My Enemy, My Mate

Luna’s POV

Through the dark corridors of my mind, I could hear her sobbing. My mother's face flickered in agony before my eyes as my father slammed his huge fist into her jaw. Blood spattered across the wooden floor, forming a constellation of blood.

My little body trembled, and I moaned, clinging to the corner. "Please," I said. "Please stop."

His yellow eyes were blazing with furious anger as he turned to face me. "You think you can command me, Luna? You're just a defenceless puppy.”

My mother's battered body thrashed between us. "She is only a child."

The terrifying crunch of her head hitting the wall reverberated off the walls of the room. Her once-bright, colourful eyes dimmed as she gazed up at me. The light in them gradually faded, like the sun turning to night.

"Mom?" I breathed quietly. "Mom, wake up."

She didn't. She never would.

"Look what you made me do," my father growled, approaching me from a great distance. "This is all your fault."

I was upright in bed now, my racing heart pounding in my chest as if it tried to escape. I was perspiring, the tank top hugging my sticky skin. My old familiar terror knot tightened within me as a waft of cigarette smoke and whiskey hit me in the nose.

*No. Not again. Please, not again.*

My bedroom door squeaked. The mass of a black person standing in the doorway blocked out the light from the hallway.

"You were screaming again," my dad said in a careless tone. "Woke up the whole damn house."

I sat up and pulled my legs to my chest. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it." As he stumbled inside the room, the stench of alcohol was more overpowering. "Five years, Luna. You're still unable to be silent at night, five fucking years."

My inner wolf came to life, and before I could stop it, a roar rose in my breast. I put my palm over my lips, but it was too late.

"What was that?" He stepped closer, his golden eyes shining in the darkness. "Growling at me, girl?"

"No," I said, averting my gaze. A beta's command was law after the Alpha. And in our pack, especially when he was drunk, my father's word was final.

He pulled at my chin, forcing me to gaze up at him. "You think you're up to the challenge?" You couldn't even make it through the full shift when you were eighteen, and yet you are rebelling?” I couldn't even get teeth and claws at twenty-one.

"I-I wasn't trying to rebel," I stammered.

"Lies." He squeezed down on my arm, and I cried out. "You've never been anything but a disappointment. Weak. Pathetic. Just like your mother."

The mention of my mother did something to me. My wolf began to claw at the seams I'd threaded to keep her bound away. Claws expanded from my fingers, stabbing my palms.

A cruel smile twisted his lips. "There she is. The little wolf who thinks she can fight back."

His hand went to my neck, his grip tight enough that breathing was difficult. "You forget yourself, Luna. In this pack, in this family, you're nothing. You're only still alive because the Alpha finds you useful."

"The Alpha?" I rasped out. "What does he want from me?"

My father released me, and I gasped for air. “Marriage alliance with the Crimson Moon pack. Their Alpha's son needs a mate, and you're the offering."

The world spun around me. "You're selling me out to another pack?"

"It's not selling if you're worth nothing," he spat. "But for some reason, Dominic Russo sees worth in you. Goddess only knows why."

Dominic Russo. The mere mention of the name gave shivers racing through my veins. Everyone knew about the Crimson Moon pack—the strongest mafia clan in the East Coast. They were involved in anything from drugs to guns to human trafficking.

I said, "I won't do it," with a little more confidence than I had ever thought possible. "I'd rather die than get mated to a monster."

The back of his hand struck my cheek, and I tumbled across the bed. A metallic taste burst in my mouth as blood spurted forth.

"You'll obey exactly as you're instructed," he lashed. “The event is set to take place in three days. You can meet Russo when he comes to collect you tomorrow.”

He spun to leave, but hesitated at the door. "And Luna? If you shame me before the Crimson Moon Alpha, I'll make you pay for it with your life."

I stood by myself in the dark as the door banged behind him. The bruise was already beginning to swell, and my cheek stung. My inner wolf recoiled and crept further into my thoughts.

"I know, girl," she replied, and I gasped. "I'm afraid, too."

I got up and slipped towards the window. The moon was almost full and shone low in the sky. I would marry a man I had never met, a convicted murderer and convicted felon, on the night of the full moon in three days.

My phone buzzed on the bedside table. I’ve always kept my phone hidden from him. It’s the only way to help me communicate with others. It was a text message from Eliza, my only friend in the pack.

*Are you all right? I heard him come into your room.*

I wrote back hastily: *I'm fine. The usual stuff.*

*You're not all right, Luna. We need to get you out of there. Now.*

If only it were as simple as that. My dad would find me, and escaping from the Beta would be classified as treason against the pack. But remaining meant being handed over to the Alpha's son in the Crimson Moon pack.

*I'll think of something,* I replied. *Be at the old oak tree at dawn.*

I stared out into the moonlit woods that lay beyond our boundaries. Freedom lurked somewhere out there—if only I could find the courage to take hold of it.

And survive whatever tomorrow had in store.