Chapter 5

“Oh, I can't wait to get there,” a young woman named Lizzy raved and kept her hands against her breast. “I have never been inside a limousine before,” she giggled and shoved a colorful strawberry into her mouth.

“I heard that the house we will stay at is nice,” the girl called Cassie added, with a bright smile on her face. “I'm excited to meet the men. I have been waiting for years to find out who my mate was, and now I'm thinking he doesn't belong to my old pack.”

“I found mine,” Dakota sighed, sniffed her red nose, and frowned. “I told the beta that I had a mate, but he didn't care.”

We are sitting inside the limousine with two young women that were chosen from the neighboring pack. Dakota was getting along famously with the two of them, while I was remaining silent and staring out the window.

Dakota has yet to say a word to me. The two girls were excited about leaving behind their packs, one to look for a mate and the other looking for better luxury.

She was acting like I was a ghost, like I was invisible, and the girls were following her lead like weak sheep's. She told them she was picked, because I wasn't good enough just on my own.

She even whispered and lied to them saying at first the beta wasn't going to pick me. I had to beg him to be selected.

I would never beg to be a whore.

I didn't comment or call her out for her ridiculous lie. I concluded it was best for the sanity of everyone in here to ignore her and let her say whatever made her feel better about herself.

She has regularly spoken lies about me, needing herself to be identified as the better Banniet sister, and my stepmother encouraged her to spread those awful lies.

“Why would he care?” Lizzy asked, taking a sip of her wine. “The lycan king doesn't care whether we find our mates or not.”

“It's true. The law states that if we are unmated, we must take part. Who wouldn't want a chance of becoming the Luna of the most powerful werewolf pack in the world?” Cassie smirked. “Think of the power she will have and the elegant lifestyle.”

“Her mate was my boyfriend, and they kept it a secret for an entire year,” I said, wanting to intrude on their limited convention. That was all they have been talking about, and it's growing tiresome.

“Oh, I forgot you were in here,” Lizzy jumped when she heard my voice and made me roll my eyes when she scrunched her nose while looking me over.

“She is so quiet,” Cassie replied.

“I already explained why we did that, to Willow,” Dakota groaned and told the girls. “Her mom went insane when her father fell in love with my mother. Evan and I were only trying to stop that from happening to her.”

Sure you were.

“Oh goodness,” Cassie observed. “It's sad to watch a wolf lose its mind at the loss of a mate. It's tragic.”

Yeah, it was definitely heartbreaking. I couldn't even imagine the pain my mom went through. I'm hurting over losing Evan, and she was with my dad for a long time.

“Nobody can stop what the moon goddess wants,” Lizzy included.

“That's so true. When Willow finds her mate, she will understand the powerful bond that is between Evan and me,” Dakota muttered, like I couldn't hear her.

Tuning them out for the rest of the car ride, not being interested in anything else the three of them had to say. Apparently, they were all just alike and would be developing into companions, while I will be once again forced to the side lines.

I hope one day I can escape the Bloodmoon pack and be able to live the rest of my life in peace. I have spent most of my time living with one girl that hated me. I'm not completely tickled to be living with even more. I have no misgivings that Dakota will try to turn all the harem girls against me as soon as we arrive.

She has always thought she was better than me, and it doesn't allow me to feel comfortable around her or anywhere that she is. It's not that I think myself lower than her, because I don't. I know I am a better woman than she is. I wouldn't steal anyone's mate.

I have morals, compassion, and a kind heart for others that I wouldn't want to cause anyone the pain that my mom felt.

Dakota loathes me so much and, just like her mother, would have been happy to see me chosen and taken from my father. It must be very unpleasant for her that I'm sitting next to her, on the way to the Bloodmoon pack.

After all these years, she still can't get rid of me and I can't get rid of her no more how often I wished too. The moon goddess never answers that particular prayer from me.

We arrive at the Bloodmoon pack six hours later. I think I was close to passing out when the driver drove us up the scary-looking mountain. All those sharp turns, tress, and the fear of falling off the cliff had my wolf pacing nervously inside me head.

The limousine door suddenly swung open, causing me to half fall out the open door. I recovered my balance, climbed out, and came face to face with a warmly smiling elderly woman.

"Hello, my name is Alma. I am your supervisor. I am in charge of handling you girls for the remainder of your stay here with the Bloodmoon back. If you would please follow me,” she said, but I knew even if she added the word please, it was a demand and slowly began following her inside.

