The Claimed Promise

Relief for the Café

“Queen Luna, we’ve landed in New York.”

I yawn and stretch my sore body. Even though I slept the entire flight, I feel tired and weak.

“It’s because we are away from our mate.” Arezu whimpers out and I can’t help but feel bad for how much she is suffering.

“I’m sorry Arezu, but we can’t stay with a mate who doesn’t want us…” I get no other response from her and feel her retreat into the back of my mind.

“Queen Luna, how long will you be before we can plan our flight back?”

“It is just Kora. I am no longer your Queen Luna, and I will not be going back. Once I’ve gotten my luggage, you should head back to the pack."

Fear is now etched into his features. “Please don’t do this, the Alpha needs to have her mate. Why would you want to abandon your pack and Mate?”

His accusing tone pisses me off and I don’t hold back. “Because I caught your Alpha, my so-called mate, locked in a kiss with Claudia, her chosen mate. So, return to the pack because your Queen Luna is there.” Clearly, my revelation has caught this wolf by surprise, and I take advantage of his stunned silence to grab my things and quickly escape. 

As soon as I’m out of the airport, I call for a cab and head straight over to the café. It’s only 3 in the afternoon just now and my parents should still be there. Being back in the city is less appealing than I could have ever imagined. The towering buildings, bumper to bumper traffic and the smell of smog invade every inch of my senses. Arezu prickles in my mind at how stressful the city really is.

“Don’t worry, once we help my parents, we can look at getting a place outside of the city limits, so we have more fresh air.”

“I already miss the beauty of home…” Her whimpers accompany her reply, and I can’t bring myself to argue with her about where our home is now because it’s definitely not there anymore.

The cab comes to stop in front of The Coffee Cake Café, and I hop out excited to see my parents, leaving all the depressing thoughts behind me for the moment.

As I open the door, the jingle alerting the entrance of a customer brings their eyes to me.

“Welcome in to… to… Kora?!” Tears fill my mom’s eyes, and she rushes around the corner with my dad. Within seconds of being in the door we’re all squished together in a tight hug.

“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be out exploring the great unknown.” My dad pulls away to look at me with a huge smile on his face.

“Well, clearly, you guys needed me here. So, I came back to help with this whole mess. I mean, it is mostly my fault since it’s my crazy ex that’s causing you these issues.” Thinking of Mandi made my blood boil, and it was everything I could do to suppress a growl. I’ll need to work on that if I’m going to hide what I am now.

My mom’s voice yanks me back to the present. “You didn’t need to do that; we were going to figure it out somehow.”

Before she could continue, I held my hand up to stop the conversation. “No. This really is mostly on me even if it’s not directly. So, please, if you want to do anything for me, accept what I’m about to give you.” With that, I open my back and show them the contents; the stacks of hundred-dollar bills stare them in the face.

“Kora, where did you get all of this? You haven’t done anything illegal have you?”

My mom smacks my dad for even asking me something like that, but I quickly think of a lie, so they don’t worry. “I know you guys told me to never gamble, because it’s like throwing away money, but I went to my first casino with Lindsey and, of course, we both had been drinking. I put all of what you guys gave me into a bet and won. There’s literally thirty thousand dollars here and it doesn’t even include the money you guys gave me to travel with. With this and that, I felt like we should be able to get the lawyer paid off and get everything back to normal.”

Silence envelopes us for several seconds before my tears start streaming down my dad’s face. Not once can I remember ever seeing him cry and I’m completely stunned.

“A dad could not ask for a better daughter.” Those were the only words he could get out before crushing me back into a hug.

The rest of the day went by pretty fast. They needed forty-five thousand out of the fifty thousand I had at my disposal, and I gladly gave it to them. Dad called the attorney, and the sleaze ball was at the café in half an hour to pick up the money. Once all of that was taken care of, we went back to my parent’s house to enjoy a home cooked meal.

“Well, how long do you plan on being back in the states, Kora?” My dad’s barely understandable question came between noodle slurping. Mom had made spaghetti, one of both mine and my dad’s favorite meals.

“Not sure. Probably a while.” I shrug in response and try not to make a big deal out of my staying.

My response earns me a concerned look from both of them, but neither say anything. Instead, mom gets up and goes into the offer. She soon returns holding my regular cell phone.

“If you’re going to be here for a bit, you should take this back. The satellite phone is expensive and should only be used when you’re not here.” She smiles and hands me my phone. I quickly start powering it up. As soon as the screen loads, my phone starts blowing up. There are over a hundred missed calls and over a hundred text messages. Lindsey is responsible for some, but the majority are Samara. Before I can even clear the missed calls and messages, the phone rings and it’s Lindsey.

“Excuse me for a second. I’m going to see how Lindsey’s doing.” My parents smile and nod as I quickly step outside to answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Kora! Why the hell did you leave? Samara tore the castle apart looking for you and the pack in a frenzy right now.”

“Lindsey, stop. The pack is no longer my concern. Samara has a chosen mate, and I did what was best for me. Enjoy your mate, you got a really good one. My plan is to start over and just do the best I can with my circumstances.”

“You can’t be where humans are. It’s literally forbidden. You need to come back, Kora.”

“No, I don’t. I’ll do what I need to do for myself. Good luck, Lindsey. I love you and I want you to know you were more then just a best friend to me; you were like a sister.” Before she can respond, I end the call and quickly power the phone off. Until I can get my number changed, I won’t be turning it back on. My eyes begin to water at the thought of not talking to Lindsey again, but I know I don’t have a lot of other choices. I quickly dry my eyes and head back in to finish dinner.

Dinner goes by and soon, we’re all parting ways for bed. I head towards my old room, my feet dragging from exhaustion and this weakness infecting my body. As soon as I hit the bed, I’m out like a light. 

“Hurry up and inject her. Her wolf has probably already sensed us, and we need to get moving.” My eyes groggily try to open, but I’m greeted by a small pain in my neck.

“Leave the note for her parents like we were instructed and let’s get out of here.” Hushed whispers quickly fade, and I fall into a dreamless black hole.

“Hurry up and inject her again. This is a long flight and she’ll be fully coherent in about thirty minutes if we don’t.” Again, the same pain in my neck is felt and the blackness begins to take over.

“Hopefully, now the Alpha will lift our punishment for bringing her here. Thank the Goddess we even got this opportunity to return her.”

“It’s not even our fault though. She used her Luna command! It’s not like we could disobey her.”

The two voices continue talking, but they soon become unintelligible as whatever I’ve been injected with takes control. . 

“We only have about an hour, and we’ll have The Queen Luna standing in the throne room. Let’s do a quarter dose to be sure she doesn’t fully wake up before planned.” Pain shoots through my neck, but I’ve come to accept it. There’s nothing I can do in this state and Arezu feels unreachable. I heard them say the throne room. That means I’m headed back to the pack, back to face Samara. Facing my mate wasn’t something I planned to do again, but since I have to, I guess this will be the time to cut the ties. I’ll reject her so she’ll stop chasing me and finish her bonding with her chosen mate. That’s what I’ll do. As soon as I see her…