FAKING LUNA

Chapter One

The bass in Club Eclipse was so loud it felt Daphne's ears were about to burst open. Stroble lights hung over the packed dance floor painting everything in neon purple and red flashes. The air smelled like expensive cologne, vodka, and the unmistakable tang of sweaty werewolves acting like they were in heat.

Now this was the perfect hunting ground for unfaithful mates.

Daphne leaned against the VIP balcony railing her black leather jacket open just enough to show the silver dagger strapped between her breasts. Her dark auburn hair was twisted into a messy knot that looked effortless but had taken twenty minutes and seventeen bobby pins to get it that way. She wore ripped jeans, combat boots, and an expression that said she’d bite your throat out and apologize later.

Downstairs, the crowd parted like the Red Sea whenever a Blackthorn wolf walked through. Money, power... centuries of pure bloodline tended to do that.

And there, in the corner booth with a glass of wine twirling between his fingers sat her target for tonight.

Sebastian Nightwalker. Thirty four years old, heir presumptive Nightwalker pack fortune. He's been mated for eight years to a sweet little omega named Clara who baked cookies for the pack pups and still left loving notes in Sebastian’s lunch whenever he bothered to show his face at home.

Tonight, Sebastian’s tongue was currently down the throat of a blonde wearing nothing more than glitter and a teasing seductive smile on her fake lips. The blonde who Daphne had already tagged her as “Candy Sparkles” in her notes was grinding on Sebastian’s lap like she was in preheat and Mr Seb here was the only one who could give her a decent enough dicking down.

Daphne’s lip curled in repulsion at the sight. She sighed with a roll of her eyes, "Men really are trash." She muttered, lifting her phone. The zoom on her camera was military grade. She’d paid a witch in New Orleans an obscene amount for the enchantment that let it record crystal-clear video even in the dark, with audio sharp enough to catch whispered dirty talk from twenty yards away.

Click.

Sebastians hands had found their way around Candy Sparkle's neck, deeping the kiss.

Click.

His hands now rested on her thighs.

Click.

Now those same hands slid under Candy’s skirt causing her to moan loud enough that even over the loud club music, Daphne's phone was bale to pick it up with no issue.

Jackpot.

A victorious smirk crossed her features as she prepared to take one last picture. “Smile for the camera, asshole,” Daphne whispered, lips twitching into a feral grin.

She was just panning down to get the money shot (literally) when a shadow fell over her.

Too big. Too quiet. And way too late to run.

A hand harder than steel clamped down around her wrist.

"Drop the phone, little rogue." A voice growled against her ear, low, rough and too close for comfort.

Every hair on Daphne’s body stood up. Not from fear. Not necessarily, it was because she recognized that voice. The voice that belonged to nightmares and wet dreams in equal measure.

Slowly, she turned her head.

Nikolai Nightwalker stood behind her, all six-foot-six of brooding, scarred, stupidly handsome menace, Sebastian’s older cousin.

The Nightwalker pack’s enforcer. The wolf who’d once ripped an entire rogue pack apart with his bare hands for looking at his territory wrong was standing behind her, looking down at Daphne like he was deciding which part of her to break first.

His eyes were molten gold under the club lights, pupils blown wide with barely-leashed fury. A jagged scar ran from his left eyebrow to the corner of his mouth (rumor said he’d gotten it protecting the Alpha when they were sixteen) Yet did nothing to ruin his face. If anything, it made him look 10x more sexy than every man in that club joined together.

Daphne smiled, slow and sharp. “Nikolai. Fancy meeting you here. Come to sample the glitter buffet?”

His grip tightened until it felt like he'd actually break her wrist, if not disintegrate it. “You’re filming my cousin.”

“I see you're quiet the observant one.” She chuckled nervously as she tried to yank her wrist free to no avail.

She frowns, “Personal space is a thing, big guy. Why don't you let me go for now and we'll talk about this like civilized human beings.”

“You’re extorting my family.”

“No, that's not what this is. I prefer the term freelance justice. Catching cheating mates pay my rent.” She tilted her head, letting her hair fall across one eye. “You gonna arrest me, or just keep manhandling me in front of everyone here. Because some of us like that kind of thing, but I usually require dinner first.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. His scent, a mix of pine forests, gunpowder, and something darker flooded her senses, thick and overwhelming. Her stupid wolf sat up inside her chest and whined loudly.

Nikolai leaned in until his lips almost brushed her ear. “You have three seconds to delete that video.”

“Or what?” she breathed. “You’ll growl at me to death?”

“One.”

Daphne rolled her eyes. "I mean what's the worst he can really do." She thought. She already knew the answer but she couldn't fold so fast just cause he was a Nightwalker.

“Two.”

She glanced over his shoulder. Sebastian was now motorboating Candy’s silicone masterpieces.

“Three,” Nikolai said, and moved so fast he almost gave her whiplash. One second she was standing, the next her back hit the wall, phone ripped from her hand, both wrists pinned above her head in one of his. The balcony railing dug into her spine. Somewhere below, people were starting to notice the commotion, but nobody dared intervene.

Everyone knew better than to get in his way.

He held her phone up, thumb hovering over delete. “Last chance, Daphne Bright.”

Hearing her full name slip past her lips should've knocked some sense into her head, but she wasn't Daphne Bright if she wasn't a headstrong stubborn b***h.

