All Chapters of Luna's Rejection: Draven's Dirty Secret : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

BUTTERCUP "This is the last offer." I stepped onto the neutral strip of ground between our outer wards and the dark tree line, my voice carrying farther than I felt. Draven, Kai, and Asher stayed just behind the boundary, close enough for the bonds to hold, far enough that the choice stayed mine alone. "Release every bonded pair you control. Leave our territory. Leave the safe house alone. Walk away from me and everything tied to me. Do that, and we do not release what is sealed inside our bonds." Alpha Silas stood opposite me, smiling like we were discussing the weather instead of the fate of everyone I loved. "Buttercup. Still trying the soft path." His voice dripped with amusement and contempt. "I almost admire it." "It is not soft." I mentioned. "It is the last door. After this there is only the other thing." His lips grew into a thin wry smile. "You mean the Shadow Keeper." He let the silence stretch, savoring it. "You would free that to stop me? You barely survived bindi

LILA BACK AT THE PACK *** "How many of them?" The words tore out of me the moment I could speak, my throat raw, the bed the only thing keeping me upright. "Tell me everything about it." Buttercup sat on the edge of the mattress, her hands wrapped around one of mine, her grip almost too tight. "Seven outer patrol. Three safe house residents didn't make the inner halls in time. Also two of Kai's crew. They were twelve in total that we have confirmed." She hesitated, and the pause said more than the numbers. "We have pulled everyone else back." I stared at the ceiling. The names started arriving whether I wanted them or not. Toren, the young wolf who had asked Draven for a secondary bond. Marta, the older woman who had been at the safe house for only eight days. Finn and Jessa from Kai's people. A builder named Oren who had helped raise the first real walls. People who had trusted the wards we built. Kai shoved off the doorframe, still pale and bandaged. "Derek is still gone.

BUTTERCUP *** A WEEK LATER "It lasted only a month?" I said, standing on the repaired ridge overlooking the safe house, the air thick with fresh timber and turned earth. "It feels longer. Feels like we barely made it." Draven came up behind me and gripped my waist, harder than usual. "We made it because we bled for it. The dead are already buried, and the bonds are quieter. But that isn't the same as being safe." Kai leaned on the new railing, wincing as he moved his weight off his still-healing side. "At least I can sleep without feeling like someone's about to cut the link." He shot Draven a look. "Not everything has to be a warning, you know." "Someone has to say it," Draven snapped back. Asher stood apart, his eyes fixed on the western stretch still scarred from the fight with the Keeper and Silas. "The presence remains. It hasn't pushed." His voice sharpened. "That doesn't mean it won't. We'll keep on acting like survival is the same as victory." "It's the only victory w

BUTTERCUP *** THE NEXT DAY "I will meet each of you alone," I said as the three Council members settled into the main hall the next morning. "I need clear answers before I give any." Thera inclined her head. "That's reasonable. I will start." The others stepped out, though Draven, Kai, and Asher lingered near the walls, silent but far from being calm. The bond carried their tension like a current through my chest. I sent back a pulse, willing them to trust me. 'I've got this.' Thera sat across from me. "You want the full weight of the title. First of all, ask what you need." "What does mediation actually look like day to day?" I asked. "Who brings disputes? Who enforces my decisions?" "Packs, rogues, and older houses bring bond conflicts they cannot settle without blood," she said. "Your decision carries Neutral authority. Refusal to honor it becomes a formal offense against the balance. Enforcement is shared. We back the ruling. Local forces carry it out. You do not become a s

LILA *** LATER THAT DAY "I cannot see my feet," I snapped, lowering myself onto the low wall outside the ward room. My stomach was tight and heavy. I was in my third trimester, and the baby clearly had no interest in waiting for a normal timeline. "Mira, if this child gets any bigger before it comes out, we are going to have a serious problem." Mira checked the pulse at my wrist, then the energy around my middle, her expression tightening with each passing second. "Accelerated growth is confirmed. You are further along than the calendar says." She fixed me with a hard look. "Rest is not optional anymore, Lila. I mean it." "I can still set wards," I muttered in pain. "Sitting still makes me want to tear the walls down with my bare hands." Kai sat beside me and took my hand, but there was tension in his grip now, not just comfort. "You heard her. Rest. I will handle the outer patrol schedules today, whether you like it or not." "Since when do you make that call for me?" I asked.