Alpha-Luna Moon Queen

Coletta’s POV

“$250,000 upon signing, with the remainder paid after contract completion.”

The numbers glared back at me from the advert I’d pulled off the hospital’s notice board yesterday. I’d read those words so many times they were practically engraved into my brain; like the Universe itself was tempting me, mocking me, daring me to cross a line I’d never imagined crossing.

I wasn’t proud of what I was about to do. There was no happiness, no excitement. Only desperation, thick and choking desperation that clung to my throat and refused to let me breathe. Life had grabbed me by the shoulders, slammed me into a corner, and whispered, Choose: your dignity or your mother. It wasn’t even a choice.

My mother, the only person I had left was lying in a hospital bed, machines breathing for her. One moment she’d been selling snacks by the roadside, trying to help ease our burden… the next, a car had come out of nowhere, swerved, and shattered everything. She’d always been stubborn about working, refusing to stay home while I ran myself ragged at the small restaurant downtown.

“I’m not a burden, Lettie. I can still help.” I could still hear her voice; soft, tired, always hopeful. The elderly couple who owned the building we first took shelter in… they were the ones who saved us when we had nowhere to sleep. Strangers who became something like relatives, who offered food and a roof until we could afford rent. I’d promised myself I would repay their kindness. And now?

Now I couldn’t even afford to keep my own mother alive. So here I was, sitting in a pristine hallway, waiting for a surrogate interview with strangers who could change my life with a single signature.

Two. Million. Dollars. But I only needed the first payment. $250,000. Just enough for the surgery that could save my mother. Everything else… I’d deal with later. I looked around at the four women who’d been ahead of me, slim, polished, expensive. Humans. Perfect candidates with perfect smiles. They belonged here and I didn’t. They were human, I wasn't. I was the broken one, the outlier, the wolf pretending to be ordinary. But what else could I do?

I swallowed hard and kept my head down. Even if the contract only offered that initial money, I’d take it without blinking, I’d sign it right now if they let me. “Coletta Davids!” The sharp sound of my name snapped me out of my spiraling thoughts. I blinked and the other women were gone. I was the last. “Y-yes?” I managed, jumping to my feet. A petite brunette stood by the doorway labeled Assistant. Her heels clicked briskly against the gleaming floors as she gestured for me.

“Follow me, please.” Her pace was almost unnaturally fast. Had she been a wolf, I would’ve assumed she was trying to assert dominance but she didn’t smell like one. Her scent was neutral. Too neutral. Unless she masked it. We walked down a long, polished corridor until she stopped at a heavy door marked in clean, bold letters: CEO

She knocked twice, then turned to me with a professional but tight smile as she opened the door. “Mr. McKnight, the last candidate is here and her file is on your table.” A hand, large, masculine, lifted from the other side of a massive chair turned toward the window. A simple wave dismissed her.

The assistant slipped out and shut the door softly behind me. Her departure was followed by deep silence. In fact it was heavy, dense, and charged. The air changed the moment the latch clicked. the atmosphere thickening with something sharp, ancient, powerful. My lungs tightened. He wasn’t human and that was obvious. Oh my goddess! His presence alone vibrated through the room. There was a… hum under my skin. A pressure. Like I’d stepped into the territorial aura of an alpha.

And his scent, oh Goddess. It was faint yet intoxicating, something dark and commanding beneath a carefully masked neutrality. He’s Lycan, the ones that rule over all werewolves. They are the closest version of the first ancestor. My heart dropped, the temperature dipped and my blood iced. Is this… the McKnight? The one people whispered about at night? The ruthless king? The rumored Lycan king with the terrifying temper? The one whose face was supposedly scarred and monstrous? I nearly bolted, in fact, everything in me screamed to turn back. Wolves plus power never equaled safety. Especially not for someone like me, but I couldn’t move. There was a dilemma eating me up, I couldn’t risk losing this chance. I couldn’t risk losing my mother.

His voice broke through my panic, startling me further. His voice was smooth and rich, sliding along my skin like velvet dipped in authority. “Take a seat and calm that heart of yours, little wolf.” I flinched. So he knew, he had obviously sensed me instantly. Shit! I’m in trouble. I’m in so much trouble. Did he read my thoughts already, seeing that he was the rumored thought reader?

“Sit down first. Then you’ll find out if I’ve been reading your thoughts or not.” Oh no! It's him, and the rumors are real. What am I going to do? He swiveled his chair slowly facing me. My breath hitched. This… this couldn’t be him. This couldn’t be the monster from the rumors. He was uh, Goddess help me, too breathtaking. All smooth, flawless skin. A jaw sharp enough to cut glass.

Broad shoulders filling the chair. And the eyes…phew! They were like icy oceans under moonlight, cold, piercing, impossible to ignore. I froze, rooted to the floor.

He watched me with quiet intensity, his aura brushing against me, dominant, assessing, curious. “When you’re done admiring me, let me know.” His lips curved, just slightly. A teasing smirk appeared. Heat exploded in my cheeks. I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. But what struck me was this, why wasn’t he angry? Why wasn’t I dead like everyone alluded of his reactions? His reputation painted him as a merciless beast who tore women apart for less than staring. Yet here he sat… amused. A contradiction wrapped in a beautiful, dangerous man.

I didn’t understand him. I didn’t understand what was happening. Or why I suddenly felt like my entire life was about to totally change.