It had been three days since Boss made his proposition: either I sleep with him or I get fired.

I needed one more day’s pay to cover Elva’s most recent bill. Once I had that, I could resign and hopefully find something else.

Boss trailed his eyes down the length of my body. Staring openly at my breasts, he licked his lips. “Don’t think I won’t, Piper. I’ll be waiting for you.”

In the restaurant, all of the female patrons talked excitedly about the selection. To cater to them, Boss turned all of the televisions on the walls to the royal consort ceremony broadcast.

“Which one do you think is the most handsome?” asked one patron to her friends.

They’d ordered a plate of loaded nachos to share. I carefully placed it in the center of their table.

Another girl spoke quickly. “Are you kidding? The others are cute, sure, but Nicholas is obviously the hottest.”

The other girls quickly agreed.

Startled, I hovered at their table. They were right, of course. Nicholas was the most objectively attractive, but to hear people talk about him so casually still surprised me.

For three days, I’d tried to reconcile in my mind that the Nicholas I had known was also the eldest prince of the kingdom. But I still couldn’t quite manage it.

Nicholas had always been proper. But a prince?

“Piper, is it?” one of the girls at the table asked me. I jumped, realizing I was still standing there. Yet before I could apologize, she asked me, “Which one do you think is the most handsome?”

“Nicholas,” came my automatic answer. “Excuse me.”

Embarrassed at having been caught daydreaming, I forced myself to focus on work. And I succeeded – until I heard Nicholas’ voice come from the speakers.

“The kind of woman I’d prefer?” Nicholas said. “Someone loyal. Strong. Even tempered. And she has to like to children.”

“Check, check, and check,” came a voice from the table of girls. “He’s describing me! It’s meant to be.”

“Dream on. He’s clearly describing me.”

“You don’t even like kids!”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see which of us make it through the preliminary selection. Then you’ll see!”

The screen showed the interviewer. “Children, hm? Does that mean we can expect you to have a big family, Prince Nicholas?”

The camera panned back to Nicholas. He gave a small smile, but his eyes were guarded. “It’s my duty as a prince to continue the lineage. But, yes, I’d like to have a large family.”

The girls squealed in delight. “He’d make such a good father!”

Nicholas glanced at the camera, and for a moment, it seemed as if he was staring straight through it. I froze in place, like he could see me.

My heart ached.

He glanced off to the side again, looking at the interviewer, and immediately, I felt foolish. Of course, he couldn’t see me.

He probably hadn’t thought of me at all since the breakup.

I pressed my hand over my heart, hoping to soothe away the touch of pain there.

What was wrong with me? We hadn’t seen each other in three years. I couldn’t still be hung up on him. Sure, I hadn’t dated anyone else since, but that didn’t mean anything. I’d been too busy to date.

I wasn’t lonely. I had Elva, and I had Anna. I didn’t need romance to be content.

A bell dinged in the kitchen, signaling a meal was ready. I went back to retrieve it. When I returned to the dining room, Nicholas was still on the screen, but speaking on an entirely different topic.

“The underground market is something that the royal family is investigating with the utmost seriousness. This illegal trade of wolves and their gifts is dangerous for every person in the kingdom.”

I dropped the plate of food in my hand.

The restaurant silenced at once, all eyes on me.

Nicholas continued, “The weakening of any one wolf, weakens the whole pack. We cannot let that go unpunished.”

“Piper,” one of the other waitresses hissed at me, waking me from my stupor.

I stood among ceramic shards and ruined food. “I’m sorry.” I quickly set to cleaning it. As I did, I cursed myself so loudly in my thoughts, I couldn’t hear any more of Nicholas’ interview.

By the end of my shift, I was worn down and exhausted. After my accident, I pushed myself as hard as I could, focusing solely on work and forgetting all else.

I did not once lift my eyes to the television again, not even when the table of girls bemoaned their disappointment with the selection results.

I hadn’t applied. I wouldn’t be on the list. Why even bother looking?

I worked until closing, scrubbing dishes in the sink. After washing away a particularly stubborn clump of food from a plate, I noticed how quiet it was around me.

Usually the cook had to clean the stove, or prep for tomorrow. Almost always, he was the last to leave at night. But he was nowhere to be seen.

Neither were the other waitresses, who had said they would clean the dining room. The lights in the dining room were dimmed.

I was alone.

A puff of hot air brushed the back of my exposed neck. The stench of alcohol permeated the air.

