Page 20 of Fat Forced Mate

I tear my gaze from Luna. "Have James coordinate additional security for the pack house. No one in or out without my direct approval. Post guards at every entrance."

"You can't keep me here forever," Luna says as I reach the door. "I won't be your prisoner just because some magical lottery decided to make both our lives hell."

I pause, letting myself look at her one final time. She's beautiful in her fury, magic still crackling around her like lightning. Papers continue to swirl through the air, caught in the current of her power. My wolf whines at having to leave her.

"Watch me."

I stride out before I can give in to the urge to kiss the defiance from her lips. But even as I follow Thomas toward the northern border, her scent clings to my clothes—lavender and sage and woman, mixed with the sharp tang of mutual frustration.

The trials haven't even begun, and already I'm losing control. Gods help us all.

Chapter 9 - Luna

The guest quarters of the pack house echo with memories I've spent five years trying to forget—despite myself, I remember this building so vividly. Every creak of ancient floorboards, every shadow cast by late afternoon sun through leaded glass windows, every whiff of pine and leather and power, it all feels like stepping backwards in time. I pace the length of my assigned rooms for what must be the hundredth time, magic crackling fitfully beneath my skin.

They've given me the Blue Suite, which feels like some kind of cosmic joke. These were the rooms traditionally reserved for visiting dignitaries, decorated in shades of azure and silver that remind me too much of Nic's eyes when his wolf is close to the surface. The same eyes that burned into mine this morning when he pressed me against his desk, his body a solid wall of heat and barely contained want.

I touch my arms where I can still feel the phantom pressure of his grip. My magic surges in response, making the crystal vase on the sideboard rattle. Damn him. Damn his intensity and his control and the way he still affects me after all this time. Damn the lottery for choosing me, for trapping me here when I'd finally built a life where I felt worth something.

A knock at the door startles me from my brooding. I tense, expecting another perfectly polite pack member, come to check that the hybrid is behaving herself. But the scent that drifts through is purely human, achingly familiar.

"Ruby?"

The door flies open, and suddenly, I'm wrapped in a fierce hug that smells of Earl Grey tea and old books. "Luna Morgan, if you ever scare me like that again—"

"How did you get in?" I pull back to study my friend's face. "Nic posted guards everywhere."

Ruby grins, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear. "Please. I've been sneaking around this place since we were kids. The guards never watch the service entrance by the kitchen. Besides," she adds with a wink, "I may have mentioned to Thomas that letting your best friend visit might keep you from trying to blast your way through any more walls."

I wince. This morning's escape attempts weren't my finest moments. "I barely singed the wallpaper."

"Mm-hmm." Ruby settles onto the window seat, patting the space beside her. The afternoon sun catches her dark eyes, showing the concern there. "Want to talk about it? You have no idea how scared I was when I’d heard they dragged you here. I thought they hurt you."

"They didn’t, don’t worry. I’m fine. Well—as fine as I can be. As for talking, which part?" I sink down next to her, letting my head rest against the cool glass, sighing heavily. "The part where I'm being forced to participate in some archaic mating ritual? Where the entire pack is hoping I fail? Or maybe the part where Nic—" My voice catches.

"Where, Nic, what?" Ruby's tone turns gentle. "What happened this morning? The rumor mill is going crazy. Something about flying papers and broken glass in the Alpha's office?"

Heat creeps into my cheeks. "He wouldn't let me leave. We argued. Things got... intense."

"Intense, how?"

I close my eyes, remembering the solid heat of him pressing me against the desk. The way his scent surrounded me—pine and leather and him. How close I came to giving in, to letting him...

"It doesn't matter. None of it matters. I can't stay here, Ruby. I can't go through with these trials knowing they're designed to humiliate me."

"Luna." Ruby catches my hands, her expression serious. "Listen to me carefully. You don't have a choice."

"I always have a choice." But even as I say it, I hear the uncertainty in my voice.

"No, you don't. Not about this." She squeezes my fingers. "The lottery chose you. If you run, you'll be marked as a rogue. Every pack in North America will hunt you if you enter their territory. Everything you've built in Harbor Springs will be destroyed. Your shop, your clients, your whole life—gone."

"But—"

"And that's assuming they don't catch you first." Her voice drops lower. "You know what happens to rogues, Luna. Especially hybrid rogues. You'd never know peace again. Every shadow would hide a hunter. Every stranger could be the one sent to drag you back in chains—or worse."

Ice slides down my spine. I do know what happens to rogues. Every shifter child grows up hearing the stories, seeing the warnings. A life without pack protection is barely a life at all.

"So those are my options?" Bitterness rises like bile. "Submit to public humiliation or live as a hunted animal?"

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