The Luna Choosing Game

It had been three days since Boss made his proposition: either I sleep with him or I get fired.

I needed one more day’s pay to cover Elva’s most recent bill. Once I had that, I could resign and hopefully find something else.

Boss trailed his eyes down the length of my body. Staring openly at my breasts, he licked his lips. “Don’t think I won’t, Piper. I’ll be waiting for you.”

In the restaurant, all of the female patrons talked excitedly about the selection. To cater to them, Boss turned all of the televisions on the walls to the royal consort ceremony broadcast.

“Which one do you think is the most handsome?” asked one patron to her friends.

They’d ordered a plate of loaded nachos to share. I carefully placed it in the center of their table.

Another girl spoke quickly. “Are you kidding? The others are cute, sure, but Nicholas is obviously the hottest.”

The other girls quickly agreed.

Startled, I hovered at their table. They were right, of course. Nicholas was the most objectively attractive, but to hear people talk about him so casually still surprised me.

For three days, I’d tried to reconcile in my mind that the Nicholas I had known was also the eldest prince of the kingdom. But I still couldn’t quite manage it.

Nicholas had always been proper. But a prince?

“Piper, is it?” one of the girls at the table asked me. I jumped, realizing I was still standing there. Yet before I could apologize, she asked me, “Which one do you think is the most handsome?”

“Nicholas,” came my automatic answer. “Excuse me.”

Embarrassed at having been caught daydreaming, I forced myself to focus on work. And I succeeded – until I heard Nicholas’ voice come from the speakers.

“The kind of woman I’d prefer?” Nicholas said. “Someone loyal. Strong. Even tempered. And she has to like to children.”

“Check, check, and check,” came a voice from the table of girls. “He’s describing me! It’s meant to be.”

“Dream on. He’s clearly describing me.”

“You don’t even like kids!”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see which of us make it through the preliminary selection. Then you’ll see!”

showed the interviewer. “Children, hm? Does that mean we can expect you to

my duty as a prince to continue the lineage. But,

girls squealed in delight. “He’d

it seemed as if he was staring straight through it.

My heart ached.

looking at the interviewer, and immediately, I felt foolish. Of course,

thought of me

my heart, hoping to soothe

years. I couldn’t still be hung up on him. Sure, I hadn’t dated anyone else since, but that didn’t mean anything. I’d

I had Anna. I didn’t need romance

went back to retrieve it. When I returned to the dining room, Nicholas was still on the screen, but speaking on an entirely different

royal family is investigating with the utmost seriousness. This illegal trade of wolves and their gifts is

of food in my

restaurant silenced at once, all eyes

any one wolf, weakens the whole pack. We

hissed at me, waking me

set to cleaning it. As I did, I cursed myself so

I pushed myself as hard as I could, focusing solely on work and forgetting all

lift my eyes to the television again, not even when

wouldn’t be on the list.

particularly stubborn clump of food from a plate, I

he was the last to leave

were the other waitresses, who had said they would clean the

I was alone.

back of my exposed neck. The stench

immediately swung around, ready to knock Boss over the head with it. Anything to get

I was a moment too late. Boss had been

the floor, where

hard to mine, wedging me against the lip of

I was trapped.

ripped open the buttons of my shirt, revealing my lacey white bra. He pressed his palm against

struggled against him. He only

wolf, I didn’t have the strength