Ch. I Refuse to Be Your Luna 52 I Refuse to Be Your Luna 52

Chapter 52

Lady Flourish’s POV

Fushe

By the time I personally escorted Grandma back to the nursing home, the chaos of the morning had settled into something quieter.

The caretakers greeted her warmly the moment we arrived, and the familiar smile on her face loosened a knot in my chest.

My wolf, restless since Garret brought her home, finally settled beneath my skin.

At least here she would be comfortable. At least here she would be safe.

I stayed while a nurse helped her into her room, watching until she was seated and her medication sat on the table beside her. Only then did I let myself breathe.

Lydia’s bank card sat in my handbag like a small, satisfying victory. Earlier, before I left the villa, she had practically shoved it into my hand. “There is seven hundred thousand in that account,” she’d said stiffly, like every word cost her physically. “Use it wisely.”

I’d smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Aunt Lydia.” Her eye had twitched, and I’d walked away before she could reconsider.

Now, adjusting Grandma’s blanket one final time, I said, “Call me if anything happens.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am seventy eight, not seven.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.” Her expression softened as she patted my cheek. “Go back to work, Little Firefly.”

The nickname softened something inside me. Nobody else called me that. Nobody but her. I bent down and kissed her forehead, my wolf pressing close to hers for a moment, recognizing the scent that had comforted me since childhood.

“Behave yourself.”

“You too.”

That earned another laugh. With one last look, I finally left.

By the time I reached F-Tech that afternoon, something felt wrong immediately. Rhys’s office was empty, ‘which wasn’t unusual on its own, he vanished into meetings often enough, especially with a major contract in play. What bothered me was the silence.

Even from across the building I could normally sense him through the bond our wolves had formed over years of working together.

Not a mate bond, not the kind of pull an Alpha held over his pack. Just familiarity. Trust. Today I felt nothing.

My wolf lifted her head. I reached for the bond. Rhys? Silence. I tried again. Nothing, the connection not

Chapter 52

even beginning.

Finishe

trange unease settled in my stomach as I walked into my office and pressed the intercom. “Cheryl.”

My secretary appeared moments later. “Lady Flourish?”

“Where is Rhys?”

She hesitated, and my wolf sharpened. “He’s with Director Nolan.”

I relaxed slightly, though not completely. Nolan Mercer, one of the few board members Rhys had never gotten along with.

They could work together when they had to, but putting them in a room too long was like locking two dominant wolves in a cage and expecting a polite discussion about quarterly profits.

“What are they discussing?”

Cheryl grimaced. “Something to do with Stormbridge’s subsidiary contract.”

My chest tightened. “Did Kael take it?” The question escaped before I could stop it.

For a brief second Damian’s voice returned to me. Don’t worry. You’ll have a fair chance.

That had been before he knew my decision about the Lunar Rite was already final, back when I was still technically Harold’s future Luna.

Things were different now, and if Damian chose to stay out of it, I couldn’t blame him.

Cheryl shook her head. “I don’t know. But what I heard isn’t good.” She went on before I could ask. “They were apparently ready to hand us the contract. Then, right before signing, Kael approached one of Stormbridge’s senior executives and offered a fifteen percent reduction.”

I stared at her for several seconds, then my wolf surged. “What? How could they pull something like that?”

Cheryl spread her hands helplessly. “Exactly.”

I stood abruptly. A reduction that large wasn’t normal competition. It was a deliberate attempt to bleed an opponent dry.

Kael wasn’t just trying to win the contract, he was trying to force F-Tech into decisions that would damage us later.

My wolf growled low. No sensible company operated that way, and Stormbridge wasn’t foolish enough to ignore the risk forever.

Sooner or later their executives would see exactly what he was doing.

Cheryl laughed without humor. “Tell me about it. That’s why we lost it.”

o you mean?”

I’ve never seen Rhys this angry.” She pointed toward the boardroom. “He nearly marched into adquarters and bit someone’s car off.”

Chapter 52

The image was disturbingly easy to picture. Rhys’s wolf had always run hotter than mine.

I sank back into my chair. The merger mattered more than I wanted to admit. It would strengthen F-Tech’s portfolio and push us ahead of several competitors across the territories. Including Kael. Especially Kae!.

My gaze drifted to my phone. I hesitated over Damian’s chat, typed a few words, deleted them, typed again deleted everything, opened the conversation, closed it. This was ridiculous.

I wasn’t going to drag him into a business dispute just because we happened to know each other. That was how I operated.

Still, my wolf stayed restless. Eventually I tried a mind link instead, cut the connection before it barely began, tried again, stopped, paced impatiently beneath my own skin. On the third attempt it snapped fully into place.

ave something to say, say it. Damian’s voice filled my mind. My wolf is getting restless from how mes you’ve tried to link.

nd of him was so sudden I flinched, and my phone slipped from my hand, hitting the floor with a kide my head my wolf let out something close to a strangled yelp.

The desk Cheryl frowned. “Lady Flourish?”

you alright?”

stared at my fallen phone. Not really. “Fine.”

She looked unconvinced. “You’re still worried about Rhys and Kael?”

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

“You should relax,” she said. “Kael only undercut us because he wanted to steal the contract. Once the other executives hear about it, they’ll reject the proposal.”

An employee passing my office paused, overhearing. Ethan, one of our senior analysts, his expression unusually serious. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Cheryl and I both turned.

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I heard somebody on Kael’s side has connections inside Stormbridge.”

My wolf went still. Cheryl straightened. “Who?”

Ethan glanced toward the hallway before leaning in. “I heard you know her.”

My stomach sank, and then he said the words that sharpened every instinct in me at once.

“She’s Rhys’s ex-mate

L