THE PROXY LUNA

OLIVIA

"Feel at ease, Princess."

The words slithered across Alpha Vulcan's study like ice, and Olivia felt every hair on her body stand up.

They had just returned from the dungeon where Luna Michelle, the Luna of Silvermoon Pack, handed Olivia over to Alpha Vulcan in place of Paula, her daughter.

Olivia wasn't Paula Woodridge. She was Olivia Hawthorne!

But who cared?

If she even said it out loud, her mother Sanita and little sister Mae would die. Luna Michelle made that very clear on the five-hour drive here.

So here she stood in Alpha Vulcan's study, dressed in rags, trying to breathe.

"Do you know what it means," Vulcan said slowly, "to kill two birds with one stone, Princess?"

The way he said Princess made Olivia's stomach turn.

I'd rather you call me a slut and get it over with, she thought bitterly.

Alpha Vulcan moved toward her with slow, deliberate steps, forcing her to retreat until her back pressed against the wall. Her hands clenched so tightly her nails bit into her palms.

He was towering, easily six foot five, his broad frame casting long shadows. Dark hair fell over his forehead in careless strands, giving him a permanently brooding look. His nose was sharp and pointed, lending his face a predatory edge, while his deep blue eyes locked onto hers with frightening patience.

As he stepped closer, the faint outline of a tattoo stretched across his upper back near his shoulders, barely visible beneath his shirt.

He stopped inches away.

She could smell him. He smelled of pine, smoke, something dark and rich like oud. His scent hit her like a drug and caused her wolf, Yara to wake up.

Yara had been silent the entire trip. Now she was awake, clawing at the inside of Olivia's skull.

What's wrong with you? Olivia snapped. This man just threatened us!

Mate, Yara whimpered. Our mate.

"I'll tell you what it means." His voice dropped lower, sliding over her like silk pulled across a blade. "One bird is giving your father exactly what he did to my mother. The second is making you a legitimate breeder for my heirs."

He leaned in slightly. Olivia stopped breathing.

"And you, Princess, are the stone I'll use to kill both."

Breeder? BREEDER?! Rage flared hot in her chest. Who does he think he is?

Our mate? Yara chimed annoyingly. 

“He's a monster!” Olivia yearned to yell at him, but she swallowed the words before they could escape. Mae's terrified face flashed in her mind. Her mother's trembling hands.

She couldn't afford to fight back. 

"You should respond when spoken to," he said, almost amused. "Or don't you know that?"

Oh, I know plenty. Like how to gut someone with a training blade. She wanted to say.

"I... I'm sorry, your grace."

Her voice cracked and she hated how small she sounded, hated how her father's years of training her to be strong meant nothing when her family's lives hung in the balance.

"Good." 

He paused.

"And here's the plot twist, Princess. You're my mate."

Everything inside Olivia exploded.

Yara surged forward like a tidal wave, slamming against her mind with so much force she gasped out loud.

Mate. Mate. Mate. MATE.

Vulcan let off a deep, hollow laugh that bounced against the windows.

Yara, stop! Olivia pleaded. He's playing us!

Don't care. Want him. NEED him.

Her body betrayed her completely.

Vulcan watched her with cold amusement. Then he reached out.

His hand closed around her chin, firm but not painful. His thumb brushed across her bottom lip, and heat flooded through her.

Her pulse spiked as Yara howled.

"You feel that?" he murmured. "That's the mate bond. You'll feel it every single day you're here. But you'll never experience what it's supposed to be. And you'll never breathe a word to anyone. Understood?"

She wanted to tell him exactly what she thought of him and his threats and his arrogance.

Instead, she nodded. He let go and stepped back.

"The heirs you breed for me? You'll never hold them. Never raise them."

Tears burned her eyes.

"All the hell your father was supposed to go through? You'll bear it for him."

My father was a hero. she thought fiercely, even as tears spilled down her cheeks. He tried to stop the war. He tried to save lives. You don't know anything.

But she said nothing.

"I bet he was saving you for some little alpha." Vulcan tilted his head.

He was right on that. When she turned fourteen, her dad gave her a silver necklace with a yang pendant and the initials V.R. inscribed on it. He said her promised husband had the matching yin pendant and would come for her when she turned eighteen.

She squeezed the pendant in her hand now, the chain broken from the chaos at Silvermoon.

He'll come, she told herself. Dad promised. He'll come and fix this.

"Save the tears for later, Princess."

Vulcan stepped close again, his breath hot against her ear.

"Defy me just once, Princess," he whispered, "and I'll go down to that dungeon and tear your family apart. One by one. Starting with your mother."

It doesn't matter who he thinks is my mother, because both my mother and Luna Michelle were in the dungeon. Olivia shook with fear. 

"I'll make you watch. Then I'll hunt down every single person who shares your father's blood. Every Woodridge who still breathes."

His cold blue eyes bore into hers. "Do you understand?"

I understand that you're a monster!

"Yes, your grace."

"Good. Now let's show the council their new Luna."

Before they could move, someone knocked.

Vulcan's jaw tightened. "Enter."

The door opened. A tall man with honey-blonde hair and an easy grin swept his gaze over Olivia. Beside him stood a woman nearly as tall, dark-blonde hair cropped short, her body honed from training. Her eyes flicked to Olivia, then hardened with open disdain.

"Your grace." They both bowed.

"Liam. Maeve." Vulcan's tone was clipped. "Let's head to the council hall."

He turned and started walking.

Liam fell into step beside him, glancing back at Olivia. "I didn't know Silvermoon had sexy-even-in-rags beauty over there."

Vulcan stopped.

The air shifted immediately. His wolf surged to the surface, a crushing weight pressing down until Olivia couldn't breathe.

They all bowed.

"I'm sorry for speaking thoughtlessly, your grace," Liam said quickly.

It wasn't until they heard Vulcan walk out that they rose. Liam and Maeve followed, and Olivia trailed behind in her rags.

The corridors were endless with stone walls and chandeliers that looked like they existed since the 1800s.

She was exhausted, her feet numb, but she knew better than to complain.

They turned into the South Wing, where the council hall was. 

They arrived in front of massive double doors.

Vulcan stopped as guards bowed and opened the doors.

The sound of hinges mixed with voices from inside made Olivia's stomach drop.

Olivia straightened her shoulders just slightly. Vulcan's threats were terrifying, but she would survive this.

For her family, she would endure anything.