Page 6 of Luna Trials

My feet moved under me and I was standing before I could fight against the compulsion. My papa looked up with knowing sympathy in his eyes.

“We’ll figure it out,”he spoke through our link.

My tongue was thick in my mouth and I swallowed past it, inching my way to the front of the room. This was a bad dream. Like the ones you have where you show up naked in class.

Any minute now, laughter would ring out and Derek would call the joke.

Any… Minute… Now…

No one is laughing,my wolf remarked dryly.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Somehow, I made it to the front of the room. The walls were closing in and my heart was beating hard enough to escape my chest. I didn’t understand why this was happening.

Our pack wasn’t large like the other territories. We didn’t have much to offer. Just a barren landscape below some foothills and a prison no one wanted for Goddess’s sake. How did Trenton get an invitation? And why did Derek pick me?

I didn’t even want to be in this pack, let alone represent it on national TV.

Alpha Derek was still speaking, something about “Great opportunities and compensation.”

I risked a glance over my shoulder, seeing the angry twitch on Trenton’s face and feeling the daggers Stefanie was glaring into my back. The nightmare didn’t end when I closed my eyes.

Clapping sounded instead of laughter as the pack cheered for Nuva’s first candidates in the 7thannualMating Season.

3

Aspen

“She can’t go,” Stefanie kept talking as the three of us stood at the business end of the bar with Alpha Derek behind the counter. “Look at how she dresses.”

I glanced down at my overalls and tattered sneakers, preparing to defend myself, and closed my mouth. I wouldn’t say we were in agreement, but I wasn’t about to argue Stef’s point if it got me out of this.

“Silence,” Alpha Derek commanded, rubbing his temples. Like he was the one with the building headache. I was inching toward migraine territory over here.Screw him and his commands…

My wolf sat back on her haunches, smirking. I mentally kicked myself.Do. Not. Challenge. The. Alpha.

Alpha Derek raised an eyebrow as if he could hear my inner dialogue and I panicked that he was going to drag me back to his office for another lesson. But he only seemed mildly amused at whatever vibes he was getting from me as he turned to Stefanie. “I’ll give your father the pack credit card. Take Aspen to buy new clothes.”

Stefanie deflated a bit as she thought that over. “But… We…”

I was going to have to save myself. “Honestly, Alpha. She’s right. I’m not that type of girl.”

“What type of girl is that?” Stef growled.

Shewas offended?

Humor danced across Alpha Derek’s face as he waited for me to explain.

“I don’t do fashion or dinner parties,” I said slowly. Or cameras or the spotlight. Or mate with Alpha wolves and have their pups and help lead some other shitty pack while they expected complete submission and took away everything from me…

I was going to have a panic attack.

Stef snorted. “I’ll say. They’re going to laugh us out of there if Aspen comes to the show.”

“I already said, ‘enough.’” Derek laced his voice with an Alpha command. Stefanie zipped her lips. “I’ve made my decision. The producers have your profiles. You leave on Sunday. Go pack your bags.”

Oh man. He was serious. I wasn’t getting out of it. How did I piss off the Moon Goddess so badly to end up in this sort of hell?

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