Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 318 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 318

Apha Damian

The howl from the western forest came again.

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The second vessel turned toward the sound, and the Hollow Ridge wolves immediately moved around her. They did not wait for an order. Two stepped in front of her while the others watched the trees.

I noticed it at once. These wolves had done this before.

“Who are you?” I asked the older wolf.

He looked at me, then at Flourish.

“Hollow Ridge.”

“You’re the pack that disappeared.”

“We were forced to disappear.”

His answer made me look at the others again.

The injuries were impossible to miss now that I knew what I was looking for.

The older wolf had a scar running from his left ear to his jaw. One warrior had a damaged ear, another carried a long wound across his neck, and the youngest had two missing fingers on his left hand.

These were not wolves who had abandoned their territory.

“Where are the rest of your pack?”

“Scattered.”

“Dead?”

His jaw tightened.

“Some.”

Flourish stepped closer.

“How many?”

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“Enough.”

The older wolf’s voice was rough.

“We lost too many to keep counting every name.”

I looked at the scar on his jaw. “Who treated you?”

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“Our own healers when they could. When they could not, we went to a healer in Northvale.”

“Why not a pack hospital?”

“Because hospitals keep records. Records leave trails.”

That explained more than I wanted it to. These wolves had spent years treating injuries in hiding, moving sick children before sunrise, and changing shelter whenever a scent trail became too strong.

Their entire existence had been shaped around keeping one person alive. For that reason.

I looked at the second vessel.

“You protected her.”

The older wolf straightened.

“We were sworn to.”

“By whom?”

He reached beneath his jacket and brought out a small metal seal.

The symbol on it was old, scratched from years of use, but I recognized it immediately. It was the same First Alpha mark we had found beneath Dartwood and later seen on the bloodline

map.

He held it out.

“The First Alpha oath.”

Flourish stared at the seal. “What did the oath say?”

The old wolf looked at her. “Protect the second vessel until the bloodline calls her home.”

She looked at me.

“The network called me.”

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“It did,” he said.

“Then why did you stay hidden?” 

“Because the network waking does not mean the danger has ended.”

He looked toward the trees. 

“Voss has searched for her for years. So have others. Anyone connected to her became a target.”

The second vessel’s expression hardened.

“You should have left.”

The old wolf looked at her.

“And let them take you?”

“You lost warriors because of me.”

“We lost warriors because they came looking for you.”

His answer was immediate.

She looked away.

I studied the wolves around us. Their scents carried fresh blood beneath the herbs they had used on their wounds. Their clothes had been repaired more than once. Even their weapons were old, maintained because replacing them would have meant visiting suppliers and leaving records.

“How many attacks?”

The old wolf gave a humorless breath.

“Too many to count.”

“Tell me about the last one.”

“They came three months ago.”

His eyes moved toward the building behind us.

“They found one of our patrols and followed them back here. We lost seven warriors before we realized they were tracking us.”

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Flourish’s face tightened.

“Seven?” 

He nodded.

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“We moved the families before dawn. Children first. Then the injured. We left everything behind.”

“What happened after that?” I asked.

“They found us again two weeks later.”

One of the younger wolves stepped forward.

“We moved twice after that.”

The older wolf gave him a warning look, but the young wolf continued.

“They kept following us.”

Rhys came closer.

“Through your pack communications?”

The old wolf shook his head.

“We stopped using official pack channels years ago.”

“Then how did they find you?”

The wolf looked at the second vessel.

“Someone knew what she was.”

Rhys frowned.

“That’s not enough to track a pack.”

“No.”

The older wolf’s eyes moved toward the forest.

“But they had information we didn’t know anyone had.”

My wolf pushed forward.

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“Someone inside.”

I kept my expression unchanged.

“We’ve already found evidence that someone has been watching us,” I said.

The old wolf looked at me.

“Then you understand why we disappeared.”

I did.

They had not abandoned Hollow Ridge.

They had emptied it.

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Every home, patrol route, hospital record and pack channel had been sacrificed to keep one person hidden.

They had moved their families from one settlement to another and accepted injuries rather than risk leading hunters to her.

Flourish reached for my hand.

I closed my fingers around hers. The second vessel noticed, then looked back at the older wolf.

“You should not have stayed.”

“We made a promise.”

“You could have saved yourselves.”

“We did save ourselves.”

She looked at him.

“By leaving our territory. By hiding our children. By living like strangers in our own land.”

His voice lowered.

“We did what we had to do.”

No one spoke for a moment.

Then I asked, “How many Hollow Ridge wolves are still alive?”

“Forty–three.”

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“Where are they?”

“Scattered across three territories.”

“Bring them back.”

His eyes narrowed.

“To where?”

“Not here.”

I looked at Flourish.

“Dartwood can provide warriors and secure transport. F–Tech can build a private communication channel for your pack. No public pack network. No location records that can be accessed through the systems we’ve already compromised.”

Rhys nodded.

“I can have the first channel ready today.”

The old wolf looked at Flourish.

“And you would protect us?”

She stepped closer.

“You protected my sister for years. Yes.”

His head lowered.

The gesture was different from the one forced by the bloodline earlier.

This was a choice.

A howl suddenly sounded from the western side. Every Hollow Ridge wolf turned.

The older wolf’s body went rigid. “They found another trail.”

“How long?” 

“Minutes.”

My wolf rose beneath my skin.

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I looked at Rhys. “Get the vehicles ready.”

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Then I looked at Flourish. She was already reaching for her weapon. The second vessel moved toward the building.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To get the people who are still hiding.”

I looked at the old wolf.

“Can they move?”

“Some.”

“Then we’ll move them.”

The first howl came again, much closer this time.

I felt my claws press against my palms.

“Everyone shifts when I give the order.”

The Hollow Ridge wolves looked at one another.

Then the old wolf nodded.

“We’re ready.”

I gave the signal.

Wolves shifted around us, claws striking the ground as fur replaced clothing and bodies changed shape.

My own shift came next. The chase had found us.

This time, we were not running.

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