The Fake Luna’s Wish

Sophia’s Pov. Usually, the last month of the year should be the most exciting for everyone but not me. I’d be happier at the academy all by myself instead of being in a place where I felt worthless. Mom forced me back home to spend the holidays as usual so we could paint this beautiful picture of a happy family of three which was more like a family of two by the way since she only gets to be happy with my sister, Kayla. It was to fool the humans we lived amongst that we were just another ordinary family. According to the werewolf laws set for us, we needed to make sure the humans have no idea of what we are. Werewolves. Which meant we also needed to embrace their tradition and Christmas was just one of them. Christmas was fun. I usually enjoyed them since it was the only time mother actually smiles at me but this time, it was meant to be different because Kayla was getting married tomorrow. …. On Christmas Day. She would be marrying one of the strongest Alpha in crescent city and I should be happy for her but I’m not. No, hear me out. I saw this man first, I liked him first but as usual, all my life I have always had anything I cared for, taken away from me by my sister. Again, it is not her fault. She is kind and sweet but mother—mother directs everything. She wants the best for her daughter. Not ‘daughters’ since apparently, I didn’t come out from her womb. She treats me like an outsider, like a stranger. Sometimes I feel as though she hates me. Like she’d be better off if I was dead. Like I was this extra worthless baggage to her. It upsets me most of the time but there’s nothing I could do than to yield—to her desires. Whatever she wanted, I do it for her without question. Not until that day a few months ago, mother asked me to lie. I thought it’d be harmless and it’d pass soon but now I regret that lie every day of my life. The doorbell brought me out from my thoughts and I hurried to get it, thinking it was the pizza delivery man but I froze when I opened the door and I am met with a very tall man, dressed in black expensive suit and carrying a cold gaze that glanced down at me once before he looked inside. It’s him. The person I have been dreaming of. The man my sister is about to get married to. And the man I love. “Is Kayla in? I have been trying to reach her.” Came his deep rich voice. For a moment, I couldn’t process what he said and when he c****d a brow, obviously displeased at my lack of answer, my brain resumed working again. “Uhmm…” I swallowed, wondering what his question was about again. “She stepped out but she’ll be back in a bit.” “Good. I’ll wait for her.” Saying this, he pushed the door wider for himself and walked in. I bit my lips and closed the door, my heart racing, wondering how to avoid him when my sister is not here. He paused in front of the fully-decorated Christmas tree before calmly taking a seat on the sofa and crossing his legs like he owned the place. Did I mention this? He carries some kind of sophisticated yet suffocating aura around him. I couldn’t breathe whenever he was within my line of sight. I wondered if I was the only one with this kind of experience. If Kayla feels like this too, then how does she deal with him? How do they actually communicate? He was so cold and quiet most of the time that I often found myself wondering about that. I looked at him as I went back to the living room but he was looking into his phone and it’s silent and awkward for me for a moment. I didn’t know what to do with a guest. Yeah, a guest even though he was marrying my sister tomorrow. He rarely shows his face here and whenever he does, it was usually for something serious or urgent. “Mother is not at home too.” I cleared my throat and started. “Is there anything you would like me to offer you?” He glanced up from his phone and my heart almost seized in my chest when I met his familiar icy gaze. “I’m good.” He said and I threw him a nod. “I’ll be inside then.” I said and hurried out of the living room. He seemed to be entertained by his phone so there was no point staying. I better be locked up in my room, nursing my wounded heart by myself as usual while he waits for my sister’s arrival. “Sophia?” he suddenly called just before I walked out of his line of sight. I paused and turned around, unsure if I had heard him call my name. He was looking at me with narrowed, curious eyes, as if he was going to ask a question. “You celebrate Christmas?” I swallowed at his words, recovering from my shock as I went back to the living room, surprised he was talking to me and trying to figure out how to remain calm. “Yes.” His gaze settled on me for about three seconds before he asked again. “Why?” Why? Well, as werewolves, Christmas was not a thing for us but not when