The Forgotten Luna

Chapter 5

Unknown

She was happy.

That was the first thing I noticed.

Arielle was always beautiful, but there was something different about her when she was with Joss.

She smiled more.

Laughed more.

She looked at him as though he were the centre of her entire world.

I guess being her fated mate, he was.

I hated it.

I stood among the trees at the edge of the forest, watching the house in the distance.

Her house.

Their house.

I had watched it for months.

I knew her routines.

I knew when she left in the morning.

I knew when she returned.

I knew where she liked to walk.

I knew which evenings she spent with Joss and which ones she spent with her friends.

I knew more about Arielle than the man she called her mate ever could.

And yet she still smiled at him like he was the only male in existence.

My hands tightened into fists.

He didn’t deserve her.

He had no idea how precious she was.

No idea how long I had watched her.

No idea how many times I had stood in the darkness, looking toward that house and imagining what it would be like to have her there with me.

But I knew.

I knew exactly what I wanted.

Her.

Not temporarily.

Not for a night.

Forever.

My eyes remained fixed on the house.

Earlier, I had watched them return from their run.

They had been laughing.

Joss had touched her back as they walked toward the house, and Arielle had looked up at him with that same smile.

That smile should have been mine.

Everything about her should have been mine.

I had tried to convince myself that perhaps she didn’t really love him.

Perhaps she was simply comfortable with him.

Perhaps she had been fooled into believing he was her perfect mate.

But the longer I watched them, the harder that lie became to believe.

She loved him.

And that made things complicated.

I wasn’t jealous of Joss because he was stronger than me.

He wasn’t.

I wasn’t jealous because he was more handsome.

He wasn’t.

I was jealous because he had something that should have belonged to me.

Arielle’s heart.

I looked toward the house again.

The lights in the lounge room were glowing warmly against the darkness.

I could almost picture her inside.

Curled against Joss.

Safe in his arms.

Thinking about how perfect her life was.

I smiled bitterly.

Perfect.

She really believed that, didn’t she?

She had no idea what was coming.

No idea that everything she thought she knew was about to change.

Tomorrow was the party.

The entire pack would be there.

The Alpha of Golden Fern would be there.

Joss would be busy entertaining his guests.

Arielle would be busy making sure everything was perfect.

And I would be there too.

She wouldn’t know me.

Not yet.

But she would see me.

She would feel my presence.

And once she did, things would never be the same again.

I had waited patiently.

I could wait a little longer.

After all, I had spent months watching her from the shadows.

One more night wouldn’t hurt.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at the house.

Soon, Arielle.

Very soon.

You will understand.

You were never meant to belong to him.

You were meant to be mine.

And tomorrow, I was going to take the first step toward making sure you finally became exactly that.

Mine.