Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 12 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 12

I Refuse To Be

Chapter 12 Little Flower

Lady Flourish’s POV

I crossed one leg over the other and leaned back into my chair slowly, refusing to let him see how deeply his presence affected me.

“Unfortunately,” I replied smoothly.

A few board members chuckled nervously, but Damian only smirked wider.

“I missed your sharp mouth, Little Flower.”

My wolf practically slammed against my chest at the nickname.

I ignored him and opened the folder in front of me. “Shall we begin the meeting?”

“Straight to business?” Damian leaned back lazily in his seat. “No ‘welcome back Damian‘? No ‘how have you been for the last seven years‘?”

“Considering you disappeared without a word, I assumed you preferred silence.”

The room instantly went tense.

Rhys looked seconds away from passing out.

Damian, however, only stared at me, a bit longer than necessary.

Then his expression darkened slightly, amusement fading around the edges.

“I did,” he admitted quietly. “At the time.”

Something about his tone made my stomach twist.

Before I could think too deeply about it, Rhys hurriedly cleared his throat.

“Ahem—the partnership proposal.”

Bless him.

I sat straighter and finally focused on the documents before me. “Stormbridge Pack is requesting partial integration of our technology systems into their territorial infrastructure?”

Damian nodded once. “Security systems. Trade networks. Surveillance grids. Transportation management.”

1/6

I skimmed through the figures.

Massive numbers. 

My brows lifted despite myself. That was a lot of money he was willing to invest.

“You’re expanding aggressively.”

“Growth requires aggression.”

His green eyes held mine pointedly, but I looked away first.

Annoying man.

One of the board members suddenly spoke up. “Alpha Damian’s expansion rate is actually unprecedented. Stormbridge’s economic growth surpassed East Ridge and Black Hollow within only three years.”

Another added carefully, “Some are already calling Stormbridge the most powerful independent territory in the north.”

I finally looked at Damian properly again.

He sat there like none of it mattered.

Like becoming one of the most feared Alphas in the country was casual.

My chest tightened unexpectedly.

He really built all of that alone?

No family backing, no inheritance, nothing.

Just him.

Damian caught me staring and tilted his head slightly. “Something on your mind?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you always this much of a flirt with all your business partners?”

“Only the pretty ones.”

Several board members immediately looked down at the table, and Rhys started coughing violently beside me.

2/6

My face heated.

This man would be the death of me.

I straightened the papers aggressively. “Alpha Damian, if you are incapable of maintaining professionalism, I can postpone this meeting.”

“Can you?” he asked softly.

The words weren’t threatening, and somehow it made them more dangerous.

Before I could figure out how to respond, the boardroom doors suddenly slammed opened.

Everyone turned.

The last person I would ever expect to walk through those doors, did.

Harold.

My entire body stiffened instantly.

He looked furious, marching right into the middle of the room. His eyes landed on Damian first, then shifted toward me sitting beside him.

The air became suffocating almost immediately.

“Harold?” I frowned, irritation bubbling in my gut. “What are you doing here?”

He ignored my question completely.

Instead, his gaze swept across the room before landing on Damian again. “I heard Damian was in this building.”

Damian leaned back in his chair casually. “Good to know your hearing still works.”

The insult was smooth enough that half the room didn’t even catch it.

Unfortunately, Harold did, and his jaw clenched.

“Why are you here?” Harold asked coldly.

Damian’s expression remained calm. “I’m in a boardroom, Harold. With half of her board members sitting all around you. There are files on the table. I’m here for business.” 

“With her?” 

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I pushed my chair back slightly. “Excuse me?”

Harold finally looked at me. “You left the villa without informing anyone. You ignored my messages all night. You’ve severed the mind link between us, and then I find out you’re having private meetings with Damian?”

The audacity.

Pure audacity.

I laughed softly in disbelief.

“You disappeared for two hours yesterday with another she–wolf. What did you expect me to do? Sit there and wait with my ruined dress? Oh, that’s right, you didn’t even see when my dress got ruined.”

The room went silent.

Harold’s expression darkened.

“That’s different.”

“Explain how Harold. It’s always ‘that’s different‘ with you. What exactly is different?”

His wolf pushed aggressively against the room.

Mine responded instantly without hesitation.

Damian remained seated between us, watching quietly like a wolf observing a battlefield.

Harold lowered his voice. “We’ll discuss this at home.”

“No,” I replied immediately.

His eyes flashed dangerously.

“You don’t get to command me in my company.”

The board members all looked ready to evaporate into thin air.

Harold stepped toward me, and Damian finally moved.

He was slow and calm, but the second he stood, the entire atmosphere shifted.

Raw Alpha dominance flooded the room so heavily that several wolves lowered their heads

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Even Harold paused.

Damian adjusted the cuff of his sleeve lazily before speaking.

“She said no.”

Silence.

Terrible, heavy silence.

Harold’s eyes snapped toward him. “Stay out of this.”

Damian smiled faintly.

“I would,” he said softly. “If you stopped embarrassing yourself in front of her.”

A pulse of rage exploded through the room.

Harold’s wolf surged forward violently, his eyes glowing bright blue.

Mine immediately pushed forward too, and I was on the verge of losing it.

But Damian’s dominance swallowed both of them whole.

So fucking effortlessly.

If not that I was filled with anger, I’d have submitted to his dominance already.

That was somehow worse.

The realization hit everyone in the room at once.

Damian was stronger, much, much stronger.

Harold must have realized it too because his expression shifted instantly.

For the first time since I’d known him, I saw uncertainty in Harold’s eyes.

Damian glanced toward me then.

And goddess help me, his voice gentled.

“Little Flower,” he murmured, “do you want him to stay?”

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