The Luna Who was Spoiled Chapter 04

The Luna Who was Spoiled Chapter 04

“Did I… did I go too far just now?” Liam stopped a short distance from my empty hut. The other two stared at him. “Don’t look at me like that,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “It’s just… she didn’t look right. The way she acted back then…”

Finn said nothing, but his eye began to twitch. He thought of the cold, messy emptiness of Zoe’s hut, of the she-wolf’s slouched shoulders. A pang of regret started to gnaw at him.

The silence stretched between them.

“Did we… go too far?” Caleb’s voice came from behind.

At last, they had to face the question they had been avoiding all along.

Liam lashed out at a nearby tree, its bark splintering under his kick. He whirled around, his eyes blazing with a mix of anger and guilt. “This is all your fault! All of you! This whole stupid plan, ‘teach her a lesson’, make her more independent, make her appreciate us! And I get to play the damn villain!”

He paced back and forth, then stopped short, staring at his hands, the very same hands that had clamped around my neck. His voice dropped to a whisper. “What if she… what if she never forgives me?”

“The drawing is today!” Liam’s voice was thick with panic. “If her name is picked, if she’s given to the mermen… I have to go back! I have to talk to her!”

Finn grabbed his arm. “The Alpha would never allow his own daughter be chosen.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Liam roared, yanking free. “This ends today! I’ve had enough of this farce!”

They exchanged a look, a silent understanding passing between them. The plan had failed. It was time to end it.

The tension eased a little. Caleb’s tone softened too. “Liam, it’s your turn tonight to help Evelyn test that new fever medicine. You’ve been off the grid.”

Liam pulled a face but nodded. Their plan had been simple. They would pretend to be Evelyn’s mates, making Zoe realize what she was losing. In return, they would do things for Evelyn, including testing her remedies.

Beneath her gentle exterior, Evelyn was sharp-witted. She had warned them.

“You want her to stand on her own, to cherish you. I understand that. But from her perspective, the people she trusts the most just pushed her off a cliff. I don’t mind helping as much as I can, but are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

They hadn’t listened then. Now, they were starting to understand.

The morning of the drawing was cold and gray. Before Liam even reached my hut, he saw a figure huddled on the steps. It was Finn, curled in on himself with his knees pulled to his chest, a thin layer of frost dusting his hair and shoulders. He had been there all night.

Liam stepped forward. “You’ve been waiting out here?”

Finn did not look up. He just jerked his head toward the side of the hut. There, stacked neatly against the wall, was a pile of firewood large enough to last a she-wolf the entire winter. Caleb was the last to arrive. He frowned at Finn, who was standing beside the wood pile.
“You chopped wood in the middle of the night!”

Finn spoke at last, his voice hoarse. “Couldn’t sleep.”

Liam glared at him fiercely, his anger flaring. “Now you’re the good guy, huh? Sneaking around behind our backs to win Zoe over?”

“I didn’t go in.” Finn said quietly. “I just… chopped some wood.”

He had only thought Zoe looked cold yesterday. Now the taste of regret was bitter in his mouth. If only he had stacked the firewood before he left…

Caleb restrained Liam. With a sigh, he said, “Enough. We need to find Zoe and fix this. That’s what matters now.”

The three of them stood at the hut’s door, suddenly hesitant. Who would knock? Who would face Zoe first? What if Zoe was still angry? What if she started crying?

Liam pushed past them impatiently. “I’ll do it!”

He took a deep breath and rapped his knuckles on the door. “Zoe? Are you awake?”

Silence.

He knocked again, harder this time. Still no answer. A cold dread seeped into them. Exchanging a glance, they pushed the door open.

The hut was empty, and in disarray.