Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 31 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 31

Chapter 31

Lady Blourishes POV

I was still standing outside the nursing residence, phone pressed to my ear, when Cheryl ended the call!

F-Tech wasstituusta company with my signature on the paperwork. It was bound to my family’s land, to my lobudime to years of work that had cost me nearly everything to build.

In the wolfh errritories, ownership never came down to a sample document. Bloodline rights, territorial etiarters and council recognition all shaped who truly held authority over land and the businessessträtsed on it.

My wolf graspard the danger before I’d even finished thinking at through, pacing inside me, restless and omertiges.

I called Rhys and live answered before the second ring

“Lady Flourish.

“I’m not coming

A pause, then anervons laugh. “My Lady, I don’t think you realize how serious this is.”

I realize it perfectly.

“The board’s already rating Everyone wants answers.”

I pressed two fingers agganss the bridge of my nose. “Then give them wornnie

“My Lady, you need to belierre.”

Ordinarily I’d have agreed without hesitation. But something about this sudden council summons didn’t feel right; and the instincts I’d spent years training myself to trust were warning me against rusting mind.

I’d spent enough time aroundAipinas to know what happened to wolves who agored those instincts.

“Rhys, you’ve handled aneetings without me plenty of times.”

“This one’s different.”

“It isn’t. Sit in on it, find out whissmaking the offer and what they actually want them call me

back.”

16:51 Wed, Sep 30

Chapter 31

31

Finished

Silence stretched on his end long enough that I could picture him gathering another argument. Finally he exhaled.

“Fine. But if this all falls apart, I’m blaming you.”

A laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it. “Fair enough.”

I hung up and dropped the phone into my bag. I’d only gone a few steps toward the parking area when I stopped short.

My wolf noticed first, her attention snapping into focus, and the scent of pine and rain reached me before my eyes did.

Damian was leaning against my car.

My mind simply blanked for a moment. He looked infuriatingly put together in a black dress shirt, sleeves shoved halfway up his forearms, dark hair a little unruly, green eyes locked on me.

My wolf perked up instantly, and I silently branded her a traitor for it. I squared my shoulders and made myself walk over.

“What do you want?”

His eyes swept over me before settling back on my face. “I need a ride.”

“A ride. You.”

“Last I checked.”

“You’re the Green Devil. You’ve got an entire pack, an army of guards, and enough money to buy half of Stonehedge outright.”

“I’m aware.”

“So why come to me for a ride?”

He tilted his head toward something behind him instead of answering. I turned and fell open.

my mouth

A few meters away sat the ruins of a luxury car, the front end caved in, windshield shattered, hood folded like paper, one tire gone entirely.

“What happened?” I asked, turning back to him.

“An accident.”

215

16:51 Wed, Sep 30

! Chapter 31

“Damian, that’s not an accident. That’s attempted murder.”

“I survived it.”

“That explains nothing.”

He looked at the wreck almost fondly. “It went down fighting.”

31

Finished

I stared and he stared back, unbothered. My wolf seemed almost entertained by the whole thing, and I chose not to acknowledge her.

“You’re impossible.”

His smirk crept back into place. “There she is.”

My pulse jumped, which I resented immediately. After a short internal argument, I pointed at my car. “Fine, get in.”

“How generous of you.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

He laughed under his breath.

Walter was already behind the wheel by the time we reached the car, and his expression flickered the moment Damian folded himself into the back seat beside me.

I could practically feel the man’s confusion radiating off him as he pulled out onto the road.

Nobody spoke for the first stretch of the drive. I watched the buildings blur past the window, Damian faced the other direction, and Walter kept his eyes fixed ahead. The silence should have felt okay between us but it didn’t.

My wolf stayed fixed on him the entire ride, tracking every shift of his weight, every time his scent thickened in the small space.

He finally spoke.

“Lady Flourish.” The formality made me turn my head. “How are things with Alpha Harold?”

There it was. I nearly rolled my eyes. Normally he’d have thrown in some jab at Harold’s expense before getting there, but his tone stayed guarded and even, because Walter was sitting right in front of us.

“Why ask?”

“I heard there’ve been disagreements.”

16:51 Wed, Sep 30

Chapter 37

31

Finished

I almost laughed outright. “Disagreements.”

A muscle in his jaw tightened, and I turned to look out the window instead.

“There have been quite a few,” I admitted.

“I see.”

He wasn’t teasing me, wasn’t using that ridiculous nickname, wasn’t trying to needle me the way he usually did, and somehow that unsettled me more than his usual behavior ever had.

“I’m sure you’ve already heard the gossip,” I said.

“I hear plenty.”

“Then you already have your answer.”

His gaze cut toward me, and for a moment something flickered across his face before it vanished again.

“Perhaps.”

We rode the rest of the way without another word. Twenty minutes later, Walter pulled up outside a sleek glass tower in the business district. I frowned at it.

“This is your stop?”

“Unfortunately.”

He stepped out, then hesitated, glancing back like he meant to say something more. Instead he just nodded once. “Thanks for the ride.”

The formality of it grated on me more than it should have. “You’re welcome.”

He held my gaze a beat longer before shutting the door, and I watched him vanish through the entrance, my wolf still tracing his scent long after he was out of sight.

Walter cleared his throat. “My Lady?”

I snapped out of it. “Right. Back to the office.”

We’d barely merged into traffic when my phone rang. Phina’s name lit up the screen, and my stomach dropped before I even answered.

“What is it?”

16:51 Wed, Sep 30

Chapter 31

เลย

31

Finished

Sobbing poured through the line. “Lady Flourish! It’s Alpha Harold, there was an attack, he’s hurt and nobody knows what to do, I don’t know where to go and-”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. If Harold had genuinely been attacked, his guards would have already summoned the healers. As Alpha of Stonehedge, he had access to some of the finest medical and wolf-healing care in the territory. And yet Phina had called me first.

“Phina.”

Her crying eased slightly.

“Why call me?”

A hesitation. “I thought you’d want to be there for him. I thought you’d know what to do.”

My hand tightened around the phone. For six years I’d let myself get dragged into their crises. Not this time.

“No.” My voice came out steady, steadier than I felt. “If Harold’s been attacked, go to him yourself. No one matters more to him than you do, Phina. Certainly not me.”

Her breathing hitched. “Go to him,” I said, and ended the call before she could respond.

I stared at the blank screen for a long moment. Then my wolf growled.

Beneath the fading trace of fear still clinging to my mind from the call, something else had surfaced. Something unfamiliar. Something I’d caught before.

I lifted my head slowly. Walter’s eyes found mine in the rearview mirror.

“My Lady?”

Someone was near, and my wolf already recognized exactly who.