Chloe’s POV

I sat up from the bed, rubbing my head.

Hannah just kept screaming downstairs about something. I did not need to listen in to know she was throwing one of her many dramatic fits.

My hand brushed the side of my body and I winced in pain from how sore I was.

Axel returned to my mind, and with him the deal we had made last night.

I still had no idea why he had agreed to such an arrangement but the deal was simple. He protected me until I was eighteen and I acted as his Luna, helping him run the pack.

At the end of one year, I was free to go.

As long as he did not violate our deal, everything else was fine.

When I came out of my bedroom a half hour later, Hannah’s words wafted up the stairs.

“…and he just gave it to me. You guys have no idea. Jax is so sweet!”

Since the shift last night, my nose was so sharp that I could sniff out the number of people in my living room.

My mum and David, Hannah’s clingy group of friends, were huddled together on the sofa, listening to Hannah’s boasting.

Hannah held up her right hand, chattering loudly with excitement. The four girls on the sofa all wore envious looks.

“Where is Chloe?” she asked while we both knew she could smell me as I came down the stairs.

Then she turned around dramatically, her hand wearing a ruby ring raised in front of her. The hand would have smacked the side of my face if I did not step out of reach.

“Oh, I did not see you there…you’re looking at my ring? Jax gave it to me.”

There was no one in the pack who did not know about the ruby ring Hannah wore. It was the former Luna’s, the ring that Alpha Paul had given her as a mating gift.

It was priceless.

Suddenly, my stepsister sniffed the air and took a step closer to me, intently sniffing. “You smell like Axel.”

“That is a hound’s nose that you have got,” I said.

“Did you sleep with Axel?!” she shrieked, her eyes blazing.

Oh, now, she remembered that she had feelings for him?

“Don’t assume everyone jumps into bed with random men like you do,” I replied.

Shock appeared on her face for a moment when I talked back to her and then, it twisted into rage.

Hannah’s hand moved to try to grab my shoulder but my wolf moved my hand reflexively. My fingers wrapped around her wrist, clenching around it.

“Let go off me!” I asked her.

Her claws outstretched and she tried to move her hand but my grip kept her in place. Both our wolves were rising to the surface.

“That is enough, girls,” David said, pulling his daughter away from me. I tossed her hand away as I glared harshly at her.

“Daddy, she–”

David shook his head at me. “Your sister is just emotional right now. You do not need to fight with her.”

Sometimes I truly wondered if Hannah’s muddled, thoughtless personality ran from David’s blood.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify