Chapter 3
As soon as I open the door, his scent hits me hard, so hard that I need to go back inside my car and close the door. I hold the steering wheel, gripping it so tightly my knuckles are white. I wasn’t prepared for it. I haven’t even seen him yet, and I’m reduced to immobility. I stay like this for a few minutes, or ten, I’m not sure. I try to give myself a talking to, scolding
Any own reactions to something that is so natural like breathing.
How do you tell yourself not to breathe?
Unclenching one hand, then the other, I wipe sweaty palms on my shorts. The car is
starting to heat up with the sun’s hot rays beating down on the metal. Big breath in, I open
the door, making my shaky legs take me toward the front door. I knock, waiting for it to
open. The Luna greets me with a smile on her face. I smile a decaying smile back.
“Look at you, Rya.” She lets her eyes roll over my body. “You have grown into a beautiful female.” She presses her cheek against mine in welcoming. I’m not the small juvenile I once was. I’m a full–grown female wolf.
“Your eyes, Rya, stunning.” Glacier blue, my greatest asset as I was told once. Almost the color of a blue moon that only comes around every few years.
“Thank you.” His scent has tentacles that wrap around my body, seducing me with something that I sometimes dream about. It’s extremely hard to concentrate on anything she tells me. Her mouth is moving, smiling. I just nod my head, pretending she holds my
eyes.
She walks me inside slightly; her office is the first door to the right. I sit in the chair across
from her, and she pushes an envelope toward me.
“Keys. One set is to the house, and the second set is to the clinic. You’ll be working alongside the doctor until he feels you’re okay to be on your own.” She has her hands folded on top of
her desk.
“Rya, I’m sorry it has to be this way.” I look into her eyes; she appears sad, but looking around her office, I see pictures of her immediate family, all smiles for the camera. She’s
not sorry. I can’t look at him for too long. My eyes will start to water.
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The Alpha’s Greatest Mistake
Chapter 3
“Thank you, Luna Catherine, for the opportunity to serve the pack.” I keep it extremely formal, back straight in my chair, hands on my lap, head bowed in submission.
The office door opens. “Cathy, look at these. Aren’t they so cute?” Kennedy, by the first glimpse of her…the full–grown female, standing in the open doorway, her reddish hair with glints of copper and rust from the sun shining on her through the open blinds. Her freckles are just a shade darker than her suntanned skin. Eyes are brown, not a good feature. Her neck holds the red angry marks of a male who claims a female who isn’t his. That, at least,
gives me some satisfaction…that she cannot hold his mark no matter how much he tries. The moon doesn’t allow impostors to hold claims from another. It must cause her pain to have his mark, the moon’s punishment. Looking away at my feet, I keep my head bowed,
not saying a word.
“Oh, I didn’t know you had company, Cathy.” Lie one. Clasping my hands more firmly together, I try to keep the fur that wants to raise along the ridge of my spine down.
“Rya?” The way she says my name, it’s like she’s surprised to see me. Lie two. She had to have known I was coming today.
“Hello, Kennedy.” I’ve practiced the voice in front of the mirror so many times, it comes out naturally, devoid of any emotion. It’s held flat in the air. I don’t make eye contact; it’s better for me this way. I keep my head bowed down to the future Luna of the pack in a show of respect that is expected of me.
“Hello, Rya.” Her voice cannot hold her emotions in. It’s slightly shaky, like the way my body feels at the moment. She smells just like him. Bile wants to rise up. I force it down.
Standing, I bow slightly to the both of them.
“Thank you, Luna Catherine; I should be going.” Taking the envelope from the table, I walk out, not breathing in until I’m outside.
The alpha is leaning on the driver’s side door, waiting for me. I don’t focus on what’s in front of me; the sensation of being watched has the hair on the back of my neck raising. Heat, hot burning sensual fire from the spot that holds his attention, my back blazing with warmth…his sight moving down my back, over my ass, caressing my legs, back up my body…until I feel it no more. It reminds me of having a suntan, my skin keeping all the warmth I felt from his eyes.
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Chapter 3
“Rya,it’s good to see you.”
“Thank you, Alpha. It’s good to be home.” Monotone. That’s how I keep it. No need to show inflection. I can be who they want me to be. I can be nothing but a ghost floating on the outskirts of the pack. This is not the life I pictured for myself so long ago, while still a small pup being rocked to sleep by my mom.
“We won’t have any trouble, right, Rya?” He waits for my reply. He doesn’t have to wait Hong. I reply instantly without a second thought.
“No, Alpha, no trouble. I’ve learned my lesson. I respect his choice.” I keep my head bowed,
tail tucked under.
It’s as if I’m the mistress, hell–bent on destroying their made–up bond. The only consolation is that they can’t breed; only true mates are blessed with the moon’s gift of pups.
“Rya, I’m sorry about all this. I don’t understand his choice, but it’s his to make, no matter how wrong it is. Maybe one day ”
“It’s all right. I really don’t want to talk about it. What is done is done. I’ve moved on.” Still not meeting the Alpha’s eyes, I open my door, getting in before more can be said.
I know exactly where I’m going as I pull away from the pack house to the little cottage on the curve of the lake. Not far away from the hustle and bustle of the pack house, but far enough to give me the privacy I crave.
C
