Chapter Three

Rayne

I open my eyes.

There's too much light this time and I put a hand up to shield my eyes. I can't open them all the way, not yet anyway. There's a ringing in my ears that doesn't go away even after I scratch my throat. My head hurts and inside of me, there's a rumbling.

Like a storm.

It isn't hunger. It's something else, something that makes me feel on edge and terrified. When my eyes have finally adjusted to the light, I look around me and see a strange room.

The kind of room I shouldn't be in.

I'm lying on an enormous poster bed with red covers and sheets. Directly across from me, there's a large dresser with candles and a vase with fresh flowers. The floor is carpeted, and the windows are open, hence why there's so much light in the room.

I sit up hurriedly, ignoring the spinning in my head. I rub my face with my hands and keep my eyes closed until the spinning stops. When I open my eyes, I see that I'm still wearing the white dress. The right sleeve is bloodied, and when I lift it, I notice a bite mark. There's crusted blood around the indentations, and it hurts when I flex my hand.

When did this happen?

The door opens. My flesh nearly jumps from my skin. There is a woman standing at the door and she’s looking at me with a troubled expression.

A gasp leaves my lips. “Denise?”

She enters the room and closes the door behind her. I notice that she’s carrying a small tray with her. There’s a bowl on top of it. She rushes to my side and says, “Here. Drink this. Quickly.”

Denise is the head of staff and after my mother died, she helped look after me. I can comfortably say that she’s like a mother to me. Although our relationship is friendly and comfortable, she’s still my superior, and so because of that, there are limits to our friendship.

I don’t recognize this behavior. She’s always composed. Today, her hair is disheveled and she looks like she didn’t sleep a wink last night.

“Why?” I ask when she sit beside me on the bed. There’s soup on the bowl and it spills everywhere when she sits. I pick up the bowl, confused.

“You might not get a chance to later,” she says with an expression that is horrifying. “Quickly. Drink as much as you can.”

I drink half the bowl of soup before I have to stop. I feel nauseous. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and continue staring at her. She’s looking at me like she doesn’t know me, and I can’t say it doesn’t bother me.

To my surprise, she asks, “Oh, what have you done, Rayne? What have you gotten yourself into?”

I blink as I stare back at her. For a second, I don’t know what she’s talking about, but that’s ridiculous considering where I am and what I’m dressed in. Something happened, something that left her in this state. I try to recall what happened yesterday. I'm assuming it was yesterday. Nothing comes to mind. I close my eyes and try to think hard when the door flies open and a man strides in.

Denise stands up quickly and moves toward the window with the tray in her hand. Her eyes immediately lower and she bows her head.

I shift my attention back to the man in half a second. He looks furious, and for an instant, I think he'll hit me but he stops right beside the bed. I cower nonetheless. He's breathing harshly, so much that his shoulders move with every breath he takes, and glaring at me. His fists are curled at his sides.

I look at him and my mouth dries up.

"Who sent you?" he asks me. "Who was with you on this?"

I blink, dazed. I don't answer him because I don't know what he's talking about. I'd rather not say a word than give him a wrong answer.

This infuriates him. "Answer the question! Who sent you!?"

A man is standing behind him—he must have come in right after him—and he puts his hand on his shoulder. "Max," he says, "take it easy. You're scaring her."

"Oh, am I?" he demands. His cold, bloodshot eyes are on me again and I gulp. I don't know what I've done to anger this man. I don't even know why I'm in this room.

And then it comes back to me. The woman with glasses. Being sent up to the third floor. The dress. Walking toward the platform. Feeling the pain on my wrist. His face glaring at me after lifting the veil. My cheeks warm up. My whole face feels hot. I glance at Denise. She’s still looking away.

What happened?

I'm still not entirely sure and I don't know if I want to be. Things are slowly starting to make sense and the truth is too terrifying. I think of everything that happened in that room and everything that was said.

Could it all have been a huge misunderstanding.

Did they think I was...

I look at the man again, realization dawning on me. His eyes are pinned on me again. Max. The man called him Max.

No. This can't be.

Max nears the bed slowly. I inch away, feeling the need to defend myself. I feel his rage coursing through me. I'm almost sick with it. He lowers himself so that his face is almost hovering above mine. His breath is warm and I can smell the liquor he drank before he came here. But despite the warmth emanating from him, all I feel is cold.

