The Luna's Bodyguard

"I...Luna Irina Vancouver reject you, Beta Petrov Castillo as my mate"

The anger in his eyes was mortal, Petrov's eyes glowed a blinding red as he stared at Irina's writing on the paper.

He had never thought it possible, that the little girl from yesterday who had been so madly in love with him could put pen to paper on this. In his rage, he tore the paper in two..they had never even gotten close to marriage. How dare she do this to him?

The shame he would face was one the council of Werewolves would never erase, much less, the embarrassment that would come in the papers, knowing that he, son of Billionaire tycoon, Vandal Castillo could be utterly disgraced in such a manner.

In the eyes of the public, she would claim she had called off the engagements, but as werewolves, he knew it went far deeper, she had not just called off their engagement, she had rejected their soul tie.

For this, he was going to make sure her life was a living hell.

***

Irina's Father, Alpha Denzel, noticed the strange stench in the air, his sixth sense alerting him of the leeching danger. Apart from his challenges as the Leader of a strong Pack, he knew he had enemies from around, people who had never supported his growth in business and his wealth thereof.

This alone posed a great threat to him, and also knowing that his daughters were his greatest asset, he needed to double their security, so he decided to hire a personal bodyguard for them.

But with the way Irina hated men, he was not sure how that would go, and so he was choosy when he picked, until he finally hired an extremely suitable guard, one he knew, she would not hate or send away.

IRINA'S POV

I knew that Cameron had seen me taking the candy from the jar without the shopkeeper's notice. He had known I would do that. The small candy shop was barely holding itself together and the naive Chinese old woman was yet to give up on it.

It had been four months since I called off my engagement, the papers had carried the news all over every satellite. The werewolves council had received the news but were yet to give me a response.

Ever since I was a little girl, I had loved Petrov, we even had a tree at my Father's Vacation house where we had printed our initials with knives, "I hearts P"- Irina hearts Petrov. Yet he immediately dumped me for my perfect stepsister, Aurora.

Yes, I had rejected him, but only because he had cheated on me with my step-sister.

I should have seen the signs then, but I did not. I was too young and too stupid to understand, there was no such thing as a fated mate or true love. There was just an agreement with the Fates that you would agree to spend the rest of your life with one Mate forever.

Aurora was the white sheep of the family, and I was the black. With perfect silk skin, blonde hair, and a slender, luscious body, Aurora had stolen the hearts of everyone as soon as she arrived.

Although I was meant to be next in line to be Luna, after my mother's death, I had just never been prim and proper enough for them.

Everything changed for me after my mother's death, Vivienne Vancouver. The Luna of our Pack, the Golden Stallion Pack. Life had become hell for me and my Father, but most especially myself.

We had never fully gotten over the grief, but my Father made sure I never felt pressured to take on the duty of Luna after my Mother's death, even though I had taken on the title for his sake.

A part of him knew that I had worn my mother's death around my neck like a shield, and he had stood his grounds against the council to stop them from treating me the way they deemed fit.

After all, I was his daughter, and he had watched me live with the guilt of my actions every single day, after my mother's death. I had rejected food and water.

After all, everyone blamed me for the

This was why he remarried, it wasn't because he had easily found love, but because some responsibilities required the presence of a Luna.

Petrov and Aurora had transformed easily before I had even gotten the chance to know what it felt like. Petrov had left when we were teenagers and only returned years after for my Mother's funeral, and that was how we had reconnected.

Unfortunately, our reconnection was the flame that burned all bridges, and just a week before our wedding, he had slipped his hands under Aurora's dress.

I found them making love in my Father's office recklessly...and passionately.

"Make me your Luna...", I had heard Aurora moan out in a ragged cry as Petrov slammed her against the wall with the violent movement of his hip.

"You are my Luna, my true mate." Petrov had grunted back.

"And what about Irina?" Aurora asked in a seductive voice.

"...I don't..know who you are talking about".

Tears stung My eyes as I turned away, hurt by what I had seen and heard

My ears had never stopped ringing after that occasion, and I was certain I would never be good enough for any man to look at. Why then was I to bother? Even my own Father preferred Aurora to me in some way.

The shop smelled of old cartons and sweets, the kind of scent that made you think of old people and moments of your childhood that you could only recall in black and white.

My head hurt from the hangover. That was why we were here, "Phillies" was the only shop within a mile range of dead roads that had a pharmaceutical edge, and I was desperately in need of hangover pills.

