Hated by My Mate: The Unwanted Luna
The Party
AURORA
With the rogue in midflight, I shut my eyes tightly, preparing for the end, hoping it would be swift.
But the end didn’t come.
Instead, there was a loud crash, and a mass of muscle and bone and fur crashed into my side, pushing me out of the living room and into the corridor.
As I scrambled away, I looked back to see two wolves fighting, gnashing their sharp teeth at each other’s limbs, using their dark claws to tear at each other’s skin.
It was clear which one was the rogue. He was almost half the size of the other wolf. And while the rogue had thin, wiry hairs with patches of bare skin, the other wolf looked big, strong, healthy.
The rogue swiped at the bigger wolf’s paw, causing it to stumble. With its face turned toward me, we looked at each other for a moment, and behind knitted brows, I spied startlingly bright blue eyes.
The same eyes I’d been looking at not long ago in the photo.
Alpha Wolfgang moved onto his haunches, avoiding the rogue’s attack, then pounced high into the air and landed on the rogue’s shoulders before burying his jaws into the mangy creature’s neck.
A bark became a yowl became a high-pitched yelp. The rogue struggled to free itself, shifting its hind left and right.
But the alpha pushed all his weight down on the wolf, buried his teeth deeper, and after a few seconds, the rogue stopped moving altogether.
My eyes drifted up from the lifeless rogue to the face of the alpha.
His piercing eyes were locked on me.
Something in me stirred. Nerves? Perhaps, though they were unlike any I had felt before.
As soon as Alpha Wolfgang released the body in his mouth, he began to transform.
The fur regressed into tanned skin, but while his muscles shifted and moved, they didn’t get any smaller. Bones snapped, the body became upright, and in a heartbeat, the alpha was standing in front of me.
Entirely naked.
Part of me wanted to avert my eyes.
Another part, and evidently, a stronger part, compelled me to run into his arms.
“Thank you, Alpha,” I said as I pushed myself against his hard chest, his muscles firm and twitching.
I looked up. His unruly jet-black hair framed his face perfectly, his jawline so sharp it looked like it could cut me.
Delicious.
I felt my cheeks and chest warming, and my blush deepening.
“The rogue has been dealt with,” Wolfgang said, his deep, sensual voice rolling through me like a storm. “You can stop clinging to me now.”
I quickly came back to my senses. “S-sorry, sir.” I scrambled out of his arms. “Thank you for saving me.”
I looked around and saw half a dozen other men coming into the living room from the direction of the stairs and dining room. Another came up behind me.
They were checking the house was safe, though none looked particularly concerned for the alpha’s well-being. I realized they were confident he’d have no trouble with an isolated rogue.
“He’s still alive,” Wolfgang said over his shoulder. “Take him back down to the dungeon.”
Dungeon? This place has a—?
“What are you doing here?” The alpha looked me up and down like he was appraising me.
All of a sudden, the nerves in my tummy turned into a swarm of angry bees.
My stepmom had lived without her partner in a society of impatient and testosterone-fueled male wolves for years now, and she’d taught me how to stand up for myself.
The warmth in my cheeks cooled, and his nakedness be damned. I squared my shoulders with him.
“I’m your new employee and I’m here to help with the gala tonight, Alpha,” I said as firmly as I could.
“Gala?” He frowned.
“For your birthday, Alpha,” another man said from behind him.
It was Max, Wolfgang’s beta. He was staring at me with as much impatience as the naked wolf in front of me.
Maybe go easy on the sass, I told myself.
“Oh, right.” Wolfgang sighed, sounding more annoyed than excited. He looked at me again. “Be more aware of your surroundings.”
He accepted a pair of jeans from someone and pulled them on. “I don’t want any liabilities on my staff. Understand?”
“Excuse me?” I clenched my jaw. “I’m not the one who let a rabid rogue run through his house, smashing up the place and almost killing the new maid. I should be asking for hazard pay.”
The arrogance! I couldn’t believe it!
