Blue Moon (Colors of the Moon #1)

Chapter 8

With new-found determination I marched after Jared. I promised myself that this time I would get my point across. There was no way I was going anywhere with him. The only place I was going to, was home to my family.

I was sure they had already reported my disappearance to the cops, which made things even more complicated. Explaining the whole mess was going to be impossible, especially the part about werewolves.

Although Jared hadn't told me to keep it a secret, I was intelligent enough to know I shouldn't go parading it around. Especially since no one would believe a word of it. I would sooner get stuffed into a loony bin.

Jared was a much faster than I expected. By the time I caught up with him, he was already inside his tent. The moment I stopped in front of it, I caught onto a pair of voices. They were coming from inside the tent and I instantly recognized Jared's voice. The other speaker took me a little longer to match, but I finally recognized it as Gamma's voice.

However, because Alpha wasn't a name, it meant Gamma wasn't either. The only other name for him I heard was Ortiz, which I was sure was his last name.

"... bringing a human to our pack?" Ortiz asked. "I've heard of other wolves having human mates before, but this is different. She isn't the mate of an ordinary pack member. She's your mate and you're the Alpha."

"What are you trying to say?" Jared's voice held a cold edge to it.

I was a little unnerved by the fact that I could already tell this, despite not seeing his expression. I was getting used to him a little too quick for comfort.

"Come on, Brax." Ortiz didn't seem to notice the same cold edge, or he just didn't care. "We both know she's a weak human. She isn't cut out to be the Luna. It would be better, if you rejected her. She—"

A soft gasp, followed by rustling filled my ears and I strained them to hear what was going on.

"Watch yourself." The steel edge in his voice made the hair on my arms snap up. "I've already made my decision. Naia is my mate, and she is going to become the Luna of Blue Moon. Tomorrow she's coming with us and if I ever hear you say anything rude to her or about her, I will strip you of your title. Do we understand each other?"

I didn't wait to see what Ortiz's retort was. Instead, I fled away from the scene as fast as my feet would take me.

A part of me had been swept off my feet because of the way Jared defended me. I had never heard anyone take my side. However, I didn't have time to think about that right now. What I needed to focus on was the fact that he thought I would be coming with him.

I didn't know how they ran things in the werewolf world, but in the human world everyone had their own free will. And mine was telling me to go into the opposite direction from him.

"Hi, Luna."

I was yanked out of my thoughts and barely managed to evade running straight into Larry. Once again a broad smile decorated his face.

"Have you heard the good news? We're leaving tomorrow. You're going to love Blue Moon. I can't wait to introduce you to everyone. You—"

"I'm not going." I wished I had the courage to say more. However, I hadn't magically changed overnight. I was still the same Naia, whose first instinct was to bite my tongue instead of saying what I thought.

Because I didn't want him to start with a thrall interrogation of why I wasn't coming with them, I took a few steps sideways and continued walking onward.

"If you think you have any say in it, you're even dumber than I thought."

A few steps away stood the always flawless Elena. She had her nose turned upwards, while looking at me through her narrowed eyes. She didn't even give me an opportunity to say something in return before she huffed and strolled away.