The Rejected Luna's Prince by Aurora Archer

14 - First Date

(Willa)

“I didn’t know what to wear and I’ve been living in jeans and t-shirts for a few years,” I shrugged. 

“I told you whatever you wore would be perfect,” 

“You didn’t tell me where we were going,” I gave him a look.

“You don’t like surprises?”

“Depends on the surprise.” I countered crossing my arms.

His eyes narrowed as he studied me, “Do you like sushi?” 

I almost laughed, thinking about how I thought that would be his go-to.

“What?” He demanded.

“I just thought you would be the kind of guy to go to a gluten-free sushi place instead of the diner,”

He almost smiled, “There is definitely gluten there.”

“Oh well then, I’m appeased.” 

“Do you have everything?” He looked behind me.

“Just let me grab my purse,” I left the door open as I went to grab my things and give Emmett a kiss.

“Who is at the door?” Emmett asked. I shook my head I didn’t want to lie to him but I wasn’t sure how to explain it. 

“A friend that I’m going to eat some dinner with.” Cali raised her eyebrow and followed me back to the door. 

“Thanks for the pizza,” She leaned against the open door, “Even if you think I’m snarky,”

He nodded once, “It's the least I could do,” 

“Have fun,” She turned to me, “I won’t wait up,” She winked. 

I shook my head and closed the door behind me mouthing thank you to her. Caspien reached his hand out for me and I placed mine in his. He seemed to relax a bit and I let the warmth and sparks flow through me.

He lead me to his car something shiny and silver and low. I had no clue what it was but it looked expensive. He helped me in before going to the driver's side. He reached for my hand as soon as he got in and I let him, it felt good. Being a werewolf we didn’t do the whole dating thing, not with our mates at least. 

Nolan brought me to his room and took my v.irginity, and marked me within the same day. This flirting and dating were foreign to me, but it actually felt so right. 

I knew I sounded negative but having Nolan claim me immediately and then reject me in such a humiliating way, I had to be sure that wouldn’t happen again. It wasn’t just me involved, or my parents, I couldn’t let that happen to Emmett. 

I didn’t notice that he parked until the lights turned on in the car, the silence didn’t feel awkward. Honestly, being with him felt natural. All the nerves and worries I had before he showed up washed away as soon as I saw him. 

He lead me to an elevator that had a view of the entire city as we ascended. the sparkling lights of the sprawling city mirrored the stars above. I had never seen a city from this view and it was breathtaking. 

“What you see here is all Cresent Moon’s territory, humans live here but it's technically ours.” 

“Where is your pack house?” 

“A building near here, there’s an old one in the woods over there,” He pointed past the buildings, “It's hard to see at night, my parents live there along with some of the pack but most of them moved to the city.”

“Is it hard having everyone so separate? And intermingled with humans?” I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. At Blue Ridge, it was only werewolves and secluded from other packs and pretty much everything else.

“It’s what I know, what we’re used to.” He shrugged, “It would be easier if everyone living on the territory were werewolves but it doesn’t work that easily in a city,” Half of his face tugged up in a smile. 

I nodded, taking in the sight. I couldn’t imagine this all belonged to him. 

“Who owns the buildings then?”

“Mostly the pack does, but we let some humans own them too, it looks a bit weird if one company owns most of the city.” 

That was a lot of money.

“The pack building is expensive to keep up, a lot of the money goes back into the pack and city.” He said answering one of my silent questions.

“We’re here,” The elevator opened at one of the top floors, the walls were made of glass completely with almost a 360 view of the city. A woman dressed in black and heels smiled at us, she was human.

“Mr. Dracos,” She nodded, “Your table is this way.” 

We followed her to a table by the window, there wasn’t anyone else there. She handed us a menu and walked away nodding her head to Caspien and giving me a smile that seemed genuine.

“You said you wanted to go somewhere quiet to talk,” He raised an eyebrow.

“There’s no one else here?” I looked around again to confirm, I didn’t even see any other servers around. 

“It’s closed, for everyone but us.” 

“That seems like a waste of resources,” I tilted my head.

“Or just giving most of the staff time off,” He shot back. 

“Fair,” I smiled as a man in all black came up and poured us a glass of white wine. 

“I hope this is okay, I didn’t know what you liked.” 

