Claire P. O. V
“I don’t get what you’re saying, sir. Nothing is tying me to Ethan Randall.” I tried to keep eye contact with him, even though deep down, I was terrified.
Yes, I was terrified. His eyes held a chilling power that made my feet turn to ice. My body trembled, but I fought to keep it under control. I knew he would relish in my fear, thinking he had won by using Ethan Randall’s name to crush me.
The man sighed, exhaling the last cigar smoke, then tossed the half-lit cigar out the window. It looked like he was throwing away trash, but from his actions, it seemed like he was gearing up to say something new to me.
“I know you’re a good girl, and it’s not right for you to stay under Ethan Randall’s thumb, especially considering he could ditch you anytime.” Yep, he was getting started.
I knew it was a provocation, and I was sure this guy had a problem with Ethan just by seeing him once back then. So, I just shook my head and smiled, responding calmly to everything he said.
“I find it curious that someone whose name I don’t even know, like you, feels entitled to comment on my life and my choices,” I retorted, meeting his cold, piercing gaze with a steely resolve.
“Christopher Gale, that’s my name,” he introduced himself.
“Seeing you kidnap me from Ethan like this, maybe I don’t have a reason to introduce myself to you, right? Because, of course, you already know who I am.”
“Of course, because you are Ethan Randall’s Luna, all the information about you has spread to all the big Packs like mine. I guess you already knew that without anyone having to tell you.”
Information about me? Does that include me being raised in an orphanage and the sisters and people I considered family being slaughtered by someone I don’t know? Is that all part of what they talk about me out there?
“That’s not something to be proud of.”
“Is that why Ethan Randall hasn’t declared you his Luna from the start?”
“Luna? This is the second time I’ve heard about Luna from different people. First, it was from Lucy Torrance, and now, it was from a guy named Christopher Gale, someone utterly unfamiliar to me.
Is the title of Luna a benchmark for someone to be better in a Pack? If that’s true, what about the Rogue Wolves with neither Alpha nor Luna?
“If I’m Ethan Randall’s mate and Lucy Torrance is his fiancee, that’s none of my business,” I answered. “I’ve already said I’ll leave Ethan Randall after he rejects me; there’s no other reason for me to stay with him.”
“Are you sure about that decision?”
I shook my head. “So what if I’m not the Luna everyone wants? Is that going to be a problem for everyone?” I asked.
Christopher Gale didn’t immediately answer my question. He just looked at me and snorted. I thought he was going to say something, but instead, he reached into his jacket pocket. For the first time, I thought that maybe I was about to be killed, so I stepped back, intending to open the door.
But it wasn’t what I thought. Christopher Gale pulled out a piece of chocolate and handed it to me.
“What is that?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“Just a token of friendship. I hope we meet again under better circumstances and you find out why your parents left you at that orphanage.”
I swallowed hard when I heard him. It felt like I was being told that Ethan knew something about why I ended up in that orphanage. But just as I was about to ask Christopher Gale, he suddenly received a call from someone. He picked it up momentarily, and then his gaze returned to me.
“I thought I could chat with you a bit longer, but I can’t. My work is waiting, and I can’t keep my client waiting. So, I hope we can meet again and talk more,” he said.
After he said that, the door opened as if I was being gently ushered out rather than dragged out like a stray dog that had just caused trouble.
I immediately left, looking back at Christopher Gale, who nodded without saying anything to me and then walked away with his people.
He was someone I didn’t know, yet it felt like he knew the deepest parts of my soul. Who was he? Why did he tell me to ask Ethan about my parents? Is Ethan connected to their whereabouts, and why was I left at the church and ended up part of the family with the sisters and orphans?
This is so wild. Should I find out or ask Ethan about it, like that guy suggested?
Yes, I should do it. But for now, I need to get back to Ethan; he might be looking for me because I’ve been gone for a while.
That’s what I told myself. But I needed to find out where I was in the middle of this crowd. The whole place was getting busier; more people were arriving, and the parking lot was packed with vehicles. It felt like I was in the middle of a sea of people.
Using my sense of smell as a wolf, I tried to locate Ethan amidst the many scents of people and the food from the booths lining the street. Gradually, I caught a distinct scent different from all the others-Ethan’s pheromones, becoming stronger as I moved closer.
“Ack!” I cried out when someone grabbed my hand tightly.
“Where have you been?!” the person asked.
Finally, I found Ethan after trying to find him just by his scent. No, I didn’t see him, but Ethan found me. With his hands full of plastic bags containing the food we had bought earlier, the Alpha of The Silver Fire Pack looked very angry.
“I got lost after leaving the restroom,” I stammered.
“Lost? Didn’t I say I was waiting not far from the restroom? Then why were you wandering to the parking lot?” he asked, scrutinizingly.
I swallowed hard. Sister Alberta never taught me to lie; now, my lie was blatant to Ethan. But in the middle of this crowd, anyone could get lost, right?
“This is my first time going out in such an enormous crowd. Isn’t there any leniency for me?” I said.
Ethan looked extremely angry at first. However, after seeing the situation becoming less conducive with the increasing number of visitors, he might have thought what I said was true. As a result, he loosened his grip and began looking at me with much calmer eyes, even sighing.
“You drive me crazy! Now, let’s get out of here and eat all the food you bought,” he said.
I nodded, not intending to argue. If I did, I might see Ethan getting even angrier. After making sure Ethan was calmer, I left the place, thinking about whether Christopher Gale said something I should ask about or just a lie he made to provoke me.