The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story

Chapter 0321

Nicholas

A late night knock rattled my door, rousing me from my sleep. I groaned, threw my arm over

my eyes, and turned over, ready to ignore it.

But then it came again, louder.

Sighing, I lowered my arm and checked my clock. Midnight.

Who could be trying to reach me now?

My heart immediately jumped into my throat. Piper.

Who else would visit me this late? Unannounced?

Perhaps she had changed her mind about pushing the distance between us. Maybe she wanted me to

hold her again. Go d, I couldn’t wait to feel her in my arms once more.

In a rush, I threw back my blankets and hopped from my bed. At the door, I wasted no time in drawing it

open.

When I saw Piper there, a sense of relief surged through me so fully, I nearly toppled over. My knees

went weak. My heart thundered out of control.

“Piper,” I said.

At once, she pounced toward me, jumping straight into my willing arms. She wrapped her own arms

around my neck, and h ooked her legs around my waist. Her mouth found mine, latching on for a

passionate kiss.

She was being more aggressive than usual, demanding where usually she allowed me the lead. But

who was I to deny her? Or to deny myself, when she was all that I ever wanted?

I could be malleable, if this was how she wanted me every now and then. Whatever kept her mouth on

mine and her body pressed against me.

Go d, I had missed her so much, I had felt her seeped down into my very bones. Her name was carved

along my ribs, I was certain. Her voice, her mouth, her body, everything about her was seared into my

heart.

I couldn’t exist without my want of her, my love.

Which was why I felt so confused when my soul, which usually burned brightly in her

presence, felt more unsure than happy.

In the back of my mind, my wolf began to growl – not with its usual possessive intent, but with

something darker… something warning…

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Piper’s hands slipped into the space between us. She was undressing herself.

“Whoa,” I said, breaking the kiss. “Slow down, Piper. It’s okay. I’m here, we’ve got all night.” Piper

shook her head. “Want you,” she said, voice rough.

No, this felt like too big a difference from the last time I had seen her. Was that why my wolf was

unhappy? We needed to make sure this was what she truly wanted, and she wasn’t just acting

because she thought I wanted this.

“No. We need to talk first.” I tried to lower her down, but her legs wouldn’t release from around me.

“Piper?”

I looked up at her, desperate to know her expression. What I saw there sent a violent shiver through

me.

You stu pid as shole, I thought at myself, hating myself in that moment.

Piper – no, Jane – wrapped a collar around

—

my neck.

Knowing this wasn’t Piper, I dropped her and stumbled backwards. Jane landed on her feet like I had

barely inconvenienced her. A sharp smirk quirked one corner of her mouth.

I tugged at the collar but it wouldn’t budge. “What is this?”

“Be a good little dog, and sit,” Jane said. Shame went through me. How could I ever think this vile

woman with her sharp, vindictive voice could ever be my beautiful and kind Piper?

Jane’s command sent a zip of pain shooting through my body. I grit my teeth, not wanting to show

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weakness.

“Is this how you mean to play?” she asked. “You think you can fight one of the strongest anti -werewolf

measures in the underground?”

A magical collar? Designed to debilitate a werewolf?

“You will not control me,” I growled. My wolf itched under the surface of my skin. The collar had chained

him back, but we both fought against those binds. The collar was powerful magic, but we would not go

down without a fight.

“You seemed quite eager to do my bidding up until a moment ago,” she said, and winked.

Disgust churned in my stomach. I’d need a shower to remove her scent. I’d use all the mouthwash in

the kingdom to get the taste of my mouth.

I could do neither of those things now, so I had to settle for staining my floors with her blood.

Roaring against the hold of the collar, I tensed all my muscles and shot forward. She was quick and

darted out of the way.

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“You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?” she teased. “Not when I look so much like your beloved Piper.”

“You are nothing like her!” I growled.

She lifted her chin. “We wear the same face, you oaf. That had been more than enough for you when

you

kissed me.” She tapped her finger against the side of her mouth as her smile grew. “Do you think Piper

will be upset with that? She’s so fond of you. It would break her little heart.”

