se.lene sees the Alpha and the future Luna looking at her, puzzled at what she had just said but didn’t say anything else. Selene told them, “Let’s get the ceremony started, shall we?” Luca and Rosa agreed with her.

Selene then looked at Rosa, holding out her hand and asking her in a severe voice, “Do you, Rosa Romanetti, formally known as Rosa Romano, swear to me, to Alpha Luca and this pack, to uphold the title of Luna of the Ferrera pack, to help protect the pack and its members and to be the best Luna that you can be?” Rosa replies to her in shock at what Selene has called her. She answers, “I do, and I will.” Selene then places her finger on Rosa’s forehead, and she feels the power of the title enter her body. She receives the title of Luna of the Ferrera Wolf packs. Selene shouts to the entire pack, “Ferrera Pack, l present to you, Luna Rosa Romanetti!” The pack stood up as one, and they cried, clapped, and cheered for their newly claimed Luna, who was smiling at them. Then, they turned to her mate and found him grinning back at her. Selene then turned to the Alpha pair and said everything would be explained to her later. She then looked at Luca, knowing what he would do later in private, and nodded in agreement. Rosa was still curious but patient enough to find out later what that was about and what her mate would explain.

Selene looked around, she found that everyone was watching their interaction. Selene told them, “I am glad you have your Luna after all these years. It was an honour to officiate at the ceremony. Thank you for allowing me to do it. But my time has come to return home, so l thank you again, and please enjoy the rest of your night,” Selene tells them, smiling at them all before they all bow in respect to her just before she disappears.

Luca then takes charge and informs everyone that it’s time to celebrate. The pack then shouted and cheered as they sat down at the tables. The kitchen staff and extra pack members assisting in preparing the food placed the different varieties in different spots on the many tables so that every table had a choice of what they wanted to eat. Once everyone was seated, Luca picked up his glass of champagne that’s only used on special occasions and tapped it on the side to get everyone’s attention and announced, “I would like to propose a toast to my beautiful and stunning mate, your new Luna Rosa!” he shouted to the pack who then replied “To Luna Rosa!” they said back. Rosa smiled as she stood up and said, “Thanks, everybody; l am honoured to become your Luna today. Let’s celebrate this great moment And thank the Moon Goddess for officiating the ceremony, who was a shocking guest but very much welcomed to our pack. Hence, with much aviation, as l say, everyone digs in, enjoy the celeb and enjoy the rest of the night,” she tells them as they all stood up to cheer and clap after she finished making a speech. Some of them took turns going over as they made their way over to the food to choose what they wanted to eat, then made their way back to their respective tables, sat down, and then began to eat as the others had their turn. Luca, Rosa and the others at the Head table had already gotten their food and were eating but speaking to each other and the pack members between bites.

The celebration lasted three hours after eating all they could and dancing everyone could muster with their energy. Seeing that everybody was enjoying themselves, especially Rosa, was a sight. She was smiling, laughing and having a great time with the pack members, but the night was starting for her, Luca thought to himself as he watched his mate. She turns her head towards him and smiles at him. He smiles back at her, then picks up her hand and kisses it. Luca then nodded in the direction he wanted to go, and she agreed. As soon as they stood up to leave, the members still there cheered for the Alpha pair as they got up. Luca and Rosa thanked them and left.

They were walking back to the packhouse, and Luca asked Rosa to go and change into something else and to pack an overnight bag because he was taking her somewhere for the night. Rosa looked at him with curious eyes, wondering what he was up to and where he was taking her for the night. She shrugged her shoulders but did what he asked. While she was packing her overnight bag, Rosa also then remembered that Luca was going to explain why her boss, Gianna Gallo, from work, was here for the ceremony as well as the way that he and Selene had been looking at each other she could tell that there was going to be something else that he was going to be telling her about too. Rosa quickly packed her bag and went to the lounge room where Luca was already there waiting for her with his bag containing the two letters. Luca then picked up their bags and headed out the front door, where an SUV awaited them until Rosa realised it was her car waiting for them to get in. Rosa looked at Luca with one eyebrow raised, asking the question when he answered her, “I had one of the pack members drive it over in case you might need it”, he explained to her. Rosa just smiled at him with his thoughtfulness to her needs and thanked him by giving him a peck on the right cheek. Luca’s face turned red, but he smiled back at his mate, pleased with what he had done and his reward. They both entered the car, with Luca getting into the driver’s seat, turning on the ignition, putting the car into drive, and driving off and towards their destination. While driving along the road, they talked about the ceremony and the shock of seeing Selene, the Moon Goddess, at it. They both were still coming to terms with it themselves. It was a complete and utter honour to have her there and to officiate the ceremony.

