The Runaway Luna's Daughter

Find My Mate

“Pumped for tonight?” Elisha's voice came through the phone.

“Sure as hell I am,” Luca replied, his voice laced with mock enthusiasm. “Who knows? Maybe this is the night I find my mate. Yayyy.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Elisha's voice filtered out of the phone.

“You sound excited. Did you…”

“I sure did. I'm bringing her to the festival. I'd like for you to meet her.”

“Can't wait.”

Luca turned as his door opened, closing with a soft thud. “I'll see you then. The Alpha wants a word with me,” he said into the phone.

“Your dad, Luca. Your dad.”

“Whatever,” he cut the call. He turned. “Dad?”

Alpha Ferguson stood at the door, his eyes roving round the room. His feet thudded as he walked to the table where the picture frame of Cora—his mate, Luca’s mum—stayed. He picked it up, his fingers caressing the glass front.

Luca watched his every move with inquisitive eyes. What did he want?

“You know Luca,” his voice reverberated in the room, a low, rumbling hum, his eyes still on the picture, “it's not every wolf that gets a fated mate. Some are lucky to choose on their own,” he dropped the picture as his eyes flicked to Luca. “I say they're lucky because they get to choose who they really want and not whoever the Moon Goddess mates them to.”

Luca's bed creaked as he lowered himself onto it, sitting down.

“Did I ever tell you I had a woman I loved before I was mated to your mother?”

Luca's brows raised as the words left his mouth.

“You never told me.”

He walked to the bed and sat next to him.

“We were young—a little younger than you are—and in love. Or so we thought. We'd already planned how many pups we were going to have, the house we'd live in… everything. But the Moon Goddess had her own plans. I bet she was up there all the while laughing her ass out while we made our plans—wolf proposes, Goddess disposes. Hell, I didn't even know I was going to be Alpha. I just wanted to live, have pups with the she-wolf I loved, everyone and everything else could go to the seven hells for all I cared.” He sighed, shaking his head, his hair bobbing sideways like curtains swaying in the wind.

Luca's face remained calm, expressionless. He stared into his father's face, his eyes glancing away occasionally and back.

“Everything was fine until the Blood-rink festival. That particular one. I remember planning with her to skip the festival to go have some– alone time if you know what I mean,” he looked at Luca. “But, she backed out just before it began. She dragged me back to the rink. The shifting had already begun and I scented your mum as she walked past us in a hurry, towards the woods. I couldn't tell for sure if she scented me too until she turned. Our eyes met, sending different waves of emotions through my body. I could see the desire in her eyes too. Her beautiful, brown eyes. I couldn't resist them. I couldn't stop myself. I abandoned my girlfriend for her.”

“That's cold. Really cold,” Luca quipped, shaking his head. “What happened to her? Your girlfriend.”

“She was mad as hell as I expected but she knew no wolf could resist the pull of the mate bond. She went off and got mated to Darren.”

“Alpha Darren of the Moon Claw pack?” Luca's eyebrows furrowed. “Luna Eva was your ex?! Who would have thought?”

“She was,” Ferguson's calm voice rumbled again. “You know, they have a beautiful daughter, Valerie…” he turned to see Luca’s expression. His face was expressionless.

“You want to mate me with your ex's daughter?” his eyes squinted.

“You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm just giving you options in case you fail to get a mate tonight.”

Fail. That word. Luca knew he wasn't making a suggestion. He might have even already discussed it with Alpha Darren and his Luna. Or maybe only Alpha Darren. Either way was bad. Bad enough for him.

“But hopefully, you get a mate tonight and all this trouble won't be necessary.”

The bed creaked again as he stood, walking to the door. He turned the door knob.

“I mean well for you, Luca. You know I do,” he said before walking out the door, closing the door quietly behind him.

Luca buried his face in his palms as his mind turned into a sea of thoughts. He sighed as he thought about the possibility of mating his father's ex's daughter.

What if he found his fated mate after he'd already mated her? Would he ditch her like his father had her mother? It was going to be the biggest cinematic irony of the century in all of Lupestone.

Mother and daughter rejected by father and son? It was definitely going to make headlines. He needed to find her before any of that happened. His mate that he had sent away. Yes. It would save everyone the stress and betrayal.

“That's the only way,” he muttered to himself.

He was going to find her no matter what it took.