Chapter 1

One

Moon Ten Years Later

“ J erry, I swear on chicken fried fuck balls, if you don't cover the left while I grab this damn flag, I will fillet you and mail the pieces to your mother!” I snap, gripping my controller too tight as I practically breathe fire into the mic. I’m sitting on my favorite bean bag panda, legs crossed, eyes glued to the TV screen, attempting to enjoy my day off. I would be if Jerry wasn’t being such a camping bitch. I swear, he does this just to make me scream at him.

“Relax, Moonlight,” Jerry grumbles, before sniffling.

I nervously chew my bottom lip as I crouch low behind a pile of rubble since this map is meant to resemble a demolished mall.

I know this nearly thirty-year-old wolf shifter isn’t crying. Again.

“Jerry, are you crying?” I hiss, as I move my character through the game, taking out as many of the other team’s players as I can. They’ll respawn, of course, but every kill counts in this game.

The map is a big circle with one flag in the red zone and one flag in the blue. We’re blue, so our objective is to capture the red flag before they get ours. There are three rounds, and this is round two. Jerry failed the last round, along with the rest of us, and the red team managed to capture our flag and return it to their base.

Jerry is the only player on the team I know, so he’s the only one I can yell at. He’s another gamer I met online a few years ago, but man, does he suck. At least at capture the flag. He does alright in the survivalist games, but first-person shooter games will forever be my favorite. When he saw I was online, he asked to join. Little did I know I’d be carrying his ass the whole game.

I love that this is my job, but right now, I’m playing for fun. Jerry is seriously killing my vibe at the moment, though, with all that sniffling.

“No.” Jerry sniffs again, and I sigh.

“Jerry, tell me the truth. Are you crying?” I creep behind a destroyed car, ready to sprint forward and grab the flag when I spot another player from my team. He's about to grab the flag when the opposite team shoots him down. It’s a sniper, but I can’t pinpoint their location.

“You're just kind of, you know, mean, sometimes…” Jerry huffs, and I’m thankful he can’t see how far back into my head my eyes roll.

“Oh, Jerry,” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. I’m stuck in this spot until the sniper reveals himself or someone else gets him first, so I take a moment to shake off my tense aggression. “Listen, I'm sorry, just… watch my back, yeah?” I try to sound chipper. I need to relax, as Jerry said. This isn't a serious game… I'm just here to let off some steam. But once I get into the zone, I can’t exactly control my game rage.

“Sniper,” Jerry mumbles in a dull tone before taking the guy out. Then, before I can overthink it, I dash out and snatch up the flag.

“Fuck yeah, Jerry! Follow me!” I shout, as I make a run for it. It's a decent distance, but surprisingly, Jerry keeps up and helps me make it all the way back to our base. “Hell yes, Jerry! That’s what I’m talking about, bitch!” I whoop and hear Jerry let out a small laugh. “You like it when I call you bitch, don’t you, Jerry?” I tease, as the next round starts, and I can just imagine him blushing furiously from my words.

“Jeez, Moonlight,” Jerry groans, and I laugh much too hard, but can’t help it. He’s just too easy to rile up, one way or the other. He’s also the only person I Iet call me Moonlight. Mostly because we’ve never met, and Jerry actually has a deep and kind of sexy voice, even though he’s terrible at gaming.

“What? You didn’t say no.” I smirk, the poor guy is probably trying so hard to convince himself he’s not into it.

“Why are you like this?” Jerry grumbles, and I scoff.

“Like what? Super amazing and extra awesome?”

“A tease. Kind of mean and super hot,” he says, and I cackle.

“Oh, Jerry,” I say again, but this time, I smile. “One day you’ll meet a sweetheart who thinks you’re just the best guy ever. One who doesn’t push you around unless you ask for it. Now, cover my back, or I’ll follow through with my threat.” My voice darkens at the end, so he doesn’t fall back into his sucky mode.

“Anything for you, Moonlight.” I don’t miss the way he tries to flirt, and sometimes, I even flirt back, but right now, I’m in the zone.

“Focus, Jerry.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

I play eight more games with Jerry, who apparently just needed a slight pep talk, or maybe it was my threat. He manages to stay close, helping me successfully capture flag after flag for countless rounds. I actually have a blast, despite poor Jerry realizing he’s definitely got a submission kink.

“Be a good boy, Jerry,” I tease, before our last round.

“Fucking hell, Moonlight.” He plays the best game of his life. Sheesh, poor Jerry.

By the time my fingers ache, and my body is stiff, I realize the sun set a long while ago.

Oops, I was supposed to go grab some groceries… I guess I can always do that tomorrow after I sign up for the Games.

I don’t have to clock in till noon tomorrow, which is probably the second-best thing about my job. Truthfully, I could go in earlier if I really wanted to. But I don’t. I wonder if there are actually people out there who genuinely enjoy waking up at such a mind-numbing time.

I can hardly manage to get up before ten a.m. most days.

I log off, after letting Jerry know I didn’t hate playing with him today.

Taking off my headphones, I hang them on their stand and then put my controller in its case. I pull on a hoodie and grab my phone, curling up on my futon. Technically this is my office, but I live here too. It’s a small studio apartment style room, with a mini kitchen and bathroom, so why not? Of course, I filled it with my favorite things, added a wall-to-wall bookshelf, and even painted the walls my favorite color. Dark purple.

As soon as I’m comfortable, I open my phone and see a message from Marcellus that I promptly ignore. He’ll track me down if it’s important, but I have a feeling I know what he’s going to say.

Not in the mood to play anything else or talk to anyone right now, I just scroll through my newsfeed mindlessly. I considered logging onto Echo’s live but decided against it. He’ll notice I’m there, and I don’t really feel like doing anything other than lying here.

Of course, this means I see pictures of my ex and his new girlfriend, who are both super excited to sign up for the Games tomorrow! Cue eye roll.

I would rather make out with a Goblin than deal with this shit. He’s just joining to fuck with me. I told him how much winning meant to me, and he never even mentioned giving a shit about the Games.

Spencer and I broke up months ago. Wait… two years ago, actually. He’d shown up at my office, nearly kicked the door in, and screamed at me about not putting out often enough. Nasty fuck. Ugh. I still kick myself over dating that creep.

Well, Marcellus showed up, ready to decapitate Spencer with his bare hands, but I can take care of myself. Marcellus watched as I punched Spencer in the throat and then kicked him in his junk for good measure. Then I dragged him by his ear down the hall and literally tossed him out of the window from the thirtieth floor. I smirk to myself at the reminder of his scream.

Obviously, he’s fine. Since, you know, he didn’t die. But he did get quite the scare since he was unaware that our building has a very strong safety net in place to prevent any accidental death. Magic caught his ass and placed him gently on the concrete, and I got to watch the footage of him screaming like a baby for weeks. Of course, Marcellus refused to allow me to release the footage. Something about getting sued.

I drop my head back and stare up at my star-covered ceiling. Waving my hand in the air, I make the stars dance and zone out.

If I see that skeevy fuck in the games, I’ll steal his girlfriend and run away with her. Set her free from that butt beaver.

I know him well enough to know he picked a girl who’s meek and quiet, especially after dating me. He thinks he wants a girl like me, but the reality is, he can’t control someone like me, and he hates it.

He wasn’t abusive, just a dick head. He was smashed off his ass the day he showed up here. I don’t know what he thought I’d do, but he was not expecting me to kick his ass.

Dumbass.

I need to stop scrolling and just go to bed. Tomorrow, I have to be up at eight a.m. The devil’s hour. Jk, jk. Kind of.