Page 13 of Fat Forced Mate

"Luna—"

"Don't." Luna holds up a hand. "I'm not interested in whatever justification you've crafted over the years. I'm only here because the pack laws require it. Once the lottery is done, I'm gone. You’ll never have to see me again.”

"Back to your herb shop?" I can't keep the edge from my voice. "Back to playing human?"

"Playing human?" She laughs, bitter and sharp. "As opposed to what? Playing at being pack? We both know how well that worked out last time. They dragged me here because they called mepack—I almost laughed in Dynastes’ face. As if anyone believes that.”

The memory of our last night together flashes between us—her tears, my cruel words, the way her magic had exploded outward when I rejected her, the image of her running into the darkness, running and running as if the devil himself was on her heels. My wolf howls at the reminder of our biggest mistake.

"Things are different now," I say, taking a step closer. Her scent intensifies, making my head spin. "I'm different. I don’t want us to hate each other.”

We both see the small lie for what it is: what I’m too cowardly to say is,I don’t want you to hate me.

"Are you?” she demands. “Are you different? Because from where I'm standing, you're still the same Dominic who chose pack politics,prestige,legacy, and status and approval, over—" She cuts herself off, turning back to the water, hands rising as if signaling surrender to some invading army, fingers twitchy. "It doesn't matter. I've moved on."

"Have you?" Another step. Close enough now to see how her pulse jumps in her throat. "Because your magic says otherwise."

As if responding to my words, power crackles around her—weaker than usual, but still achingly familiar. "My magic wants nothing to do with you."

"Doesn't it?" I reach for her before I can stop myself, fingers brushing her bare shoulder. Electricity shoots through the contact. "It always recognized me, Luna. Just like my wolf always recognized you."

She shivers but doesn't pull away. "Your wolf didn't do me much good five years ago. Your wolf let me journey alone into a world that almost broke me, Nic. You don’t get to invoke him to make up for your own actions."

"He never stopped seeing you as a mate." The admission costs me, but it's worth it to see the way her breath catches. "My wolf still thinks it’s you.”He might always think it.

"Don't." Her voice wavers. "You can't say things like that. Not now. Not when tomorrow—"

"I know." I let my hand slide down her arm, savoring the silken feel of her skin. "But it's still true."

She turns in my grip. Suddenly, her foot hooks on a root, and she stumbles—we're chest to chest. I fold one arm around her back, the contact burning, holding her up but also holding her close. The move brings her face close enough that I can count the freckles across her nose, see the gold flecks in her eyes. My wolf surges forward, desperate to claim what we lost.

"Luna," I breathe, and it sounds like a prayer.

For a moment, something softens in her expression. Her hand comes up to rest against my chest, right over my thundering heart. Over the pack tattoo that once fascinated her.

Then her fingers curl into a fist, pushing me back. She doesn’t have half my strength, but the shock of it makes me step back onto my heel, and she staggers away until she’s out of reach, near the water.

"No. I won't do this again. I won't let you make me believe in something you'll just destroy tomorrow."

"That's not—"

“Stop!”Magic sparks between us, weaker than it should be but still potent. "You're about to be mated, Nic. To someone the lottery chooses. Someone proper and pure-blooded and everything I'm not.” She sniffs once, a half-haughty, half-emotional sound, and straightens to her full height, chin high. “It’s better that way. We can both move on—I can move on, at least. You already did. It’s better.”

“Luna,” I find my lips saying again, inane, helpless. I am never this out of control. Not ever.

She laughs bitterly. “Nic.”

We watch each other. It feels as if we’ve found ourselves on either side of a gaping chasm, a space so vast it cannot besurmounted. Miles and miles of no-man’s-land. We’re mere feet apart, but I can’t reach her somehow.

"I’m tired, Nic.” She steps back, creating distance that feels like miles. "I’m ready to go home. You’ll have the life you want.”

I find myself shaking my head. "It's not that simple. If we don’t make amends, you’ll end up packless. You’ll be a rogue.”

"I’m not a wolf." She wraps her arms around herself, suddenly looking very young and vulnerable. "I don’t need a pack—I don’t want one. God knows this one never wanted me. I've moved on. Found someone who isn't ashamed to be seen with me."

The lie is obvious in her scent, but it still makes my wolf crazy with jealousy. The thought of another man touching her, tasting her... "Luna—"

"Alpha?" A voice calls from the direction of the pack house. I see one of the security trainees peeking their head over the high wooden fence, twenty feet away, staring. "The Council needs you for final preparations. High Elder Victoria says it’s important.”

---