No Longer Luna novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The White Car
Colton gives Skye's limousine and moon gate walk to Calista, Skye turns her ride around and refuses the claim before both packs, and the guards put their backs to the doors.
The white limousine at the curb was meant for me, and my mate stepped between me and its door.
I stood in my Luna gown on the front steps of the guest house while the motorcade idled behind it.
A long line of cars from two packs, all waiting to drive me to my claiming ceremony.
"Let Calista have this one," Colton said. "I'll call you a car."
I stared at him.
Colton was the heir of the pack I was about to join, and in an hour he was supposed to claim me in front of both packs.
"Calista," I said.
"She's a good friend to me, Skye."
He said it gently, as if the answer were already yes.
"She says she's never going to take a mate," he went on. "She only wants to know what a public claiming feels like, once."
"I already promised her the ride, and the walk through the moon gate today."
I turned my head.
Calista was already settling into the back seat of the white car in a gown the same ivory as mine.
White gloves ran up past both her elbows.
She didn't lift a hand to wave at me, and she didn't look up.
"The ceremony is a formality," Colton said. "We sign the vows and the registry book, and that's what counts."
"When she's done, you can walk it too. The mark is still yours."
Then he got into the car beside her.
The doors shut, and the whole line of cars pulled out behind them.
I didn't cry. I was too busy counting.
Calista had picked her fitting time first. She had picked the ballroom first. Now she had the car and the gate.
I called a rideshare because I couldn't think of what else to do.
It was a gray Camry, and the driver wore a Saltmere pack pin on his jacket.
He knew exactly who I was and said nothing about it.
At the first red light, he looked at me in the mirror.
"South Bay Hotel, ma'am?"
I watched the last of the motorcade turn a corner and let out one short laugh.
"No," I said. "Turn around."
If the Luna title and the man both had to go to someone else first, then she could have them.
The driver blinked. "Turn around?"
"Yes. We're not going to the hotel yet."
The light went green, and the car behind us leaned on its horn.
He made the U-turn.
My phone buzzed before we had gone a block.
Colton had texted, and it was long, which wasn't like him.
Every line was about Calista.
Tell the driver to take the back roads so you don't pass her on the way.
She doesn't want a crowd staring before she walks the gate.
Come in through the staff entrance when you get there. Two women in Luna gowns in one ballroom would embarrass her.
I read it twice.
Then I opened a new message and typed: The ceremony is off. I won't take your mark. I'm not leaving Fernbank. Do whatever you want.
My thumb was on send when the screen filled with notifications.
Fernbank's pack group chat. Forty messages in one minute.
Calista is a Cinderfell wolf, someone had written. Her father is their Beta.
Why is she in the Luna gown??
Then a video, shot from the ballroom doorway.
Colton stood on the dais under the moon gate, an arch of white roses, with Calista's gloved hand in his.
Under the video, a guest had written: They say the Luna's late. The Alpha told us to start.
I put the phone face down on my knee.
Then I looked at the dress I was wearing, the one my mother had hemmed by hand.
I deleted the message to Colton.
I had something better to say to his face.
"Change of plan," I said to the driver. "Take me to the front doors."
He met my eyes in the mirror. "The front doors, ma'am?"
"The front doors."
Five minutes later the Camry stopped under the hotel's white awning.
Two Cinderfell guards stood at the ballroom entrance in black suits.
They saw the ivory gown and stepped aside without a word, because nobody stops the Luna.
I pushed open both doors myself.
The room was full. Three hundred wolves turned their heads at once.
On the dais Colton was saying, "Before both packs, I claim..."
"Colton Reeve," I said, loud enough to reach the back wall. "I'm Skye Dunlap of Fernbank, and I refuse the claim."
Nobody in the ballroom moved.
Calista's hand slid out of his, and she gave me a small, sorry smile.
Colton's face went hard.
"You're upset," he said. "Sit down, Skye. You're embarrassing me."
"Then I'll embarrass you in person."
In the front row, his father, Alpha Boyd, didn't blink.
At the back wall, a big man with a scar through one eyebrow was the only one in the room who was smiling.
I knew him by sight. Rhys Trelawney, Boyd's older son, the harbor warden nobody invited to anything.
Behind me, the big doors swung shut.
A man spoke very quietly close to my ear. "Nobody walks out of a claiming, girl."
It was Lowell Drummond, Calista's father.
I turned around, and his guards had put their backs to the doors.
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