As I followed lazily, not in a hurry to start my new life, my eyes roamed over the building and it, I will admit it, was beautifully done. It is massive. I was expecting a wood cabin type of feel being that we were in the mountains. Two stories, built out of white stained brick, delicate red painted window frames, flower beds lining along the front, and a glass chandler hanging on the roof of the porch.

Dakota, Lizzy, and Cassie roughly and excitedly pushed me aside and rushed into the house, leaving me to take slow calming breaths before following them inside.

“Oh, it's lovely,” Cassie murmured in awe as her wide eyes took everything in.

“Maybe it won't be so bad,” Dakota grinned.

I guess now that she got a small taste of what her new life will be like, she has completely forgotten about her precious mate.

“This is so exciting,” Lizzy squealed, wrapped her arms in both Cassie and Dakota's arms as they giggled and followed behind Alma.

We walked up the grand staircase and stopped. “Now you may pick a room. The taken rooms are for the girls who were already in this pack or those who arrived before you. You can share an apartment if you wish. Two girls to one room.”

I noticed Dakota talking with another girl sweetly. They were giggling, and the girl complemented Dakota's hair before asking her to be her roommate.

I don't care where I sleep, just as long as it's not with Dakota. I walked towards a random door, opened it, pushed my suitcase inside the room, and took a peek inside.

The room was gorgeous. Two dark oak queen-size beds were on each side of the room, a gray stone fireplace in between them and two windows. On the outside, I wasn't expecting the rooms to be this large, but once I looked inside, I was shocked. It was bigger than my old home.

“Now that everyone has picked a room, it's time to get dressed for the ceremony tonight,” Alma informed us. “We will head to the bathhouse. Come along girls,” she added and began walking down the stairs.

As we all shuffled outside towards an even bigger house, I felt hungry male eyes roaming over us. It made me uncomfortable to be looked at like a piece of streak that their wolves wanted to gnaw on.

We walked into the building and I almost tumbled over. The bathhouse is so luxurious that it almost hurt my eyes to look at. Gold-plated floors, cream-colored walls, fine art lining every possible space along the walls.

Gold everything.

The girls whispered excitedly, covering their mouths with their hands, giggling.

“In the bathhouse, you will find several rooms available for you to use whenever you choose to use them. We offer a spa with facials, massages, manicures and pedicures, as well as full-body waxing, and body wraps,” Alma explained as she led us deeper inside and pointed towards a door on the left as we passed by it. “That is our sauna. It can be set to cold and hot.”

As we passed what looked to be the main room of the house, I saw various women sitting around talking, eating, and some even reading books. They were all gorgeous. Each one had curves and looked plumbed. Lycans have a certain body type.

An hour later, I have been shoved into a bath, uncomfortably bathed by another woman, and waxed from head to toe. My skin is still burning from the hot wax and the nicest thing I can say is, the woman at least smiled when she pulled the wax strip, jerking the hair off my body.

Alma ordered us all to put on the evening gowns. Mine was a delicate royal purple color, longer than my legs. I had to be careful when I walked. My hair was curled, falling over my shoulders, and I felt like I had a pound of makeup plastered onto my face.

I have never looked so beautiful and uncomfortable in my entire life. I don't even remember if I ever wore heels before today.

I'm growing bored just standing around waiting for the other girls to finish getting dressed and feeling a little nosy. I snuck out of the changing room, wandered deeper down the dimly lit corridor, I couldn't help but be amazed at how luxurious and beautiful everything here is. The pack must be wealthy to afford all of this.

Suddenly, when I turned the corner, I heard a noise. It sounded like a girl was hurting and struggling. Feeling curious, I walked towards the suspicious sound, thinking maybe the girl needed some help.

I located the room that the noise was coming from, raised my hand and pushed the door open.

My eyes widened when they landed on a muscular, handsome man, pants down to his ankles and a woman on her knees in front of him sucking his long, hard shaft into her mouth.

He must have heard the door opening because his head turned towards me, his eyes showing no emotion, his hands still tangled up inside the girls' hair as he pumped his hips, and continued to ram his shaft in and out of her mouth.

My heart pounded inside my chest, my belly feeling like butterflies were flying around inside, and I almost passed out from the emotions my wolf was feeling when she screamed happily inside my head.

“Mate."