Forsaken by the Moon Goddess novel Chapter 51

Benedict

When I arrived at Alpha Waylon’s pack, I stood in stunned Silence as Sloane walked down the stairs of the packhouse to meet me.

“Why are you staring at me?” she frowns.

“Every time I think you couldn’t be more gorgeous, you prove me wrong,” I tell her.

The dress she’s wearing is casually elegant, with thin straps for sleeves. But it’s her long brown hair that falls in soft curls nearly to her waist that has me so stunned.

“How am I supposed to remember my speech when you’re going to be standing next to me looking like this?” I ask.

She laughs softly, but I’m not joking. Everything in my head just went blank except for Sloane.

“Goodbye Alpha. I’ll see you later?” she asks, turning to Alpha Waylon.

“We’ll be there,” he says.

“Goodnight, Alpha,” I say to him before leading Sloane to my car.

I kiss her softly, realizing that she’s also put on a light dusting of makeup and lip gloss on. She’s got a wrap to go over her shoulders for later this evening, a small overnight bag, and a clutch purse along with her cap and gown. I take her things and put them into the trunk before joining her in the car.

“Damn, l am one lucky man,” I say.

She smiles at me as I turn on the car. “Maybe I’m the lucky one,” she says.

“Nope, that’s all me,” 1 grin before pulling out of the drive.

On the way to the auditorium where graduation is happening, I take her hand and after pulling it to my lips, l intertwine our fingers.

“Are you ready for tonight?” I ask her.

“I think so. I’m nervous, but I keep reminding myself of what you said.”

“Which is?”

*I’m going to be an Alpha. Alphas lead. Tonight is my first opportunity to show everyone that I’m a leader, even if they don’t realize the implications of that,” she says.

I grin.

“What now?” she asks, sounding exasperated.

“You’re listening to what I’ve said.”

“Yeah, well, as Scarlet reminded me this morning, you’re pretty damn smart.””You and Scarlet were talking about me?” Why does it make me feel so excited that she was talking about me with her best friend?

Because we were on her mind, Marrok purrs in my head.

“Scarlet didn’t exactly give me a choice when she smelled your scent all over me this morning,” she huffs.

“So?” I ask, glancing over at her. “What did you tell her?”

“The truth. I always tell Scarlet the truth.”

“And that was…?”

“That you were amazing, and that the night was amazing except for the part where I messed things up, but then it was amazing again at the end.”

“I hope you’re interested in having another amazing night tonight,” I say, pulling her hand to my lips again. I swear she smells better today than she did yesterday and now, she also smells strongly of me.

“I wasn’t sure if you were serious about that,” she says, blushing shyly. Damn. I love it that I get this vulnerable side of her.

“I have a Presidential Suite waiting for us,” I tell her.

“WHAT? Benedict! That’s too expensive.”

“Well, I would agree with you, except it was the ONLY room still available. So, we’ll have to make sure we takeadvantage of every surface in that room.”

When her cheeks turn the color of a cooked lobster, I growl. “What are you thinking?”

She shakes her head and, if possible, her cheeks turn an even darker shade of red.

“Sloane,” I growl, watching her.

“It’s nothing,” she says, trying to brush it off.

“Oh, it’s definitely something. Won’t you tell me?” I ask, making my voice softer, pleading. I really, REALLY want to know what has her blushing like that.

She begins plucking imaginary lint off her dress. “It was just something that Scarlet said, that’s all.” 1

I fight the grin. There’s no telling what came out of Scarlet’s mouth.

“That is not helping my situation,” | growl. “Come on, let’s go.”

I get her shawl and clutch, and we walk hand in hand inside the auditorium. For the next hour, we meet with the teachers who congratulate us and go through the motions of when we’ll be announced and where we’ll sit.

By the time we’re done, students and families are already starting to arrive. Time seems to speed up as we wait for everything to begin, and then it’s time for us to follow Principal Rodgers and the select teachers who are sitting with us, onto the stage.

Principal Rodgers steps up to the podium and calls the evening to order. She says words about our path ending, new pathways ahead, and the start of new journeys. Then our vice principal steps up, giving his own speech about saying farewell and new beginnings.

Finally, Principal Rodgers steps back up to the podium to announce Sloane and l.

“As many of you know, this year, we have a first at our esteemed Academy. This year, for the first time in our history, we have co-Valedictorians. Without further ado, I give you your Valedictorians, Alpha Sloane Hartwell, and Alpha Benedict Winslow, V,” she says, and begins clapping.

The crowd erupts in cheers, and I stand, extending my hand to Sloane. Then we walk to the podium together.When we arrive, I don’t release her hand.

As we discussed last night, I go first.

“Good evening, my fellow graduates. We fucking made it!” I say, making everyone cheer, howl, and stomp their feet.

I wait for everyone to quiet down before continuing. We talked about the speech itself, but I wanted to add a couple of things to show everyone how much Sloane has impacted my life.

“The last four years have seen a lot of ups and downs.

We’ve watched each other grow, some in sports, some in size,” I say, making everyone laugh, “and some in confidence. I stand before you as your co-Valedictorian, but I can tell you, I might not be here if it wasn’t for this woman standing beside me,” I say, turning to Sloane. Her eyes go wide as she looks at me.

“This woman has challenged me unlike any other person or wolf I’ve ever met in my life. I was cruising through high school, confident that I was the shit until the end of our sophomore year when Principal Rollins pulled me into his office and told me that a quiet girl who rarely said a word in class was beating me out of the number one position in school.”

I watch as Sloane blushes softly.

“Well, you all know I hate to lose,” I say, grinning as everyone chuckles. “So, I doubled down. I started paying attention to the quiet girl in the classroom, the one whoothers ignored or forgot was there. I started watching as her papers and tests would come back with scores higher than mine. So I studied harder, I stopped playing around and assuming that I would be Valedicatorian just because I’m an Alpha. I had real competition and you Alphas out there know that we love nothing more than a good competition. By the end of our junior year, l’d closed the gap, but I still wasn’t in the lead.”

I stop and look at this woman who has taught me so many things over the last few years, things she didn’t even realize she was teaching me.

“I knew I needed to be a better man. I knew I couldn’t slide on my bloodline and Alpha lineage alone, because there was another person in this school whose bloodline is as strong as mine and she wasn’t playing around. She was in it to win it, and so fought harder. Some of you may think that being co-Valedictorian with Sloane Hartwell means that | lost, but to me, it means I won. Big-time. I get to stand here on this stage with the only person in this school who has given me a challenge worthy of an Alpha and she did it without even realizing we were in a competition until just a couple of months ago.’

I squeeze her hand, holding her gaze for a moment before turning back to our student body and families.

“There’s a lesson here, for all of us. We’re about to go out into this world. Some of us will become leaders, some of us will support our packs by protecting our pack lands, and some will find work outside the pack to bringfinancial support to your packs. But you should always search for the person who challenges you to be a better person. Find the person who makes you strive to achieve your goals and pushes you to work for what you want in life. As we walk into this next chapter of our lives, I’m proud to stand before you, as a future Alpha, and welcome you to the next phase of our lives. Congratulations, graduates. We did it!”

I step back as everyone begins cheering and watch as Sloane steps forward, standing in front of the crowd. She waits for everyone to quiet down, then begins.