THE BLUE LUNA

Annie’s POV

"I can't believe he didn't show up for dinner," I huffed, raising my flowing dress as I walked up the stairs leading to my side of the pack house. "The least he could have done was to tell Dad before pulling a disappearing act on us all."

“I think he did tell Alpha Ralph,” my servant and friend, Lena, murmured beside me. “I heard him saying the other time that the warriors had suspicions of a breach by the borders and that they would be spending the night there.”

My feet halted at the front of my door, and I whipped my head around so fast that I heard a tiny crack in my neck. "All night?"

Lena nodded, clutching her hands in front of her. 

“So, he won’t be here to wish me happy birthday by midnight.” My voice came out in a whisper. I couldn’t believe it. It would be the first time Daemon hadn’t done that.

I was just a kid to him, while the rest of the girls living in the pack were women. Women he didn't even think twice before sleeping with, even if some of them were only a few years older than me. 

But the one time I had him to myself was the first hour of my birthday every year. He never missed it. He would push my door open a fraction and peer inside, a grin on his perfect face and a single rose in his hand. 

Daemon was always the first to wish me a happy birthday, and now…

I swallowed, feeling something grating in my chest.

“Annie,” Lena whispered, reaching for my delicate fingers. “I think you should let Daemon go now.”

I laughed, but it sounded more like a woman in pain. Scratching instead of flowing. “What are you saying, Lena?” I continued walking, pushing my door open, while she came up on the rear. Her footsteps increased as she pushed further into the room, lighting up the candles placed at strategic corners.

The warm glow filled my room, but it did nothing to improve my mood. 

“He’s my cousin,” I muttered, kicking off my shoes and dropping onto the bed. “I don’t even… have him. I don’t even want him!”

Lena gave me a side glance before moving to the curtains. She had a checklist to cover before retiring for the night. "We know the Enforcer isn't your cousin, Annie. At least, not directly." 

She paused for a second, confusion clouding her eyes. “Now that I think about it, how is Daemon even related to Alpha Ralph, because we know his mother isn’t.”

I shrugged. It was something I had never gotten a clear answer to. "Dad refuses to talk about it. He said the term 'cousin' about sums it up, but we don't look anything alike, and none of my relatives seem to know it. It's like… he and his mother dropped out of thin air."

“Well,” Lena fluffed my pillows. “There has to be a story there, but Daemon is the most secretive member of the warriors I know. He barely talks. No one knows a thing about him, other than his… well... his…”

"Sleeping around?" I rolled my eyes, getting on my feet again. "You can say it, Lena. Everyone in the Blue Moon Pack knows it, even if they don't talk about it."

“Yeah,” she sighed. “That.”

Lean moved towards me, unzipping my dress and letting it pool around my feet. I stepped out of it and walked to the bathroom. “You can go to bed, Lena. I want to be alone.”

“Are you sure, Annie? I mean… I am not…”

"It's the last hours before I turn sixteen," I muttered, already shrugging out of my underwear. "I want to … think, I guess? About all the wrong decisions I made this year and how I can do something different next year."

Lena nodded. As much as she was personally assigned to me by my Dad, who is the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack, Lena was still a friend who understood that sometimes, my feelings were more important than the instructions of the Alpha.

“Don’t forget to turn off the candles,” she said as she pulled away. “And I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

Her room was adjoined to mine for easy reach, but I could manage one night without her. 

“They are just candles, Lena,” I called. “I can put them out myself.”

“I know, Annie. I just….” Her lips parted and then closed in a second. She seemed to have something more to say, but decided against it, shaking her head slowly. 

“Lena? What is it?”

“Nothing,” she offered with a smile. “I just don’t want you to forget anything. You know how Alpha Ralph can get if something happens to you.”

“I’m fine.” I didn’t miss the way she always regarded me like there was something on the tip of her tongue. But she never said it. And tonight, I was too crossed about Daemon to even bring it up. 

“Goodnight, Annie.”

The door closed behind her, just as I moved into the stone-walled bathroom. Lena had already prepared a bath, so it was easy to scrub the evening dirt off my body. After a few minutes, I got out with a robe wrapped around my body and my face staring at the huge mirror by the sink. 

“We are going to find our mate soon,” my wolf said in a sing-song voice. “Are you excited?”

“Only if it is going to be Daemon,” I responded, pushing my damp hair out of the way and wrapping a towel around it. 

“And if he isn’t the one?”

“I guess we are going to remain mate-less for a while.”

My wolf didn’t like the thought of that. I knew. But the thing was that I didn’t care. 

“Oh!” Her voice came up again. “It’s midnight, Annie. Ha…”

But the heavy doors of my room creaked open in that instant, an

Butd the scent in the air changed sharply.