"You're going to regret the day you were born," he tells me. "I don't know who you are or why you thought you could meddle into my life, but I promise you that I will make your life on earth hell. You have no idea who you messed with."

After he says this, he straightens himself and looks at me with an expression of utter disgust. I can't maintain eye contact any longer. I stare down at the bed instead.

"Max," the man says again, "there is a better way of dealing with this. Making a scene isn't going to undo this."

Max stumbles backward. His cold eyes never leave my face and I’m struck with fear. I never thought I’d be more afraid of someone more than I was of the Second Beta. I’m terrified of him. Of Max.

Alpha Max, I should say.

He heads toward the door and his friend follows him. When he walks out of the room, I breathe deeply. Panic seizes me. This can’t be happening to me.

Denise approaches the bedside again. Alpha Max didn’t even look at her from the moment he walked inside the room. She shakes her head and says, “Oh, Rayne. What happened? How did you end up here? What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” I reply with a shake of my head.

“You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t done anything,” she whispers. “You’re mated to the Alpha of the MoonWater pack! That wouldn’t have happened by accident!”

I turn away from her. Too much is going through my mind and I haven’t fully grasped the seriousness of the situation yet, but I know I didn’t do this on purpose.

I didn’t choose to be mated to him.

I look at the bite mark on my wrist—the one that binds me to him. I feel sickened. I close my fist and feel the stabbing pain deep in my flesh. It’s still not more intense than the rumbling I feel inside. It’s an all-consuming rage, and it’s his. Not mine.

I can’t believe this is happening.

Denise squeezes my arm and I turn sharply to her. Her eyes are studying my face. I wonder what she sees. “You’re going to have to answer for what you’ve done sooner or later. The Alpha is furious, and so is the GrayLeaf pack. He was supposed to mate with their daughter, not you. Their whole pack watched him mark you, thinking that you were Alaska.”

I close my eyes at that. Alaska. They called me her name in the room. Guilt gnaws at me. Why didn’t I say something? Why didn’t I stop them?

I wouldn’t have ended up here if I did.

“I know you,” she says, touching my arm tenderly. “I know you wouldn’t have done this on your own. You wouldn’t have gotten your hands on the mating dress without help.”

I shake my head. “I didn’t ask for this. They didn’t tell me I was going to the Alpha. They didn’t tell me anything.” I close my eyes, remembering what the dark man said. “He told me not to say a word. I didn’t know I was going to mate with the Alpha. I was—”

Dizzy. Confused.

I think about the tea he gave me, the one that was supposed to help me talk easier. It did the complete opposite. After I drank the tea, I felt different. I couldn’t say a word. I had a feeling of floating all the time.

What was in it?

“He?” Denise asks with an arched brow. “Who?”

I don’t want to say the dark man. I know she isn’t asking me that. Instead, I say, “I don’t know his name.”

She nods sympathetically and takes my hand in hers. “There are people who are judging you harshly. Others are admiring you. You’re the first worker who has ever mated with an Alpha. You and I both know your circumstances here. You’re less than a worker. You’re practically a slave. You don’t get compensated for your work like most of us here. Because of your mother.”

Tears fill my eyes and I nod. This is all too surreal.

“You have to prepare yourself, Rayne,” she tells me gently. “Be strong. There’s a storm coming your way, and there are high powers involved. A lot of people are angry. They’re demanding justice for what happened. Justice for Alaska.”

“There has to be something I can do,” I tell her. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Can’t the bond be…?”

Denise shakes her head gravely. I suspected that this would be her answer. “You know that bonds can’t be destroyed. They can be starved, yes, but they will never be broken. It is a lifelong connection. From this moment onward, you’re the Luna of MoonWater.”

I feel so dizzy that I have to lay back of the pillows behind me. Luna. I’m a Luna. This can’t be. Surely not me. I’m just a worker. A slave, as Denise mentioned. I’m a nobody.

I can’t be Luna.

My fear has only grown. The Alpha promised me that I would regret ever being born. Judging by his rage flowing through me, I believe it. All my life, I ran from trouble. I ended up right at its door, and this time, there is no turning back.

Denise squeezes my hand. Our eyes meet and tears accumulate in my eyes. I let the tears fall without trying to stop them, and she says nothing else for a good five minutes.

What do I do now?