She smirked. “You first, Nightwalker.”

Then she kneed him in the balls.

Or she would have, if he hadn’t shifted his weight at the last second. Her knee glanced off his thigh instead. He didn’t even flinch leaving her standing there in quickly growing embarrassment.

“Predictable,” he muttered.

“Oh, f**k off.” she shot back.

His eyes narrowed. “You’ve been hunting my pack for six months. Sebastian. Marcus. That beta from the west coast last week. All of them were married and all of them caught with their pants down. By you.”

Daphne fluttered her lashes. “I’m an entrepreneur. You demand my services and I supply them."

“You’re a parasite.”

“Ouch. Words hurt, Nikolai.” She twisted her wrists. Still he didn't budge. Damn, why did he have to be so f*****g strong. “Tell you what. Give me back my phone and I’ll delete the video. I promise, scouts honor.”

“You were never a scout.”

“And how would you know that. You stalking me Mr Nightwalker?” She leaned forward until their noses almost touched. “Are you secretly obsessed with me ot something? You wanna lock me up? You gonna cuff me, big bad wolf? Because I’ve got a pair in my back pocket if you’re into that.”

Something feral flashed in his eyes. His grip shifted, thumb brushing the inside of her wrist, right over her pulse. Her heart was already racing in her chest and she hated that fact enough, she didn't need him knowing that every word falling from her own mouth was affecting her as well.

“Let me go,” Daphne said quietly. “Or I'll scream and every phone in this club will starts recording the Nightwalker pack enforcer assaulting a helpless rogue female. How’s that for headlines?”

His growl rumbled through her bones. “You are the least helpless female I’ve ever met.”

“Flattery won't help you get out of this one.”

For a second, neither of them moved. The music throbbed around them, the lights danced over their skin till Daphne became painfully aware of every place their bodies touched: his hips pinning hers, his chest brushing hers with every breath, the heat of him searing through her jacket.

Then Sebastian’s voice slurred from below. “Nikolai! You coming or what? Candy brought a friend!”

And just like that the spell shattered. Nikolai’s head snapped toward the booth, disgust flashing across his face for a brief second.

Daphne used the distraction to her advantage and slammed her forehead into his nose. Blood sprayed over both of them and he staggered back half a step. That alone gave her the right amount of time she needed to snatch her phone from his loosened grip, push it into her bra and make a run for the railing. She vaulted off it and landed catlike on the dance floor ten feet below.

Daphne didn’t look back as she shoved through the crowd of screaming people, in which half had already taken out their phones to record the whole thing. The exit was twenty feet away. Fifteen. Ten—

A roar shook the entire building.

Every wolf in the club froze, Daphne included. She risked one glance over her shoulder to see Nikolai on the balcony, blood streaming down his nose. His eyes had gone full on Alpha gold, and his scent laced with an undertone of rage filled the room.

His power rolled out like a shockwave, slamming dancers to their knees. She should've been scared for her life, dropping to the ground like everyone else but instead Daphne grinned, flipped him the bird, and bolted through the emergency exit into the night.

Cold air hit her face.

Alleyway. Dumpsters. Freedom... She had made it out.

She sprinted left toward where she’d parked her bike when a blur tackled her from the side.

She hit the pavement hard, all the air from her lungs leaving with the force of a harsh gasp. Nikolai rolled them until she was pinned beneath two hundred and fifty pounds of furious Alpha.

“Got you,” he snarled, teeth fully extended now, fangs glinting.

Daphne laughed, breathless and wild. “Took you long enough.”

He yanked her arms behind her back, and clasped a cold metal around her wrists. He'd actually hand cuffed her. Part of her was questionable excited and the other part couldn't belive he walked around with handcuffs in his pants.

“You’re under arrest.” he pressed down against her body, and said against her ear.

“Finally,” she purred. “Buy me dinner first next time.”

He hauled her up by the cuffs, ignoring her wince. Only then did she realize that he'd hand cuffed them together. Kinky.

Sirens wailed in the distance, she couldn't belive someone had dared to call the cops on her for something so trivial.

Nikolai dragged her toward a black SUV idling at the alley’s mouth. Two of his enforcers stood beside it, trying not to look embarrassed that their boss was bleeding from the face.

“Keys,” he barked.

One enforcer tossed them over.

Nikolai opened the back door and shoved Daphne inside. She landed across the leather seat, wrists twisted painfully. He climbed in after her, slamming the door.

The SUV peeled away before he even had his seatbelt on.

Daphne twisted to sit up, blowing hair out of her face. “So. Kidnapping now? That’s a new low, even for you.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

He turned in the seat, eyes still glowing, blood drying on his upper lip. “You broke my nose.”

“You’ll live. Werewolves heal pretty fast,” She smirked. “Besides, it was crooked anyway. I did you a favor.”

A deafening silence stretched between them as they held eye contact, none breaking the tense atmosphere first. Then, so quietly she almost missed it she hears him say, “You’re going to regret this, little rogue.”

Daphne met his stare, heart pounding for reasons she didn’t want to examine.

“Looking forward to it,” she muttered, eyes trailing over every aspect of his hardened face.

The SUV sped through the night, taking her to god knows where. And in the rearview mirror, Daphne saw Nikolai wipe the blood from his face with the back of his hand never once breaking eye contact with her.

She smiled slowly to herself.

This was going to be fun.