“I’m down to try anything,” I smiled at the server as he backed away. 

“No menus?” 

“I said it was a surprise,” His face fell a little bit, “Or is this too much? Too controlling? I’m not used to dating,” 

My brows furrowed, “I don’t believe that,” I snorted.

“Okay, you caught me,” He smiled, “I’ve been on a few dates, but nothing serious. I haven’t ever had a girlfriend.”

“Why not?” I picked up the glass of wine taking a sip, it was good. 

“Why waste time with someone I knew wasn’t going to be forever? It wouldn’t have been fair to you- to my mate, or my girlfriend. I trust The Moon Goddess enough to know that nothing else would compare to the gift she gave me. I had some fun, sure, but I didn’t see the point of anything serious.” His eyes seemed to bore through mine. 

“That makes sense,” My voice sounded small as the weight of his words and the truth in them settled on me.

“I didn’t really have time to think about the whole dating or mate thing. I found mine, or one of mine, the day I turned eighteen, so I don’t know what I would have done,”

“Really?” He looked surprised, “You said you just got out of something,”

I shrugged looking down, “I haven’t been with anyone since Nolan, anyone besides him actually,” I whispered, “I know I said I recently got out of something, but what happened with him and I it still feels pretty d.amn raw,” I admitted, the anger starting to flare inside me. 

“What happened?” His voice seemed to turn a bit darker when he asked. 

Food started coming and I leaned back, our gazes not moving from each others. I took a deep breath and told him everything. 

We paused to eat some of the food, it was delicious. I wasn’t lying when I said I hadn’t had sushi before, and it was different and way better than I expected.

“It’s not always this great but this is fresh and that is key,” He explained.

“Go on,” He nodded at me, “If you want to,” 

“Basically that was it, I didn’t just lose my mate and my future position. I lost my home, a place that I never thought about leaving. I lost any sort of familiarity and comfort. The people that I knew my entire life, you get the gist,” I tried to smile, “I lost everything.” 

“Did he force you to leave?” His eyes flashed black and it was such a contrast to his icy blue eyes. I shook my head.

“It was taken from me I guess. he didn’t f.orce me to leave, and he didn’t banish me, but he pretty much did. What was I supposed to do? Stay there at my parent's house and watch him live a life with someone who I didn’t know but seemed to relish in my pain? Watch the pack inevitably accept them and forget about me? I debated staying just to show them all that I was the victim, at first I planned to have my baby there..” I trailed off.

“Why didn’t you stay in the end?” 

“I knew it was over, really over. I held out hope. Even after he cheated, h.ell even after he rejected me publicly while holding my pregnancy test.” His eyes went wide before they flashed black again and didn’t turn back. 

I took a deep breath, “I was blinded by my love, or infatuation, whatever it was. I wanted to be with him at any cost, and I was willing to give up everything for that. My pride, my dignity, anything just to stay with him.” I admitted that out loud for the first time. Things that I didn’t even dare admit to myself were all laid out. 

He stayed silent. I knew he wasn’t trying to draw information out of me but making me comfortable going on.

He reached out his hand across the table, an invitation. I placed my hand on his and he closed his around mine. I let the warmth spread through me, helping calm some of the emotions I was reliving. 

“I knew that, well, I knew that it was really over. That no matter if I went through with my pregnancy at the pack, it wouldn’t change anything. He made his decision and after hearing he already accepted another Luna and she was also pregnant, I mean it was over then for me. Completely.” I tried to smile but I couldn’t even pretend that this didn’t still slice through me, and rip open an old wound that never fully healed. 

“Sure, it would have made things harder for him if I stayed,” I let out a low chuckle, “But, at what cost? I knew that I would have been even more hurt and broken watching it unfold. It wouldn’t have been good for me or for the baby.” 

“Did you ever think of giving him up? Adoption or anything?” He spoke for the first time in a while.

I shook my head.

“I thought the baby was going to be born into a loving family,” I scoffed and his hand tightened around mine, “I mean he was, but very different than what I expected. But it wasn’t any hope for Nolan and me that I decided to raise Emmett myself. I wanted him and well that's that.” I shrugged.

“That’s that,” He repeated, nodding at me. 

His icy blue eyes seemed to fill with an emotion that I hadn’t seen from him. 

