Luna POV
Luna couldn't think straight.
She'd left the council room immediately after the break ended and made some excuse about needing documents from her quarters. Nobody questioned Beta. She walked the corridors fast, trying to put distance between herself and those storm gray eyes. Trying to breathe. Trying to remember why five years of discipline had crumbled in one afternoon.
Her wolf was still screaming inside her skin.
She turned a corner and Grayson stepped out of the shadows like he'd been waiting for her. Like he'd known exactly where she would go and when she would be there.
Luna stopped walking. She forced herself to look at him even though every instinct said to turn around and run back to the council room where there were witnesses and rules and things that made sense.
This close, the mating pull suffocated her.
It wrapped around her throat and made her knees weak. Made her hands shake and her body beg her to surrender. Every nerve ending in her skin was screaming at her to just give in and accept what was happening. To stop fighting and let the bond consume her.
But Luna's mind was steel. It was the one thing she'd spent five years perfecting.
"We need to talk," Grayson said. His voice was low and rough and it made something deep in her respond in ways she didn't want to acknowledge.
"No," Luna said firmly. "We don't."
"Did you feel what happened in that room?" he asked.
Luna refused to answer because any answer was a lie. Yes meant acknowledging the bond. No meant lying to his face and to herself. Either way, she lost.
Grayson stepped closer and her instinct was to step back. She didn't let herself. She stood her ground even though her legs felt unreliable. Even though her body was vibrating with the desire to move toward him.
His voice dropped lower. "I felt you the second I walked in. Before you even looked at me, I felt your pulse change. I felt you recognize me."
"That's not possible," Luna said but her voice was shaking and she could hear the fear underneath.
"You're my mate," Grayson said like it was the simplest truth in the world. Like everything else was noise and chaos. "Whether you accept it or not. Whether you want it or not. That's what you are to me."
Luna's entire body was shaking now. She couldn't hide it anymore. The control was cracking. The walls were failing.
"It's impossible," she said desperately. "The pack would never allow it. I'm sworn to Silverwood. I have responsibilities. I have loyalty to people who raised me and trusted me and depended on me."
"I know," Grayson said.
"Then you understand why this has to stop," Luna said. Her voice was breaking. "Why you have to go back to Dark Moon and pretend this didn't happen. Why we have to forget the bond and move on."
Grayson's eyes went dark. So dark they looked almost black. Like something inside him had shifted into something dangerous.
"Some things matter more than oaths," he said quietly. "Some things matter more than pack loyalty or duty or responsibility. Some things are just more important than everything else."
"You don't get to decide that," Luna said. "You don't get to show up here and change my entire life and expect me to accept it."
Grayson reached out and touched her face with one hand. His palm was warm against her skin. Gentle. Like he was afraid she would break if he pressed too hard.
Luna wanted to pull away. Her mind screamed at her to move. To run. To get away from this warrior who was threatening everything she'd built.
She didn't move.
"I felt you the second I walked in that room," Grayson said. "One look at you and everything I thought I knew about myself changed. Everything I've been working toward doesn't matter anymore. Everything I've sacrificed doesn't matter because you exist and you're standing in front of me and you're mine."
"I'm not yours," Luna whispered but it was weak. It was a lie and they both knew it.
"Yes, you are," Grayson said. "And I'm yours. That's what a mating bond means."
He kissed her hard.
Not gentle. Not asking permission. Not the kind of kiss that gave her a choice. He kissed her like he'd been waiting since the moment he saw her. Like every second before this had been torture. Like this was the only true thing in his world.
Luna's body responded before her mind could catch up.
She stopped fighting and kissed him back.
Her hands gripped his shirt and pulled him closer instead of pushing him away. Her mouth opened to his and she tasted him and it was like coming home and being destroyed at the same time. Like finding something she'd lost years ago and breaking something that could never be fixed.
The kiss was fire and electricity and everything she'd denied herself for five years.
Grayson's hand moved from her face to her hair and pulled her deeper into the kiss. His other hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her against him. Luna could feel his heart pounding as hard as hers. Could feel the way he was fighting for control just like she was.
This was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. He was from Dark Moon. She was Beta of Silverwood. They were supposed to be on opposite sides of a line that couldn't be crossed. They were supposed to be enemies.
But his kiss tasted like truth and Luna had been starving for it.
When he pulled back, they were both breathing hard. Luna's forehead rested against his and she could feel the pulse point in his neck jumping. Could feel the way his entire body was trembling.
"After the negotiations end, I'm coming back," Grayson said against her mouth. "Every week. However long it takes. You're not getting rid of me, Luna. That bond you felt in that room? It's only going to get stronger."
Luna wanted to tell him no. Wanted to push him away and lock herself in her quarters and rebuild her walls stronger than before. Wanted to make herself forget his touch. Wanted to go back to being the ice cold Beta who didn't feel anything.
But she didn't say any of those things.
She kissed him again.
This time she was the one who was aggressive. This time she was the one pulling him closer and demanding more. This time she was admitting without words that he was right. That the bond was real. That this was changing everything whether she wanted it to or not.
When they finally broke apart, Grayson was smiling like he'd won something precious.
"Go back to your quarters," he whispered. "Before someone finds us here."
Luna nodded even though it hurt to move away from him. She walked past him on shaky legs and didn't look back.
Behind her, she could feel him watching her disappear down the hallway like he was memorizing the way she moved. Like he was already planning the next time he would touch her.
Luna made it to her quarters and locked the door.
She looked in the mirror and saw a stranger. Someone with kiss-swollen lips and wild eyes and her control completely shattered.
Her wolf was singing.
It was a sound of joy and recognition. A sound of coming home. A sound that said everything Luna had been fighting for the last five years didn't matter anymore.
She pressed her fingers to her mouth and felt the ghost of his kiss still there.
Her entire world had just burned down and she wasn't sure if she wanted to rebuild it.