Page 22 of Luna Ascending

My rage and disappointment with myself is channelling into an unhealthy resentment for my beta.

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We're finally forced back together, to my angry delight, in the training ring. The pack council decided we need to be war-ready – every able bodied shifter has to rejoin the daily training sessions. We must be ready to fight the Coven. I'm ready to fight alright, although I want to fight Tavey first, the Coven second.

For the first time in weeks we square off against each other in the training ring. Our normally smooth sparring is nothing like the choreographed form we've honed it to over the years. It's harsh and ugly, quickly turning to full body impact blows as we let our anger spill out.

I swipe at Tavey's jaw “I can't believe you still fucking seeheraround” I pant “if your girl isherfriend then she's a fucking traitor too!”

Tavey ducks and spins, hitting me between the shoulder blades.

“Not my fucking fault you're so messed up” he spits “Liz is no witch, you back the hell off and leave her out of your misery. I've done my fucking homework, like you should've, Liz is clean. ”

“If it's not Liz you're protecting what is it... coward?!”

I glare and leap at Tavey, both of us shifting in almost the same instant. I'm the bigger and brawnier of our two wolves, and my words distract my beta, who lands badly.

I'm not fucking around and I press the advantage home, bowling Tavey off his feet and over several times before I pin him to the ground. Growling and breathing heavily, my teeth hover over his neck. It takes several long minutes before Tavey looks away in submission.

Panting we both shift back.

“You... You need to talk to the council Aaron” Tavey's words come out quietly, almost choked “it's not my place...” he trails off still refusing to look me in the eye.

I freeze, anger consuming my body. Thereissomething I'm not being told. Spinning away I change form into my wolf mid-air, charging towards the council quarters. I don't even think, I shift as I arrive, turn the handle on the library and burst into the middle of the council meeting stark-bollock-naked and seething.

A degree of luck means that only my father Connell, his beta Angus and the kappa Rennard are there when I barrel into the oak-lined library demanding 'the truth'.

Angus, uncharacteristically, averts his eyes and mutters something before handing me a robe. Rennard looks me up and down and sneers

“Which version? One with a spell or not?”

I snarl in his face, ready to start a fight, his status on the council be damned. But my father's next words silence us all, and both Rennard and Angus' faces visibly pale.

“It's time for the whole truth.”

Chapter Seventeen

Freya's POV

The next few days go by in a bizarre dream-like state. I'm sure Marc's tonic helped for the first 24 hours, god knows what was in it, but it was super potent.

This is a whole new parallel world existing right alongside my old world. It's bewildering to get my head around. I feel so lost and very, very alone. There's no-one to talk to, except Marc. He's the only tangible thing in this weird new world – the only solid trustworthy being in my life right now. I can't even trust my own body not to pull some whacky shit and set off a power surge.

Marc thinks I need to fully immerse myself in this new life to come to terms with it, and while I'm not delighted, it sort of makes sense.

He bluntly tells me if I can't get myself under-control I could kill someone during a surge. Considering how much pain I inflicted on the Coven members, people far more powerful than your average human, I guess he's right. That's pretty damn scary. I need control of this, I need control of myself.

While I'm grappling to come to terms with who I am, I let him organise me into my 'new beginning'. I don't like feeling so passive in my own life, but the impact of such a revelation has my head spinning so much that it's just easier to go with the flow. Marc's pushy nature just excels at trying to reshape me.

He immediately moves me across town and in with him, to be closer to the Coven. Quick access to the Coven's huge knowledge base seems pretty sensible. The very fact they'd help me after I caused such damage is hugely magnanimous, so I don't dare to disagree.

The bright, almost sterile penthouse style apartment is a million times more upmarket than my grubby, decaying flat.

I half miss my flat, which is bizarre. I definitely miss my plants – only a select few seem to have made it through the packing process, done of course by Marc's 'people'. He didn't think the stress of moving would be good for me, so instead I arrived to find all my belongings already moved in. That is, the ones that made the cut.

The views across the city are stunning, and not only does the apartment have a working buzzer system but a concierge too. It should feel perfect, but the minimalistic style feels empty.

Marc's promised I can put my own stamp on it when we have time, so for the moment I just need to adjust. Of course it's far outside my budget, but he's insisted that there's no need for rent since his family owns the building.

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