Gripping the plate I’d been cleaning, I immediately swung around, ready to knock Boss over the head with it. Anything to get away.

But I was a moment too late. Boss had been expecting the attack.

He knocked the plate onto the floor, where it smashed to pieces.

One arm circling around my waist, he pressed his hips hard to mine, wedging me against the lip of the sink.

I was trapped.

Boss’s free hand ripped open the buttons of my shirt, revealing my lacey white bra. He pressed his palm against my breast.

“Let me go.” Panic swelling within me, I struggled against him. He only held tighter, rougher, fingers biting into my hip and my chest.

Without my wolf, I didn’t have the strength to break free.

“Don’t be shy, wolf-less.” Boss pressed his nose to my cheek. I felt him smile against my jaw. “You have a child, after all. I know you aren’t a virgin.”

When Nicholas had touched me, it had been nothing like this.

Nicholas had been excited and eager, but gentle, too. He’d pressed his lips to my skin and –

Boss bit the side of my neck.

I cried out, and renewed my struggle. But it was too much. Without my wolf, he was just too strong.

“Be good and take what I give you,” Boss said. “Quit the blushing virgin act.”

“I don’t want you!” I shouted.

He laughed. “Who cares what you want?”

Then, suddenly, a sharp thud sounded, and the insistent press of Boss’s body fell away.

I opened my eyes.

Boss was unconscious on the ground. A group of soldiers in uniform stood behind where he’d been.

One of them, at the front, held up something near my face. When he lowered it, I saw it was a picture of me.

“Piper?”

Panic still clawed at my throat, silencing me. Even though they’d rescued me, I still didn’t feel safe.

Who were these soldiers? What did they want?

“Are you Piper?” the soldier asked again.

I nodded.

“Come with us,” he said. He signaled to his squad. They began to file out of the kitchen.

“…Where?” I managed to ask.

“Didn’t you want the royal consort ceremony?”

“N-no.”

“You were selected, Piper. We’re here to escort you to the palace.”

One of the soldiers dragged Boss out into the dining room. He was whimpering, begging them to let him go.

“I didn’t know. How would I have known?”

In the center of the dining room, the soldier dropped his hold on Boss and he crumpled onto the floor.

My attention flicked up to the television screens, which showed a replay of the selection process, displaying names, one after the next.

The 25(th) and final name was my own.

I didn’t understand. I never sent in an application.

“I had no idea she might be a future Luna,” Boss said, clutching his head. “If I’d known, I never would have –”

“For this slight against the royal family, this establishment will be shut down until further notice,” the head soldier said, cutting Boss off. Then the guard looked at me. “Some of us will escort you home, miss, so that you can gather your personal belongings.”

“How long will I be staying?” I asked. I felt like I was in some sort of dream. Any moment I’d wake up and be in that kitchen.

I never wanted to step foot inside of there again.

The soldier gave me a quizzical look. “Everything should have been made clear on your application.”

The application. Right. The one I hadn’t sent in.

I didn’t want to ask any more questions and risk drawing unwanted attention to myself, so I nodded. “Of course.”

A handful of soldiers near the entrance beckoned me to them. I followed them and they drove me to my apartment. When we arrived, I asked them to wait outside.

They complied, though one stationed himself right outside the door. “To help with luggage,” he explained.

I wasn’t used to that kind of care, so I looked at him strangely for a moment. He maintained a military stance, not seeming to mind my stare.

This was all too weird.

I opened my apartment door and walked inside. Anna excitedly met me just inside the door. Elva, not quite as excited, was still on the couch, playing with her dolls.

“Hi, Mommy.”

“Hi, Elva,” I called to her before looking at Anna, who seemed ready to bounce straight out of her skin.

“You were chosen! Can you believe it?”

“No.” I ushered her away from the front door. Yet even away from it, I still kept my voice soft so the soldier outside wouldn’t hear. “I didn’t even put in an application. How did they get my name?”

Anna quickly glanced away.

“Anna.”

“So I sent in an application on your behalf…”

“Anna!” I whisper-yelled.

“You don’t belong in this town, Piper, and certainly not in that job with that creepy boss.”

“I can’t believe this. What am I supposed to do?”

Her eyes found mine again. She held hands out, palms up. “You are supposed to participate in the Luna Choosing Game.”

“I never wanted to do this,” I said. “If I go there, I’m going to be humiliated. I don’t fit the criteria, Anna. I have a daughter.”

