Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 216 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 216

Chapter 216 The Mating Was My Choice

Alpha Damian’s POV

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The scream had barely left Flourish’s throat before I moved. In the darkness I found her by scent alone, my claws already out, and I put myself between her and the doorway before the lights came back seconds later.

It turned out to be a decoy wolf who had slipped through a service corridor and been cut down by two of our own warriors before he reached her.

The scream had come from a maid who found him first. Flourish was shaken but unharmed, and once the compound’s lights steadied and Rhys confirmed the intruder was dead and no others had gotten past the outer wall.

Magnus ordered everyone back into the family hall to finish what had already started before the alarm cut it short.

So I stood in the middle of the Stonehedge family hall again and looked at every face staring back at me, but I kept my attention on Alpha Magnus.

His expression had hardened, and I could feel the pressure of his Alpha aura spreading through the room as he struggled to understand why I had brought Lady Flourish into the center of a conflict that already threatened the pack.

“Damian, do you understand what you have done?” he asked, his voice low enough that every wolf in the room immediately fell silent. “You have tied yourself to a woman whose presence has already caused tension between Stonehedge and Dartwood, and now an intruder has just gotten within one wall of her.”

I did not move. “I understand exactly what I have done, Father, and I would make the same choice again.”

A murmur passed through the room, but I ignored it. My wolf had been restless since the moment Flourish disappeared at Midnight Society, and even now, knowing she was safe beside me, it refused to settle completely.

Daciana looked at me with disbelief. “You asked her to marry you?”

“I did.”

“And you never told us?”

“I did not need permission.”

Her lips parted, but no words came right away. Ragnar shifted beside her, his expression

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equally tense, while I stayed calm because none of their objections changed the one fact that mattered to me. Flourish was my wife.

I glanced toward her, and my chest tightened when I saw how quietly she sat, still pale from the scare upstairs.

She looked composed, but I had noticed the faint tremor in her hands after everything that had happened tonight, and my wolf reacted immediately to the sight.

I reached for her hand beneath the table. Her fingers tightened around mine, and that small response eased something inside me that no argument from my family could have touched.

Alpha Magnus noticed the movement, his gaze dropping to our joined hands before returning to my face. “So this is why you insisted on coming here with her?”

“Yes.”

“You knew this would upset everyone.”

“I expected it.”

His jaw tightened. “And you still did it.”

I gave him a small nod. “Because this is my life.”

Silence settled over the hall again. I could still remember the wounded warrior’s words from earlier, the report that the eastern border had been attacked and the enemy had promised Stonehedge would fall before sunrise.

That threat, and the intruder we had just killed two floors above us, should have been the only thing occupying everyone’s mind. Instead, half the family was still fixed on my marriage.

I leaned back slightly. “If we are going to discuss something tonight, we should discuss the

attack.”

Elder Marwin’s expression changed immediately. “The eastern patrol has not reported again.”

My fingers tightened around Flourish’s hand. “How many warriors were sent?”

“Twelve.”

“And how many returned?”

“Three.”

Flourish inhaled quietly beside me, and I felt my wolf stir again. This was not a random border attack. Someone had wanted Stonehedge distracted, and the timing of Flourish’s abduction,

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and now an intruder sent straight for her room, made the connection too obvious to ignore.

I turned toward Beta Rhys, who had remained near the entrance. “The device you recovered from Midnight Society?”

He stepped forward and placed it on the table. “It contained encrypted communication records, Alpha Damian.”

I looked down at the device. “Most of the files were damaged, but I recovered one location tag.”

“Where?”

Rhys hesitated.

“Say it.”

His eyes moved toward Alpha Garret. “The signal was routed through Steele territory.”

The room changed instantly. I slowly turned my head toward Garret. His expression remained calm, but I saw the slight tightening around his mouth, and my wolf picked up the shift in his scent before anyone else in the room could react to it.

Flourish went still beside me.

I looked at her, then back at Garret. “Alpha Garret,” I said quietly, “there is something you need to tell us.”

He didn’t answer right away.

Phina, seated several chairs down, suddenly shifted in her seat. I noticed it, but before I could question her, Alpha Magnus struck his palm against the table.

“Enough,” he ordered. “We will not accuse anyone without evidence.”

“I agree.” My voice stayed calm. “But if the attack came from the same network that took my wife, and the same network just sent someone into her room, then someone has deliberately placed her in the middle of this conflict.”

Flourish finally spoke. “Damian.”

I turned toward her. Her eyes were fixed on Garret.

“Ask him about Rowan.”

The name changed everything. Phina’s face drained of color.

I stood slowly, and the room seemed to contract around us as my Alpha aura pushed outward.

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Chapter 216 The Mating Was My Choice

My wolf had already caught the scent of fear coming off Phina, and I understood then that whatever had happened at Midnight Society tonight, and inside these walls only minutes ago, was connected to something far older than any of us realized.

I looked directly at Alpha Garret. “What does Rowan’s death have to do with my wife?”

His expression finally cracked.

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I Refuse To Be Your Luna