Chapter Twelve
No luck.
I had been tossing and turning all night, thinking about different things and feelings that I was struggling with. Boys had never been an issue for me, and I vowed to myself that I would never be tempted by anyone other than my mate. But since I arrived here, things had become more complicated and difficult than I first realized.
Lust was never something that I had experienced, let alone toyed with during the night or preyed on my mind but something inside me wanted more, to give in to the sinful feelings and explore these new sensations I yearned to feel. I need not be a coward anymore.
Besides, if having sexual relations with one of the guards wasn’t enough to get me sent home than I honestly don’t know what will.
My eyes scanned the room looking for Rosemary, but she was nowhere to be found. “Dude, you’re drooling into your bread” Ruth tapped my shoulder and I jolted back, shaking my head.
“Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now” My hand played with the food in front of me and I wished those words hadn’t even slipped out my mouth, I knew she’d want to know more.
“Like what? Tell me what’s on your mind” And there it is.
“Well” I huffed and turned to her. “Have you ever been in a situation where you really badly want to do something, but if you did, it would be so wrong and shameful and you could never forgive yourself?”
“This sounds like murder...are you murdering someone?”
Letting out a chuckle, I rubbed her back. “I am not murdering someone, don’t worry” Although perhaps this was worse than murder.
“Well then it can’t be that bad. Nothing is worse than murder really”
Having sex with someone you only just met? I beg to differ.
“You’re right” My lips pulled together anxiously. “Look, I’m going to get sent home after this test, but I want you to know that it's been really nice having you here, and I truly hope that you beat these other bitches and become my Luna. You would be a great leader”
She pulled me into a hug. “You really have a plan?”
“It’s risky, but fool proof”
Her eyebrows raised. “How full proof, exactly?”
The bell rang through the hall, signalling that a new challenge was about to start. I chuckled, leaning over to her. “Let’s just say that they’ll need to kick me out...”
This plan had two upsides: I would be able to see my father again and go home, and the nameless guard would get what was coming to him. He’d feel the wrath of Alpha Theo if he knew he was praying on the potential Luna’s…call it karma if you will.
“Good morning Ladies” A woman's voice sounded around the hall as we all turned to the front to see what she had to say. “Today is a momentous day and will go down in history as the most important day of your lives” The crowd which was once filled with hundreds of girls was now only a mere twenty or thirty erupted into cheers and cries.
“What does she mean?” I whispered into Ruth’s shoulder.
“Today’s one of the last tests that we need to go through. It will shave us down to the last five or six—that’s why it’s so important”
“Oh” I nodded to her and turned back to the woman.
“Quiet girls, please!” The girls around me hushed each other and the hall returned to its quiet state. “Thank you. Now if you all look at your tracker bands you will have been assigned a room number”
She motioned for us all to look at our wrists and my eyes gazed down at my own where my band was flashing a vibrant green colour and displaying the room number ‘34D.’
“These numbers correspond to rooms which will be shown to you in a few moments by our guards, but first I will go over the rules for this test” She pulled out a pamphlet and began reading from it. “The most important thing to remember is to answer honestly, your answers must represent you as a person and your values. Secondly, you must not speak to the guard that is in the room with you, they are only there to make sure no cheating is happening, and to help you set up your test but that is all” She took a breath. “And finally, I wish you all the best of luck. May the strongest out of you succeed and make it to the Ball tomorrow.”
Taking in all of what she had said, I turned to Ruth yet again. “Ball?”
“The finalists get invited as special guests to Alpha Theo’s masked ball, nobody really knows what will happen inside but it’s assumed that the Luna will get chosen” She nodded to me as we all arose from our seats and walked towards the guard that was showing us to our assigned test rooms.
“Sounds nice” I lied. “You’ll get to go for sure, I’ll cross my fingers for you”
“Good luck” She smiled at me as we walked down a long hallway with room numbers lining the walls. “Well, good luck getting kicked out”
“I’ll try my absolute best” I nodded to her as I came across my room number and stopped outside the door. “See you later?”
“For sure” She quickly hugged me and continued on her path.
34D. The number stared back at me in almost neon writing and I blew out an anxious breath, letting go of all my worries and placing my hand on the door handle, pressing it down and walking inside…