Anna shrugged. “What’s the harm in trying, Piper? If you go and they disqualify you, you come back here and nothing will have changed. But if they accept you…”

“That will never happen.”

Anna sighed dramatically. “At least try. If only so you can get a free vacation to the Capital. Elva’s never seen it.” Anna kneeled down, claiming Elva’s attention. “Wouldn’t you like to see the palace, Elva? Where the King and Luna live?”

“The Luna had a pretty dress,” Elva said.

“She has a lot of pretty dresses,” Anna said. “And so do a lot of the other girls there.”

Elva gasped. “Really?” When Anna nodded, Elva turned her doe eyes up to me. “Can I see the pretty dresses, Mommy?”

This was a low tactic from Anna. How could I resist Elva’s doe eyes?

“Okay,” I said. “We can see the pretty dresses.”

As Elva cheered, I gave Anna a flat look.

She just smiled. “You’ll thank me later.”

Despite the royal family’s magic having made the selection, choosing me had to have been some kind of mistake. I couldn’t say that, of course. To dispute the judgement of the royal family was akin to treason.

What I could do was take Elva into the palace to see the dresses, and then politely withdraw from the competition.

We arrived to the palace at dawn, pulling into a long circular entryway. Carrying Elva, I followed the soldiers to a room to prepare for the morning’s social.

I thanked the guard again. He seemed less surprised this time. At the door, he whispered, “Good luck, ma’am.”

Twenty minutes later, I had changed and help Elva into the nicest outfits we had brought. We matched in simple sundresses. I brushed Elva’s hair up into curly pigtails. I kept my own down, which was unusual for me. Lately, I always had it up in a bun for work.

Dressed, we followed a waiting maid down into the main parlor, where many beautiful women had begun to gather. Their dresses were much more elaborate than mine, the other girls looking like they had stepped out of the latest expensive fashion magazines.

Elva’s eyes went wide as saucers. She pointed to one dress, and then the next, like she didn’t know what to look at first.

In the corner of the room, a maid had set up a table of mimosas and parfaits. I ushered Elva over there and handed her a parfait and a spoon. Her eyes, however, were still on the dresses.

Elva blessedly didn’t seem to notice the sneers and sideways glances the two of us were earning simply by being present. One woman looked at my dressed with a disgusted sort of snarl curling her lip.

Embarrassment struck me and I lowered my chin.

“Elva, honey, let’s…”

Elva wasn’t beside me. I glanced up, alarmed, and saw her only a few feet away, reaching for a woman’s sparkly pink dress.

“Elva,” I said, hurrying to stop her.

But I was too late. Some of her parfait dripped over the side of the cup and onto that sparkling dress.

“Oops,” Elva said.

I placed my hand on Elva’s shoulders, easing her back. “I’m so sorry,” I said to the woman.

The woman’s eyes were fire. Her glare shifted from me to Elva to back again. “Get that runt out of my sight.”

“It was an accident,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” Elva said, voice small.

“There shouldn’t even be a child here. What are you, a nanny? Who do you think you are to attempt to mingle with potential queens?” Her words were cruel and cutting, so ugly compared to her pretty face.

Elva’s shoulders shook. She sniffled loudly.

This was no reason to make a child cry. My own anger spiked. “Now, hold on –”

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” the girl snarled. “Get out!”

Suddenly, she shoved me – hard. I hadn’t been expecting it, and without a wolf, I couldn’t stand against her strength. I fell backwards, down to the ground.

I released Elva only so I wouldn’t bring her down with me.

With me out of the way, the girl turned her aggression toward Elva. She shoved her toward the exit, pushing roughly.

Elva was crying in earnest. She’d totally dropped her parfait, and it splashed out, wasted, across the floor.

I scrambled to my feet.

An authoritative voice called out. “What’s going on here?”

Elva must have sensed something protective about the man. She ran straight toward him. He leaned down to catch her.

My heart jumped into my throat.

Elva ran straight into Nicholas’s arms.

Nicholas held Elva safe and secure in his arms as he stood to his full height. Elva buried her face into the corner of his neck and shoulder. He gently patted her back.

He glanced down at Elva, his gaze so tender that it made my heart clench.

“There, there,” he whispered. “You are safe now.”

“Oh my God,” said one of the other girls in the room, fanning herself. “Of course he’s good with children.”

“Someone pinch me,” said another. “I think I’m dreaming.”

Nicholas’s soft expression hardened as he glared out at the rest of the room. “Whose child is this? Why is she here?”

I started forward, but the girl in the pink dress spoke before I could reach him.

