Lunar Temptations

Ch 12

"Raya? Are you still with us?" My colleague Jasper's voice came through my headphones. I snapped out of my trance and straightened myself. Even though the camera of my laptop was turned off, I was caught off guard by my zoning out. This was the third time I had zoned out during the conference call, and I wanted to slam my head on a wall to prevent stupid thoughts from penetrating.

"Yes, my apologies. Please continue," I said, clearing my throat.

A week had passed since the day Zayden had walked out on me after I told him off. He hadn't contacted me since, and for the sake of our 'romantic display,' he had sent a few bouquets now and then with a note apologizing for his absence, saying that he was occupied with some work. My leave from work ended yesterday, and I was back to being a part-time business advisor, but apparently, I was too distracted to focus on work right now. Online working was one of the things I used to excel at, but now it seemed otherwise.

"I'll mail you the document. We'll continue from here tomorrow," Jasper said, noticing my distraction, and as grateful as I was to him, I knew my behaviour was not excusable. The meeting ended soon, and as soon as the client left the call, Jasper spoke up.

"What is it, Raya? You are never distracted during work, well, at least before you left LA."

He wasn't just a colleague but a great friend. Not everyone would be lucky to find a friend in a colleague, but surprisingly, Jasper and I had gotten quite close in the past year - ever since I had joined the job and his team. It all started with him having this huge crush on one of our colleagues, Holly, and I caught him struggling to gather the courage to ask her out. It was a funny story because I remembered going back to get my wallet, which I had forgotten on my desk that day, only to find him sitting alone and asking for a chair. After my fit of laughter had ended, I knew what was up with him. He was shy around women, and hence why he was practising on a chair, but only then did our friendship begin, and it led to me helping him with asking Holly out. And now, after a year of dating, they were happily engaged.

I ran a frustrated hand through my hair at his question.

"I don't know, guess coming back home wasn't as easy as I thought," I replied.

How was I to tell him that every word I said to Zayden that day was going through my head continuously, and even after days of thinking over it, I still could not determine whether I regretted it? I didn't lie to him, I didn't hide what I felt for him, and every word of it was true. I could never love him like Audrey. No matter how much she loved him, it was at least genuine, yet I could not even bear faking it in front of everyone. Yes, he caused my heart to beat faster, my body to heat up, and my brain to stop functioning, and around him, all I craved like a drug was to be nearer to him, but it was all the mate bond doing, nothing more. Besides, how could he expect me to accept everything if not for the sake of duty?

But all of this was too complicated to explain to Jasper, and he had no idea that werewolves even existed. I'd have to start there if I were to share anything with him.

"How's your father doing?" he asked. I had told him about going back and why I was going back. As I thought of it, a lot had happened since, and not even two weeks had passed. "He believes that he won't live more than six months, and he wants me to get married before that," I said, breaking the news to him.

"What? Okay, wait, you are not actually going to do it? You shouldn't have to," he was clearly taken aback.

"I will, but it's important, even necessary for me to do it. f**k - I can't explain it," I groaned out. Now when saying it out loud, it sounded more complicated than it did in my head.

"s**t, this is bad," he said. "Are you sure there's no way out of this?"

"Jas, I am doing it willingly. As I said, it's necessary, and I won't take any other way out of this," I stated. "But you are not happy with it, clearly."

"Yeah, because this man is not exactly on my most-liked list," I murmured but ended up immediately regretting it.

"Oh my God, a man in your life! I totally forgot to ask about him," a squeal sounded from the other side. Did I tell you that Jasper and I were like two high school teenagers who sometimes loved to gossip, and he was acting like one right now? "What's he like?" His attention was entirely on my mysterious groom now.

I rolled my eyes. "Big, strong, handsome, and incredibly influential—"

"Whoa, why is he not on your 'most liked' list?" he cut me off.

"And a heartless heartbreaker," I finished dramatically.

"Wow, maybe coming back wasn't a good idea after all," he retorted, and then we shared a small laugh. "What did he do though?" he asked finally.

"We were best friends once, and he f****d that up. That's all I can say," I said while making my way to the balcony. "I am sorry, Raya. You don't deserve this," Jasper's voice lowered apologetically.

"It's cool, everything will be alright eventually." It came out more like I was convincing myself rather than him. As I waited for him to reply, my eyes landed on the deep, dark forest looming in the distance, and an idea struck me. There were several other houses in view as well, but the forest was still quite close and a blessing whenever I felt like taking a walk. Humans needed to be afraid of going into the forest, but for us, it was a stroll in the park, and that was exactly what I needed right now.

"Hey, Jas, I think I would take a walk to clear my head," I said and bid him goodbye before heading downstairs. It was late at night, everybody had retired to their rooms, and that gave me a clear hall and nobody to ask questions about where I was going. A smirk made its way to my lips as I walked out of the house barefoot.