Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 342 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 342

Chapter 342 The Argument Between Mates 

Lady Flourish POV 

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The scent report was still open on Damian’s phone when I walked into his office. 

The sample from inside Dartwood matched the traces beyond the estate wards, but there was no name and no explanation for how one scent had appeared in both places. 

Damian passed the phone to Rhys. “Have the healers compare both samples again. I want to know if the match is exact or if someone is covering different scents with the same substance.” 

Rhys left with the report. 

I waited for the door to close. “You need to stop giving orders as if I’m not part of this investigation.” 

Damian looked at me. “I’m protecting the pack.” 

“And I’m helping. We have the F-Tech records and the dormant systems, things your warriors can’t get from patrolling. Yet every time something happens, you decide first and tell me afterward.” 

“I don’t have time for a meeting every time someone attacks us.” 

“I’m not asking for a meeting. I’m asking you to talk to your mate before you decide what risks we take.” 

He rubbed his forehead. He looked tired, but I was too upset to let it sway 

“When Taren was hurt, I understood why you wanted to act immediately. I was angry too. But when I tried to explain why we needed to be careful, 

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you acted like I was asking you to do nothing.” 

“You think I don’t understand the risks?” 

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“I think you understand them until someone hurts your people. Then you want to respond before you have the facts.” 

His jaw tightened. I expected an argument, but he turned to the window. 

“I have a pack depending on me. I can’t wait for an enemy to make another move.” 

“I have people depending on me too, and I won’t watch you send them into a fight we don’t understand.” 

He turned back. “What do you want from me, Flourish?” 

“Beside me, not ahead of me. We’re investigating the same threat and we’re both targets. I won’t stand behind you while you decide what happens to us.” 

“I have never asked you to stand behind me.” 

“You don’t have to ask. You do it whenever protecting me means keeping me out of the discussion.” 

“That isn’t what I’m doing.” 

“Then why were you ready to mobilize every warrior before we knew who attacked Taren?” 

He opened his mouth, then stopped. 

“I was angry,” he admitted. “One of my warriors was hurt and I had no one to blame. I wanted to find whoever did it and make sure they never tried again.” 

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“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t listen to me.” 

“Because I wasn’t thinking about the investigation.” 

The admission took the heat out of me. I had been ready for another speech about Dartwood being his territory and the decisions being his. Instead he sat down and stared at the folder Rhys had left. 

“I know what you’re capable of,” he said. “Your work has given us things we’d never have found alone. That isn’t the problem.” 

“Then what is?” 

When he looked up, the frustration in his face had given way to something he clearly hadn’t wanted to say. 

“I don’t know how to watch people go after my mate without wanting to tear them apart.” 

I stayed quiet. 

“Before, I could tell myself the danger was manageable. Warriors around you, stronger wards. Now someone is using dead warriors’ accounts, someone is watching the estate, and we were attacked inside my territory. I hate that I can’t promise you’ll be safe.” 

It didn’t erase the choices that led to this argument, but it explained why every incident pushed him toward retaliation. 

I crossed the room and stood in front of him. “You can’t promise that, and neither can I. We’re Alphas’ mates caught in a threat that reaches across several packs. Keeping me safe can’t mean taking away my right to choose which risks I face.” 

He reached for my hand and I let him take it, though I was still angry. 

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“I don’t want to lose you.” 

“Shutting me out won’t prevent that. If you make a bad call because you’re afraid for me, I’ll be the one helping you live with it. I’d rather help you make it.” 

His thumb brushed my knuckles. Through the bond, his worry came across louder than his words, but I couldn’t let it decide everything for us. 

“We can reinforce the borders without declaring open retaliation. 

Your patrols work with the healers on the samples, and Rhys traces the access attempts. If we connect the attack to the watcher or the dormant systems, we decide our next move together.” 

“And if another warrior is attacked first?” 

“Then we respond to what happened, with what we know. We don’t let an unknown enemy provoke us into a war.” 

He considered that, then nodded. “No major retaliation without talking to you first. Unless there’s an immediate attack and I have to act to save lives.” 

“I can accept that. I expect the same from you when I have to move quickly.” 

“Agreed.” He squeezed my hand. 

We weren’t finished arguing, and one conversation wouldn’t change how he reacted whenever I was in danger. 

Still, he had told me what drove him, and I had made it clear I wouldn’t be pushed aside because he was afraid. 

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My phone vibrated on the desk. Rhys. The second comparison was done. 

I opened the report and read the first line twice. 

The samples matched, but the analysis had found another scent buried beneath the one we’d been tracking. It belonged to a wolf we had never identified. 

I turned the screen toward Damian. “We have another name to find.” 

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I Refuse To Be Your Luna