Second Chance Luna: Fated To The Two Cursed Alphas

*The Second Proposal*

Chapter 8

Aurora's POV:

"Marry me," he says. He looks completely normal, calm, composed, and that is the most unsettling part.

First time he said that, I thought he was messing with my head. His words lingered in my head, circling and continued to torture me throughout the last couple of days. Now, here he is spewing the same nonsense.

I stare at him. "You cannot be serious."

Ivar leans casually against the side of the car, his one hand resting on the roof, completely at ease. The headlights from the abandoned vans cast long shadows between the trees.

"Do I look like a clown?" he asks, a faint smile playing on his lips.

I drag a hand down my face and start pacing, gravel crunching beneath my boots.

"Let me understand this," I say, turning back to face him before stopping right in front of him. I tilt my head up slightly to meet his gaze. "You just slaughtered nine panther shifters."

"I did give an ultimatum," he replies in the most casual tone.

"That is not the point." My eyes flick toward the forest. I can still hear it, the sickening sounds of flesh tearing, screams echoing across the forest before going suddenly silent.

I look back at him. "Your solution to this situation is marriage?" I shake my head. "Damn. You're one insane jerk."

Ivar says nothing. His expression is hard as steel. I study him carefully. He doesn't look insane at all, just detached, nonchalant, like he doesn't care about the consequences. A guy like this would've never cared about consequences his whole life. It is almost like the entire night went exactly as he planned.

"You are twice my age," I say, my eyes narrowing. "At that age, one would expect some maturity. Instead I find a man proposing marriage to a stranger in the middle of the night after committing mass murder."

"Would you prefer to be mauled by the shifters instead?"

I throw my hands up and step back. "Repeating it doesn't make the situation any better. It wouldn't even be enough to save me. I owe that damn cult money." I glance toward the forest again. "And of all the things you could have done, you spared one? Knowing he's going to run straight back to his boss?"

Ivar watches me quietly as I start pacing again, slower now, my mind shifting into survival mode. My head continues to spin ferociously as I think of possible ways out. There is none.

"That man will report everything he saw tonight. In detail. And when their leader hears that nine of his men disappeared in one night, he won't call it an accident. He'll call it a declaration of war." I gesture toward the trees. "Panther clans do not forgive losses like that."

I am talking more to myself now.

Panther shifters have spent decades hiding from wolf packs, and other stronger groups, moving from territory to territory. Every member lost weakens them. He just wiped out nine of them like they were nothing.

"You really do not understand what you just started for me," I say, "Now they will hunt whoever did this. They will not stop until they find us."

He meets my gaze without hesitation. "I know."

"You say that like it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't. Not to me." He pauses. "They'll come for you."

I laugh, short and breathless. I cannot believe he is turning this back on me. I didn't ask for his help in the first place—or maybe I did, but I never asked him to kill them!

"Of course. Me." I press a palm to my forehead. "I was already in trouble with them — I owed them money. That was a business problem. This is different. How do I explain that I have nothing to do with you?"

I rub the back of my neck, a heavy sigh escaping my lips. "You set a trap for me on purpose, and now you expect me to take the bait?"

"No." His tone drops, darker now. "I'm giving you a choice."

"A choice." The word comes out exhausted. "I do not need your protection. I've survived without a mate, without a pack, and without my wolf. I can handle myself."

"You don't look like you believe in yourself that much." His expression doesn't change. "They will return."

"Courtesy of you," I snap, turning away.

After a long silence, I ask the question I should have asked a long time ago. "Why should I trust you when you haven't told me what you actually gain from this? This sham marriage?"

"I want something, and so do you. It doesn't matter if we trust each other. We both get what we want in the end."

"That sounds vague."

"It is enough."

I exhale slowly. "Whatever. How do we get back from here?"

"I'll take you."

He climbs in and reaches under the dash, coupling two wires that had been separated. I go still as the realization hits me.

"Earlier, when the car stopped conveniently in the middle of nowhere." I stare at him. "You did that. You sabotaged it."

A smug smile. "I needed you to see the problem."

"You set this whole thing up."

"They were already following you," he counters.

"That doesn't mean you had to help them corner us!" I drop into the seat. "Just take me home."

He starts the engine and the car rolls forward. Neither of us speaks. The quiet inside feels heavier than the forest outside.

Then he breaks it.

"You have one night."

"For what?"

"To decide whether you keep living in the shadows until you're butchered — or take your place as Luna by my side."

I laugh, dry and humorless. "You're a manipulative ass. You engineered this entire nightmare and expect me to reward you with a wedding?"

"If reward is what you'd call it, then yes."

"Fucker," I mutter, pressing my head against the window.

"Once you've made your choice, we get married tomorrow morning," he says, glancing at me briefly. "Or you deal with the consequences alone."

The car slows to a stop at a three-way junction.

"Now that you're likely wanted, I'd advise you to find a new place to stay. Do not go back to that apartment." He looks at me. "Get out."

I turn to face him. "Are you serious right now? Kicking me out?"

After dragging me into all of this, he is pulling over at a junction in the middle of the night and telling me to get out. I search his face for any trace of a joke.

There isn't one.

Something settles heavy in my chest. The man sitting beside me is the only protection powerful enough to stand against the panthers, and the only real path to the revenge I started everything for. At the same time, he has spent this entire night making sure I have no choice but to come back to him.

Before I finish processing any of it, he gets out of the car, walks around to my side, and pulls the door open.

His brow arches as he waits.

"Out."

"Asshole…" I sneer, sliding out of the car. "I hope I never see you again."

He smirks, rolls up the window, and drives off without another word.

I stand there for a moment, staring at the empty road.

My luck must be completely screwed to have a psycho like that on my tail.