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!”

“Children, hm? Does that mean we can expect you to have a big family,

guarded. “It’s my

girls squealed in delight. “He’d make such a

a moment, it seemed as if he was staring straight through it. I froze in place, like

My heart ached.

to the side again, looking at the interviewer, and

probably hadn’t thought of me at all since the

hoping to soothe away the

up on him. Sure, I hadn’t dated anyone else since, but that didn’t mean anything.

I had Anna.

retrieve it. When I returned to the dining room, Nicholas was still on the

utmost seriousness. This illegal trade of wolves and their gifts is dangerous

dropped the plate of food

at once,

any one wolf, weakens the

other waitresses hissed

ruined food. “I’m sorry.” I quickly set to cleaning it. As I did, I cursed myself so loudly in my thoughts, I

exhausted. After my accident, I

again, not even when the table of girls bemoaned their disappointment with the selection

on the list. Why

sink. After washing away a particularly stubborn clump of food from a plate, I

stove, or prep for tomorrow. Almost always, he was the last to leave at night. But he was nowhere to be

other waitresses, who had said they would clean the dining room. The

I was alone.

the back of my exposed

the plate I’d been cleaning, I immediately swung around, ready to knock Boss over the head with it. Anything to

a moment too late. Boss had

the plate onto the floor, where it smashed

around my waist, he pressed his hips hard to mine, wedging me against the

I was trapped.

my shirt, revealing my

I struggled against him. He only held tighter, rougher, fingers biting into my hip and

have the strength to