Memories from the night before flooded my vision, as I remembered how badly I had behaved at the club I attended. I had spent a lot of money on drinks and total strangers.

I flashed a smile at Cameron, my eyes flirtatious but unintentionally so because I knew he was gay and worse of all, we just never saw eye to eye on anything. I was the wild crazy girl who loved fun, and he considered me to be a spoilt brat.

It was even because I considered him to be stuck up and completely non-fun, even though I did find him to be extremely handsome and rock-hard gorgeous.

My long wavy navy green hair cascaded like a torrent of water down my long, salient back. I stared at myself in the old shop's half-broken and rather brown set mirror. I saw My nose ring bling in the glimmer of the old fluorescent bulb, and it made me feel beautiful and untouchable.

"Miss Irina..." Cameron's deep, smooth voice called to me. He looked at me warningly, his grey eyes taking on a serious glare. Nonetheless, my smile never left my face. That was how I was, stubborn and crazy.

In a few days, I knew I would turn twenty-four, and hopefully, even more so, exhaustingly, I would meet my wolf again without being afraid of what pain I would feel, or even be haunted by the memory of what happened to me the first time I transformed.

"Here, Ma'am, we will take this" I turned to Cameron with a knowing smile. He caught my eyes, unsure for a moment what was going on, until he saw me reach for the three-step silver-twined trolley of perfume samples below the counter, to the left side of my leg.

I leaned over on the counter and placed my right hand under my chin, smiling at the old woman with an innocent, easy friendly smile. My black soccer cap covered my face so nobody caught wind of who I was.

Normally, he was not allowed to touch me, Cameron knew this, but somehow, he had been allowed to look at me. He knew I was stubborn.

" Being the daughter of a well-known Billionaire was not enough reason for you to be a vandal." He had always said to me. How classless!

So, when he was faced with stopping my bad deeds, Cameron always settled for alternates instead.

He reached down below as though to tie his shoes, distracting me slightly. When he noticed my short, red-painted manicured fingers were still reaching for the perfume samples, he did the only wise thing he could think of at that moment, he tilted the trolley slightly towards himself, as though noticing it was going to fall and he was trying to break its fall.

"Oh dear, are you okay?" The old woman asked peering over the counter down at him.

I rolled my eyes in dismay. The old stupid trick, who did not know it?

Just then, a man walked into the shop. A strange stench filled the air around my nose as soon as the man walked in, and I saw Cameron's eyes flick towards his direction.

"It is already dark outside, though the night is still a bit fair, I still think we should be heading back to the hotel." He whispered into my ear

Distracted by the toppled trolley, the ignorant shopkeeper walked around the counter and picked it up. "I am so sorry, silly old thing you know" she said picking it up and taking it to a different location.

"Miss Irina, I think we should be heading back now" Cameron said to me again, but I was now too busy emptying a can of booze down my throat.

Cameron reached out and stopped the flow of the drink by grabbing the can and squeezing it. He squeezed it so hard, that the edges nearly pierced my hands.

"What is wrong with you?!" I mumbled out in a half-drunk state.

"You can barely stand from your hangover over and now you want to drown yourself in more alcohol. I'm sorry, Miss Irina but I won't let you." Cameron said angrily.

I turned and shot Cameron a hurt and upset look, he shrugged his shoulder as though ignorant of the charges I laid against him.

"None of this is your business, I am allowed to drink as many bottles of booze as I want to because I can afford it" I had said with an air of deliriousness. As soon as I turned on my heel to grab another bottle, I slipped on the tiled floor, almost falling.

To steady myself from dropping to the floor, I reached out and grabbed Cameron's shoulder to stop myself from falling. He grabbed my waist and stopped me, just as my hair was inches away from the hard, cold tiles.

We stared at each other for a moment, and I could feel my wolf connect strongly with his. I was desperately tempted to reach out to his face and kiss him. Crazily, that was what I did. I grabbed his face and kissed him, and surprisingly, he returned my kisses.

"Oh! Get a room you two" the old lady said to us, and my eyes popped open, and I stopped kissing him.

As soon as our lips parted, he pulled me up and turned away with a sharp glare. I felt worried that he was angry at me for kissing him. Nevertheless, he had responded to my kiss

And then, suddenly, somehow, out of the corner of his eyes, I noticed he caught the reflection of the man dressed in black, who had walked into the shop, in the overhead mirror above the counter.

Cameron noticed he had been watching us all along, and as though by wolfish reflex, I watched him duck and jump, shoving me out of the way, just as the silver bullet flew past the space where I had previously stood.