Alpha Rowan's Secret Luna

Adriana knew today would not be a good day even before she opened her eyes. This was her third day of being locked up in the basement as punishment for allowing Rhonda to get drunk while her parents were away. Alpha Darien had come home to see his daughter trashed with her friends, and of course, had blamed it on Adriana for not taking care of her. Rhonda's punishment: four days without Adriana to do her bidding. Adriana, in turn, got locked up in the basement with nothing but water and bread for the same amount of time. The truth was Adriana was almost enjoying it. The chilly dampness in the basement made her arm hurt in the place where Alpha Darien had twisted it, but it was slowly healing, and despite the mold and dust and the hard floor on which she slept, at least she was safe. Normally, not a day went by without Rhonda slapping her, pinching her arm, or twisting one of her fingers. She looked down at the bluish spot near her thumb; it still hurt, but it was almost healed as

"It's you," Alpha Rowan said slowly, his head bobbing from left to right. "I... This... No way." Now that it was just the two of them in a rather small place, Adriana was able to take in all of him, not just his face. Every muscle of his body looked to be chiseled out of marble, visible through his jeans and white shirt. Adriana kept looking at him with horror, thinking that the stench of her body must be so strong that maybe he thought that staying in the guesthouse—even if a skunk had peed in there—was better than staying here. "I'm sorry Alpha Rowan," Adriana said, standing and heading towards her bed. There was really nowhere she could go to get away from him. "You haven't noticed anything strange about me?" he said after a few seconds of observing her, his eyes traveling up and down her body. "I'm not sure what you mean," Adriana replied. Other than the fact he smelled divine, he looked like a normal person. Well, not normal. He was the most handsome man she had ever see

It had been a while since Adriana was outside, and the crisp, cool night air that brushed her skin put a smile on her face. Pretty soon she would never have to spend another day locked up in a mossy, dank-smelling basement. Maybe she was also smiling because Lucien had said she was beautiful, though perhaps he was just being kind. She had to admit that Alpha Rowan's quick dismissal of his comment stung a little, though what else did she expect? Maybe it was the thrill of knowing this was her last night here or the fact that she was finally out in the open air, but this was very unlike her. Since when did she care what people said of her? She was so used to being demeaned and insulted that she had grown very thick skin. It shouldn't matter to her what Alpha Rowan thought of her. After she hid the pack behind some rose bushes, covering it with dirty clothes in case someone happened to look there for whatever reason, she headed towards the event center where the ball was taking plac

Rowan drifted in and out of sleep for a long time, not quite understanding whether he was dreaming or awake. He heard cloth flapping with the wind, and he felt the chilly current brush his face. Then he felt something soft underneath him, and he willed his head to go back to sleep. He was too tired and drowsy to open his eyes. In what seemed like just a few seconds later, his mind conjured up an image of the last thing he had seen when he was awake. Her. Adriana. Her blue eyes looking back at him in the middle of that chaotic scene where a tree had caught fire, and they fended off the attacks of those strange wolves... He felt an aching need to see her, to know if she was all right, and as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over his face, he opened his eyes. "What happened?" Alpha Rowan hurt everywhere. Especially his ribs. They throbbed whenever he breathed. The first person he saw was Lucien, also looking battered up, sitting next to him in what looked to be a hospital

"Adriana was captured?" Alpha Rowan said, realizing that he was treading dangerous waters. If he showed too much interest in her, his mother would know something was up. Lucien wouldn't catch on that quickly, but he wasn't ready to tell them about Adriana yet. That would mean he'd have to face his own truth, which was that he immensely regretted taking the hasty decision of telling her they couldn't be together. "Rowan, I think she was the one causing the anomalous weather and the ground to shake," Lucien said quickly. "What do you mean?" "I wanted to give you a formal report about this once we regrouped with the omegas who came along to see what we're doing next. When she sort of saved you from one of those wolves, her eyes were glowing. She growled and then everything began to shake, scattering most of them. I shifted and carried you out of the yard into the house, and when I went back outside, she was gone." "So you don't know for sure," Alpha Rowan said, trying to ignore wh