“I’m sorry that you had to go through that, no one should ever have to suffer that.” His hand seemed to shake in mine and he shut his eyes tight taking a deep breath, “I hate that you went through that, the only thing keeping me from driving down to Blue Ridge and ripping that pathetic Alpha’s heart from his chest in front of his mate and pack is the fact that you’re letting 

me hold you’re hand.”



(Caspien)

My rage felt finite. I guessed at some of her past, but nothing that I imagined was even close to this. I knew something wasn’t right when Nolan made it seem like a mutual rejection. He didn’t even deserve the title Alpha, even in my f.ucking mind. 

But this?

Rejected in public a few months before taking the title, as soon as he found out about her being pregnant? Then publicly claiming another who he was cheating with? You rarely hear of that happening and I didn’t know anyone that rejected their mate or cheated personally.

The only thing that was keeping me from slipping into that place that I hated, the place that everyone thought was me but didn’t feel like it, was the fact that her hand was in mine.

That small gesture felt like a tether to the world and pulled me back, just enough.

Now who is the soft one 

Picked up a thing or two from you, you d.ick

Ah, there he is. 

“What about you?” She asked.

“What about me?” 

“You haven’t had a mate before?” She looked a bit wary.

“No. I have to admit that I did feel something when I first met you, but nothing like I felt when I saw you again. I was intrigued and I did go back to see if what I felt meant anything.”

Her eyes snapped to mine, “When?” 

“The Alpha and Luna ceremony, I thought that-”

“That I was going to become the Luna,” She replied dryly, and it hurt me that she still had such strong feelings about it. 

I had to admit that it also hurt because part of me hoped that it would all just wash away when she met me, but I knew well enough that the betrayal that she went through wasn’t fixed by meeting someone else. 

“Yes.” She looked at me, her green eyes fixed on my face but I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Some of her hair slipped over her shoulder in soft waves momentarily distracting me.

“And, what happened?” She looked at where my hand held hers, bringing her other to draw patterns over our intertwined hands. 

It felt so nice, not just the sparks that her touch elicited, but the way that it felt so natural. She seemed comfortable, not thinking about bonds or second chances, and just settling into us. It was a motion that I could see her doing frequently, for what Goddess willing would be the rest of our lives.

She paused her fingers fixing her stare at me and I swallowed.

“I showed up and waited for you, I wanted to see if the feelings that I felt were real. I knew that you were fated to another but I hadn’t felt anything like that and I just had to put it behind me. I thought by going there then I would realize it was a fluke and I could get those thoughts of you out of my mind.” She smiled and resumed her drawing on my hand. 

“When you weren’t there I immediately confronted Nolan, Alpha Nolan I guess. I asked where you were and he said that you rejected each other and then that blonde came up and I left. He didn’t know where you were and I didn't need to waste any more time with him. I wanted to find you but no one knew where you went and then I had so much else going on and I didn’t even think you were really my mate. What I felt was different but it wasn’t like what I feel now.” I admitted. 

“There's no need to explain or what I'm assuming is a sort of apology from you,” Willa looked at me frowning, “You’re acting as if you should have come and rescued me. You didn’t even know that I was your mate and I didn’t need anyone to rescue me.” She said matter-of-factly.

“I know, I know that. I just was saying if I knew for certain that you were my mate I would have combed the entire planet myself looking for you.” A smile spread across her face even though she bit her lip trying to hide it. 

“Maybe it was better this way. I’m not sure if I really believe in fate or destiny, not anymore. But maybe we were supposed to meet later.” She shrugged, “I had a beautiful few years with my parents and Emmett, something I wouldn’t have gotten if you would have waltzed in and locked me in your penthouse apartment.” 

I couldn’t help but laugh and she looked startled for a second before gifting me one of the biggest smiles I’d seen from her. It made my stomach flip.

“I’ve never heard you laugh like that, not really.” She admitted, her face flushed slightly pink. Something I doubt others would notice it was so subtle. 

“I like you, Willa,” I let that hang in the air, “F.uck the mate bond, I like you,” even after I said it I didn’t wish I could take it back.

Her eyes slowly met mine, her fingers still brushing my hand.

“I think, no, I know, I like you.” She admitted.

Chapter 12 - The Rejected Luna's Prince by Aurora Archer