They both arrived an hour later at their destination. Rosa then realised where Luca had taken her, back to the house she had rented for two weeks. She wondered why he had brought her here. Rosa shivered with nervousness as well as excitement about being back here. They exited the car and headed towards the front door, where Luca opened the door and turned the lights on before checking around the house and letting her enter. Rosa entered, looking around, and saw everything was the same as she had left. She then walked down the hallway and towards the main bedroom; she noticed it was like the rest of the house after she entered the room. She presumed everything was clean and tidy, as if she had left it that fateful day of the attack. Luca entered the bedroom with their bags and placed them on the bed. He then said to her, “I am going to put the kettle on, and then we will talk” She nodded in agreement as he left the room. After he left, Rosa unpacked her bag, but everything of hers was still there. She returned to the kitchen, where Luca made two cups of tea. When he had finished making them, he started to walk over to the sofa in the lounge room, taking the cups with him and settling down on the couch as he pointed to the seat next to him for her to sit down. Rosa sighed but sat down and had a sip of her tea while Luca sat there pondering how to tell her about Gianna and the letters from her late father. He decided to talk to her about Gianna first. Luca waited until she put her cup on the table beside her. He then looked at her, took her hands into his, and explained everything Elder Gabriel had learned about her family.

He explained to her first about Gianna, her being a werewolf as well as being a member of the pack, which he didn’t know about until Gabriel had informed him when they had found out where she worked and her she worked for from her identification and emergency contact list they found in her backpack after the attack and that was why she was at the ceremony but also to catch up with her too. Next was the most challenging part he had to tell her. After taking a few deep breaths, he informs her of the information they have found about her family. Rosa was sobbing by the time Luca had finished telling her. He reached over to retrieve the two letters. He gave her the first one addressed to her by her late father, Antonio Romanetti. Rosa was sniffling as she opened the letter. She read the letter, and the tears began to run again as she read it. Rosa was tired from all the crying, but she knew there was still more to come when she saw Luca holding another letter. Luca told her that this letter was addressed to Rosa and her mate. He informed her that her father had addressed a letter to him explaining what this letter contained. It was her parent’s last will, he told her. Rosa realised it meant them, so she read that one. Luca then heard her gasp at a part of the letter. She then looked at the page behind it and read it slowly. What it said astounded her. Her late father, Antonio Romanetti, had bequeathed her and her mate when they had found and marked each other the house they were in.

The house belonged to the Romanetti family since they moved here from Italy years ago. They were also buried here because they were already home as far as they were concerned. Rosa was sobbing so much that she was shaking uncontrollably; Luca had to pull her into his arms and embrace her to comfort her as much and for as long as he could. Rosa’s sobbing went down after a while, so she was able to let him know what was in the letter. She looked up at him with moisture still in her eyes but was able to tell him, “My father,” she said sniffling “, left this house to my mate and me when l found and marked him and vice versa”, she informed him as he looked at her face stunned at what she had just said to him. Luca then hugged and kissed her on the forehead and said to her, “That was nice of him, but it’s yours anyway because you are a Romanetti by birth. It ’s your inheritance from them, but this way, it’s legal, and no one can take it away from you”, he tells her as he wipes away the tears threatening to fall as he caresses both of her cheeks with his fingers and says to her, “Let’s talk about this more in the morning, we are both tired but you mostly after everything you have just found out alright you need to sleep.” Rosa sighed but agreed with him as they both got up and headed towards the bedroom. When they get there, Rosa goes into the bathroom first, showers and gets ready for bed. She exits the bathroom, heads to the bed, slips between the sheets, waits for Luca to shower, and gets ready for bed. After ten minutes, Luca is out and heads to bed. He slips in between the sheets, covers them both with the covers as Rosa snuggles up to him and puts his arms around her. Before long, they both drift off into a deep sleep.