DAVINA
"You slept with a stranger at the club?!" Chelsea blurted with her eyes widened to their very limits.
"How many times do you want me to repeat that?!" I whined, tucking my teddy in my face so I wouldn't have to face her.
"Davina!"
"I know, I know! I messed up, okay?!" I squeezed my teddy tighter, wishing those wild memories with him would stop playing in my head on repeat.
"I mean…It's unbelievable! It's unlike you, Davina."
My teeth gritted, likewise my grip on my teddy, and it instantly reminded me of how he had me in a chokehold. Just the thought of it alone gave me tingles, and that's the problem! Why should I be attracted to another man?!
"Look, if this is a prank, then fine, you got me."
"Does this look like a joke to you?!" I sat up on my bed, frantically pointing at the hickey on my neck. Her eyes almost popped out of her sockets.
"Oh…my...fucking…goodness!"
"I was drunk! I got high in the moment, and gosh, he was so hot! I couldn't resist his touch. Never have I felt that kind of fatal attraction! One thing led to another, and boom, I was on his bed…" I threw my teddy across the room.
"Easy, easy, hold on, girl," she briskly came to sit beside me.
I buried my face in my palms, and all I could see was his lips. "How could I do such a thing?! What kind of Luna cheats on her loving betrothed before their vows?"
"Come on, baby, things like this happen. It's just a one-night stand."
"But not to me, Chels! I belong to someone else!" My voice broke as tears almost ripped through my eyelids.
"Technically, you didn't cheat."
I gawked at her.
"You don't like Alpha Calvin in the first place. Besides, your wedding is arranged. You two don't owe each other any loyalty."
"You're supposed to be my friend, not the devil's advocate."
"I'm just trying to help ease your guilt here, honey," she patted my back.
"Well, it's obviously not working!" I slammed my back into the bed again.
"Isn't this what you wanted? To explore…" She joined me on the bed.
"My exploration doesn't extend to sleeping with a totally random stranger!" My brows arched in worry.
"Honey. It was a mistake. You were drunk, and you weren't in control of yourself. It's my fault for leaving you alone at that moment. I should have been more responsible. So if anything, blame me."
"Chels…"
If only it were that easy. This is the lie you would tell yourself to console yourself, a grand delusion. It wasn't the alcohol that made me share the hottest kiss of my life with a stranger or spread my legs so he could fill me to the very core. It was my decision, I wanted it. I craved him, and even right now in this moment, a part of me still longs for him.
"It happened already, Davina," she turned my face to her stern gaze, making sure I couldn't pull away. "You had your fun, and it's all in the past. What matters now is keeping your marriage, and I doubt you'd do a poor job."
"B-but I cheated—-"
She shushed my lips.
"Alpha Calvin doesn't know that, and he will never know. Besides, this guy you hooked up with is a stranger. The chances you guys are ever going to meet again are next to zero."
I gave a slight nod, but her eyes easily mirrored the doubt still painting my face.
"Remember, you are going to be the Luna of Silverback Pack. You'll be the wife to one of the most powerful Alphas, and your marriage is the ticket to our Pack's survival. You can't blow this off, okay?"
"I'm going to be the Luna," I affirmed, but it was aimed at convincing myself rather than her. I have a duty to my people; I can't fail them, which means I'm just going to pretend like my crazy adventure last night never happened.
But who was I deceiving? As I walked on the aisle with my father behind two brown wolves in the cathedral as old as time, filled with both members of our Packs, all that buzzed in my head was the flashes of my one wild night.
We betrayed him
My wolf whined as Alpha Calvin beamed at me with the widest grin from the altar. He was dressed sharply in a royal blue three-piece suit and donned a stylish brown low taper fade. Anyone could tell he was easily the happiest man in the world.
"Finally, I can call the most beautiful woman in my life mine," was the first thing he whispered to me the moment I stood before him.
The chief elder cleared his throat with a hearty smile, "Alpha Calvin, at least wait till you both exchange your rings."
The crowd laughed while Calvin and I grinned at each other. The chief elder began his ceremonious speech. Calvin wasn't inclined in the slightest; he was rather enthralled by my charms.
"I could barely catch any sleep last night," he whispered as he held my waist, leaving only a slight gap between us. "All I kept imagining was my bride's beautiful face, how happy her smile would be, the priceless glimmer of her eyes."
I blushed, but it was a lie; I was only putting on a show. Being with him felt like I was sinking into the abyss of emptiness.
"But guess what?" He continued. "You exceeded my expectations far beyond measure, Davina."
"I could barely sleep last night, too. My parents and Chelsea were worried I might end up with eyebags," I said with an innocent smile.
"What stole your sleep?" His eyebrow arched curiously.
"I was thinking about you…"
He hummed.
"How I can't wait to mark you as mine. To wake up every morning with you by my side, and to end every night safe in your warm embrace."
Another lie!
My wolf berated me. The man I was, in fact, thinking of was my one-night stand and his domineering force with which he used to pin me to his wall, claiming every inch of my soul and body. I'm sorry, Calvin.
"I will always love you, Davina. Now and beyond."
We both grinned at each other. The chief elder interrupted our moment with the ring exchange ceremony. And after we had both pressed each other's rings in our fingers, the ever-graceful words flowed out of the old man's mouth.
"You may kiss your bride."
Calvin's hand eagerly trailed to my back as he pulled me closer and leaned in to kiss me, but then the twin doors of the cathedral banged open, sweeping in a tidal wave of air.
He's here!
My wolf blared, and I turned in the direction of the door just like everyone did, only to witness the greatest nightmare of my life!
My one-night stand stranger, in flesh and blood! Dressed in a suit and a lit tobacco dancing on his lips.
"Fuck!"