A Luna's Power

Chapter 4: A Seat

-Lara-

The worst thing that could have possibly happened … happened. I did not want to find my mate. I had sworn off any alpha, any male out there in order to keep my position. I could not let this happen! I had worked so damn hard, and now … now I had found my mate in one of the king’s most trusted men. No … No … NO! I didn’t want this. I didn’t want him! Though I found it hard to focus as I came in front of him. Goddess, he smelled so good. Musky with a hint of soap and maybe a little cologne. Sh*t! Focus! I could not let this stupid mate thing distract me! I didn’t need him or anyone else!

“Reject me right now!” I demanded.

While I had never really met James before, I had heard of him and quite detailed descriptions of him. James, the king and the rest he worked together with, they were like a dark fantasy for the upper-class society and other wolves. He was a male with powerful blood even if he had not been born an alpha, and any female out there would probably have been happy to be tied to him, but I knew better. I also knew his dark story. That he had lost his mate. I even knew he had disappeared around the same time as my sister had. Luckily, they had both been found, but that did not mean I was happy to find out we apparently had been decided to be a good match. It obviously wasn’t!

“What?” he asked, confused.

“You heard me! Reject me!”

He looked at me like I was speaking to him in a different language, and I hated that he didn’t just do as I commanded.

“Hey! Are you listening to me?” I asked, irritated.

I was not that tall, reaching about 5’7, and I barely reached him to his chest, so I probably didn’t look very intimidating, as I stood there looking all angry and with my arms crossed. I could even see his face darkened from my words and then he leaned closer, his scent intoxicating me. Why did he smell so good and look so mouthwatering to me? His black hair was short in the sides and longer in the front and his blue-green eyes held a loneliness I recognized from my own. He wore a dark grey shirt that seemed to barely be able to contain his body. His muscles pressing against the fabric and leather pants. He had a knife on the side of his hip and two guns on each side of him in a holster. Goddess, he screamed danger and promises of making your darkest fantasies come true. Not fair! I had to stay focused.

“I hear you little female,” he said darkly.

His deep voice ran over my skin like a sweet caress, and I tried stopping myself from shivering. This was not going how I wanted to and the sooner he rejected me the better.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I asked.

“Why don’t you say the words?” he asked me back.

“Because I am telling you to do it! Besides, don’t act like you don’t hate this!”

His eyes studied me, running down my body and making me feel almost exposed to him. I wanted to let my arms fall, so I did not hide one inch of my body, but I remained like this, making it quite clear to him I was not giving into him.

“You are right,” he said. “I hate it. I don’t want you.”

I didn’t like that his words hurt me, but I knew it was only because of the stupid mating bond.

“Then what are you waiting for?” I asked. “Reject me!”

“Why don’t you go first?”

I was practically boiling from anger. Why was he playing this stupid game who goes first? Why couldn’t he just say the words?

Maybe because you can’t either.

I didn’t like what my wolf was pointing out to me. I could say the words. I could say them!

“I-“

I was interrupted by the sound of his phone telling him he had gotten a message. He pulled it from his pocket in his pants and checked it before his eyes went to me again.

“You are running out of time if you want that audience,” he said.

There was no hint of emotion in his voice. He spoke to me as coldly as he could, but I didn’t mind. Just like he didn’t want me, I didn’t want him. I could not risk everything I had worked for suddenly being destroyed.

“Then let us not let me waste more time,” I said angrily.

He put his phone away and then started to walk out of the room. I followed right behind him, just staring at his broad back. I had heard when he had been brought back, he had been reduced to nothing, but now he had clearly made up for lost time, and something told me he could get even stronger if he wanted to. Why did that make me feel strangely warm? I looked away. I should not even be thinking about him this way. I should see him as someone beneath me, like I did with all males. They had always looked down on me, so I did the same thing.

“Here we are,” he said, as we had arrived at the top of a second set of stairs.

We had walked down a long hallway before stopping at a closed door, where James knocked, and a powerful voice told us to come inside. The room was filled with powerful and strong males, the king in the middle sitting behind his desk. He smiled at me and held out his hand towards one of the chairs in front of his desk.

I refused to become small under their strong eyes that were all on me and straightened my back before going over to the king and sitting down.

“Hello Lara,” the king said.

“My lord. Thank you for seeing me,” I said.

“Well, using your sister’s invitation to come here for dinner just to see me, I am guessing it is something important,” he said.

“She knows I don’t like celebrating my birthday.”

He did not seem very happy with my words, but I did not really care. I just placed myself further up in the chair and looked at him, which I knew he found surprising. I was very young for a luna, and no luna had ever ruled on her own.

“What can I do for you?” he asked.

“I have been ruling for a few months now on my own,” I said.

“Which is very impressive.”

“But my position is always at risk.”

“Lara, if anyone is trying to mess with you-“

“I want a seat on the council.”

The room went dead silent, as everyone watched me shocked. Never before had a female had a seat on the council. One thing was me ruling on my own. Another was allowing me to become part of the council that decided the laws and rules for every wolf out there. The king certainly had not expected me to ask him about this, but why shouldn’t I have a seat? Just because I was of the other s*x? Could it get more sexist? I deserved that seat. I had earned that seat! I would show them just how powerful a female was, and once I got there, I knew I could change a lot of things for a lot of females out there. Luna or not.

“Well?”

The king slowly leaned back, clearly still thinking about what I had said.

“A seat? On the council?”

I nodded.

“Lara, you know this means extra work for you. Don’t you have a lot to take care of already? I mean is your father still taken care of?” he asked.

“My father is where he has always been, and he will remain there unless he wants me to have my pack members hunt him through the woods and kill him.”

Once again, I shocked them. They knew my sister. They had felt her kindness, her patience and what a good mother and friend she was, but I was the complete opposite. I was like fire that burned wild and fiercely. I stopped for no one, and I took down those who tried to stop me. I was not afraid of my father. Not anymore, and if he tried to ruin things for me, I would take him down.

“Why not give me a seat?” I asked.

“It is harder than you think.”

“No one thought I could rule on my own either, my lord, but I am.”

He slowly nodded. He could not deny I had impressed a lot of people that I was capable of ruling on my own. He could not deny that I held a power like no other female out there. Maybe except the queen.

“I know and that is very impressive for your age.”

“My age or because I am not a male?” I asked.

That just made him smile and shake his head slightly.

“I don’t doubt you because you are female,” he said. “But I am worried that you do not know how time-consuming it is to be on the council. You will barely have any time for yourself.”

“I don’t like parties. I don’t really go socialize and I like to work. Still think it is a problem?”

“Lara, you are still very young. Don’t you think-“

“I want the seat, my lord. I don’t need to use my time on making friends or going shopping or partying. I want the seat. I want to show people I can do this.”

“You can’t use the seat to prove a point.”

“I am not,” I said. “I want the seat because the council consists of all males. It is time there was a female there as well.”

He seemed to think over my words, as he folded his hands in front of him and studied me. I had no idea if he was leaning towards a yes or a no. He was simply impossible to read, but everything inside of me hoped and begged, he was leaning towards a yes.