Luna's Mating Games

Chapter 12

"What in the actual fuck?!" Jen exclaimed as she stormed out into the hallway, yelling and growling with the other wolves. The curious blonde poked her head out of her room and saw the angry mob going downstairs towards the throne room.

"Luna, there's an emergency meeting in the throne room." The blonde flung her hair over her shoulder and allowed Thomas to escort her. Finally, the prince will have to answer for something.

As Luna entered, she noticed the mob was broken up and most were quiet. Numerous guards lined the walls and had made a few lines in front of the three royals seated. Prince Connor smirked when he noticed Luna file in with the other stragglers. Her green orbs trailed around the room and she saw many couples clutching on to one another desperately.

Loud trumpets sounded, making everyone jump, per usual.

"Attention! The royal family would like to speak!" The king's hand spoke, bowing his head to the king who cleared his throat before his voice boomed throughout the room.

"Hello all. We understand some of your concerns about our latest announcement." Murmurs peppered around the room causing guards to unsheathe swords until silence settled back in the room.

"No matter the circumstances, you must enter that arena if you were invited here. You can still be marked, and be in the arena. I know most of you don't want some of the more desperate ones among us to claim your mate, so mark them beforehand. That does not guarantee that they will not die." No outbursts this time, seeing how serious the guards were.

"Any questions?" The king was met by nothing but glares.

"Great, you're dismissed!" Luna found Jen and her friend apologized, saying she and Alec were going to mark one another and not be able to hang out that day. Before even asking Ren, she received a text saying the same thing. The blonde noticed about half the contenders, and even some guards, disappeared into hallways and bedrooms. It seemed a lot of people found who they perceived to be their mate. The herb must certainly have worn off by now, only a couple days left before they were released into the arena.

The green orbed girl didn't really want to take on Vegas with just her, Jagger, and Thomas. If they got into another fight, there's no way she could even try to calm them down and prevent them from killing each other. She figured she'd look around the castle and see what she could get into.

Luna walked into a theater room and immediately walked back out due to the wet noises from hopefully mouths entering her ears. Her eyes were captivated by neon lights and she walked into a bar. The unclaimed mates were dancing and drinking in the dimly lit bar. The blonde sat on the stool and ordered herself a drink.

"I got the rest of her drinks for the night, Lloyd." A man sat next to Luna told the bartender. He rolled his eyes and made her a daiquiri.

"The name's Jasper Puck. Nice to meet you, Princess." The man's deep voice caused Luna to face him. Jasper had brown hair that fell onto his face and sharp silver eyes that looked through her. He flashed his perfectly straight teeth at her.

"I'm not a princess. I don't care what that damn mutt says," Luna muttered, causing Jasper to throw his head back and howl with laughter.

"You got spunk, I knew I liked you, Princess." She rolled her eyes, she figured, like Jagger, the nickname would stick no matter what she said.

"Well I'm going to do everything in my power to prevent myself from becoming a princess. Too bad he said he would cut anyone down who got in my way."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I've wanted to kill the prince for a while."

Luna nearly spit out her drink.

"Wh-What?" She stammered out, causing Jasper to flash his pearly whites at her again.

"I don't have a mate here and I like ya. I want to help you. Plus, it'll put the prince in my path, which I've been wanting for a long, long time." He took his shot of whiskey and the bartender poured him another. Luna pondered it as she drank the rest of her drink, which was quickly replenished.

"Look, everyone knows that the prince only wants you. Sure he picked others and screwed some, but you're the apple of his eye, babydoll. Don't get me wrong, it's some selfish reasons I want to help. I know you got a mate, you're fine and all, but I got a girl out there for me somewhere. I figure I might as well help out my friend Jagger. He's a good kid. Plus, I'll get to kill the prince, so," Jasper took his next shot.

"So you're willing to protect me?"

"Well it won't be just me, Jagger will be there, too. But yeah, we can agree on a meetup place, and I'll be by your side to make sure no one gets ya. You must remember, the prince will not be the only male after you. He essentially put a target on your back because you've been splashed all over the media, Sweetcheeks. Plus, any male that gets you will have, 'the princess that never was' or 'the one the prince wanted' and they can rub it in his face."

Luna did not look impressed and the brown haired man pushed the hair out of his face and shrugged his shoulders.

"What? I'm just speaking the truth. These men are real animals." Luna didn't know what to make of Jasper. She didn't believe he had ulterior motives. She felt no need to ask why he wanted to kill the prince so bad. She didn't need to; many members of werewolf society hated the royal family, the prince especially. They each had their reasons. He said he was a friend of Jagger, and they had the same style, so he might be telling the truth.

"Well, I'll talk to Jagger about it and see what he says."

"Go ahead, I'm sure he'll be down. He knows I won't steal his mate. I could never do that to him, even though I am undeniably sexy." Luna frowned. He wasn't lying, he was attractive. He had a very long, lean body, which was atypical to traditional werewolf body types. He also had a very chiseled face and very high cheekbones. If it wasn't for his slight twang that was either southern or Australian, she wasn't sure, and scent, she would have guessed he was a vampire.

"How do I know I can trust you, though? Tensions will be high, and there will be hormones all over the place. Plus I'm sure some of the females will be in the open letting their scent out. You won't lose control and go off to them or go off on me? There's a possibility I will have a scent out. Don't get me wrong, one of my first stages of the plan is to rid myself of my scent." She narrowed her eyes at him. Jasper was so relaxed and kicked-back, she told him a part of her plan which she didn't even want Jagger to know.

"The only reason I'm not mad is because I figure you knew I was smart enough to do that to get away from the prince." Jasper turned his silver eyes away from Luna as he threw another shot back.

"Well, I think no matter what you do, Princess, the prince is coming for ya and he ain't gonna stop 'til he gets ya."

He's southern, then.

(So... what do you think about Jasper? Comment to let me know!)