Chapter 107

Kayla

A few more days passed after that without much trouble. Nicholas and I did the interview, which was received relatively well by our supporters. We painted an image of a perfectly happy, in-love couple who were simply navigating an unexpected pregnancy with a past fling.

Half of that was true, I supposed. If you subtracted the ‘happy couple’ part.

Truthfully, just like before Grace’s escape, Nicholas was nothing short of a perfectly good friend. He was kind to me, maybe even when I didn’t necessarily deserve it, and went out of his way whenever he could to ensure that the living situation with Anna in the house wasn’t uncomfortable.

But mostly, I just kept to myself. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be around Nicholas, or even Anna for that matter, but rather that I just needed to be alone. I hardly even spent time with Jade and Emma, much to their chagrin.

Rather, I spent most of my days in that little haven of mine in the garden, the shed. I spent my afternoons curled up on the sofa, reading and listening to music, and I spent the nights watching the stars through the telescope.

There, in my haven, I felt like I could be at peace. The negative thoughts never seemed to follow me inside, the air too thick with the scent of flowers and vanilla to allow space for such things.

No one bothered me when I was in the shed. Not Nora, not Jade and Emma, not even Nicholas.

It was just me in there. And so I stayed there, holed up like a hermit as much as I could.

Of course, I couldn’t spend every waking minute of every day in there. I still had duties to attend to—meetings regarding Bluemoon, upcoming events to organize, emails to answer. All of the typical ‘Luna’ duties.

Because, like Nicholas had said, I was a Luna. And I needed to act like one, even if it meant shoving down my own feelings for the sake of the greater good.

On the third day, Noah stopped by while Nicholas and I were in the midst of a meeting with Marcus about an upcoming full moon hunt for the pack. He had good news.

“The guild, of course, realized that Grace escaped,” he explained. “They’re begun a covert search for her, and are being incredibly careful to keep it hidden from the public. But most importantly, they seem to have fallen for our decoy trail, and are none the wiser as to her actual whereabouts.”

I let out a breath of relief that I didn’t even know I was holding. This was indeed good news. Better than I could have hoped.

But with that, of course, came a caveat. We all knew one was coming.

“We’ll all have to lay extremely low for now,” Nicholas said, his voice deep and gruff as if he hadn’t been sleeping properly for some time. “No visiting Grace. The guild already watches us like hawks, so an impromptu trip out to a cabin in the mountains will only lead them straight to her.”

I felt my spirit dip a little at that. “But I was going to visit her this weekend,” I muttered quietly.

Nicholas snapped his gaze to me. “I’m sorry, Kayla. But it’ll have to wait.”

I couldn’t argue with that, of course. I couldn’t argue with much of anything lately—it was as if a little piece of my spirit died when Nicholas said that afternoon Anna had moved in: “You’re also expected to uphold a certain image… because you’re a Luna.”

Right. An image.

After that meeting concluded, I made my way back outside, ready to hole myself up again. But I stumbled into Jade and Emma instead—or rather, it was more like an ambush on their part—and before I could stop them, they were whisking me away.

“Oh no, no hiding away today,” Jade commanded, grabbing my shoulders and wheeling me toward the forest trails. “We’re going on a walk.”

I tried to protest, claiming I had some very important things to do, but they didn’t believe me. I wasn’t very convincing, anyway.

We made our way to the forest trails, where the air was cooler and crisper than the manicured lawns of the estate. Emma skipped ahead, photographing icicles hanging from tree branches and squirrels scurrying across the forest floor, while Jade and I hung back and strolled side by side.

“So,” Jade said, nudging me with her shoulder, “care to explain why you’ve been acting like a hermit for days now?”

I pursed my lips. “I think you know why.”

“You know Nicholas wouldn’t let Anna stay here if you told him you didn’t want her here,” Emma chimed in from up ahead. “You should just be honest.”

Sighing, I shook my head. “It’s more complicated than that. If I boot her out, it’ll just put a pregnant woman in danger and sully my image even more.”

“Your image?” Jade scoffed. “It’s not your baby. We don’t even know if it’s Nicholas’s baby yet, but if anything, it’s his image that should be sullied.”

I stopped and turned to face her. “How often is the woman the one who takes the fall for the man’s actions?” I blurted out. “I’ll just be painted as the shrew who kicked out a pregnant woman over jealousy.”

“Your supporters obviously think differently,” Jade retorted quickly. “I mean, they threw a rock at her just for apparently standing in your way.”

“Yeah, well, people are fickle.” I grit my teeth and kept walking, and Jade and Emma fell silent. They knew I was right—they knew that, the moment I took action in this matter and acted like anything but the perfect, poised, dainty little Luna, the people would turn on me once more.

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. And I had to choose the hard place.

Later that evening, I made my way into the kitchen to make some dinner. I’ll admit, I hadn’t eaten a single thing all day—which was out of character for me—and my stomach was growling by now.

But the moment I set foot in the kitchen, my appetite vanished. Because there, sitting at the kitchen table with a candle flickering between them, were Anna and Nicholas.

They were laughing and speaking in hushed tones, two plates of food between them. Anna looked radiant as ever, her dark hair catching the candlelight.

Nicholas looked up when I entered. “Kayla,” he said, sounding almost surprised just to see me. “Anna made dinner. Would you like some?”

I hesitated, glancing at Anna. She said nothing, her smile firmly in place, but I could see it: that faint tightening of her jaw, the way her fingers flexed ever so slightly around her fork. She didn’t want me there. She hadn’t cooked for all of us.

She had cooked for him.

Forcing a smile, I shook my head and said, “No, I was just grabbing a drink.” With that, I grabbed a bottle of wine from the cupboard and scurried out. I didn’t even realize that I hadn’t grabbed a glass until I was all the way back in my room, my chest heaving. I swore I could still feel their eyes on me, judging me.

Were they talking about me now? Laughing over my embarrassed expression?

Was Nicholas telling Anna how I had wrought this all upon myself by pushing him away the moment she came into the picture?

Without thinking, I popped the lid and drank it straight from the bottle, sitting cross-legged on my bed. On an empty stomach, the wine hit much faster than I expected. Soon, my head was fuzzy and I was flopping back on my bed, muttering to myself as I stared up at the ceiling.

“Stupid… Did this to yourself,” I hissed, taking another swig. “Pushed him away, just like everyone else…”

I shook my head and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I was going insane, that was what was happening. I was driving myself mad over a one night stand with someone who I knew was bad for me from the start.

At that moment, there came a knock on the door. I slurred out, “Come in,” without even thinking, figuring it was just Jade and Emma.

But when the door opened, it was Nicholas who walked in.

Two of him, it seemed, from the way my vision was swimming.

My lips parted, and for a moment, I almost told him to get out. But I hesitated when I saw the tray in his hands: a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk.

“I know you haven’t eaten all day,” he said, crossing the room and setting it on the nightstand. “And you’re drinking all that wine on an empty stomach.”

I frowned, glancing between the tray, Nicholas, and the bottle in my hands.

“I’m fine.”

The hiccup that came after immediately betrayed me.

“Eat, Kayla,” Nicholas said.

“No. I’m not hungry.” I lifted the bottle to my lips for another swig.

His eyes flashed, and suddenly, he was moving. He closed the remaining distance between us in two swift strides, then snatched the bottle away. “H-Hey!” I slurred, jumping up on the bed and flailing for it, although he held it just out of reach.

“Kayla.” Nicholas caught me by the arm, and with a quick movement, tugged me back down into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, leaving me stunned.

He then pointed at the tray, rather like someone might command a petulant child.

“I said, eat.”