you mix with a lot of humans. Their habits rubs off on you and you begin to imitate what they do. Christmas was just one of those things. “Why not? It’s fun. It’s a day for families to come together.” Well, this was true but not my family. Mother only pretends to celebrate Christmas so the humans don’t ask questions so she never really does it well. My best friend, Isla, was human and I happened to spend the Christmas season with her last year. It was simply fantastic. I loved how everyone connected, how the whole family came together as one and we had a lot of fun. It was the first time in my life I felt so happy. “I didn’t know you were one to enjoy family time.” “It’s not like you know anything about me.” I shrugged, mumbled those words underneath my breath then froze when I realized it had gotten to his ears. My eyes widened and before I could explain, I saw his lips curve upwards into a smirk. “Perhaps I might, if you did not keep running away from me.” I stood stunned for a few seconds, unable to decipher what in the goddess’s name that meant. “Are you afraid of me, Sophia?” he asked, a question that felt so sudden I was taken aback for a moment. Where did that even come from? “Why would you think that, Alpha Lucien?” My eyes were glued to him, curiously watching him as he stood from the sofa and approached where I stood, his shoes clicking on the shiny marble floor. Every step he took towards me caused my heart to pound faster. What was he doing? Why was he coming towards me and looking at me like that? Oh goddess, why does he smell so nice? Like a combination of my favorite fruits. Was he wearing a cologne? Was that it? He finally stopped in front of me, covering the distance between us, causing me to wonder if this little inch between our bodies was okay for an about to be brother and sister in-law. “I can hear your heart beating so fast all the way from over there.” He pointed to the sofa and I gulped. Right. I couldn’t control the thing in my chest from getting excited. And werewolves? Well, they hear almost everything from a distance including how many breaths a person had taken and for a powerful werewolf like him, you can imagine how nothing would ever get past him. “I—I, uhmm… I am… nervous because you’re here… and no one else is here…” oh damn you Sophia. What the hell are you saying?! My wolf, Lola whined in my head. I knew I needed to think of something fast when he c****d a brow at me. “Mom is not here and I am not used to dealing with visitors by myself so I am afraid of making a mistake especially since it is a person like yourself.” I pour out the words as fast as I would wish I could disappear from here right now. “Is that so?” he tilted his head, hawk-like eyes staring at me. To be honest, those eyes caused me to lose my senses and be brainless whenever I stare into them. “Why do you always disappear whenever I come here then? Like what you’re trying to do now.” He took another step closer to me and I panicked, plastering my back against the wall to put distance between us as I stare up at him, quite disoriented and taken aback by his question. How come he noticed that I always made myself scarce whenever he came to visit? Mother didn’t like me showing my face to anyone. Especially when he was around. “Does that disturb you a lot?” I asked, my body tensing being so close to him. “No.” he answered. “I’m just worried.” “Worried about what?” His gaze looked me up for a good minute before he whispered next to me. I mean, his breath was practically falling on my ear, causing goosebumps to spread all over my body. Fuck! This shouldn’t be happening. Especially in Kayla’s absence. I shouldn’t be feeling like this for a man she was about to marry. “Kayla once told me about the thing she found in your room,” Huh? My brows shot up in confusion as I wondered what he was talking about. “The picture.” He said, as if expecting me to know what he was talking about. “You better not have any feelings for me, Sophia because then, things could turn quite messy. And you’ll be on the receiving end of it. Especially if you so much as try to mess with my fiancée.” Shock went through my whole body as he uttered those words. I couldn’t find the ability to talk back, to ask the questions that instantly flooded my mind. How did he know? What picture was he talking about and what the hell did Kayla tell him about me?!

 The sudden footsteps outside the door caused him to pull away from my space and I could finally breathe again when the door opened and Kayla walked in, a puzzled look in her eyes when she saw us standing so close together. And strutting behind her, was Mom. The smile she had carried inside, disappeared quickly to be replaced by a frown when she saw me and Alpha Lucien standing together.