The Lunas Second Chance Mate
(Book 2) Chapter 20

Olivera

She sleeps for hours after Ryan leaves, something about her dreams forcing her to whimper, to kick in her nightmares, and she cries out a few times like she's being hurt. I adjust the blanket over her shoulders, seeing her toy with the tube that drains liquid into her wrist. "Don't f**k with that, sweetheart," I groan, peeling her fingers off the tube. "Settle down now. Lover boy won't be long."

"Olivera," she whimpers.

I hate when she says my name. her voice is so damn soft, too kind, and so innocent that it physically hurts my wolf. I stare at her perfect features, her pink, blushing cheeks and plump cherry lips. She pouts, the notion frustrating beyond belief. I can only picture those lips against my neck, against my own lips, and damn near every where on my body where it matters.

She's attractive, that's one thing, but her naivety drives me into a frenzy.

She so badly wants to help me replace my vengeance, and it was too simple for her to ignore how it related to her past. I should have seen this route sooner. I'll have her and lover boy do my job for me and take down the elders. They deserve it. "Ouch," she mumbles, my eyes trained on her wrist now where blood pools out of her vein. She's pulled the IV loose, so I take it out the rest of the way, seeing her flinch. "Agh!"

"Relax, blood pet," I hum, reaching down her wrist and dragging a little blood onto my fingertips. I'm too tempted to not try it once more, my wolf buzzing in anticipation. I press a drop to my lower lip, the onslaught of energy and adrenaline drawing spiking my body. "Damn. That's amazing."

She whimpers, holding her wrist to her chest, blinking slow to the sight over me standing over her. Something in me clicks, something about her wide, precious eyes staring up at me from below, something sexually triggering that makes me want her in every way I can have her.

It's tempting, but she stares at me in horror, and force isn't really my style.

Of course, other than the kiss I planted on her earlier. That was perfectly scrumptious.

"You tried it again, didn't you?" she moans in outrage.

I give her a modest shrug, a little enthused with her helplessness in this moment. If I wanted more, I'm sure I could take it without trouble, but I think I've frightened her plenty.

"It was there for the taking," I sneer. "I just wanted a taste."

"So did Jacob," she mutters.

My interest is piqued, although there's already a drawing bond I have toward this she-wolf, I can't help but stare at her with or without her little blood tricks. I replace a position on the floor, near her wilting face, and reach for her wrist. She jerks back slightly but I grab for it anyways, wiping the blood clean off her skin with my palm, and rubbing the excess on my pants. "Who is Jacob?"

"Was," she hums. "He was the Alpha of a pack and he used my pack's bloodlines for feeding, for power, and it kept him strong. He was also my fated mate, the Alpha I was supposed to end up with, but nothing went as planned. He caged me, abused me, and took from me everything I had to give-and then some. My birthday, I was killed, and that's when I met the moon goddess," she says, looking through me intently.

I know most of this from that rogue bitch Jennifer who sold Alyson out to me as a target, but I didn't hear about the atrocities she committed to her own sister. She made it sound like Alyson took her mate, in reality she had her own family killed to be a lousy Luna. I'll kill that rogue bitch if I ever see her again.

"When I was sent back, I was different, and I was fated to Ryan. He helped me get back against Jacob and Jennifer but-" she shakes her head, obviously still wounded by the memories, "--but I still have the nightmares pretty often."

I want to sooth her but when I reach forward, she trembles, and I pull away to keep from frightening her further. Something about her just drives my wolf wild and when I see her ache, when I observe her palpable fear, it makes me want to kill any wolf that dares try to hurt her like she speaks of her sister and Jacob.

"You know what helps nightmares?" I offer, seeing her pale face light up for a moment. She pleads with her wide eyes for an answer to her suffering. "Chocolate."

Her smile grows, though she seems like she doesn't quite believe me. I know from experience though, always picturing the day my fated and I were separated from one another and then learning of her demise. It haunted me for what felt like forever but I made it though. Chocolate may not have been the sole healing of my wounds but it certainly did assist in my recovery, rather the advice I give to her is true or not.

I spotted some in the healers cabinets when we first got here. Figured she would like something positive to focus on for once.

Breaking it off into smaller bites, I hand one to her, seeing her sit up and take in the taste. She grins through her pained features, obviously reeling off the trauma of the last few days, I grow more and more frustrated when I think about what could have become of her stent under my watch. She was so easily a target, attractive to even the most disgusting of wolves, and if that healer of mine actually abused her dignity like that, I would have killed him twice.

I don't know what I feel for this Luna, or necessarily what I plan to do about it, if anything at all, and yet I watch her taste the treat with such pride that she can't help but smile in response to the chocolate on her tongue. She gleams.

My wolf whines. He wants her so bad it hurts.

Just relax, I tell my wolf, settling his nerves. I'll have her eventually