The Runaway Luna

Chapter 6

Julia’s POV

Three years later

“Julie, when are you finally going to go out with me?” Eric pouts, as we eat our lunch in the staff dining room.

“I’ve already told you, Eric!” I say, tired of hearing the same refrain over and over again. “I’m waiting for my fated mate! So unless you magically become him all of a sudden, the answer is never.”

“Well, girlfriend,” my friend Cassidy says with a side glance to my marked scent gland. “You obviously didn’t wait for Mr. Fated Mate the first time!”

“Yeah,” Eric says, agreeing immediately with Cassidy. “You’ve been mated before. So where is the harm in enjoying a little Mr. Right Now, while you wait for Mr. Right!”

I laugh, shake my head, and take a big bite of my roast beef sandwich to prevent me from speaking my mind. Eric has had a dalliance with nearly all of the single she wolves working in the palace, from what he claims. I don’t need to become yet another notch on his bedpost! Nor do I want to become a subject of gossip around the palace.

I’m starting to wonder why I’m friends with these wolves at all, except that they usually make me laugh. All I know is that when I arrived here three years ago, asking for a job despite having no work experience, a higher blood status than omega, and the mate mark of an alpha, Cassidy and Eric took me under their wing and showed me the ropes. Everyone else thought I was “too good” to work here, and believed I’d give up and go back home to my mate.

I certainly proved them all wrong!

Today I’m just a little stressed out, though, and definitely wish that I was anywhere else but here. I’ve only got a half hour lunch break before I have to get back to cleaning the guest rooms of the Royal Palace. There is an alpha meeting with the Lycan King starting soon, and I want to be done and out of the guest rooms before the alphas start to arrive. I don’t want to be anywhere near that part of the palace in case Alpha Ross is one of them. Or even worse, Alpha Gabe!

After my lunch break, I get back to work. I still have 8 rooms to finish before I can call it quits for the day. They are already basically “clean” for the most part, I just need to freshen things up. Remove any dust covers, add fresh bedding and towels, a quick wipe down of surfaces, and then vacuum. Each room takes me about 20 to 30 minutes maximum. And then I’m off to the next room on the list. It’s not always such easy work, but I make sure I do as good a job as I can. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize my job for any reason, because I have a very good reason why I want to work here.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I finish the last room, and I’m free to leave. I haven’t spotted Alpha Ross at all, nor Alpha Gabe, so now I can relax and spend the evening enjoying my time with my son.

My son, Rowen, is the one good thing to come from my brief time as Luna of Harvest Moon. I will have to be very careful to keep Alpha Ross far away from Rowen. Ross can’t force me to be his Luna, but if he should ever discover Rowen, he will know instantly that the boy is his and he could have Rowen taken away from me. That would break my heart! My son is my everything.

I go to the palace daycare and pick him up. My job doesn’t pay all that well, but it has certain perks that have been invaluable to me, including free on-site quality daycare. We also get our own room with en suite bathroom, included meals, and a modest salary to help cover whatever basic needs we have. There is also a medical clinic a few blocks away from the palace where anyone who works for the Lycan King and Queen Luna can get medical care paid for by them. It’s not a bad life, honestly.

Rowan is excited to see me when I show up, which always makes me feel wanted and loved for the first time in my life.

My mother had sort of loved me, but after she had my little brothers I kind of became a low priority for her. As soon as my first brother was born, my role within our family mainly became that of unofficial nanny since I was more than 12 years older than Gregory and Dillon. I was even forced to drop out of school to care for them.

My step father Gabe barely tolerated me, and he was quick to get rid of me at the first opportunity, especially now that both of my brothers were old enough for school at this point. And Ross, well, that probably should have never even happened. He obviously didn’t care about me. But at least I have Rowan, and I’m finally content with my life.

I hope that when I finally meet my fated mate, that he also appreciates and cares about my son. I don’t wish for Rowan to ever feel as I did, like an outsider, watching enviously as a happy family is created around me, while only receiving a few crumbs of affection for myself. Rowan is my number one priority, and if my mate won’t accept that, then he will be rejected just as quickly as the last one!

Rowan and I head down to the staff dining room next to the palace kitchens, where we get our dinner “to go” and then take it back up to our room. Rowan is excited for dinner, as it includes his favorite things tonight. Macaroni and cheese, a hotdog that I cut up into toddler sized pieces, peas, and pineapple. Plus I give him a sippy cup full of milk. My dinner was rigatoni with meatballs, green salad, and garlic bread. There were also cookies for dessert.

The food they serve the staff at the palace was really rather good, and I had put on a few pounds, which I had apparently been lacking according to Amethyst. My wolf tells me I’m still too thin. That when I meet my mate, he will like it better if I’m curvy. I think she’s just really fond of the peanut butter oatmeal cookies and wants another one.

Normally wolves don’t shift indoors, but as Amethyst is so petite, I often shift inside my room. I don’t have a lot of furniture to get ruined, and Rowen likes to play with my wolf. Meanwhile, Amethyst needs a chance to let loose, but I don’t want to leave Rowan by himself just so Amethyst can go run around on the palace grounds. So this is my compromise.

We play for a while, and then I shift back into a human and take Rowan for his nightly bath. Afterwards, we snuggle while I read his favorite books to him.

I don’t recall a time in my life when I was ever happier than this, right here, right now. And I hope to goddess that nothing ever changes that.

Tonight I end up dreaming about that awful day, when Gabe gave me to Ross and I became the Luna of Harvest Moon.

“Don’t forget who you are! You are my mate now!” He says savagely, as he removes the bathrobe from my otherwise naked body. And then he is doing things to my body that make me feel so strange, and desirous of even more. I’m begging for him to love me. To show me tenderness and affection. “You are my mate now!”

“I just want someone to love me!”

“Love you?” He sneers, and then laughs at me. “You’re nothing to me but a good f**k!”

I come awake with a start, feeling sick to my heart at Alpha Ross’s harsh words. Thank the goddess it was just a dream! I look over at my clock. It’s 2:31 am. I turn over and try to go back to sleep again, but sleep eludes me for well more than an hour.

I can’t help but fret about what could happen if I run into Alpha Gabe or Alpha Ross today. It’s unlikely, since they will be at the meeting with the Lycan King for most of the day. I just need to avoid cleaning the rooms during any scheduled breaks, and I’ve already memorized today’s meeting schedule so that shouldn’t be a problem.

A few hours later I’m jarred awake by my alarm clock, and I’m feeling distinctly groggy this morning. I debate about calling out sick, but palace servants are only given a few sick/personal days every year unless I could get a doctor’s note. I don’t imagine “tired” would be considered a medical diagnosis worthy of a day off of work. So I get myself and Rowan ready for our typical day, and drop my son off at the daycare with just enough time to grab a quick breakfast before I start cleaning the guest rooms.

I send a quick prayer to moon goddess that I don’t run into alpha Ross or alpha Gabe as I enter the first room that needs cleaning.