“An outsider sneaked in, unless she’s a maid.”

Some of the other girls snickered at my expense.

“She can’t be a participant,” another girl fake-whispered, loud enough for half-the room to hear. “I thought we had to be virgins, and she’s got a kid.”

I wanted to disappear into a corner. Whether virgin or not, I was nothing compared to the rest of these girls.

My clothes weren’t as nice as theirs, and my figure wasn’t like what it had been at the Academy. I’d lost much of my musculature. I was skinny from too many nights of skipped dinners.

Elva’s wellbeing had always come before my own.

Her sake was the only reason I continued forward rather than hide in embarrassment. I stopped only when I reached Nicholas.

He looked at me, and I looked at him.

I’d forgotten how gorgeous his eyes were, golden brown with flakes of green. When we’d dated, I had spent hours looking at them, trying to memorize that color, but it had seemed different each time.

Before, when I’d stared long enough, I could earn a bashful smile from him. Now, his face was totally devoid of emotion. He looked at me like I was a stranger.

Did he… not recognize me?

I had changed, sure, but not enough to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and moved on, never once looking back.

Or maybe he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving him, and with a child.

Maybe he hated me.

“This is the outsider.” The girl in pink motioned to me.

“I’ll look into this,” Nicholas said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then he turned and walked away.

He still held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an adjoining room, separated by a door.

An official-looking man in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t to be alone with the contestants yet.”

Nicholas stopped to look at the man, who nervously backed up a step.

“This is an exception,” Nicholas said.

“Yes, sir. Of course, sir.” The man bowed twice as he withdrew.

Nicholas carried Elva into the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I alone in a small sitting room.

My stomach churned. I thought I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas again, and especially not like this.

I had no idea what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of the selection? And with Elva?

Elva, who seemed at ease against his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and drooling. She seemed at peace.

I stepped forward toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes filled with rage.

Though his hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more protectively around her.

“How dare you hide my child from me?” he demanded.

All of my thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of what he said.

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

I glanced at Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That lined up with our breakup three years ago. But…

I tried to recall the memory. We’d been so young then, too eager and excited and inexperienced.

We’d both finished in clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a condom at the time?

His face retained its anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying to remember too.

“You’re mistaken,” I said, hoping to give him some ease.

It was no secret that Nicholas wanted children. He’d even said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the guilt for the years he’d lost.

“Elva. That’s her name. But she’s not yours.”

His eyes widened a moment, before the anger returned tenfold. “You…”

Whatever he wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to get it out. He swallowed it down.

He glanced between me and Elva. “She looks like you.”

She would. Her birth mother was my identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have her seen as anything less.

My silence seemed to answer some unspoken question for him, and he started to growl.

I straightened, startled. What could cause that reaction?

Elva stirred his arms, and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling sound.

Slowly, gently, he lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches in the room.

“Don’t be mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet voice.

My heart cracked.

Nicholas lightly shushed her as he moved a pillow under her resting head. “Rest now. Your mom and I are just going to talk.”

“No loud talking,” Elva said, eyelids drooping low.

“Okay,” Nicholas said, so soft.

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

We both waited until Elva’s breathing steadied out. When she was fast asleep, Nicholas straightened. He motioned me toward another door, this one to a bathroom.

I lifted a brow at him.

He motioned toward Elva, asleep.

He obviously didn’t want to wake her with whatever he was about to say. I didn’t want to wake her either.

Sighing, I walked into the bathroom. Fortunately, it was nearly as large as the room we’d just occupied, with a tall vanity taking up one wall, and a large bathtub stretching the entire width of another.

I went to the vanity before turning to face him as he closed the door three-quarters of the way behind him. Enough we could hear Elva if she called.

With Elva out of sight and earshot, and with Nicholas under the bright bathroom lights, I watched as his entire body tensed, stretching his height taller.

The gold of his eyes darkened to near black, leaving only flecks of green behind, sparkling light a forest under the moonlight.

True to his promise to Elva, he didn’t raise his voice. Instead it was strained and low, dangerous.

“Piper.”

It was the first time I had heard him say my name in three years. I shuddered unintentionally.

If he’d been anyone other than the man I’d loved all those years ago, I would have run for the hills.

But he was that man.

And he was angry. His body was nearly trembling in rage.

I waited for the accusation I guessed would come. Yet even when I heard it, it still hurt like a physical blow.

“How long after our breakup did you wait, before you let some other man get you pregnant?”