Chapter 3: His Perfect Luna

CHLOE’S POV

I left the hall not knowing what to think. It all felt like a dream. 

No. A disturbing nightmare.

Never would I have thought the one person I was desperately trying to escape would end up being my mate. My fated mate.

This had to be a joke. A sick joke by the Moon Goddess herself.

I was supposed to be at the front office collecting my placement form. Instead my feet carried me through the school halls while I tried to think about what this meant for my plans of running away.

I heard it was practically impossible to get away from a mate without it driving you crazy.

I knew this could only end one way. Drake was obviously going to reject me, probably already looking for me so he could do it as soon as possible.

My mind crossed back to the auditorium. With how cruel Drake was, why hadn’t he rejected me right there, in front of everyone, so they could all laugh at my humiliation?

Maybe he was just as startled. Maybe he was so ashamed that he didn’t want anyone finding out. Or maybe… he wasn’t going to reject me at all. Maybe this changed how he felt about me.

I was still pondering it when his scent suddenly reached me. The same peculiar scent from the auditorium, curling down the empty corridor my feet had brought me to.

My wolf surged up so fast it stole the strength from my knees. I could feel her pull, she wanted to get closer. She wanted to touch him.

Mate, she whispered. Go to him.

No.

He’s ours.

He is not ours, I said, digging my nails into my palms. He can’t be ours.

She whined, low and wounded. I struggled to hold myself in place, but the urge was stronger than I was, and before I could stop myself I was moving down the corridor, closer, until he came into view.

That’s when I heard him.

“Of course not, babe. I would never do that. No matter what, you’re always going to be the one. You’re my perfect Luna, and no one will ever change that.”

I stood there, a sharp, tearing pain ripping through my chest, my heart pounding so violently it felt like it was trying to break free of my ribs. For a moment I couldn’t breathe.

Drake’s eyes soon found mine.

He held my gaze before pulling her against him and leaning down to kiss her.

His girlfriend. Prisca.

He deepened the kiss, one hand settling possessively around her waist, but his blue eyes never left mine. He wanted me to see it. He wanted me to understand exactly what he was doing.

The hurt came first, but as I watched him deliberately try to break me, something inside me hardened. I swallowed against the bitter taste in my mouth, stepped back, and turned on my heel.

I refused to give him the satisfaction. 

God, I couldn’t believe I had entertained the thought for even a second.

Why would I expect Drake, the monster who had tormented me through high school, to change just because of some bond?

I marched down the hall toward the exit. Let him keep his precious Prisca. All that mattered now was finding my way out of this pack.

Before leaving, I forced myself to stop at the front office and collect my placement papers.

My hands shook as I signed the last page, but I signed it anyway. Drake might have ruined graduation day, but I would not let him take away my chance to leave too.

I got on the waiting bus, and my anger faded as the truth sank in.

Drake hadn’t rejected me on stage because he was biding his time, planning to drag it out so he could play with the bond and break me down slowly.

Well, he could try.

I got off two stops early and roamed the streets, hoping to clear my head, and by the time I got home it was dark out.

The adrenaline had drained out of me. All I wanted was to pull the blankets over my head and block out the world.

I needed to keep my head screwed on straight and figure out how to get out of this pack for good over the next few days.

I pushed the front door open, dragging my feet into the cramped living room.

Before I could take off my shoes, my mother rushed over from the kitchen, her face bright and overly eager.

“Chloe! Baby come sit, come sit,” she hurried, ushering me toward the small dining table. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to your graduation today, I had errands to run.”

I didn’t say anything.

I wasn’t surprised. My mother was always all about her work and anything that brought in more money. She was never going to take time out of her day for my graduation, not even for being the class valedictorian.

It still stung. But a small, shameful part of me was relieved, because if she had shown up Drake would have had a whole new thing to taunt me with.

She pulled out a chair, pointing eagerly at a full plate of food and a glass of rich, dark red beverage.

“I made you dinner,” she said, her smile wide and artificial. “And I even got you a special wine to celebrate. It’s non-alcoholic, of course.”

I looked at the spread, then back at my mother like she had lost her mind. A full cooked meal on a random night?

“Did you get paid more yesterday or something?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Her smile hitched for a fraction of a second before smoothing out. “You know, I went to see this super rich client yesterday, and he was very… very generous.”

I nodded slowly. Had to be that then.

Her expression soured instantly, her eyes flashing with irritation. “Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you always questioning me? Just eat.”

I looked down at the plate. I didn’t have an ounce of appetite after the day I’d had.

“I’m really not that hungry, Mom,” I murmured, pushing my chair back. “I’d just like to go to my room and lay down.”

Her face twisted instantly. “Is that so? Are you really this ungrateful? I went all out for you and you can’t even be bothered to appreciate it.”

I knew this script by heart. My mother making me feel guilty the second she showed a shred of effort, masking the fact that most times she wasn’t there for me at all.

There was no winning this fight. “Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll eat.”

I took a small bite, forcing it down a throat that felt tight and dry.

My mother brightened. “There you go. And make sure you drink your wine if you don’t have much of an appetite, it’ll help keep your strength up.”

I took a long sip just to appease her, then he went back to pushing the food around my plate.

Minutes ticked by in heavy silence. Then a strange warmth began to bloom in my stomach.

At first I blamed it on the stress of the day, but it spread upward, turning into a thick, creeping numbness that buzzed at the base of my skull.

My eyelids felt impossibly heavy. The sounds of the apartment, the hum of the old refrigerator, the traffic outside the window, muffled and faded into a distant sound.

What…

I blinked hard, trying to clear the fog, but my vision swam, the edges of the room blurring into a smear of grey. My hands rested clumsy and without strength on the table.

Through the haze, I heard the front door click open. Low, murmuring voices drifted from the hallway.

My mother didn’t look surprised. She stood up, ignoring me completely as I slumped forward in my chair.

I tried to force my mouth to move, tried to ask who was there, but my tongue felt thick and useless.

Then strong arms caught me before I could slide out of the chair. Big hands. Men’s hands. Strangers in our home.

No…

I tried to thrash, but my body was completely limp. I was hoisted into the air and carried out of the kitchen as the room spun wildly away.

A moment later, cool night air hit my skin, followed by the sinking cushion of a car seat. I was laid down in the back. A familiar warmth shifted beside me, and a soft, trembling hand cradled my head and rested it in a lap.

My mother’s lap.

“Don’t hate me too much for this,” she whispered, her voice breaking in the dark. “One day, you’ll look back and realize why I had to do this.”

Confusion and shock tore through the fog in my mind. 

What?

I tried to move my lips, to ask her what she meant, but no sound came out.

Her fingers stroked my hair in a slow, hypnotic rhythm, pushing the strands away from my face.

“Don’t worry, baby,” she whispered, her voice fading into a distant echo as the darkness pulled me under. “Just go back to sleep.”

I tried to fight it, desperate to escape the awful truth closing in around me. But her soothing movements swept across my face, and with one final, helpless breath, my eyelids shut completely.