Page 20 of His White Moonlight (Dominant CEO Shifter Romance #1)

Me: Can you please change it to a check?

Mom: Why? Do you need something?

A little independence, but I didn’t say that. It would just fall on deaf ears. I also couldn’t tell her that I wanted to deposit the check into an account they didn’t have access to.

Me: I don’t need anything. Did you open an account for me?

Mom: Ages ago. Ask Bennett about it.

Me: Okay. So, no chance on the paper check then?

Mom: It would be more work for our finance department.

“Right,” I said to myself. “It would have been more believable if you said you were afraid I’d give myself a paper cut.”

Bored and annoyed, I tried calling Karter.

It went right to voicemail, and I got a message a few seconds later saying that he couldn’t answer but could text.

So I tried calling Aiden. I just wanted someone to talk to for a little while to pass the time.

And it’d been ages since I talked to them on the phone.

However, Aiden sent back a message almost identical to Karter's.

I rolled my eyes, wondering if it was revenge for all of the times I’d been unable to answer the phone to talk to them while I was at school. So I sent a group chat.

Me: I was just bored. You’re both lame for not picking up. Guess I’ll need to call my other friends.

Karter: Girl or guy?

Me: Non-binary

Aiden: Not funny. Are you talking to guys?

Me: Yeah. Two of them at the same time. I hope your mates take one look at you and run away screaming.

Karter: That’s mean. What did Bennett do to make you mad?

Me: He said I’ll never be his sister, but I’m not mad about it. His hate is his problem, not mine.

They both replied that Bennett didn’t hate me, that he just didn’t see me like they saw me. They’d said the same thing their whole lives. It’d never taken the sting out of Bennett’s rejection when I was younger. It didn’t make things better now, either.

Not wanting to think about Bennett and how he viewed me, I checked the social feeds I followed, which included a few of the girls from school. It was always good to keep an eye on your enemies. After graduation, they’d returned home, like me, which meant they were scattered across the states.

The one I was most worried about, Lindi, lived in the city.

I studied the pictures she’d uploaded from her welcome home party.

It wasn’t the level of renting the museum, but only barely.

It looked like one of the five-star hotels downtown that would drain my bank account to rent for the night.

Not that it was a problem for her or her family.

Her dress screamed money, as did her string diamond earrings and pendant necklace.

“Perfect makeup. Perfect hair. Perfect smile,” I said softly. It all hid the angry, vicious woman she really was.

Thankfully, I would be even farther away from the city once the semester started, and she would probably be off to some Ivy League university somewhere.

Out of curiosity, I flipped to Aiden’s feed and saw recent pictures of sunsets, forests, and clubs.

Dancing girl pictures, I could have understood.

After all, they were supposed to be out there, finding their mates.

But not the pictures of a bunch of guys laughing and partying.

I checked Karter’s and saw more club pictures mixed in with food pictures.

I was so mad that I blocked them both and was tempted to do the same to Mom and Dad.

What happened to consistent parenting? Why did the boys get one set of rules, which was to do whatever the hell they wanted, apparently, but I got another?

The unfairness of it all rankled until I realized why I was different.

“Charity case,” I said, tossing my phone to the side.

I got off the floor and started getting ready for bed well before it was time to. Once I was in my pajamas, I tiptoed to Karter’s room. However, the bed was missing.

Silently cursing out Bennett, I checked Aiden’s room and wasn’t surprised to find that bed missing as well.

“I don’t hate you,” Bennett said.

Turning, I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.

“You have a funny way of showing not-hate,” I said.

He tucked his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor for a moment.

“You can sleep in my bed.”

“I think I’d rather sleep face down in a puddle.”

His pupils dilated as our gazes met and held for several seconds.

“Well, this has been fun.” I pushed away from the wall and started down the hall. “I look forward to whatever new hell this family drops on me tomorrow.”

“Wrenly, that’s not?—”

“Save it, Bennett, or you’ll need to explain an ER visit and my broken hand to Mom and Dad.”

He didn’t say anything else as I walked away.

After closing myself in my room and locking the door, I pulled the winter comforter from my closet and settled in on the floor. I’d slept in worse places and survived. I would survive this, too.

* * *

The soft sound of pacing tickled my awareness.

“She doesn’t understand, Bennett,” I heard Mom say. “I think you should tell her.”

“Now? She hates me. What do you think she’ll do? She already threatened to punch me and put herself in the hospital.”

“Because she doesn’t understand. Talk to her.”

The pacing stopped. “I’m trying. Everything I say makes her mad.”

“You’ve been making her angry since she came here, and it’s never upset you this much.”

“It’s different this time. This time, she’s home for good.”

My heart thumped heavily in my chest.

“Shh,” Mom said. “We’re disturbing her sleep.”

I listened to their footsteps fade as I lay not on the floor but in a bed. Bennett’s bed. He’d moved me.

How had I not woken?

Fear overwhelmed me, and not just because I’d been uncharacteristically vulnerable. Bennett knew I wanted to go to university. So did Mom. Why did they say I was home for good as if it were a sure thing?

