04| LUNA.

My vision slightly starts to blur as the words: “Fair, Selene, Goddess of the moon, love, and light. I beg you to suppress the magical powers of my precious child, Luna, under this moonlit night. She is Moon kissed and shall receive her powers when her true lovers awaken her from within. Under your moonlit heavens, so it shall be!” chant in my head over and over, drowning out my surroundings.

“I… I need to use the bathroom,” I mutter as I tear my mask and gown off, feeling like I'm internally suffocating, and I rush out of the room.

Something’s wrong.

I don’t feel right; normal.

I rush through the busy corridor to the bank of elevators, tearing my key card off my blouse and pressing it against the metal-encased scanner. The elevator doors slide open almost immediately and I quickly step inside, pressing my key card against the metal-encased scanner inside the elevator car.

The moment the doors close, I press the top floor button, and drop to my knees, rubbing my hands up and down my arms as my body convulses. The hot and cold flushes ride my shivering body in waves, compelling me to inhale and exhale shallow breaths.

“What’s wrong with me?” I whimper as my breathing continues to grow shallower.

The chanting in my head becomes louder until it finally consumes me altogether.

“FAIR, SELENE, GODDESS OF THE MOON, LOVE, AND LIGHT. I BEG YOU TO SUPPRESS THE MAGICAL POWERS OF MY PRECIOUS CHILD, LUNA, UNDER THIS MOONLIT NIGHT. SHE IS MOON KISSED AND SHALL RECEIVE HER POWERS WHEN HER TRUE LOVERS AWAKEN HER FROM WITHIN. UNDER YOUR MOONLIT HEAVEN, SO IT SHALL BE!”

“Mama?!” I whisper, covering my ears as I recognise her voice. “Is that you? Please… please make it stop.” I cry, squeezing my eyes shut as a torrent of tears stains my flushed cheeks.

The lights in the elevator car begin to flicker with a buzzing sound bouncing off the metal walls. Abruptly, the elevator begins to shake like there's an earthquake taking place, and the clinking sound of the elevator soon becomes unbearable.

The sound is a lot worse than nails racking a blackboard. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out, and my blood suddenly feels like lava flowing through my veins.

Pain, as I have never experienced before, consumes me.

I start to freak out, becoming shit scared because I have no idea what is happening to me.

I don’t even know if what I am experiencing is real, or if it’s all just in my head; some silly illusion spawned by my inner goddess from lusting after Blaze.

Just when I think that the pain can’t get any worse, a long breath departs my O-shaped lips as my soul feels like it has exited my body for a split second before it is sucked back into me like a vacuum.

I gasp, drawing in a single deep breath to fill my suffocating lungs, and then suddenly, I feel nothing. There is no more pain; the ear-splitting chanting has stopped, too.

However, I do feel a little different.

I can’t quite describe it, but I feel like something has awakened deep within me. Like something powerful that is slowly simmering to reach the surface – something that can leave a path of devastation in my wake if I allow it.

I need to stop pulling doubles here, it’s not worth losing my damn mind over.

Slowly, I pick myself up off the floor, using the handrails to steady my balance just as the doors to the elevator car glide open, and when I raise my gaze, they clash with the same stunning pair of eyes that sends a surge of lust through my trembling limbs – making me weak with forbidden desire.

Blaze… my body sings in his presence.

He is standing before me in nothing but a pair of washed-out jeans, the red-tinged moonlight peeks through the large windows in the corridor, accentuating every hard pound of muscle rippling across his torso.

I lick my lips, failing to look away from him; away from a shifter who looks like he has been carved by the delicate hands of the Gods themselves.

His head is bowed, his chin touches the hard wall of his chest, and his hands are curled into tight balls at his sides. His legs are slightly parted, making him look wider and bigger than he originally is.

Shit, he looks like sin in the flesh.

And he viciously makes me want to submit and be a sinner too.

I want him to corrupt me; spank me, fuck me… own me!!!

Oh, gods!! What is going on!!

A low, deep growl fills the atmosphere as our sexual tension contaminates the air spiraling around us. Blaze lifts his head, slowly, as he advances toward me. With every calculated step he takes forward, I take one back, trying to keep the distance between us.

I’m afraid if he touches me, I’ll turn into a puddle of water beneath his touch.

What I am feeling towards him is crazy.

