A Tale of Three Lunas-Completed

Chapter 7

Zinnia's POV

'KJ, meet me by trap 347.'

This guy knows more than he is letting on and I have to find out what it is as soon as possible.

The moment I see him, I grab his wrist and pull him deeper into the woods. I hope I am doing the right thing by trusting him. I don't speak a word until I'm sure there is no one else around.

"How did you know that Shawn wasn't my mate?" I ask him, looking him in his eyes. KJ has always been a great friend to me but there was something he wasn't telling me. He had been dropping hints for months that Shawn and I were not mates, but it is something I just realized. How could he possibly have known?

His eyes stay downward and he can't look at me. "I-I can't really say. I just knew."

"You have to give me more than that. Do you know who my mate is?"

"No."

"Do you know who Shawn's mate is?"

"No."

"Do you know who your mate is?"

"I don't know anything, it's just like, I've had these dreams."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Just like these recurring dreams about you and me, but we're old. It's like, ugh, I don't know how to say i-"

"Just say it!"

"I-um see us, you and me, with like two different halves of a circle," he motions with his hands, "like a whole sphere cut in two? I don't know what it means, I don't know anything."

"Really?"

"See, I don't know what I'm talking about but the dreams have been happening more and more since before Shawn's birthday, but I haven't had them since. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know where to st-"

I hear what sounds like a branch breaking in the distance.

"Shh! Someones here. Go straight home. Don't tell anyone."

"Of course not."

I push KJ away and he rushes into the opposite direction when I hear somebody walking toward us. I try my best to look busy with my traps as whoever is here comes over.

"What did you do to him?"

Chrissy Anna and Nala find me and I try to stop my heart from rushing. They are my friends, too and I trust them, but there is no reason to share this new development that I can't even understand until I know what it all means.

"What do you mean?"

"Shawn. He just ransacked the packhouse and ran off into the forest."

Oh, poor Shawn.

My heart tightens in my chest for him.

Of course I still have love for him, but there is nothing I can do to help him. He is not my future and I won't have a future if I do anything to piss Augustus off. It hurts to let go of him, especially when I realize that I'll probably be like most of the females in my pack and not find my mate any time soon.

"Hey, Sterling. Sorry about the long wait. I...couldn't get around to emptying the traps for a few days." I say with what I hope is a convincing smile as I lay the food onto his counter, but he doesn't look up at me.

"Just leave it." he says, busying himself behind the counter.

"Okay, I'll get out of your hair, but do you have anything for me?"

He finally looks up at me and sighs. "No, I don't. I guess you'll just have to eat in the packhouse like the rest of us." His abrasiveness catches me off guard and I leave his counter without another word.

"What was that about?" I ask as the three of us walk toward my house.

"Well I guess, now that everyone knows that you aren't the Luna, there won't be anymore perks for you."

"Perks?"

"Well, yea. I guess some people were being nicer to you because they thought you would be the Luna. But since we all know that you're not, the preferential treatment is over."

Preferential treatment? I didn't realize I was getting preferential treatment. I thought the pack loved me just as I had loved them. I would still do anything for them. I didn't mean to... I didn't think I was doing anything that would get me better treatment.

"I guess you aren't special anymore." Nala says under her breath making her sister chuckle and my skin crawl.

My thoughts are interrupted when Alex jogs up to us.

"Hey Z, I heard what happened. Are you okay?" he asks, putting a comforting hand on my back.

"I think so. I just feel bad for Shawn. How is he?"

"Feral."

"Well, I hope he gets better, but he'll bounce back once he finds his mate." I say taking a few steps closer to my house.

"Yea, um, I actually came here to get you. I was asked by Alpha El to bring you over."

I look at him for reassurance that whatever he needs to see me for isn't a big deal, but I don't get it. He stays silent and won't even look at me as we take the walk to Alpha El's wing of the packhouse.

Alex knocks on the door and announces that I am there. He gives me a sorrowful look as he opens the door for me. I enter the cold room and see that the Alpha is there with the only two remaining members of the Council. There used to be seven members and the last I saw, we still had four total, but they always seem to be caught out when there is an attack on our pack.

I stand before him and wordlessly bear my neck to show my full submission, though I am sure he can see me trembling.

"So Zinnia, I'm sure you know why you are here. You have been allowed to live peacefully in my pack for years. Requests that you made that would have been denied anyone else, were allowed for you. I let you help me with special projects. You are privy to information that an ordinary member of my pack, need not know. You even went as far as consulting the pack elders to get their blessing to be with my son who has always been loving toward you and yet I hear that you waited until his birthday to reject and humiliate this pack's future Alpha."

Alpha El's booming voice echos against the bare walls.