Chapter 3

Layla's POV

The door slammed shut behind me and the receptionist flinched like a gun went off. I didn't bother looking at her as I kept my eyes forward and stormed across the lobby. The elevator came fast and I stepped inside.

It would have been two weeks until the ceremony and Kian had seven days to get me that proof.

"I don't think we should go through with this even if he is telling the truth. He disrespects us by tolerating her fawning around him. It's disgusting." Freja snarled, still furious at him, "I still think you should have hurt him."

"Yeah, but think of the optics." I smirked back at her as she sniggered.

If he thought I'd be the one to run, he had severely miscalculated and if Chelsea thought her little act would hold any weight, she was wrong.

And if Kian and his father thought I'd stay quiet while they painted over yet another crack with gold, they were about to find out exactly how loud I could be.

I turned the key in my car and pulled out of the garage, the city lights blurring past until the Gravehide Pack house loomed ahead, lighting the night sky like it wanted everyone to know who owned this street.

It's tall windows glowed and beautiful hand carved stone steps climbed up to heavy wooden doors. I parked at the bottom where the lamps threw their warm light across the gravel and got out without bothering to soften the slam of the door.

Freja still paced relentlessly and she hadn't settled since I left Kian's office.

I walked straight up the drive without hesitation towards the figure that was already waiting for me.

Chelsea stood at the foot of the steps in a pale dress that fit her like she had planned this whole scene in her head already. Her hands rested over her stomach in a way that suggested protective maternal instinct, almost as though she was posing for a portrait. Her chin tilted up just enough to look sweet if you didn't know her.

"Unfortunately we know her too fucking well." Freja snarled, "Can we just skip the monologue of her gloating and go straight to the ripping her throat out? It would save so much time and I don't really have the patience for her ego right now."

"You came," Chelsea said softly interrupting Freja's disdainful commentary. It was obvious that she was pleased with herself due to the little smirk that played on her mouth.

"Kian told me you would. He said you'd be angry." she continued, batting those fake eyelashes at me.

"I can rip those out as well...Luna of plastic...that what we should call her."

"Ah, of course he called you," I laughed humourlessly, "You've been glued to his side since you learned how to smile for the cameras. It's such a shame that you continue to confuse your desperation with destiny."

Her lips lifted in a snarl and she took one small step forward.

"You still don't get it, do you? Kian and I were there from the beginning, together. Before you came back, while you were here and we'll be together after you disappear entirely. First loves don't just vanish, no matter how much you want the memory to. They leave a mark on your soul and you are just a detour that he has to take because the elders have pushed for it. That's all."

I climbed two steps so I could look down at her and I grinned at her, keeping my voice even.

"Careful Chelsea, you sound like a bitter old woman." Freja sniggered as the fury in Chelsea's eyes flared briefly and I allowed my smile to drop, suddenly serious,

"Listen very fucking carefully to me, I will never bow to you. I will never call you Luna. You're nothing more than a fake, from your appearance, right down to the blood in your veins, in every sense of the word and you know it."

For a second, her smile slipped but then it returned smoothly as she pushed her own doubt and fear away.

"You like to pretend you've got a place here, but no one forgets what you came back from. Turning up here, unwashed with dirt under your nails, filthy clothes and cheap shoes. You were raised at the wrong table and it shows in your conduct. Your mother looks at me and sees a daughter, but when she looks at you, all she sees is a problem. Your father is the same and your brother hates you. You're alone, Layla. That's why you bark so loud but still, no one pays the little reject any attention."

Freja threw herself at my insides, demanding that I shift so that she could answer her provocation, but I clenched my fists at my side and held her back.

"You can list all the names off that you want and the way that they hate me, but I don't care about any of that," I practically purred, "The thing is, all of that, it won't ever make you a Whitecrown. Not by blood, and unfortunately for you, that's all that matters here, isn't it?"

Chelsea's eyes ran over me disdainfully.

"There you are barking again. It must burn though, knowing that you were born into all of this and were handed off to strangers instead. I grew up where you were supposed to be. I ate your food. I wore your dresses. I learned your dances. Your place fits me better than it ever would have fitted you. I mean, look at the difference between us. You in those boots, all masculine energy and bad temper, and then there's me, classy, elegant and in the lights where I belong."

"You don't belong to anything but a lie," I snorted, "And maybe the couch on a psychiatrist's office to deal with all those delusions of grandeur that you have floating around in your head."

Chelsea leaned in, her voice dropping.

"Kian told me everything you know." she said then giggled theatrically, hiding her mouth behind her hand, "He told me how you snap when you don't get your way, he told me how you always go too far and he told me how he worries that you'll embarrass the pack at the ceremony. He said he'd handle it all though, because after all, he is an Alpha."

"Did he tell you that he asked me to leave as well?" I asked with an amused smile, "Or did he forget that part?"

Her eyes brightened like I'd handed her a gift.

"No, he didn't. But, he did tell me that you were thinking of training abroad. It's the right choice honestly, perhaps you'll come back calmer and you can be proud of yourself for making the sacrifice for what's best for everyone."

"Do you really think that I'm going anywhere for you? To make your life easier? Your little performances won't be able to keep your charade going forever."

"I think you'll do what the pack needs," she said, softly, "A real Luna would."

"You're not a Luna, Chelsea," I said again. "And you never will be."

Chelsea's mouth tightened.

"You keep saying that like it changes anything." She snapped briefly before regaining her composure, "You've always been a step behind me. Kian knows me. He trusts me. He loves me. He called me tonight. Not you. He wanted me here when this got hard."

"He calls you when he needs someone to not call him out on his bullshit," I answer with a snort, "It's the one thing you're good at."

She flinched as if I had struck her and then spoke again, too brightly,

"Look at you, you're shaking, You can't control yourself let alone your wolf. That's why he's worried, that's why everyone's worried. You just don't know how to behave in the civilised world."

I didn't bother to look at my hands, I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. This shaking wasn't fear, it was from suppressing Freja from tearing her apart.

She stepped closer with an almost triumphant look in her eyes.

"You want this pack to respect you but you don't act like a leader. Stop clawing wildly a the things that threaten you and just accept what's better for everyone. Marry him if you want the title so badly and I won't stop you, but I'll still be here and deep down, he'll always be mine."

Then, without any warning she sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed her chest. Her feet slid out from under her as she threw herself backwards on the steps with a dramatic cry that was so good, even I had to admit it was pretty realistic.

She slumped against the step sobbing loudly.

"Layla, please!" she sobbed loudly as her voice broke, "Please! Help! She...she attacked me! Layla please stop! My wolf, I can't breathe. She's crushing me."

"Un.Fucking. Believable." Freja snorted as she watched in disbelief."What an embarrassment..."

The carved doors at the top flew open and Kian came running out, racing down the steps quickly to see what was happening.

His eyes flicked between where Chelsea sobbed on the ground, and where I stood above her, with my fists still clenched at my side, and his face went cold.

"What the fuck did you do, Layla?"