The Luna Choosing Game

“Okay,” I said. “Um, so how do we trap Jane?” I looked at Julian. He’s typically the master of schemes.

I expected him to have a few up his sleeves.

Right now, however, he seemed a bit blank. He shook his head, as if to recover. “We just need to lure

her in… if we could… prepare a closet to trap her…”

“A closet?” I ask.

“Something to…” He rubbed his forehead. “Something, confining.”

“She likely has back ways out of every room in the palace, closets included,” Nicholas said. It wouldn’t

surprise me.”

“What if we jump out behind her and put a sack over her?” I asked.

Julian, Veronica, and Nicolas all looked at me.

I blinked. “What?”

Julian rubbed his temples next.

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It was only after a few moments that I realized the many, various flaws with the plan I announced so

confidentially. A few moments more and I started to feel how achy my joints were and how heavy my

eyelids were.

The adrenaline of the day was wearing off, and my body was worn.

“We should break for the night,” Veronica said. “You’ve all had an exhausting day. We should return to

this with fresh minds.”

Julian, Nicholas, and I glanced at each other. In them, I could see the exhaustion that I felt. No doubt,

they saw the same in me.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Julian said.

“I

agree,

“Nicholas replied.

“Yeah.” I was reluctant to admit it. I wanted to stay up, think of a plan, and resolve everything right

away. But… shifting my gaze to Nicholas, and his healing but still battle- bruised body, I couldn’t deny

some rest was in order.

Veronica bid us goodnight and we left the room.

“I’ll walk you to your room,” Nicholas told me.

Julian frowned but seemed too tired to argue. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Before he could walk away, I pulled him into a quick hug. “Thank you, Julian.”

He gave me a light squeeze in return, then sighed and let me go. He quickly saluted as he turned and

walked down the hallway, back toward the royal family’s private rooms.

It occurred to me then, and I asked Nicholas, “Where will you sleep tonight?”

Nicholas shrugged. “There’s plenty of spare rooms.”

“But…”

“Mark will know which one, in case you need me.” He held out his arm, and I slipped mine through his.

He began to lead me down the hallway.

As we walked through the quiet, my thoughts were a jumbled mess. I almost lost Nicholas tonight,

which had my heart all twisted up inside. And when I thought of how Jane was able to fool Nicholas…

When she had kissed him…

Everything hurt so much worse when I thought of my twin pressing her lips to Nichola s’s. I knew it

wasn’t his fault. He had thought it was me.

But it still speared me through the heart. I wanted to be the one Nicholas kissed, and all I had been

doing lately was push him away.

Nicholas, who had seemingly been lost in his own thoughts, broke the silence first. “Piper. Tonight.

Earlier. How did you know I was missing so quickly?” His voice lowered. “And why had

you been out with Julian so late?”

As messed up as it was, his jealousy healed a part of me. I didn’t want to be caught in this dark, ugly

feeling all alone. That he was there with me, helped.

“I received a note to meet out on the balcony,” I said. I worried my bottom lip with my teeth, unsure if I

should reveal the next part. Though, in the end, I was too tired to reason myself why I should keep it a

secret. “I thought it was from you.”

“And it was Julian?”

“No,” I said. “Joyce.”

Nicholas frowned. “Joyce?”

I nodded. “He was proving a point to me, about how I’m too trusting. I put myself into dangerous

situations without consideration for my own well-being.”

“I can’t argue that…”

I ignored that dig. “But then he accidentally locked me onto the balcony.”

Nicholas frowned deeper. “Accidentally?”

I couldn’t imagine it any other way. “I was trying to climb down a tree, when I slipped and landed on

Julian. When I told him what happened, he said we should check on you.”

Nichola s’s face was growing increasingly sterner.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked him.

“No…” He ran a hand down his face. “But there’s a lot to think about.” His You thought that note was

from me and foolishly obeyed it.’

gaze

slid to me.

“Yes…” I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes. “And you opened the door in the middle of the

night and assumed it was me…”

“)

“I’d hoped,” he said. He sighed and some of his rising tension slipped away. “I wanted to see you so

badly.”

“I’d hoped, too,” I replied. “It was the same for me.”

“It was?”

“Yes.”

His gaze slowly drifted down to my mouth. Mine dropped to his much quicker.

One moment, we were walking side by side down a barren hallway, and the next, Nicholas and

I were kissing, shoving each other into an alcove.

I brushed my fingers through his hair. His arms were firm around my waist.

“Piper…” he said when we came up for air. “Kiss me.”

So I did. I kept kissing him until I was certain I removed the stain of Jane from his lips and marked them

as mine instead.

His tongue licked along the seam of my lips, then easily slipped into my waiting mouth. I moaned

against him.

He traced one hand up the length of my spine. The other fell to the curve of my backside.

Inside, my cold heart thawed. A warmth sparked and burned at the inside of my chest. It wasn’t

unpleasant. It felt reassuring. Happy, almost.

I fell into the feeling, let it fully surround me just as Nicholas did.

“Nick,” I breathed, and his lips moved to the side of my neck. I gripped at his shoulders, my knees

going weak.

Eventually, when our lips were swollen-red, and both our necks covered in various marks from each

other, we pulled away. The love bites I’d left on Nicholas were already fading, part of his being an

Alpha, his faster healing rate.

The marks on my neck, however, would linger much longer, since I lacked a wolf.

Nicholas ran his thumb along them now, humming pleasantly.

His jealousy was at least sated. Mine was too, for now, though the minute those marks healed, I would

want to leave more of them.

“I should get you back to your room before I lose control of myself,” he said.

I didn’t care about his loss of control. What I did care about was the overexertion of his already-

exhausted body.

So I agreed.

Nicholas led me to my door where the guards were keeping watch. Then he leaned down and sweetly

kissed my cheek – like we hadn’t just had our tongues down each other’s throats not five minutes

before.

I was so fond of this man. I was so glad he was safe.

I clutched his sleeve tightly, suddenly afraid to let go. “Be careful.”

He crossed his finger over his heart. “I swear.”

Nodding, I stepped away from him. Already, the bright burning light inside of me felt dimmer somehow.

And I felt a cold shiver.