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.

“Prisca is the woman I chose. If the Moon Goddess gives me someone else, I’ll reject her.”

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, knowing I had heard him.

“No bond will turn a cheap omega into my Luna,” he added. “Prisca will always be my perfect Luna.”

He didn’t need his girlfriend standing beside him to make his choice clear. He wanted me to understand that becoming his mate had changed nothing.

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.

The apartment was dark when I arrived. My mother wasn’t home.

An overdue rent notice had been pushed beneath the front door. I picked it up, saw the final warning printed across the top, and closed my eyes.

My phone buzzed before I reached my room. It was a voice message from my mother.

“Chloe, baby, I need you to help me tonight. I hurt my ankle again, and the manager says he’ll take the money out of what I owe if you cover one performance. Just one hour. You can wear the mask. No private clients and no touching. I promise.”

I stared at the message in disbelief.

After Drake recognized me six months ago, I had sworn I would never set foot on that stage again. My mother knew that.

I typed no and dropped the phone onto my bed.

It buzzed again immediately.

“Please,” her second message read. “If I miss tonight, the manager will turn the debt over to Alpha Malcolm before midnight. I already gave him your name.”

Anger tightened my chest. She had arranged everything before asking me.

But I also knew what happened when people failed to pay Alpha Malcolm. The pack enforcers would take whatever they could find, and the apartment would be the first thing we lost.

I looked down at the placement papers still clutched in my hand. I was so close to leaving. I only needed enough time to graduate, secure my transfer, and get out.

‘One last night’, I told myself. ‘One dance, and then I would never let my mother pull me into her problems again.’

“One performance,” I finally replied. “Nothing else.”

I changed into a dark hoodie and left for the Velvet Siren.

It would be the last thing I did for my mother before I left Sterlink for good.