Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 231 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 231

Chapter 231 The Judge

Lady Flourish’s POV

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“Into the residence?” Damian repeated, and the calm in his voice disappeared so completely that my wolf immediately pressed closer to the surface.

Rhys’s voice came through the phone. “Yes, Alpha, but I cannot tell you how many yet because the thermal system is still recalibrating.”

Damian looked around the hallway, his eyes moving from Ragnar to Daciana before settling briefly on the closed doors along the corridor.

“Lock the entire residence,” he ordered. “No one enters or leaves until Magnus confirms every room and access point.”

“Already sending the order.”

The call ended, and the silence that followed felt heavier than the argument we had just been having. Amber stood with tears still on her face, but even she seemed to understand that her apology had suddenly become the least important problem in the house.

“What is happening?” Daciana asked.

Damian slid his phone into his pocket. “The army that disappeared beneath Stonehedge may have entered this residence.”

Ragnar’s expression hardened immediately, his wolf pushing against his control as the scent of danger filled the air.

“How?”

“We will find out.”

Damian turned toward me, and the force of his attention made my breathing slow despite the fear tightening inside me.

“Stay beside me.”

“I was already planning to.”

For a second his expression softened, but it vanished the moment a loud crash sounded somewhere downstairs.

Every wolf in the hallway froze. Harold moved first, stepping in front of Amber on instinct, while Damian shifted his own position so he stood between me and the staircase.

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Another crash followed, louder this time.

Ragnar’s claws extended. “Security?”

“Not from the front entrance,” Damian said.

His phone vibrated again, and he answered without looking away from the stairs. “Rhys.”

“Magnus has checked the perimeter. There is no breach outside.”

His jaw tightened. “Then they were already inside.”

My stomach dropped. The thought that wolves from the eastern army had entered the residence without anyone noticing made my skin tighten, and my wolf began pacing restlessly inside me.

Damian noticed immediately. “Flourish.”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t smell fine.”

“Now is not the time.”

“Exactly,” he said. “Which is why you need to stay calm.”

I almost argued again, but the door at the end of the hallway opened, and everyone turned. Magnus stepped out with two warriors behind him, and the tension in Damian’s shoulders eased slightly.

“Clear upstairs,” Magnus reported.

“What was the noise?”

“A vase.”

Amber blinked. “A vase?”

“One of the house staff dropped it.”

The hallway went silent again. “That’s it?” I asked.

“For now.””

Damian didn’t look relieved, and neither did I. The eastern army had vanished beneath Stonehedge, and Rhys had said they were somewhere in this residence, yet there was still no

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Chapter 231 The Judge

sign of them. That worried me more than seeing them would have.

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Damian looked toward Ragnar. “Move everyone into the main security room. Nobody stays alone tonight.”

Ragnar nodded immediately.

Amber wiped her face, looking genuinely frightened now rather than angry. Harold glanced at her. “Go with them.”

“Harold-”

“Go.”

His voice wasn’t cruel, but there was nothing comforting in it either, and I could tell she wanted him to walk with her.

He had already turned away, his attention fixed on Damian and the security situation, and something in her seemed to sink.

Daciana placed a hand on Amber’s shoulder and led her toward the stairs.

“We’ll talk about the apology tomorrow.”

Amber nodded silently, and I watched her disappear downstairs. A strange feeling settled inside

A few minutes earlier she had been crying because she was being forced to apologize publicly.

Now she was walking away without anyone offering her comfort.

Damian’s phone rang again. “Alpha, we found the problem,” Rhys said.

“What?”

“There is a tunnel beneath the eastern side of the residence.”

Ragnar turned sharply. “That tunnel was sealed decades ago.”

“It isn’t sealed anymore.”

My wolf went still. Damian’s gaze moved toward me. “Where does it lead?”

Rhys hesitated. “Toward the old family wing.”

My breath caught. Elara. The realization hit me immediately, and Damian had already understood too. “Your mother.”

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I nodded. The eastern army hadn’t simply entered the residence. They had followed the underground passages connected to Stonehedge, and now they were somewhere beneath the same house where Elara had been hidden for years.

Damian looked toward Magnus. “Get a team downstairs.”

Magnus moved at once.

“Damian, I’m coming.”

“No.”

My wolf surged angrily. “They are here because of me.”

“They are here because they want your blood.”

“Exactly.” I stepped closer, and he lowered his voice.

“That is why you are not walking into a tunnel full of wolves sent to take

you alive.”

My hands tightened into fists. “And what happens if they reach Elara first?”

His expression changed, and for the first time he had no immediate answer. I stepped closer still. “She spent years trapped beneath Stonehedge because people were hunting this bloodline. I just got her back. I am not leaving her underground again.”

The bond between us reacted to my fear, and I felt his wolf pushing against mine as though trying to calm her. He reached for my hand. “Then you stay between me and Magnus.”

“That isn’t permission.”

“It’s the closest thing you’re getting.”

Despite everything, I almost smiled. Then a scream came from downstairs, and every head snapped toward the staircase.

It was Amber.

Harold moved first, shifting partially, claws extending from his hands. “Amber!” He ran downstairs.

Damian cursed under his breath. “Flourish, behind me.”

We followed Harold toward the lower floor, Magnus and the warriors surrounding us as frightened voices rose from the main hall. When we reached the bottom of the staircase, Amber stood pale against the wall.

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“What happened?” Daciana asked.

Amber pointed toward the security room. “I saw someone.”

“Who?” Harold’s expression hardened.

“I don’t know. He wasn’t one of our warriors.”

Damian’s eyes darkened. “Where did he go?”

She pointed toward the corridor leading to the old wing. My stomach tightened.

“Move,” Damian told Magnus, and we ran.

The corridor lights flickered as we approached the old wing, and my wolf reacted immediately to a scent that didn’t belong to anyone in Stonehedge. Unfamiliar. Cold. Male.

Damian stopped so suddenly I nearly collided with his back.

“What is it?” Magnus asked.

Damian looked at the wall. There was blood on it, not much, just enough. Harold came up behind us, breathing hard. “Whose blood?”

Damian touched it with two fingers and brought them close to his nose. His face went completely still.

My heart started pounding. “Damian?”

He looked at me.

“It’s Elara’s.”

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I Refuse To Be Your Luna