Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna

Viola was too shocked by what had happened to even react in time. By the time she realized what was going on, she was already drowning in an endless expanse of water, something pulling her downward at a speed that sent panic surging through her entire body.

She frantically kicked her legs and flailed her arms, desperately trying to swim back toward the surface, but it was useless. Her phobia set in almost instantly, the darkness of the water pressing in around her from every side. Her lungs burned, her eyes burned, and her breathing grew weaker with every passing second as fear overtook whatever reason she had left.

It was right as she thought she was going to die, right as she realized she couldn’t fight the current any longer, that the force pulling her downward suddenly stopped.

Then, through the darkness of what looked like the endless depths of the sea, Viola saw a light.

Before she could make sense of it, she found herself surrounded by mermaids, glowing fish swimming alongside them as they moved toward her. Yet she was still slowly sinking deeper into the water, unable to stop herself.

As desperately as Viola wanted to understand what was happening, she couldn’t focus enough to make sense of any of it. Her breathing was failing, water beginning to fill her lungs, until someone suddenly grabbed her hand.

She turned and found her sister staring back at her, worry etched across her face.

"Relax, Serena," Ivy instructed. "You can breathe underwater, it’s already inside you. Close your eyes and connect with the other part of yourself. Accept it, and you’ll be able to breathe. Embrace who you are."

Viola was growing weaker, barely conscious enough to process anything beyond Ivy’s words, beyond the realization that her sister wanted her to embrace her mermaid side. She tried to shake her head, refusing. She didn’t want that part of herself, not even now.

But then she remembered, if she didn’t do something, she would die right here, without ever getting the chance to save her husband from Victoria.

Viola swallowed down every misgiving and closed her eyes, clinging to her sister’s hand like a lifeline.

The moment her eyes closed, Viola saw blue instead of darkness. The blue glow intensified, brightening into a brilliant light, and she heard Ivy’s voice guiding her through it.

"Reach for the blue light, Serena. Embrace it, and you’ll be fine. You’ll be safe."

As much as she hated what she was about to do, Viola reached toward the light.

It melted into her hands and flowed into her body, like a spirit taking form, becoming one with her. Only, rather than staying inside her, the light began flowing back out of her almost immediately.

Yet something had changed Inside her body.

Viola suddenly realized she could breathe.

She was no longer gulping down water and no longer fighting desperately for air. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath, stunned when the water around her simply didn’t enter her nose and stayed there.

Then she looked down, bracing herself for the sight of a tail where her legs should have been, and dreading the sight that would stop her from going back.

But to her immense relief, her legs were still there, floating beneath her, moving gently back and forth to keep her afloat.

"What happened, Yasmin? She didn’t grow a tail, like I did," Ivy asked their cousin, who was staring at Viola in confusion, watching her breathe underwater without any tail at all, something they had never seen before happened.

Yasmin turned toward her mother, who answered the question instead.

"She doesn’t have it in her the same way. The light didn’t stay inside her, which means she’s more wolf than mermaid, unlike her sister. But it’s fine, it still gave her the ability to breathe underwater. It also means she can’t stay down here forever. The merfolk will see her as an outcast. She’ll stand out like a sore thumb with legs," Natasha explained, studying her niece, who was staring back at all of them strangely, as though she still couldn’t quite believe she was surrounded by mermaids and breathing in the depth of the sea.

"Not unless, Mama, we use the old abilities to give her a tail. She could stay then, couldn’t she? You have the power to turn legs into a tail, so we wouldn’t have to worry at all," Yasmin said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Ivy looked relieved too upon hearing that, but Viola frowned at their words and shook her head firmly, clearly disagreeing with whatever they were suggesting.

"You know you can talk underwater, right?" Yasmin said, suddenly realizing her cousin hadn’t discovered that yet.

Viola parted her lips and spoke a single word to test it. To her surprise, the sound came out perfectly clear, bubbling through the water without a single drop entering her mouth like she had feared it would.

"I don’t know what’s going on here, guys, but you shouldn’t have dragged me here right now, of all times. I am not staying here." She declared.

"Serena." Ivy called.

She turned toward her sister.

"Ivy..."

Viola moved toward her immediately, wrapping her arms around her tightly. Ivy hugged her back just as fiercely, and Viola felt her eyes burn with emotion as the reality of finally seeing and holding her sister again truly sank in. It was just like one of those dreams she used to have about meeting her sister.

Only now, it was a reality. But because of everything that had happened so far, she couldn’t fully savor the moment, with her worry over Sebastian hanging over her head like an impending storm.

For a moment, while she’d been dragged through the water, Viola had genuinely believed the sea witch had somehow gotten to her.

Never once had she imagined it would be them.

"I am so glad to see you again," Viola whispered, emotion thick in her voice.

But she knew she didn’t have time to prolong their reunion, as much as she wanted to. As badly as she wanted to stay, to ask a thousand questions, she had to go back.

"But I have to go back home. I can’t stay here. Now that I can breathe underwater, I can reach you again, properly, from now on."

Ivy pulled back from the embrace to look at her twin sister, grabbing both her hands. "You can’t go back there anymore, Serena. You’re in danger there."

Viola began shaking her head, assuming they meant how Sebastian had cast her aside, and replied, "I’m not in danger. He’s not himself right now, he’ll come back to normal once I help him."

"Who are you trying to help? What do you mean?" Natasha asked, and Viola noticed the confusion spreading across all of their faces. "Aren’t we talking about my husband?" She asked.

"No. We’re talking about Nerissa. The sea witch. She’s on land, and she’s after your life." Natasha said, watching shock spread across Viola’s face. "Have you seen her yet?"

"No, I haven’t."

After the day they’d realized the sea witch had left her cave, Natasha had sent her son-in-law out to track her, and it hadn’t taken long to confirm she’d left the waters entirely for the first time instead of sending her Tidekin like she usually did, which was terrible news, since the one person Nerissa wanted most was up there, on land.

"It’s good you haven’t seen her yet. We tried to reach you, to warn you, but Nerissa blocked every path we had to you. Your Tidekin was attacked and left weakened, we had to combine all our Tidekins together just to pull you here now. You can’t go back there, Serena."

Viola, who had already endured such terrible days since the moment she’d saved Yasmin, looked around at the three mermaids surrounding her, and asked, "Why is she after me? What does she even want from me?"

She was tired of this sea witch everyone was talking about!

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