Ain't No Luna

4- The Girl With The Skateboard

“Are you kidding me?” I yelled.

“Carmen, watch how you talk to me.” My father added a hint of his alpha power into the words making me wince, but not stop. He was sitting in his office chair, his hands grasped tightly over papers on his desk. He was still in his tux and I was still in my dress and heels yelling at him from across his desk.

“Dad, how can you be agreeing to this nonsense? I don’t even know this kid; I can’t live with him let alone mate with him.” I continued to yell.

The rest of the dinner had gone fine, slightly awkward but I kept my cool knowing that I could some how argue my way out of this later. The whole time, Ashton was sending me sly looks from across the table. He found my situation humorous to say the least. He and I both knew that I would never survive with a stuck up ass like Tyler. Especially because there were rules that came with being in a top family, a lot more rules than came with being in mine. And I was born into mine; it would be a lot different being mated in.

Tyler sat next to me, being the perfect gentleman as his parents fawned over how beautiful I was and how they couldn’t wait for us to continue with the mating ceremony and how wonderful and great and blah blah blah. I basically ignored everything they said with a plastered smile on my face, which I’m sure my father was glad for. He and I both knew I could have said some very choice words about how they were already planning our future. I already had one planned future and I definitely didn’t need another one.

Tyler just leaned back in his chair, a slight smile on his face, and his arm over the back of my chair. I resisted the urge to throw his arm off and send him and his chair flying into the nice wood flooring of the restaurant. But I couldn’t help but feel the heat from his arm as it warmed places that were nowhere near my neck. The complete opposite direction in fact. I had to admit, this guy was doing something to me, something no other guys had. He hadn’t even really touched me yet and I was already a purring kitten. I groaned under my breath, praying the night ended quickly.

By the time desert had come around I had already come up with an argument to get out of this whole mating thing. I wasn’t going through with it and me being dad’s favorite there was absolutely no way he would say no right? Dear God how wrong I was.

“Carmen.” My father sighed as he leaned back in his office chair. We had been in his office for an hour now arguing about my future relationship with Tyler.

“Dad,” I answered back, clearly upset and frustrated.

“Carmen you have been getting yourself into trouble since your mother died,” that wasn’t a phrase I had been expecting, “I overlooked it because I thought it was your way of coping. But I’m done.” I could tell how tired he was. It was the first time that I had ever felt guilty about what I did. However, what he said next completely wiped the thought from my mind. “You will be mated to Tyler Beckett and you will go and live with him and his family. Its time you take some responsibility around here. Your not a child anymore and I refuse to treat you like one. So wipe that puppy dog look off your face and go pack. You’re leaving in two days.” And with that he dismissed me.

I stood shocked at what my father had told me. I couldn’t believe it; I didn’t want to believe it. “I’m sure this is what mom would’ve done.” I lashed out, not caring when I saw him flinch, “I’m glad I have a father that’s taking my own feelings into consideration when he makes decisions about my life. Looks like mom left her family in capable hands.” I turned around and stomped out, slamming his office door before he could say anything. With tears streaming down my face I headed upstairs to pack up what used to be my life.

I stood in my room, looking over the things that I had accumulated. I had never lived anywhere else in my life and I was not excited for that change. There were school banners on the walls and posters from various concerts and thousands upon thousands of movie tickets that Haley and I had seen and loved. There was a teddy bear that Ash had won me by using his werewolf strength to cheat at a county fair. There was a stripe of pink paint on my otherwise green wall where me and Haley had thought we were going to paint stripes around the whole thing, we gave up when we realized that just that one stripe had been difficult enough. I looked around the room that I loved and more tears fell from my face at the life that I was being forced to leave.