 It’s passionately chaotic even under a Blood Moon, and I don’t understand why I am being affected this way when I’m just a simple human.

“Mate… Moon Witch…” Blaze hisses in a raspy tone as he presses my back flush against the wall inside the elevator car.

His eyes are the colour of midnight, with flecks of possessiveness dancing in them.

Blaze dips his head, running the tip of his nose along my slender neck, breathing me in; embedding my scent in his memory box.

And I swear… I’ve never felt so turned on as I do right now, evoking a soft traitorous moan to slip between my parted lips.

“Your blood smells sweet and powerful,” he whispers against the hard shell of my ear, his hot breath fanning my feverish flesh. “Where is she?” His voice is dark this time as he speaks.

I incline my head to look into his eyes which have silver linings in them, “Wh..who?” I ask with confusion.

“The Moon Witch who cursed my pack?” He snarls, slamming his open hand against the wall beside my head, “Your mother!” He hisses, baring his sharp canines that are slowly beginning to extend.

Flinching, “My. My mother?” I swallow thickly, shaking my head. “You are mistaken, my mother is no witch, and I’m not your mate; I can’t be.” The words taste foul as they exit my mouth, and I clench my jaw to suppress the fear coaxing the back of my throat.

Blaze snarls, blowing air out of his nostrils, “You don’t know?” He takes a few steps back until he is standing outside the elevator, and a sense of compassion fills his eyes as they gradually return to their vibrant forest green hue. “Your source of power is strong, but it’s not yet at its strongest. I can sense it simmering in your veins.” He tilts his head back and smells the surrounding air.

Speechless, I stare at him and wonder if this is how a shifter normally interacts with his mate for the first time or if it’s just me; most likely just me with my bad luck with toxic men.

Suddenly, his head snaps to the right when the sound of glass shattering disperses through the air. I cower, squeezing my eyes shut and when I gain the courage to open them again, a large black wolf is standing next to Blaze with eyes the colour of a sapphire gemstone.

No, no, no, no, no….  I internally cry out.

I cannot tear my eyes away from the beautiful wolf, and it does not look away from me either.

Something flutters deep inside of me, spreading like a wildfire and caressing every inch of my body. Desire. Longing, Need. Feelings I have never experienced effectively before. It struck me twice in one night with two shifters the moment our eyes connected. 

Abruptly, my tongue darts out of my mouth, sweeping over the bow of my upper lip, and another wave of intense heat crashes into me.

Blinking my eyes in a fluttering effect, purple mists cloud my vision as the wolf shifts into its human form. He is naked—smoking hot and well-endowed if I may say so myself as well!

The mist shifts and envelops both men, embracing them with a sense of fondness, embedding their images into my mind and as they turn to look at one another, I close the doors with a flick of my hand.

Holy fuck! Did I truly do that?

No, of course not, you daft fool.

Snapping out of it, raising my hand, I slam my key card against the scanner once again and the elevator car begins to descend, the moment I press the G button. Reaching into my pocket, I grab my car key and make a run for it to the car park as soon as the doors start to slide open again.

“Hey, Luna!!” Jayme yells out as I pass her by the nurse’s station. “Luna!!”

I look over my shoulder, and she is staring after me with a ‘What the actual fuck’ expression staining her features as she leans her hip against the tall desk.

I don’t stop running until I see my car that is parked under a large patch of moonlight. In a brisk walk, I frantically take in my surroundings, praying that I’ve lost my mind and that I’ve just imagined everything that has occurred in the past hour.

“No, no, no, no, no…” I begin to panic as two large silhouette figures leap out from the back of my car and shift into their human form.

They continue to approach me with a determined look in their eyes like they are on a mission to get their paws on me.

Of course, they want to get their paws on me!

They think that my mother is the Moon Witch who cursed their pack.

Lifting my hand, “Stop, don’t come any closer!” I order them in a panicked tone, hoping that they will listen.

Both shifters eventually drop to their knees, snarling as if they are trying to fight their bodies for control, and they bow their heads. Eventually, they manage to gain a smidgen of control and in unison they raise their heads, staring at me.

I gasp when I see their sharp canines fully protruding out of their mouths and their eyes… Their eyes are stained purple.

“She will never accept us,” Blaze’s friend growls in a strained tone. “The Moon Goddess has cursed us by fate, testing our loyalty to both her and our pack.”