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His voice is so tense that he has to pause to cough and calm himself.
“You’re getting worked up for nothing. I’ve led the pack singlehandedly and done it beautifully, might I remind you? No one questions me. Especially not you.” The accusation comes through loud and clear. The single blip on my record as Alpha wasn’t me at all—it was him.
That quiets him. He turns slowly to face me again, the change in his appearance alarming. If I thought he looked old and worn down before, it’s nothing to the sallowness he’s suddenly taken on.
“I never meant for that kid to die, Dominic, and everyone knows it. You can only hope that someday when you make the biggest mistake of your life, that you’ll be able to live with yourself. In spite of the judgement and the guilt. But to reject your mate and choose a life alone? Well, that’s a mistake I’m afraid you can only live to regret. Our kind is fated to our mates for a reason.”
“I don’t have to live alone,” I point out, ignoring the rest of his heavy words, “I could always take on the mate of my choice.”
“No,” he says resolutely. “Don’t even consider that you might ever select a Luna better than the Moon Goddess herself. If you’ve rejected your rightful partner, you are destined to rule alone. I hope you realize the gravity of the decision you’ve made.”
I rub a hand over my aching jaw, pained from all the clenching I’ve done since showing up to Luca’s cabin this morning.
My father has always seen things as so black and white when it comes to mates. It helps that his own mate, my mother, was the most perfect Luna to ever rule aside from maybe the Luna Sovereign herself. He’s blinded by rose colored glasses.
“It’s not worth talking about. I rejected her free and clear, and she accepted.”
He doesn’t look as convinced. “If you say so, but I know what I saw.”
That doesn’t make me feel better about my wolf’s insistence that she’s our mate.Tess.Her name alone makes the wolf inside me pant like an idiot, desperate to go to her. All the more reason to avoid the pack house for the rest of the day.
“Maya and Angelica are keeping watch today to make sure Tess doesn’t go anywhere. I extended that to you, so don’t even think about visiting or asking to take her anywhere. She’s to be on lockdown until I decide what to do with her.” Because hell if I know what I thought I was doing bringing her here.
That’s not exactly true.
I turn and leave my father, not giving him the chance to tell me how wrong he thinks I am. I rub at the spot in my chest where an unfamiliar feeling is hanging heavily. Guilt. From the moment she mentioned the rogues…
I made the choice to send them south rather than dealing with them outright. If I hadn’t done that, Tess would never have been in danger. I feel like I failed a responsibility I didn’t even know I had.
We’re supposed to keep our mate safe,my wolf nods obnoxiously.
It doesn’t matter that she’s not my mate anymore—or at least she shouldn’t be. Instinct tells me something is wrong here. It’s time I go see the Luna Sovereign and make sense of whatever the hell it is.
* * *
“What a surprise,” the wispy woman greets me at the door, though she doesn’t actually look the least bit surprised. Her gray hair is loose, swaying around her waist as she glances out behind me as if to see who might have come with me. She looks a little disappointed when she realizes I’m alone.
“Were you expecting someone?” I ask, belatedly realizing that coming to see the most powerful Luna in North America unannounced might not have been appropriate.
“Well, Dominic, I imagine that’s exactly what you’re here to speak with me about.” She studies me knowingly.
The power of the Luna Sovereign has always confounded me. She isn’t all knowing by any means, but she’s got a way of hearing things you would expect to be well-kept secrets. From the way she’s looking at me, and based on her words, I can guess she’s already heard about my houseguest.
“Come on in, I just put some tea on.” She holds the door open to let me pass.
I follow her through the small, well-kept home to the kitchen at the back of the house and take a seat at her table with the checkered tablecloth. The whole thing reminds me of going to visit my grandmother when I was younger.
“Thank you,” I nod as the Luna hands me a hot tea. Not my favorite, but I’d swallow motor oil if she was the one handing it to me. It’s a matter of respect.
“So,” she starts, not one for idle pleasantries, “I hear you’ve brought home your mate after a stint of trouble?” She raises a thin eyebrow.
“She’s not my mate,” I correct with half-assed certainty since I’m actually not so sure what she is. “She’s this small thing from a town that doesn’t even train their wolves to fight. She looks like a stiff wind would break her in half, and I have a pack to consider. When I realized… it was obvious what my choice needed to be.”
“Obvious, hm?” Her lips form a straight line as she slides into the chair across from me. “Are you saying you rejected your mate, Dominic?”
“It was the right decision,” I tell her. And I know it was. Tess is a liability, and one I can’t afford after the healing my pack was forced to do after a death on my father’s watch. I can’t have a Luna that my pack can’t trust for protection.
The Luna Sovereign taps her long nails on the table. “And yet you’re here,” she points out finally.
