His Possessive Luna

Assignment and Dinner

Chapter 2 — Jane's POV (edited)

Jane is the most beautiful she-wolf alive. She's 5'3", with an hourglass figure and long, silky dark brown hair that reaches her thighs. Her eyes are big, almond-shaped, and sea-green — so intoxicating, it's said, that no one can hold her gaze for more than a few seconds. The Moon Goddess blessed her in every way.

She's seventeen and unmarked, by choice. Being the daughter of one of the most powerful wolves in the pack means not even the Alpha can force her into marking or engagement.

The Green Valley Pack is ancient and respected — our leaders descend from werewolf royalty, which earns us respect everywhere. But years ago, something happened that led to a strange rule: no one in Green Valley is allowed to be with their fated mate. After the first shift, every wolf either chooses a mate within the pack or is engaged to another pack to secure an alliance.

True mates are rare now — almost nonexistent — so most people don't mind the rule much.

My friends arrive at my house in the afternoon and we start the assignment. It doesn't take long — Ray, Amelia, and I already have everything we need. Jo, predictably, has done nothing. She's never been a good student; she just gets lucky every exam.

Afterward, over snacks and Netflix, the conversation drifts to relationships. After graduation, Ray and Amelia will shift with their mates and live with them for life — and neither of them seems happy about it. I feel for them. You shouldn't have to spend your life with someone you don't love.

Not that I believe in love, exactly. I'm more impressed by looks and personality, and their mates are lacking in both — and not even rich. I know how that sounds, but you have to fixate on something if you can't love the person.

Almost everyone in my class has a crush on someone except me, which makes me wonder if something's wrong with me. It's not that I dislike people — I just have an exact picture of who I want, and it happens to be impossible to find: 6'2", devastatingly good-looking, chiseled, rich, and an Alpha. Nothing less will do.

Materialistic, sure. But we all want something in our other half. My friends had their own versions of that dream, shattered the moment they were marked at sixteen.

I'm seventeen and haven't shifted yet. It's considered normal for our bloodline, though the bloodline's thinned enough that some relatives are starting to worry. What if I never shift? Do I stay weak forever, untrained, an outcast? I'll find out on my eighteenth birthday — or I'm in real trouble.

We finish the assignment, then spend two hours gossiping before landing on the upcoming Claiming Ceremony — where every unmated adult wolf claims a partner. It happens every four years, hosted by a different pack each time, and this year it's ours. My friends, already marked, are excited anyway — mostly because half the world's single Alphas and Betas will be there looking for mates and alliances.

I call everyone in for dinner. Mance and his family are here tonight. I like his parents — warm, easy people — but Mance himself is the most irritating person alive. I don't know what convinces him we'll end up together, but he's constantly possessive, like he already owns some part of me.

He sits next to me. "Finished your assignment?" — like he actually cares about grades. "Glad it's almost over. We're graduating, no more high school," he says, thrilled, as if the world is waiting to embrace him.

Mance is the textbook macho type — ego bigger than his body, convinced he's always right despite grades that say otherwise. I tolerate him for the sake of family. I still remember how jealous he got seeing me talk to some guy in class — I loved every second of his face falling, and now I do it on purpose whenever he gets unbearable.

"Aww, you two look so good together," says Mrs. Summer, Mance's mother, still pushing the idea of us marrying. My parents clearly hate it.

"They look more like siblings — people mix them up all the time," Mom says quickly, shutting the topic down before it can grow legs.

I bite back a laugh. No one has ever mistaken us for siblings. We're opposites in every way. But Mom just wants the subject dead.

Dinner ends, and I escape to my room while our parents talk about the Ceremony — and the fact that the Blood Moon Pack will attend. As the name suggests, they're the most dangerous, powerful, wealthy, and ruthless pack alive. Their Alpha, twenty-four and unmated, will be looking for a mate too.

Our pack once had good ties with Blood Moon, but that changed generations ago, under the leadership of the current Alpha's father and grandfather. They wanted absolute power — the pack that rules all others — and they've mostly gotten it. Every pack is either under them or allied with them.

No one dares oppose them, partly because their rise to power came at our expense, which weakened our old alliance permanently.

Our own pack descends from royalty, and every hundred years, a Rare One was born into the line — marked by sea-green eyes and pure white fur. Rare Ones could heal, control the elements, shield entire packs from supernatural threats, and commanded submission through sheer Alpha aura. That's why our bloodline still carries such powerful auras.

Most Rare Ones were male, which is part of why our pack became so respected. After the last male Rare One died, none were born for nearly three hundred years — until Catherine White arrived. The most beautiful she-wolf ever born, and one of the most powerful Rare Ones in our history. On her sixteenth birthday, it was discovered she was the fated mate of the Blood Moon Alpha of that era, and she left with him.

Elders protested, but no one had the nerve to openly defy Blood Moon. The union made them stronger than ever. No Rare One has been born since — some say because the bloodline weakened through interpack marriage, others say the Moon Goddess withdrew her blessing after Catherine chose her mate over her pack.

Catherine's "crime" — choosing her fated mate — is the reason our pack banned fated-mate unions five hundred years ago. And ever since, we've lost power and standing, though no one seems to connect the dots: maybe the Goddess is still angry we rejected her gift.

It's been decades since anyone in Green Valley found a fated mate. They're effectively extinct here. That's why mates are chosen for alliances, or by parents, or by the wolves themselves during the Claiming.

Dad and Mr. Summers, our pack's Gamma, are deep in security planning for the Ceremony — border patrols, manpower, all of it. With so many important wolves arriving, the responsibility is enormous, and Dad will be buried in work for the next five weeks. I hate that he carries all of it while Uncle James mostly gives speeches. Dad needs to slow down. The whole pack runs on him, and it wouldn't survive a day without him — not with an Alpha this hands-off.