All Chapters of Luna's Rejection: Draven's Dirty Secret : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

DRAVEN "Get Buttercup. Now! We have company at the gates." I stood at the front of the mansion, watching the western pack banners approach. "Alpha Silas? This isn't a social visit." Marcus nodded and bolted, his boots slamming against the gravel path. Kai and Asher flanked me within minutes, their expressions hardening as they took in the banners snapping beyond the gates. Buttercup arrived fast, her hair still damp from whatever she had abandoned when Marcus found her. "Who is it?" "Silas," I said. "Alpha Silas from the Western territories. He is nothing like Asher's people. He wants something, and he wants it badly enough to show up uninvited." The gates opened with a low groan. Silas came in with a small guard with that confident smile stretched too wide which complimented his tall looks. He bowed just enough to spark an insult. "Draven. Buttercup. I've heard remarkable things about this pack." His gaze raked over us and snagged on Buttercup, lingering far longer than

ASHER"Silas is not finished. I need time alone to look deeper. His magical signature is wrong." I mentioned.Buttercup looked up, worry already sharpening her features. "Wrong how?""Older than it should be." I paused, choosing my words carefully. "I will examine it properly."Draven voiced out. "Do it, but do it fast."Kai slammed his fist against the wall, the sound cracking through the air. "If he's collecting people, we don't wait to shut him down. We do it now, before he gets whatever he came for.""We don't even know what he came for yet," Lila snapped, stepping closer to Buttercup. "Rose is still asking about the artifact. The longer this goes, the more she hopes, and the more she suffers if we fail her.""Then maybe we shouldn't have let it go this long," Kai shot back."Enough!" Draven growled, and the room fell into a taut, bristling silence.I left them there and retreated to the small chamber I used for focused work. I was grateful for the solitude it offered. There were

Rose"I can't keep sitting in this room staring at the walls," I told Buttercup when she checked on me that morning. "The empty place still hurts, but staying alone makes it louder. Please, put me to work."Buttercup studied me for a long moment before relief broke across her face. "Good. Because I was about to force the issue myself. We need hands in the garden and the common hall. Come on."I followed her outside, blinking against the brightness of a sky I had barely noticed in days. The safe house grounds felt more real every day. There were new walls, fresh earth. People moving with purpose, calling to each other, carrying baskets and tools. I kept my arms wrapped around myself at first, bracing against a chill that had nothing to do with the weather.Then came a tall wolf who shoved a shovel into my hands, his gaze neither pitying nor prying. "Name is Marcus. You're Rose, right?""Yeah," I nodded, testing the shovel's weight. "Still figuring out how to be here."He nodded, which

DRAVEN "Gather the warriors. Now!" I stood in the center of the training yard, my voice carrying across the packed earth and into the surrounding trees. "Silas is no longer a guest. He is a threat, and we need to prepare for war." Marcus, my beta, nodded and started shouting orders. Wolves moved fast, scrambling from the barracks and quarters, pulling on gear as they ran. Some looked ready, others looked unsure, glancing sideways at each other as if searching for a reassurance nobody could give them. Kai joined me. "My crew is already on the outer roads. They'll watch for movement from the west. If Silas so much as breathes wrong, we'll know." Asher walked up, his footsteps barely disturbing the dust. "The refusal changed his timeline. He will not wait long." I could see the weight of knowledge he hadn't yet shared. He bit his lips as though he were biting back words he didn't trust himself to say. Buttercup stood close, her shoulder brushing mine. "How bad is this going to

Buttercup"We need more than our own pack," I stated, standing in the meeting hall before the first group of representatives. Their faces ranged from doubt to openly hostile, and I forced myself to meet each gaze in turn. "Silas collects bonded people and turns them into weapons. If he comes for us, he will not stop there. We either stand together or get picked off one by one."A gray-haired Alpha from the southern hills pack leaned back on the chair, his arms crossed over a chest scarred by decades of territorial disputes. His curled his lips. "Your safe house is young, and barely more than a rumor with walls. Your pack is already stretched thin. Why should we bleed for your fight?"Kai answered before I could. "Because his network already has seventeen pairs. When he finishes with us, your Territory will be next. You can wait for that knock on your door, or you can act like it matters now."An older woman from a trading faction shook her head, the beads in her graying braids clicke