A Luna's True Mate

Chapter 10: Her Past

-Lauren-

The music blares all around me. The underground club Tobias and his friends have snuck me into is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. No one here wears long dresses or holds champagne glasses.

Instead, they move freely, grinding against each other, running their hands up and down their bodies, and surrendering to the music as if they’re unburdened by the world’s chains.

I watch, mesmerized, while Tobias tightly grips my hand, ensuring I don’t get lost in the crowd as we make our way to the bar. Lights flash everywhere, casting patterns over our group and the people around us.

I glance at Tobias, enamored by the sight of him. He looks perfectly at home in this environment. This is his element, I conclude. I could never picture him in my world, wearing a suit and sipping champagne while making small talk with people he couldn’t stand.

The thought amuses me, and Tobias notices.

“Why are you smiling, little luna?” he leans down and whispers in my ear.

“Oh, no reason. I just think this is your scene,” I respond.

“My scene?” he queries.

I nod, though he appears puzzled. I plant a kiss on his cheek, causing him to soften. His eyes gleam with love, and I bite my lip.

“Three months,” he says.

“What?” I strain to hear over the music, so he leans in closer.

“Three months, and you’re mine,” he growls in my ear before gently nipping at my lobe. “And then I won’t be holding back.”

His words warm my entire body, and I gasp a little as he leads me to the bar where the others are waiting. They already have drinks and shots lined up for us.

“We thought we had lost you,” Ren, Tobias’s best friend, says.

He winks at me, and I just chuckle as I reach for one of the shot glasses, but Tobias takes it from me.

“Seriously?” I ask him.

“When you’re eighteen,” he says, downing his own drink.

“You do know I have been drinking for a long time now. I’m not such a good little luna as you all think.”

“Aaah, you hear that?” Grace says beside me. “We got a bad luna with us!”

That makes everyone chuckle, even me.

“Exactly!” I just say.

“Come, let’s dance!”

Grace and the other females drag me onto the dance floor away from the males, and we quickly start to move to the music. It is so different from the stiff dances my mother forced me to learn even when I was a kid and hated all that time that I wasted on it.

I became good at it, though, but this is definitely more my style. I love the way we dance, and soon the others start to move against me, hands on hips and bodies pressed against each other as we follow the music.

Soon I feel Grace move away from my back, and Tobias takes her place. I know instantly that it is him because when his hands come around me, landing on my hips, everything in me just gets heightened.

I feel his touch ten times stronger than I have ever felt anything. He turns me, and I place my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a hot and long kiss. He pulls away, and I see his eyes shine yellow.

“I can’t think straight when you do that,” he whispers in my ear. “I want you so badly I can barely control myself.

I smile and kiss him again, just to tease him, and his hands land on my ass, squeezing tightly. It makes me moan, and Tobias grinds me against him. F*ck, I’m losing my breath.

I can barely focus when he does it. It is unbelievable the effect he has on me. We can barely control ourselves. This thing between us is only growing stronger the closer I get to eighteen, and it makes me damn impatient to finally find out if we really are mates.

Suddenly, my phone starts to ring, and I pull back, taking it out of my pocket. Tobias turns me around and starts to kiss my neck.

“Leave it,” he demands.

“I can’t," I say.

I see it is my father calling.

“My dad…”

“Will not miss you,” he cuts in.

I know he does not mean anything bad by it, but he really does not know how true his words truly are. I know my dad sees me as one thing, and that is a means to an end—to get me mated to someone who is a strong alpha. That’s about it. He had no sons himself, and I know I am a disappointment to him.

“Just a moment,” I say and push Tobias away.

I quickly move through the crowd and over to where the bathrooms are, so I can talk with my dad. I know if I let it ring, he will just continue to call me.

“Hello?”

“Lauren! Lauren, where the hell are you?!” he snaps.

I sigh and try my best to keep the music from going through the speaker so he can’t hear that I lied about being with Rosetta today. I bet she told my father because she does not like that I hang out with these people, and even though we call each other friends, we are not.

“With my friend, I told you,” I respond.

“I called Rosetta because I needed to discuss something with you. She told me the truth," he reveals.

What a friend… I thought.

“Dad, I…” I begin.

“Are you with those people again? Are you hanging out with lone wolves?!”

“Dad, they are not—"

“They are beneath you, Lauren! You are a LUNA, they will never be at your level!” he shouts into the phone.

“Dad, I don’t care about status! You know I don’t. I like them! They are great people!”

“And that male too?”

“Tobias?”

My dad already knows about Tobias. I can keep nothing a secret from him, and he often has me watched. He told me not to see him or any of the others again, but I did not listen. I refuse to listen.

“Yes! I told you I never want you to see him again!” he yells.

“Dad, I love him!”

“You’re a child! You don’t know what love is.”

“I will not stop seeing him!” I declare.

“Lauren, you are coming home right now!”

“No!”

“Lauren, don’t make me come get you!” he shouts.

“Dad, I would love to see you try, because I am not going anywhere! I love Tobias, and you can’t stop us from being together!”

“Watch me!”

My dad hangs up, and I shake my head as I stare at the dark screen.

"Wonderful…" I murmur.

I turn around, ready to go back, but Tobias has now appeared at the end of the hallway. He walks closer, his hands in his pockets.

“You heard all of that?” I ask.

He nods. “I did.”

“Oh…”

“You want to be with me?” he asks.

“Have I not made that clear?” I inquire.

He nods.

“But now you made it clear to your dad as well,” he says. “That changes a lot of things.”

“Because he will try to stop us?” I ask.

Tobias chuckles a little and nods as he pulls me closer. “That too, but also now I know how serious you are.”

“You thought I wasn’t?” I inquire, worried.

“Your dad is very controlling. I might have been a little afraid you would back out.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and shake my head.

“Never,” I tell him. “I want you and only you.”

Tobias smiles and leans closer to kiss me.

“I love you, my bad little luna.”