A Tale of Three Lunas-Completed

Chapter 6

Zinnia's POV

Today is the day! Shawn's birthday!

Not a thing else is on my mind as I get ready for Shawn's party. I've cleaned my house and spent the morning making cupcakes while listening to my favorite music. I take the rollers out of my hair and put on a bit of makeup before putting on my dress, a short, army green, thin strap empire with gold trimmings.

I slide on my gold heels, and take a deep breath before stepping outside with my cupcakes. I take the short walk to the lovely, intricately decorated yard where the party is being held.

Everyone greets me and we share some light conversation. I try to suppress the butterflies in my stomach as I go around speaking with everyone in my community. After a while, I find KJ who is sitting alone and sit with him.

"You look beautiful, Zinnia. If I were straight, I might have to steal you away from the future Alpha." he says, making me laugh.

"Well if you believed in mates, I would have helped you find yours by now and you wouldn't have to worry about me." I nudge him, laughing.

Nala makes her way over to us and sits herself on KJ's other side, smiling her biggest smile and making his face drop exaggeratedly. I hear him groan at the unwanted attention he is getting from her. Poor guy.

Soon, we all stand when it is time for Shawn to come out. It's like a dream and I'll never forget it for as long as I live. He is wearing a navy blue suit and he just got a fresh haircut. He wears a wide, toothy smile and he looks as handsome as he ever has as he walks in my direction. Yes, it's like a dream, just before it turns into a nightmare.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath in search of his scent that will let me know for certain that he is my mate, but it never comes. Once he locks eyes with me, I know.

The look on his face tells me he knows, too.

I can barely register KJ calling after me as I rush away from the party. My mind feels like a vortex as all my hopes and wishes for the future come crashing down around me. My image of our mating ceremony dissolves. The children we would have had disappear into thin air. My heartbeat feels like it has slowed down as my heart bleeds.

I rush toward my house, but I stumble when I feel myself being pulled onto another path. I'm led into a shed and I can smell that I am with Shawn, but it is not the scent of my mate.

"I can't believe it, Shawn." I cry into his shoulder as he holds onto me tight. "It doesn't make any sense. What about our matching marks? I thought we belonged together." I bellow shaking in his arms.

Shawn rubs my back and tries to comfort me as he holds my weak body upright.

"I don't care that you're not my true mate, Zinnia." he says, hugging me. "It's my job to take care of you. I choose you."

I grip Shawn's sturdy shoulders, the body of only man I had ever loved, the man I had just known would be my future as that future melts away. It was becoming clearer and clearer to me as we stood in the stale shed that I could not accept his offer.

Shawn's recently acquired, suffocating Alpha scent makes me gag and I find I can't get away from him soon enough. I try to support myself on his shoulder, but I know that this new smell is something I could never get used to. I leave the shed and run straight home.

~~~~~~~~

'I choose you.'

Thinking about Shawn's last words to me breaks my heart. My life is over. I feel miserable and I can't stop weeping for myself about how alone I am. I barely eat and don't let any visitors into my house for three days.

No wonder Xena hated me.

This is what KJ was trying to prepare me for, a future where I was not the one who would be Shawn's Luna. I don't know how, but somehow, KJ knew. He and I really need to have a talk.

Eventually, Shawn finds his way into my house, climbing up a tree and into my unlocked window.

"You know you're mine, Zinnia. I don't know why you're acting this way. I can't imagine anyone else as my Luna."

"We can't." I whisper, remembering the promise I had made to my wolf.

"What?"

I know he hears what I said because we as werewolves have especially acute hearing, so that is not what he meant.

"We can't. Its not what the Moon Goddess wants." I say to him. My mother always told me that if I followed the plans that the Moon Goddess had laid out for me, I couldn't go wrong. I wish she was here with me now. Remembering that she is gone makes me cry even harder.

"f**k that. I don't care about the Moon Goddess, Zinnia. I'm not gonna lose you because of some stupid rules we don't even have to follow. Why do you think we have the ability to reject whoever the Moon Goddess chooses for us? We can just reject our mates when they find us." As those words leave his lips, I'm floored as I am suddenly face to face with his wolf, Augustus, standing in my living room. I bear my neck to him to show him the respect he deserves as my Alpha. I have a somewhat casual relationship with Shawn, but I would never cross his wolf. His breath is harsh on my skin as he inches closer to me. His warm drool attaches itself to my arm as he growls.

"I won't let him do it, Alpha. I swear I only want what is best for you and your human and I won't see him weakened because of me."

I flinch when he growls even louder.

"Please, Alpha. Spare me."

'If he rejects our mate, I will not spare you.' I hear his deep, dark voice thunder in my mind as chills run down my spine.

Augustus transforms back into Shawn, who returns disoriented.

"What happened?"

"Leave, Shawn. We're over and you know we are. Please, just don't drag this out. Augustus will kill me!" I tell him pushing him out of my apartment. Augustus scared the hell out of me and I'm not trying to lose my life over this.

Enough sulking for me.

It was my first time meeting Augustus and he put the fear of him into my soul. I was still shaking as I put on my hoodie dress. It had been three days since I had been outside and someone needed to check the traps. I would have to see if the meat we had caught was even good anymore.

I have my health and my home and I have other things I can focus on. My life is not over. I can still live a happy life here if I am not Luna, right?