Page 2 of His White Moonlight (Dominant CEO Shifter Romance #1)

I sat on my bed and looked around the room again. Then, I sent a message to the group chat.

Me: If I’m no longer wanted, all you need to do is say the word, and I’ll leave.

Aiden: What are you talking about?

Karter: What happened? You’ve only been home ten minutes.

Me: Stop stalking me. Why does everyone get to see where I am all the time, but I can’t know where you are? Which is NOT HERE, by the way. Traitors. I thought you missed me.

Aiden: We do.

Karter: Life’s been boring without you. Do you know how many pack parties we had to suffer through alone while you were gone?

Me: Good. It was pre-karma for sticking me with Bennett as soon as I got home.

Aiden: What’d Bennett do? Did he hurt you?

Hurt me? Is Aiden insane?

Me: He’s just being his usual uptight self. When are you coming home?

Karter: Not sure. We’re being “groomed” for management.

Me: Okay. Then, I’ll come see you.

Aiden laughed at the message.

Aiden: Nice try. You just got home. Stay out of trouble until we can see you.

I was so annoyed that I tossed my phone onto my bed and went to unpack my bag.

Once I finished, I checked out the vanity and the bathroom.

Mom had thought of everything, as usual.

I was still bothered that they’d moved my room without telling me, though.

I’d been counting on the freedom of having a bedroom farther away from everyone.

Or was that why they’d moved me? Did they already know I didn’t plan to stay?

Grabbing my phone, I sent another message.

Me: Thanks, Mom. The room is beautiful. I would have been fine with the downstairs room, though. It’s not like I’m going to be here that long anyway.

I bit my lip and waited for a reply.

Although I hadn’t come home in seven years, Mom and Dad often visited me at school to ensure I was doing fine.

I never doubted their love for me. It drove every decision they made and every rule they established.

But freedom from their suffocating love was something I really wanted. No, it was what I needed.

Which was why I wanted to leave for college…a school they hadn’t agreed to.

I didn’t belong in Alpine Run. They knew it as much as I did. I wasn’t one of them. I was normal. Human. And I never forgot that, no matter how much they treated me like a pampered pack princess.

The private boarding school that had been my home for the past four years had almost killed me. Like here, I hadn’t belonged. I didn’t care about nine-thousand-dollar purses or gem-encrusted heels. No, not true. I did care about heels, but in a loathing, “they could burn in hell” kind of way.

I didn’t want to be dressed up like a pretty girl, only valued for how she looked or what she wore.

I wanted to be a wickedly smart woman who didn’t take crap from anyone.

The boarding school had helped with the “take no crap” part.

A lot. The wickedly smart part, too, honestly.

I’d already completed an array of college-level classes because of that school.

For my next life phase, though, I just wanted a regular education. Normal friends. Normal interactions.

My phone buzzed.

Mom: I’m so happy you’re home and can’t wait to see you! And what do you mean you won’t be there long? We already have a job lined up for you. No refusing until you give it a try.

With a groan, I flopped onto my back again.

Mom was a master life manager. As the pack Luna, she needed to be.

But after a lifetime of her gentle handling, I knew her tricks.

First, she’d pull me into a pack-arranged job with pay too good to turn down.

Then, she’d talk me into enrolling in one of the private colleges in the city so I could be close to home.

Once I graduated, she’d probably start arranging dates that wouldn’t be called dates, but probably meetings or even family dinners, where some guy would “happen to pass by.”

Her tricks to pull me into the life she had planned for me wouldn’t work this time, though. After seven years of obediently doing as I was told, I had developed my own life management plan.

I popped up from my bed and looked around the room for my laptop, which had been among the things I’d shipped ahead.

It was sitting on one of the bookshelves.

I grabbed it, closed my door, and returned to the bed to log into my University account for a state school five hours away from home—close enough to drive to but far enough away to avoid daily family visits.

Thanks to my excellent grades, I’d been accepted without a problem, and thanks to the bags and shoes I’d managed to sell in the last four months at disappointingly low prices, I had enough money in my secret account to cover tuition for the first year and a half.

Was I nervous about having a roommate after seven years of having a private room? Yes, but probably not for the reason most people would be. I’d already had plenty of mean-girl experiences and desperately wanted a friendly one for a change.

Sophia and I had been chatting on and off for weeks, and she seemed genuinely nice. And normal. I wanted normal so badly.

After checking my school email, I logged out and sent Sophia a message that I was finally home and could meet up with her in person before move-in day. We’d both discovered we lived in different suburbs surrounding Motan. Thankfully, she’d never heard of Alpine Run.

I put my laptop away and considered my options. Wait at home like I was expected to, which would set a precedent I didn’t want, or go out?

The answer was easy.

I left my bedroom and jogged down the stairs. Everything was quiet as I hurried through the kitchen and out to the garage. The keys to the cars were kept in the same lockbox as before. Grinning, I entered the code I remembered and almost squealed when it still worked.