Rage grew within me, an ever-burning flame. I would never let her get away with purposefully hurting

Piper.

I lunged for her again. My hands, half claws now, sliced into the meat of her arm. She yelped as she

dodged away before I could take hold.

“You f ucking dog.” Cursing, she rushed to an innocuous part of the wall. There was nothing there, just

a picture of a sailboat and some crown molding.

She reached up, touched part of the sailboat, and an entire door opened right there in that spot on the

wall. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. There hadn’t been any creases in the wall, no

giveaways at all.

This secret passage had been perfectly hidden, even here, in my private rooms. How long had it been

there, sitting unnoticed?

From the new doorway, a score of men dressed in black came pouring out. Members of the

underground organization, most likely.

“Capture him,” Jane gave the orders. “Rough him up if you have to, to make him complacent, but don’t

kill him. Hawk wants the bas t ard alive.” 2

Bas ta rd? I was a prince.

The men started forward, coming closer. They lacked caution. I taught them with sharp tooth and claw

that they should never underestimate a wounded animal.

“How is he shifting?” one of the members asked. “Isn’t the collar working?”

“He’s an Alpha,” Jane said, shoving one of the men forward. “Don’t be such a godd amn coward.”

but a

The da mned collar did limit some of my senses. I could fight off three or four at once, fifth added a

challenge. One landed a solid blow to my jaw that unsteadied me. A sixth shoved me down to my

knees.

They all piled on top of me, containing my arms and legs. A snapped against their hold, biting at

anything I could reach.

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I was caught painfully in a half-way state of shifting. My jaw was extended, my teeth sharp. But I

couldn’t press all the way. It felt as if an invisible wall was holding back.

Jane stepped closer. She seemed positively gleeful as she gazed down at me.

“Why are you doing this?” I demanded, my voice raw, torn between man and wolf. Jane huffed a harsh

laugh. “Why else? My sister loves you. And I want to see her suffer.”

+15 BONUS

Chapter 0322

Julian and I ran all the way to Nichola s’s room. I knocked on the door, but there was no

answer.

“Maybe he’s asleep,” I said.

“See if it’s locked,” Julian said.

I tried the handle. The door opened at once, pushing inward. Together, Julian and I stumbled into the

room. Then, I gasped.

Furniture had been shoved over. The carpet was torn to shreds, like wolf claws had sliced straight

through. There were claw marks etched into the wall.

“He struggled,” Julian said, stepping into the center of the room. He paused, and turned to me. “Do you

feel that?”

“Feel what?”

He lifted his head and looked around. “Magic.”

Now that he mentioned it, now that I knew what to focus on, yes. I could feel it too, like a tingle in the

back of my mind. Or my nose preparing for a sneeze.

“How could this happen?” I asked, wandering around the room. The claw marks seemed to lead toward

a wall, like someone had been dragged there.

Nicholas. What have they done to you?

Then, distantly, muf fled through stone and wood, I heard a wolf howl.

I knew that wolf. I could feel it pull inside of me much like my own had.

But this one didn’t belong to me. It was Nicholas.

“Sh it,” Julian said. “He’s here. Somewhere. There has to be a passage.” Julian went for the bookcase.

I turned back to the wall, where a painting of a sailboat hung.

“There’s nothing there, Piper. Keep searching!”

That didn’t seem right. Visually, I knew I should have been able to see the outlines of a passageway,

especially if it had been recently used. But right now, my heart was pulling me here.

This is the way, it seemed to whisper. This will lead you to Nick.

“Piper, stop wasting time!”

+15 BONUS

I lifted my hand and put it to the wall. It felt sturdy, but under that was the now-familiar tingle of magic.

The passage was here, I was certain of it.

I closed my eyes, and let the pull of my heart lead the way. It compelled me to lift a hand. My fingers

brushed against the brushstrokes of the painting.

I pressed down.

There was a click.

