THE LUNA CHOOSING GAME - Season 5 Episode 22

A million different emotions flittered across Mark’s face in the span of an instant, but then, in the next, happiness won out. He barreled forward, scooped Susie up against him, and kissed her senseless. When they came up for air, he peppered her entire face with butterfly kisses until she was giggling helplessly.

I inched closer to the door, wanting to give them their privacy.

“This is going to change everything,” Mark said, “But I swear to you I am in for every step. We’ll find a way to stay together, Susie. I swear to you. We will be a family.”

“Oh, Mark!”

I slipped out of the room before I could bear witness to what I was sure would be a love-

filled celebration.

HOMES

Out in the hallway, across the hall, Nicholas leaned against the wall, waiting for me. I quietly closed the door to Susie’s room, hiding the lovebirds within it not from Nicholy

who

likely knew everything, but from anyone else wandering the halls tonight.

And what a beautiful night it was turning out to be.

“He handled the news well, I take it,” Nicholas said.

“You knew he would,” I replied as I approached.

He shrugged. “Nice to have confirmation I made the right choice in

my Beta.”

“You’ll have to let him go now, won’t you?” I asked.

“It’s a terrible rule that Betas have to be totally committed to their Alphas. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to have families of their own?”

I nodded in agreement, though the finer details of it were lost on me. I was never on the level of an Alpha, even in my prime, so I never expected to have any kind of Beta follow me around. That was mainly for the ultra–powerful and the elite.

Nicholas was both of those things.

“They’ll have a tough life on their own,” I said. “It’s hard out there if they have to make it

any help.”

without

“I wouldn’t cast off Susie’s parents quite yet. Sure, they want the best prospect for her, but they know their daughter. They will know she doesn’t aspire to being a Luna. If they love

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ben, they might come around,” Nicholas said.

*Do they love her?” I asked.

hope so.” Nicholas said.

So did L. But the world of the elite was so different to everything I was used to. How could anyone raise a child just to hope to use them to gain more power? All I ever wanted for Elva was for her to be safe and happy. Everything else was secondary. And if I had more children, I would want the same.

If I had more children….

I wanted more children.

I placed my hands to my stomach and imagined what it would be like if it was swollen with Ffe. I wanted to give Elva siblings so badly.

And I wanted Nicholas to be the father.

“What are you thinking about?” Nicholas asked. He must have guessed from the way I was holding my waist, and what with our conversation about Susie and Mark, exactly what I was thinking. It was kind of him to ask instead of just assuming.

I thought about beating around the bush. Maybe it wasn’t the time to talk about this, especially knowing that whatever love affair we were kindling was certain to end in heartbreak and separation. We’d never have a chance to have a family all our own.

But still, I said, “I want to have more children someday.”

Nicholas hummed in assent. “You would glow as a pregnant mother.” He smiled a little. ” Although you already glow a fair bit in my eyes.”

A soft blush dusted my cheeks and I dipped my head to hide it.

“I want to have children too,” Nicholas said. “Lots of them.”

“A whole little pack all your own?” I asked, laughing.

“Why not? I have the means,” Nicholas said. “And if my Luna can’t or won’t be pregnant, I have no qualms against adopting. I’d probably want to anyway.”

Any woman should be happy to bear this man children. As many as they could manage. Or maybe I was just terribly biased because that was the life that I wanted. To give him children. To adopt some too. To have a lively and happy home full of love and laughter.

It was a nice little dream, albeit an impossible one.

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Nicholas and I would never be together. We’d never have a chance to have children, a family, a perfect little life.

When the competition was over, I would go home, and Nicholas would create that dream with someone else. That knowledge cut straight through me, like a thousand tiny razor blades straight through my chest. 1

Especially when I realized that someone else he might have children and a family with, was most likely Bridget.

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“What’s wrong?” Nicholas asked. He could probably see the change in me now, the way gloom surrounded me. He was always pretty good at reading me. He probably knew me better than anyone else.

“It’s nothing that we can fix,” I said. “Best just to forget it for now.”

He stared at me hard, like he was trying to see inside of me. But then he looked away. Maybe

he could see the truth in my words.

Eventually, he dropped his gaze down to his watch. “I promised I’d meet with Bridget soon for a private rehearsal.”

I immediately frowned. A private rehearsal sounded a lot like a euphemism for sex.

Where?” I asked.

“In her rooms.”

Now, my blood really began to boil. A private rehearsal in a woman’s private rooms? “You have to know how that sounds.‘

“I assure you it’s entirely innocent,” Nicholas said, though then he cleared his throat. Though I had hoped Mark would accompany me as a chaperone, for propriety’s sake.”

Mark was definitely indisposed at the moment and would not be able to chaperone. And short of breaking down the door and chasing him out of there, I wasn’t sure who else could play the part of a dutiful chaperone with Nicholas’s best interests at heart.

“Bridget is worried that she and I lack chemistry, since I have been refusing to practice the love scenes,” Nicholas said. “She was hoping that I would be more comfortable in private.”

1

“And would you?” I could feel my incredulity rise, right there alongside my righteous anger.

It could be innocent. Bridget really could just want to practice and be thinking of Nicholas’s

best interests. 2

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But so many things about Bridget could be innocent. It seemed unlikely that they all were.

Fact. Bridget was crushing on Nicholas. Fact. Leaving them alone to practice love scenes was a dangerous prospect at best, an absolute nightmare at worse.

I didn’t think Nicholas would purposefully mislead me. But if he were to attend this practice, if they were alone, and kissing and…

What would I do if he caught feelings for Bridget again?

“I’ll go,” I said at once.

Nicholas looked at me strangely. “You? You want to watch me and Bridget practice our love scenes?”

“Of course I don’t,” I said. I couldn’t think of a worse thing I could do right now. My stomach was already churning. “But I will make sure your honor remains intact.”

Nicholas didn’t seem totally sure, but I was insistent. “I’ll come with you,” I said. “I’ll be your chaperone.”