What didn’t I understand?

It took me a long time to fall back asleep.

* * *

When I woke up, a note was beside the bed.

We don’t have to go to the office today unless you want to. We can work from home. I’ll be in the study.

Bennett

He was giving me a choice of where to work, but not whether or not to work.

Shaking my head, I got out of his bed and checked the time. We were already an hour late. And since today was the day I was supposed to meet Sophia for lunch, I wasn’t skipping work. However, another hour wouldn’t hurt anything. I really needed a run to clear my mind.

I left Bennett’s room and went to mine to change into my running clothes. Then, I jogged downstairs and checked the kitchen for something light to eat.

Bennett walked in a few seconds after me.

“Good morning,” he said.

“It was.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Like shit. I dreamed that some guy carried me to his bed against my will. It was all rapey and very disturbing.”

“I’m sorry I moved you, Wrenly. You looked uncomfortable on the floor.”

“I was. But I don’t have the first-class privileges of the other members in this house, so apparently, I’m not allowed to own a bed.”

Grabbing the apple I’d found, I faced him.

“Did Mom have anything to say about the missing beds when she visited last night?”

His brows rose.

“You heard us.”

“I heard you say I’m here for good. We both know that’s not what I want, though, right?”

He looked down at the floor. His gaze shifted around like he was searching for something.

“Don’t bother. I won’t trust anything you say anyway.”

I moved to walk past him, but he reached out and blocked the way with his arm. Staring straight ahead, I waited.

“If you give me a few minutes, I’ll change and run with you.”

“Now that I can leave the community on my own, I don’t need you.” I turned my head to look up at him. “Unless that was another fleeting privilege I’d been allowed.”

His lips pulled back in a silent snarl, and he dropped his arm.

I marched out the front door and angrily munched my apple as I walked down the driveway. Once I finished it, I threw it into the woods and started a brisk walk to stretch my legs before jogging to the gate.

The guard nodded to me as I went through, and I felt a sense of relief that they hadn’t taken this small freedom from me. Climbing walls was a pain in the ass that I didn’t want to have to go back to doing.

With nothing but a clear path in front of me, I lengthened my stride and settled into my run. I’d barely reached the pruned tree line when something caught my toe and I fell face-first onto the pavement.

Storm’s laughter rang out around me as I picked myself up. I was bleeding in various places—knees, thigh, heels of my hands, forearm—but thankfully not my face. That still had the bruise from the office bathroom. Plus, the neck bruises from yesterday.

“Stop pretending to be one of us, Wrenly. You can’t run. You can’t hunt. And you will never be a wolf.”

“Like I ever wanted to be a bitch in heat,” I said.

She pulled back her teeth to snarl at me. “We’re not on pack land anymore.”

“Exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“You want to beat me? Trip me? Make me bleed? Great. Do it. Where is the shower you’re going to use to wash your scent off of me?

Or are you just going to kill me and try to hide the body somewhere?

Pretty sure Bennett will give me another ten minutes of freedom before he comes to check on me.

And this,” I motioned from me to her, “is what he’s going to smell when he reaches this spot. Do you have an explanation ready?”

Hate filled her gaze, and I smiled through my pain because we both knew I was right.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, Storm. I look forward to your fake apology.”

With a wave, I started walking back, grateful I hadn’t made it very far. Each scrape was burning like hell.

When I reached the guardhouse, I stopped and told the guard to call Bennett.

“Already did when I saw you were hurt.”

“Thanks.”

Bennett arrived a few seconds later. On foot.

“You didn’t bring the car?” I asked, letting my annoyance show. “He said I was hurt. What are you going to do? Ca—ah!”

I glared at Bennett from my position in his arms.

“Put me down.”

“Not a chance.” He started jogging with me. “Want to tell me what happened?”

“Nah, I’ll let you sleuth it out on your own. It’ll be more frustrating for you that way.”

He glanced down at me.

“Can we go back to how we were last night?” he asked as we reached the house.

“Of course. Tell Mom you agree with me going to the university of my choice and having the same freedoms my brothers have. It looked like they were having a great time with friends at a club recently.”

Bennett remained silent as he carried me up the stairs and into his bedroom. He sat me on the end of his bed, told me not to move, and came back with salve, swabs, and bandages.

“Hold up. Before you play doctor, let me shower. I think there’s a bit of pavement in my knee. You can take a jog and find out what happened while I’m doing that.”

He hesitated, and his pupils went wild as he considered my proposal. Was he already mentally strangling whoever had done this to me—I hoped so—or was he dreading having to report it to Mom and Dad?

He lifted me again and carried me to my bathroom. When he set me down, he captured my chin.

“There are only two places you can be when I get back. Here or on my bed. Understood?”

“I’m curious…what would you do if I said I didn’t understand?”

His gaze swept over my face, studying me.

“Are you testing me, Wrenly?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. It’ll take me a while, so I’ll be in here when you get back. Happy hunting.”