Chapter 138

Kayla

I woke the next morning feeling like I hadn’t rested at all. My dreams had been filled with images of chasing a white stag through the forest, my wolf form’s powerful legs carrying me across the ground at speeds I had never imagined.

“I guess last night impacted me more than I expected,” I muttered to myself, rubbing my hands across my tired face. I shook my head and grabbed my phone, hoping that a few minutes of scrolling might wake me up enough to force myself out of bed.

However, I wasn’t scrolling for long before I saw it: a picture of a wedding invitation from one of my neighbors.

Underneath was the caption, “Can’t wait to attend Alpha Nicholas’s and Luna Kayla’s wedding in just three weeks!”

Three weeks?!

I jolted upright, staring wide-eyed down at the phone. Nicholas had mentioned there was a rush to get the invitations printed, but I thought we would have a couple of months still, not three weeks!

Without showering, I quickly grabbed my dressing gown and shrugged it on, already halfway down the hall by the time I was covered. I hurried downstairs, nearly falling down the past two steps, and found Nicholas sitting at the kitchen table.

He looked as serene as ever, a cup of steaming coffee and a newspaper sitting in front of him. He was doing the crossword.

The crossword.

“Kayla,” he said without looking up. “Give me a three letter word for salmon—”

“How about three words and eleven letters?” I cut him off, crossing my arms. “What the hell?”

Nicholas looked up at me, blinking for a moment, before he saw my frustrated expression and sighed. “I take it you saw the invitations.”

“Three weeks?” I blurted out. “Nicholas, that’s so soon. What’s the rush?”

He looked at me like I’d just told him the moon was pink. “I don’t see the problem,” he said, shrugging. “Bluemoon needs an Alpha, and the only way we can accomplish that is by having a wedding that will convince the guild we’re in love. Besides, like I said—”

“Right,” I scoffed. “You need to get it over with so you can focus on becoming chairman.”

Nicholas just stared at me. I couldn’t tell if he thought I was messing with him or being serious. Finally, he replied, “Look, Kayla. I’m already up to my neck in work with the guild, and I’ve only just started. We’re already married, legally. It’s just a ceremony. We might as well do it quickly, get the guild to shut up about our relationship, get Bluemoon situated with an Alpha, and move on.”

I opened my mouth to say something cruel, but then snapped it shut again.

Because truthfully, he was right. I had no real reason to complain; we were doing exactly what we had agreed upon, and besides, we weren’t actually in a relationship. We never had been. It was just… sex.

Even though it hurt like hell, I somehow managed to force my expression back into one of calm as I brushed past him and poured myself a cup of coffee. I took a seat across from him, and he returned to his crossword.

“Roe,” I said.

Nicholas glanced up. “Huh?”

I took a sip of my coffee and gestured to the crossword puzzle. “Three letter word for salmon eggs. Roe.”

Nicholas’s face lit up, and he filled it in. “I knew I picked a good one,” he said, shaking his head. I stared at him over the rim of my coffee cup, my eyes narrowing. It was a simple thing for him to say, but struck far deeper than I wanted it to.

However, I didn’t want to react. Not in front of him, anyway. So I shifted my attention, once again recalling the strange dreams I had last night.

Chewing my lip, I said, “Nicholas, can anyone participate in the Darkmoon Festival?”

He looked up at me again, this time with confusion. “How do you know about that?”

“The others told me,” I replied. “Last night. It sounds… intriguing.”

Nicholas snorted. “Intriguing,” he echoed. “And archaic. But to answer your question…” He furrowed his brow, thinking for a minute, before he shrugged. “I suppose anyone could participate.”

“Even if they have no wolf?”

He blinked at me. “You’re thinking of signing up?”

I shrugged one shoulder and took another sip of my coffee, then reached for a cinnamon roll that was sitting on a small platter in the center of the table. “I’m just curious, that’s all.”

He definitely didn’t believe me, if the incredulous look on his face was anything to go off of. I just took a bite of my cinnamon roll, staring at him placidly. Really, it was more an attempt to hide my true emotions—hurt, anger, and regret—than anything, but I wasn’t about to let him know that.

Finally, Nicholas folded up his newspaper and set it aside. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and clasping his hands in his lap in that easy, nonchalant way of his that he was so damn good at.

“I suppose someone without a wolf, given the proper fighting and survival skills, could participate in the hunt,” he mused, his amber eyes glinting with something almost amused as he looked at me. “But when it comes to actually taking down the stag, they might be at a disadvantage compared to the other wolves.”

“Unless they have the proper fighting skills,” I said.

Nicholas looked at me in silence for a moment, his mouth tugging up at one corner, before he nodded. “If one were to have, say, impressive fighting skills, they might stand a chance.”

For some reason, I felt a small thrill run through me at the tone of his voice. This hunt sounded intriguing to say the least. And it felt like something to look forward to that had nothing to do with that damn wedding.

“In fact,” Nicholas added, tilting his chin up with a coy little smirk, “if someone without a wolf were to participate and take down the stag, they might gain even more respect from their peers.”

Clearing my throat, I set down my half-eaten cinnamon roll and leaned forward on my elbows. Nicholas’s eyes flicked to my bare shoulder as the sleeve of my dressing gown slipped down, but I didn’t move to fix it right away.

Despite everything, a tiny part of me still reveled in the lustful way he looked at me, even if I wasn’t going to act on it anymore. And maybe a vindictive little part of me reveled in knowing that I wouldn’t give him what he wanted any longer: sex.

“So, let’s say a particular wolfless person wants to sign up,” I said. “How would one go about doing that?”

Nicholas rose from his chair, smoothing down the front of his suit jacket, and glanced at his watch.

“If someone wanted to sign up, and wanted to prove that they could hold their own in the hunt even without a wolf, then perhaps they could meet me on the training grounds at seven o’clock in the morning next Saturday. I might just be there, waiting.”

“And?” I asked.

“And,” Nicholas echoed, chuckling as he grabbed my unfinished cinnamon roll and popped it into his mouth, “perhaps she could beat me in a spar in exchange for a position in the hunt.”

As Nicholas straightened, his mouth full of cinnamon roll, I felt something tight loosen in my chest. Perhaps my love life was in shambles, but this… This was something to look forward to. Something to prove myself not just to people like Nora, but also… myself.

“Deal,” I said, nodding.