Randomly grabbing a set of keys, I hit the unlock button and watched the lights on a Lexus flash. I ran for it and quickly got in.

Would I get into trouble for taking a car without permission? Not really. I’d get a lecture about safety and talking to them before making plans, but nothing more serious than that. But if I were caught before I left, they’d find a million reasons I shouldn’t go.

The garage door rose with a touch of a button as the engine purred to life. I pulled out of the garage and down the long, winding driveway.

My phone rang before I reached the road, but I didn’t stop to answer it.

Everyone in the family got an alert whenever their tracking app detected I was moving locations.

After all these years, I had grown so accustomed to it that it no longer bothered me.

It was fun, actually. Like playing “Guess what Wrenly is up to now.” They had no idea how many times I’d left my phone behind to do things I didn’t want them to know about.

As I rounded the last bend in the road leading out of Alpine Run, I saw the closed gate and guard waiting outside the guardhouse. Slowing to a stop, I rolled down my window since I didn’t have super hearing like he probably did.

“Just heading out for the afternoon,” I said with a friendly smile.

“I’m afraid not. Mr. Wulf called ahead and said you’re not permitted to leave. You’ll need to turn around, Miss Belak.”

“That’s odd.” I glanced at my phone and wallet. “I didn’t forget anything, did I?”

“He didn’t say.”

“All right. I’ll go back and find out.”

I smiled, waved as I rolled up the window, then executed a fairly crappy Y-turn because no one ever let me practice.

A minor setback , I told myself. Nothing you can't overcome.

After rounding the bend so the car was out of sight of the guardhouse, I parked on the shoulder. Leaving my phone behind on the seat, I jogged across the road. The air in the woods was slightly cooler in a nice way. I picked up my pace.

While the other girls at the boarding school hadn’t seen the point in physical education other than to look good, I’d viewed it differently.

I’d grown up with people who ran fast without even trying.

People who liked to play tricks to make me bleed.

I’d known that, if I didn’t want to bleed again when I went home, I would need to be as fast as humanly possible.

However, the boarding school had changed my motivation. I’d learned so much there, including how I needed to be strong and fast to protect myself from more than the people in Alpine Run.

The boarding school had been a test of survival.

And I had survived.

So, I ran through the trees toward the south, where the wall curved in enough to give me cover from the guardhouse.

By now, everyone in the family had seen that the car was stopped on the road.

What would they do? Probably nothing for a few minutes.

They’d likely think I was mad and just sitting there, stewing.

I grinned all the way to the wall. When I reached it, I didn’t stop to try to catch my breath; I ran faster, using the momentum to plant my foot on the wall and leap up. My fingers caught the top stone. I planted my other foot higher, ready to leverage myself up.

A hand gripped my ankle and pulled down hard.

I landed on my back with enough force that I struggled to breathe as I looked up at a familiar mocking face.

Storm, my childhood nemesis, hadn’t changed much.

She still looked like she belonged on a fashion week runway with her svelte build and perfect, long blonde hair, which was ornately braided with pearl accents.

The thick lashes around her light brown eyes and pouty lips demanded attention, just like their owner.

“If it isn’t our resident normie,” she said with a sneering tilt to her mouth.

I exhaled slowly, then successfully inhaled.

“I heard you’d returned,” she continued. “You should have stayed away.”

“And miss our lovely conversations, Storm? I could never deprive myself of that.”

She stepped onto my shoulder with her sneakered foot and leaned into it. It hurt more than I would have liked to admit. The two girls with her, whom I didn’t recognize, laughed.

Storm sniffed and glared at me. “Why do you smell like Bennett?”

I grinned up at her. “So it’s Bennett you’re head over moon for now?”

She stepped down harder then backed away. I got to my feet and brushed off my butt.

When she opened her mouth to say more, I cut her off.

“Let me save you the trouble. ‘Stay away from the Wulf boys, Wrenly. They’re mine.’ Still noted, Storm.

By the way, did you make any progress during my absence, since I was the only obstacle to your plan for Wulf domination?

Did you get Aiden’s number? Did Karter finally cop a feel?

We both know nothing happened with Bennett.

If you’re not a profit margin, you don’t exist in his world. ”

Her pupils dilated, a sign of a pissed-off shifter, and she snarled at me.

“Ah, still have some pent-up sexual frustrations, I see.”

She drew her hand back, but I didn’t back down. Instead, I leaned in tauntingly.

“When the Wulfs see I’m hurt, who do you think they’ll smell on me?”

She snarled and dropped her fist to her side.

“Smart choice,” I said. “If you leave now, we can both go our separate ways with no one the wiser.”

Storm opened her mouth, but then looked in the direction of the road. Her face’s transformation from mean-bitch to one in heat gave me hope.

Please be Aiden, I silently pleaded.

It wasn’t Aiden, Karter, or even the guard I’d spoken to striding through the trees, though.

It was Bennett, and he did not look happy.