Dylan
The pain in my body wasn’t just from the terrible hangover thumping through my skull like a stampede of raging rhinoceroses. It struck me as I realized that Cherry had left the country. Bright afternoon light stole through the crack in my bedroom curtains, and I knew it had to be noon; Bert had told me that Cherry was due to fly out the day after my ascension ceremony.
As the harsh reality dawned that it was that day, loss pealed through me anew. After Cherry had left yesterday, I’d drunk so much that I couldn’t recall anything much from the latter half of the day. Blurry pieces of Bert talking to me and helping me back here to mine last night surfaced in my sluggish thoughts.
My hangover continued to make itself known, twisting my stomach, making my chest and back tight, and even my legs seemed to ache. But none of these afflictions compared to the one constricting my chest. My wolf seemed to feel the growing distance between Cherry and me too. My beast’s instinct was to run as if it might still reach her, but a great ocean was opening up between us as she flew to Europe. Bert had informed me that she was living in Berlin. My wolf howled forlornly at the excruciating expanse opening up between my mate and me.
As I lay somewhere between consciousness and sleep, my thoughts slipped to picturing Cherry as she’d looked in my arms after I’d kissed her yesterday. And she’d kissed me back; I reminded myself. The thought was the only thing that seemed able to stave off the pain her rejection had caused me. I saw her silver eyes, molten with desire, her flushed cheeks and her lips swollen from my kisses.
The memory was so vivid that as I slipped into sleep I felt as if I could taste her lips again. I readily gave into the fantasy that must have arisen from my mind’s need for comfort. Gentle kisses teased at my mouth, and I answered them. She slipped her tongue into my mouth, and mine danced with hers. My arousal stirred, and Cherry ground down upon me. I thrust against her, thinking of her hot warmth sheathing me and feeling as if I might come already.
A voice purred in my ear, “I knew you’d remember how much you love waking up to me.”
The tone jarred me because...it wasn’t Cherry’s. As I blinked my eyes open, I took in Lucy on top of me. Nothing but a transparent camisole clothed her highlighting her hips, the flat plane of her stomach, and the swell of her full breasts. As she ground against me, nothing but my boxers rested between us, and my cock stirred against her.
In the aftermath of my hangover, I wanted to find a reprieve in the pleasure that her movement promised. But, even with the pounding in my head and the sickness in the pit of my stomach, thoughts of Cherry stopped me. A flash of her pale heart-shaped face, her soulful eyes, and her silken blonde hair skittered across my mind. I wanted to hold her, not Lucy.
Now, fully awake and feeling cheated by the fact that it wasn’t Cherry in bed with me, irritation had me sitting up so swiftly that Lucy tumbled off me.
She frowned. “Are you okay, baby?”
I shook my head, annoyed that I had to deal with Lucy as well as this pounding headache. “It’s over, Lucy. I can’t marry you.” I almost said, “in case I didn’t make it clear enough yesterday…” but I bit it back, eager to avoid a scene.
I clarified more calmly, “It wouldn’t be fair to you or me if we bound ourselves to one another. We don’t love each other.”
Yet, Lucy wasn’t in an obliging mood. Her features sharpened, her thin lips stiffening. “That bitch has gone, Dylan. When are you going to realize that she’s not your mate? When are you going to stop chasing her like a love- sick puppy dog?”
I tamped down the anger that bristled beneath my skin as Lucy dared to insult Cherry and had the audacity to poke fun at me, the Alpha of my pack. I reminded myself that Lucy’s pride had been hurt by my slighting of her yesterday. She was lashing out because she was humiliated. Yet, she still hoped to yoke me to her, judging by how she’d snuck into my room and tried to have sex with me. She was ambitious, that was for sure. But there was no way that I would bind myself to her.
A new firmness coated my words. “You need to go back to the Bloodmoon Pack, where you belong.”
Lucy flinched as if she’d been struck, her gaze skimming over my unyielding face.
Then, her expression crumbled, her lip quivering. “Dy– Dylan,” she sobbed. “I know you think I’m doing this for me, that I’m sel– selfish…” She trailed off as her weeping drowned out her words. Seeming to gather herself, she managed, “But If I’m not the new Luna of Starsmoon, don’t you understand that there’ll be war between our packs?”
With her somber eyes fixed on me and her tear-streaked face, I could almost have believed that Lucy was suffering at the prospect of how our failed betrothal would affect our packs. After all, one of the reasons an alliance with Lucy had been a good idea was to establish a bond between our two hostile packs as well as the idea that had pleased my father, that an alliance between the two of us from Alpha lines would bring about a powerful heir.
But I couldn’t bring myself to care about those concerns anymore. All of them seemed pale in comparison to my need to be with my true mate and my pack’s need to have their destined Luna.
My jaw clenched as I told her forcefully. “If there is a war, then I shall win it.”
Once again, Lucy tensed. I didn’t miss the way her gaze dipped to my lips as if she were going to try another attempt at persuading me with her body.
Quickly, I resolved, “I will not sacrifice my marriage any longer.”