“How dare you speak to the alpha that—!”
Wolfgang held his hand up to stop Max from speaking. “To control the rogues, we must understand them. Whoever hired you should have explained that this pack house is anything but safe.”
He took a step closer to me, his great weight bearing over me, his alpha dominance making my knees weak.
But as much as I felt compelled to bow my head, I was more determined to show him he could not frighten me.
“Especially when I’m here. Because when I set my keen eyes on my prey, I do not stop until I have it locked in my jaws.”
Heat erupted through my body, and I knew my cheeks were betraying me, but I tried to stay defiant anyway.
At last, Wolfgang turned and walked away, the entourage of terrifying-looking warriors falling into line behind him.
“Clean this place up,” he called back over his shoulder.
As soon as I was sure he’d disappeared back into the basement, I let out a long, shaky exhale and collapsed on the sofa. Somehow, it had survived the chaos.
The rest of the living room however…
It took me a moment to catch my breath. My heart was still pounding in my chest, but I already knew it wasn’t because of the rogue attack.
It was because of the feeling of Wolfgang’s arms around me, his mouthwatering scent…
I shook my head. I was here to work and earn some money for my trip, not drool over our alpha like every other girl in the Blood Moon Pack.
Looking around the room, I let out a slow sigh.
The floor I’d cleaned was scuffed and covered in blood and fur. The photo frames and glass I’d polished were lying on the ground, some of them cracked. One of the chair’s upholstery was torn.
“Clean this place up,” I murmured to myself in a childish voice. “What a jerk.”
***
“Oh, dear, where have you been?” Mrs. Kala said to me as I carried the damaged chair into the maids’ quarters. “And how did that happen?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but she waved away my words.
“It’s not important. Drop that in the corner. The first guests are already arriving. My goodness, I thought we had more time. Come, come.”
Mrs. Kala bid me to follow the other maids down the corridor, to the back of the building, and into a large room that was evidently to be used for the gala.
The walls and ceilings were white, with dimmed lights glowing from all directions, causing the dance floor at the far end of the room to glow softly.
Behind the dance floor, the glass doors had been opened to let the fresh air in, and I could see the forest beyond. Around the dance floor on three sides were tables and chairs.
I followed the other maids’ lead, picking up one of the trays, already prepared with various snacks and drinks, and waited to receive the guests.
All this on my first day? Talk about being thrown to the wolves.
Mrs. Kala marched up to me and adjusted my bow tie. “This is your table, dear. After your tray is empty, if there are no more guests to serve, wait by the wall, but keep your eyes on this table.”
I nodded, but she had already moved on to instruct the next maid in line.
A few moments later, the double doors opened, and the guests started to pour in.
The members of our own pack were evenly placed throughout, leading wolves from other packs to their seats. Everyone looked to be dressed in their most expensive outfits.
The last to enter were our allies from the Blue Moon Pack. Their alpha had his arm interlinked with that of his daughter, Tallulah Wilhelm.
She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She had long, gorgeous blonde hair, sun-kissed skin, and bright hazel eyes. Her entire being exuded perfection.
After everyone was seated, our pack’s gamma, Remus Boman, entered, walking hand-in-hand with his mate, Aspen.
Despite being in his twenties, Remus Boman’s dark brown hair already displayed some gray strands. And although one of the smallest in the pack, he also happened to be one of our smartest and strongest.
Maximus Barone followed him. The beta was tall, with dirty blond hair and green eyes, and when she-wolves weren’t going mad for Wolfgang, they were going crazy for him.
And last, our alpha, Wolfgang Fortier Gagliardi.
As much as I tried to detest the man for how he’d spoken to me, I couldn’t help but admire his mop of jet-black hair that looked as if he’d just got out of bed and his eyes that shined like sapphires.
His muscles twitched and bulged under his clothes as he walked, and I remembered how it had felt to touch them. It was like he’d been crafted by the Goddess herself.
But there was one problem with his appearance. Even though he was drop-dead gorgeous, his sneer, combined with his powerful alpha aura, made people run away from him.
