Lunar Temptations

Ch 6

My head stopped processing after the word ring left his mouth. Was he for real? Well, comprehending rational thoughts was not an option right now as Zayden pulled me down the stairs by my hand. A few of the guests' heads snapped as we sprinted past them. I did not get a look at them, but I did not need to either to know what they must be thinking.

I wanted a mate, yes. I was prepared to accept him now after all this time, but this was pure chaos. Never in my 23 years of life would I have thought the boy I grew up being best friends with and ended up hating, would turn out to be my mate.

"Wait- Are you insane?" I tried to jerk my hand out of his grip but only ended up hurting my wrist. "Everybody is watching, this is not the time for whatever insanity you are planning!" I hissed at him.

Not slowing down his pace, he snorted. "If not now, then when? After I am engaged to Audrey?"

I was speechless and an uneasiness spread through me. Audrey Boone being a part of this chaos only made it a lot more f****d up. She was supposed to be a designer whom I had met a while ago and nothing more. Instead, she turned out to be Zayden's would-have-been fiance and don't even get me started on Zayden being my mate. It was a lot to process and, as if it was not enough, my unwanted mate was dragging me to get engaged.

As we neared the hall, my heart beat harder until all I could hear was its thump ringing in my ears. By the time I realized that I was losing control, I was already panting like crazy and trying to snatch my hand from his grip. My vision began to blur as I squinted my eyes to refocus.

"Raya?" Suddenly his voice was there, tearing through all of my thoughts. His hand squeezed mine lightly and, just like snapping awake from a nightmare, his touch snapped me out of the trance while I stared weakly into his brown orbs that held a hint of concern. For a moment, I was transported back a few years... when his presence alone was comforting enough, when he was the escape from my unbearable responsibilities of being an heir.

Even though our situations weren't different, he would make this look irrelevant so that I could be focused more on our friendship, but it was not like that anymore- was it? He killed my boyfriend in cold blood and got away with it while I ran away. I was a coward and maybe it was my punishment by the Moon Goddess because, of all the werewolves in this world, he was destined to be my mate.

I snatched my hand from his gentle hold as if his hand had grown thorns.

Whatever emotion was reflecting in his eyes, it left, and he was back to his stoic face. ,

"There you are, everybody has been looking for you." A female voice interrupted our hateful exchange of glances but Zayden seemed not surprised to find Audrey staring us down, confusingly. Upon receiving no response, she passed a small smile at me which definitely seemed anything but genuine. My body heated up at the thought of what was about to happen. I was the villain in her love story who had showed up at the worst possible time to spoil her dreams of spending the rest of her life with Zayden, but did it even matter? For all I knew, she had stolen my mate- which would have bothered me even more if my mate was not Zayden. Anyhow, she was still somewhat wrong here too.

Why was she even with him? I thought loving someone in the Lycan world meant mate bond only... which they both obviously did not share and its living proof was the uneasiness tingling low in my stomach when she wrapped her arm around his, possessively.

I gulped slowly, well aware of the raging war inside me whether to rip her hand off him or to let it be, since I despised that man. I inhaled deeply and reminded myself of what would happen if I messed this up.

"I had no idea you would be here." The attention shifted to me, yet all I could focus on was her hand wrapped around his. My eyes met Zayden's momentarily and what I saw made me burn with anger. His challenging gaze held mine as if daring me to claim him as mine. This man was pure evil. How were I even friends with him all those years ago?

"Anyways, it's great to have you here. I would love to chat sometime, but right now-" she paused and sent a smile his way, "We have got rings to exchange."

A chill went down my spine and my eyes widened.

That is enough. - I thought, clenching my teeth.

"How did this happen?" I motioned between the both of them. "Mates don't need a reason to happen." She waved her hand dismissively and I almost choked on my breath.

Was she delusional?

"Yeah, tell me about it." I sarcastically smiled at her. Before I could speak more, Zayden snatched his arm out of her grip. "Let's continue this later.-" He paused and glanced at me, his eyes holding a dangerous promise. "I have an important announcement to make." With that, he adjusted his tie and took my hand in his.

Audrey's eyes widened and her face blanked. For some very odd reason, it felt good to see her smugness vanish. That woman might not have done anything to harm me directly, but she for sure had tried to snatch someone's mate for herself for whatever reason and that someone happened to be me.

"What announcement?" Her gaze bore holes where Zayden and my hand were intertwined. The rush of adrenaline made me forget, for a moment, my displeasure towards my mate and I could not help but feel my breath quicken from his warm and possessive touch. This matebond would someday be the death of me.

Without bothering to reply to her, he stormed off as I trailed behind him. I had the power to stop this, stop this engagement ceremony right this second and have everyone leave if only I were to simply ask it of him, but that would also mean creating unnecessary drama because, at some point, it would be announced that we were mates and I was the Night Walkers' future Luna and it was fate already decided. I could not change anything about it.

The moment we entered the hall, a few gazes landed on us followed by some more until everybody was staring at us confused and aghast. Well, I was expecting attention about my sudden return, but not this- this was extremely controversial on an entirely different level.

"Bring the ring." A servant standing nearby was commanded by the man holding my hand and I gulped, nervously.

Get your s**t together. This would have happened either for the sake of my pack or for my wolf. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply before finally accepting what was to come.