Wonderful Luna

4

Lucian’s POV

I noticed Elise’s scent after Connor’s last warning, but I attributed it to the fact that we were talking about her and that Fenrir wouldn’t stop hurling insults at me in my head for what I was doing. I didn’t think she could actually be nearby, much less that she had overheard us. But when Connor also turned and looked toward the corner of the hallway, I knew she was there—and that she had heard everything.

“Oh, s**t,” Connor muttered, shooting me a look that blamed me entirely for what was about to happen.

“Go after her, you i***t!” Fenrir snapped, practically slapping my conscience awake. “You still have time to explain yourself, to tell her this is all a misunderstanding.”

But it wasn’t, and that was what froze my legs for a few seconds.

Still, I decided.

At the very least, I owed her the courage to face her and explain my reasons.

“She locked the door,” Connor said when we reached Elise’s hospital room. “Eli, open the door, please. We need to talk.”

Silence from the other side of the door.

“At least she’s saved you from having to tell her what you already shared with me,” Connor said, his glare showing no sign of softening. “Tell me it’s not true. That this is just a lapse because of the news we’ve received.”

I had to silence Fenrir before he could start pestering me again.

“It’s not a lapse. It’s a decision I’d already been considering, ever since the healer…”

“What are you saying? That all these days, while my sister was drowning in anxiety over her test results, you were already chewing over the idea of rejecting her?”

When Connor put it like that, it made me sound like an absolute bastard. But I had my reasons.

“I have to think about the pack, about its well-being, and about how we can’t appear weak to the other packs, let alone to the Rogue King. Can you even, as Beta, put yourself in my position for a second? Can you imagine what the other packs will say when they find out I have a Luna who’s crippled? What will our enemy say?”

I saw Connor’s fists clench, and I knew that if I weren’t his Alpha, he would have slammed one of them into my face right then and there.

“I am your Beta, and I’ve sworn to follow and defend your decisions, but I have to say, this one makes my blood boil.”

I knew Connor’s support as my Beta was unconditional, even in a decision that directly affected the only family he had left. But I also saw the fury simmering in his eyes—the look of someone barely holding themselves back.

“I’ll talk to Elise right now,” I said. “Unlock the door and leave us alone.”

The pressure in Connor’s fist was released against the lock, which gave way immediately, even though the bolt had been set.

“What…?” I heard him exclaim before my eyes could take in what he was seeing inside the room.

“She can’t walk. How the hell did she escape?” I said, realizing what had left Connor speechless.

Our gazes turned to the window, where the cold night air was streaming in.

“She’s gone. We need to find her before she does something reckless,” Connor said, approaching the window.

I had to call on my wolf immediately. Elise, in her pain and her condition, could seriously hurt herself.

“Find her, Fenrir! Where is she?”

“Now you call on me? Sorry, but Freidis is huddled away right now. She already knows what happened and doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

Connor leaned out of the window. If Elise had gone that way, we could follow her.

“Fenrir can’t reach Elise’s wolf,” I said with something close to a growl. “Her wolf has retreated.”

Connor’s look completed the thought.

Because of the pain you’re causing her.

“Use your sense of smell. She’s your mate; you should be able to scent her miles away.”

I shook my head. I’d already anticipated Connor’s suggestion.

“I don’t know if it’s related to… this, but I can’t pick up her scent either.”

Connor lifted his nose to sniff the air.

“There’s a faint… scent of scentless spray. She must have used something left over from the battle to mask her scent before going out the window. Let’s go; she can’t have gone far, not in her… condition.”

I rushed toward the window.

I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to Elise.

Connor jumped first. It was three stories—barely a challenge for a Beta—but I couldn’t imagine how it must have been for Elise.

How had she done it?

I was about to leap when I realized the impossibility of her jumping and thought of what had likely happened instead.

“What’s wrong, brother?” Connor called up from below.

“Come back up. I think I know where she is.”

Even without shifting, Connor scaled the three stories of the façade in great leaps and strong handholds.

I waited in the room.

“What is this about, Alpha? We’re wasting time, and Elise, in her condition, could be in danger right now.”

I crossed my arms and looked at my Beta with determination.

“I know. That’s exactly why I’m convinced she didn’t leave the room.”

“What are you talking about?”

I walked over to the closet and yanked the door open.

There she was. Elise was sitting in the corner, her hands wrapped around her legs.

The sight broke my heart.

She had opened the window to throw us off, to make us think she had left. But it was obvious she hadn’t been able to jump from that height—not in her current condition.

Before, she would have done it with the same ease as her brother.

As much as it hurt me, and no matter how much pain I was feeling myself, this act confirmed that I was right.

I couldn’t accept her as my mate—and the Luna of the pack—if she couldn’t even make a three-story jump.

Elise raised her gaze and locked it onto mine.

It was filled with so much strength and determination.

How was that possible?

She knew I was about to reject her. That much was clear from the look in her eyes. Yet I could still see that unyielding force that had always been so much a part of her in the months we had been together.

“You’re going to reject me, aren’t you?” she said firmly, her voice not trembling in the slightest.

“It’s necessary…” I said, the words catching in my throat. “You know that if it weren’t for what happened…”

“Just do it. Get it over with. No explanations.”

Fenrir roared with rage, even though I had tried to silence him. He was so determined to stop me from doing this that he defied me.

I had to push him away.

This was for the pack.

I couldn’t hesitate.

“I, Lucian Blake, Alpha of the Luna Creek Pack, reject you, Elise Thorne, as my mate.”

Her response came in just a few heartbeats.

“And I, Elise Thorne, reject you, Lucian Blake, Alpha of the Luna Creek Pack, as mine. As my mate.”

It was done.

Even though they were just words, it was done.

Officially, with my Beta as witness, I had rejected Elise. My mate.

Now it was time to strengthen the pack.