And just like that, a door swung open, revealing an opening right in front of me.

Julian rushed to my side. Disbelief widened his features. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly.

“Well, to hell with it, let’s go.” He nudged me aside so he could enter the passageway first. I followed

him down, down a winding stairwell. It opened up into a room filled with cages.

Nicholas was there in wolf form, a collar tight around his neck. One of the cages had been burst

through, iron bars bent. He snapped wildly at some men in dark clothing who were trying to corner him.

He seemed tired, weakened somehow, in a way I had never seen him before.

“Get to him,” Julian barked at me. “Remove that d amn collar.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Save my brother.”

I’d never seen Julian so angry. His eyes were wild with it. His hands shook, tremoring with barely

contained rage.

He shifted in a blink of an eye, fully human one second, and fully wolf in the next.

Before I could even think to react, he barreled forward. He tackled into two of the men, pushing them

away from his brother and sending them into the wall. They hit it with an oof, and landed in heaps.

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I entered the fray as well, dodging what I could. Julian had already turned around and tackled two

more, clearing a path for me.

I fell to my knees at Nichola s’s side. He inched forward, trying to place himself in front of me. “Nick, let

me help you.”/

He growled at anyone who came to close. He snapped at an arm, a hand. Julian took care of most of

the rest. The collar was an obvious hindrance.

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I grabbed it with both hands. The magic sparkled under my touch, shooting pain up into my arms. I

gasped, but held on. If I could get him free, he would likely regain his strength. I didn’t have a wolf, I

couldn’t save us from this. But he could.

If I could just get him free.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. I released the collar to touch the offender’s wrist

between my hands. Then I twisted, just as Nicholas had shown me in self-defense class. The attacker

stumbled backwards.

I darted forward again, eager to return to Nicholas.

Yet before I could get to his side, someone tackled me, sending me sliding along the ground. No, not a

person, a wolf.

I watched, my eyes widening in horror as a wolf stepped closer to me.

My whole heart shattered.

This was my wolf, a piece of me that had been so violently ripped away and given instead to my sister.

Now, she was using it against me.

Everything hurt. My heart, my soul, the growing bruises from where I’d been shoved to the ground.

My wolf growled at me as it stepped closer.

I knew it, but it didn’t seem to know me. At least, not with Jane so close behind its eyes.

I could feel its closeness, the way its very presence filled up the dark hole that had been tore of out me.

I wished with all my heart that Veronica had been able to find an answer before now. I wished so very

much that I could welcome my wolf back into my person.

But she hadn’t.

And now I faced my wolf head-on, not as a friend, but as an enemy.

Would Jane make it kill me? Could she be that cruel?

I already knew the answer. What better way to kill me than to have my wolf tear out my throat?

Tears welled in my eyes. One escaped, sliding down along the curve of my cheek.

Behind the wolf’s back, I watched as Julian and Nicholas continued to fight off the attackers. Nicholas

was whimpering, wounds all over his body.

It would be up to Julian to save him now. G od, I hoped they would escape.

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No such bright future waited for me.

The wolf stepped closer to me.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m not mad. It’s not your fault.”

I smiled a little, it wobbled from my tears. “I’m here now. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you. To see

you. You must have been so frightened, all alone.”

I tried to remember back. My wolf and I had been close as could be once. It had been so strong, so

bright, and wonderful. It had given me confidence beyond my wildest dreams.

I had felt so low since it had been stolen from me.

“I won’t leave you again,” I said. “We’ll be together… I’ll be with you this time.”

Another tear. “Don’t feel bad.”

Nicholas tried to turn around, toward me, but one of the men gripped him by the collar and yanked him

toward a new cage.

Julian had his hands full, fighting off the rest, some of which wielded cattle pr ods.

The princes had to survive. It didn’t matter what happened to me.

“Just let them go.

Please…”

My wolf took a step. Snarling, it lifted its lips away from its teeth.

I closed my eyes, breath in tatters, and tried to accept my fate.

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