THE RUNAWAY BRIDE

Luna POV

What are you going to do when the day comes and everything will be different? What is, in case you had to face a dilemma between a life of fear and nothing? What would you do if it were either run everything away, or keep everything, to forfeit yourself?

My hands kept shaking. The white dress was a kind of a cage around me with every piece of fabric pressured to my chest. I had a glimpse of a girl in a mirror that I did not know. Instead she was pretty and brave but I was falling to pieces inside.

Stop fidgeting, I said, and I went on to the doorstep. His voice was always cold. He stood in his black suit and gazed upon me as an object that he had at last sold. Marcus had never been a father; and since my mother passed away he simply kept me chained and exploited me.

The wedding was about money. I overheard him on the phone some weeks back discussing the Alpha, the money and the value of his problem. I was the issue and money he was burning.

You are perfect, he said, and I squirmed at what he was saying. Perfect for who? I pushed it aside and held on to the sink corner. My nails so sank into the ceramic that I thought it would break.

Kieran Baron. The Alpha. The powerful. The one everyone feared. The person who was to be mine forever.

Beyond I heard wood music. It was a clearing among old trees where weird things happened, and the wedding took place. I did not ask myself why my stepfather picked such a place. I just did what I was told. That is how my life is: take instructions, do not make questions, perhaps live to see another day.

But today was different. Something inside me woke up.

"It's time," Marcus said. He extended his arm as though we were one big family, as though this was one occasion to rejoice. I did not even dare to look, but I needed to take his arm. Otherwise he would find some way to make me repay him later. So it was that we were living pain to obedience.

We moved out of the little room and went to the clearing. The woods were dark and green. I could hear birds sing, which was inappropriate. How might the birds sing a day such as this? When the world was ending my life how could it be beautiful?

The space cleared out in front of us and I groaned. People were numerous and all of them were wearing official attire and all looked at me. I recognized a few faces of Pine Ridge but the rest were new eyes looking and waiting.

And then I saw him. Kieran Baron, the tall dark man, was at the front as the stories told. His icy blue eyes were shining through me. He didn't smile or wave. He simply stood as a statue as though it were another day with him. He was collecting me like any other object.

But I also saw someone else. At the back of Kieran was another man. Younger, softer. Dark hair, green eyes. I caught a glimpse of each other through the clearing and there was a sensation in the chest. A rope strangled itself around my heart and smacked it tight. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't look away. Who was he? Why did I feel like I knew him?

He was looking sad, as though it were breaking his heart in my presence. He would have liked to tell something but could not. His hands were made into fists.

Keep on, keep on, said Marcus, and pushed me. My legs began walking although I was not commanding them. We got nearer to Kieran, nearer to a life that I never wanted.

The ceremony started. People were talking, and I was still thinking about that other man, about those green eyes, about that aching in my chest. Had I met him before? Did he know something I didn't?

Luna, the harsh voice of Kieran broke in. Everyone was looking at me. It was time to say my vows, to bind myself to this man forever, to vow the rest of my life.

This was it. This was the time when my old life was over and when I started a new prison.

I was going to say the words, to take my lot.

Something within myself cried no.

It began little, a whisper, a feeling. It grew louder each second. No. No. No. No.

My stepfather was holding my hand tight to the point of pain. Kieran was waiting. Everyone was watching. This is what was expected to occur. This was the plan. This was my life now.

And at that very moment, looking at all those faces, and the burden of that white dress on me, I made a decision that I could not recall. I stepped out of the dress and ran away.