But he had smiled…once. I thought back to the photo of him standing next to my dad and his.
So much changed after they died…
Wolfgang made his way to the other end of the room and came to a stop at the table in the center, next to the dance floor.
While Max introduced him, the alpha scanned the room, not as a welcoming host but as if looking for threats.
For a moment, our eyes met, and his intense stare left me rooted to my spot. It was only for a fraction of a second, but it was enough to cause something to stir within me.
This guy is a real piece of work. He’s loving using his alpha dominance to put me in my place.
Just forget about him and focus on your job. Get in, get paid, get out. That was always the plan.
Once the alpha took his seat, everyone else did the same.
And the party began.
As one, the other maids moved away from the walls and approached their tables, so I did the same.
After finding people without glasses to whom I could give the last of the drinks on my tray, I made my way into the kitchen. One of the cooks pointed at a trolley full of plates of entrées.
I pushed it out through the double doors and parked it by the table I’d be allocated to serve.
“Have you seen Tallulah Wilhelm this evening?” one woman said to the man on her right. “She’s positively divine.”
I placed the plates down in front of them.
“Well, she has good reason to look so happy.” The man winked at his companion.
“Oh?”
He leaned in and whispered, though not so quietly that I couldn’t hear. “I hear she is to mate with Wolfgang.”
The woman put her gloved hand over her open mouth. “No! Really? Are they fated mates? Destined to be?”
The man shook his head. “No idea.”
“Then why are they mating?”
The man rolled his head back and laughed. “Oh, come now, you know what Wolfgang is like. He’s far too focused on his alpha duties to worry about finding his mate.
“Besides, this makes so much more sense. Think how much more powerful both our pack and the Blue Moon Pack will be when they are united.”
I picked up two empty glasses before returning to the trolley to get the next plates. As I did, I looked over to the head table to see Tallulah standing over Wolfgang.
She had one hand on his shoulder and was leaning in and speaking into his ear. After a moment, she lifted her head and laughed, moving her other hand down his shoulder, his arm—
Smash!
“Oh, by the Goddess, what are you doing, girl?”
The man’s shout made me jump, and I looked at the table to see everyone was staring at me with heavy frowns on their faces.
“I’m sorry?”
“What do you think you’re doing?” the man who had been gossiping said to me.
He had red drops over his otherwise bleached white shirt, and I realized it was wine. Something shimmered off the carpet, and I could see it was glass.
Moving my gaze over my hands, I saw I had squeezed so hard as to make the glass shatter.
“Oh, my… I’m so very sorry. I’m not sure what happened.”
“What on earth do you think you’re doing? You’ve covered me in wine. My shirt is ruined.”
I fumbled to get the other plates on the table as quickly as possible, then swept the broken glass into the bottom of the trolley. “I’m so sorry, sir. Let me go and see if I can find something to help.”
I turned to push the trolley back to the kitchen when I felt something suddenly pound in my head.
“Woah,” I said, trying to keep my balance and lifting my fingers to my temples. I felt like I was about to faint.
“Hi, Rory.”
I spun on my heel to see who had just said my name.
There was no one behind me. Just my table of confused guests.
“The girl is absolutely loopy,” the woman said.
“Rory, it’s me…”
The voice was faint but clear as day, and I realized it was in my head.
I couldn’t help but smile. It was my wolf. She had awoken at last.
“Um…hello?” I answered in my mind.
She giggled and came into view in my mind’s eye. Her fur was white as snow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am your wolf. My name is Rhea.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Rhea,” I replied. “I hope we can get alo—”
My words were cut short as a delicious scent filled my nostrils. The scent was a mixture of wild pine, almonds, and amber.
It was so captivating, I felt as if it was trying to pull me toward it.
Rhea put her nose high in the sky and started sniffing, then she fixed her purple eyes on me. “Our mate is here. I can smell him.”
Continue to the next chapter of Hated by My Mate: The Unwanted Luna