Page 93 of Rising Luna
But Lupe did.
There was panic in her expression and I smelled the fear coming off her. She knew what this could do and how I was now in charge. Lupe was at my mercy, and she hated it. I could smell it mixed with the fear, and it brought me too much joy knowing she couldn’t do shit against this.
“What the fuck is happening? Release me!” She bellowed.
I snapped my jaws at her face and she stopped thrashing. I had to savor this. The battle was winding down, many of the other wolves incapacitated or dead. The bloodshed needed to end now.
“Please, Dylan. I can see you have me. There’s no reason for you to kill me.”
Did she really think this would work? There was no way I would let her run off and be free right now. There was the high council of wolves she could report to, but I didn’t know how far of a reach she had. The Monarch was even fighting for her, so how could I know that the others, who were responsible for the safety of the kingdom, would keep her in jail and do what needed to be done? No. Lupeneeded to die.
“Dylan! I know you think I am evil. I can see why you would think that. Don’t kill me! I can change! I will accept the bondwith my mate again and change my ways if it means you don’t go through with this!”
I growled and lowered my head. There was no way for me to communicate with her in this form, and my wolf would not release the control over to me. She wanted Lupe dead more than I did.
“Please!” Lupe pleaded.
Part of me wondered if Lupe could change, but then all the faces of those she killed or turned came to mind. I remembered the way Silas was, and the way he almost killed Hunter from her taking him over. He would have killed my damn mate and taken everything from me because of her. That’s who Lupe was. She wasn’t the mentor who showed me how to use my power. She was someone who would turn my mates against me or each other. Letting them kill each other just to rob me of my bonds.
Fuck that.
Moving fast, I struck. My muzzle went around Lupe’s neck and bit down into her flesh. I felt my canines hit bone, and I thrashed my head from side to side. I kept going as she screamed for her life, all the way until I heard the bones snap. Lupe went limp under my body, and I stopped.When I let go, I moved off her and howled. I heard bodies hit the ground, and I looked over to see the battle had come to a halt. Every enemy wolf was on the ground with my pack standing proud.
Wounds covered each of them, and exhaustion made them pant. Three men were sprinting towards me as I shifted back into my human form. I looked up to see my mates, and Silas, getting to me first, yanked me up from the ground to be in his embrace. Jackson hugged me from the other side, and I felt Hunter join in. They all held me, and I felt their relief in the bonds.
“You did it,” Silas whispered in my ear.
Jackson chuckled. “Dylan always comes through.”
When we stepped out of the hug, almost everyone in the field had shifted back. The Monarch and Hunter’s old pack looked to be dazed and ashamed, and I couldn’t blame them. They had believed in Lupe instead of what was right.
My parents came at me, tackling me into a hug, and I felt my mother’s tears hit my shoulders as her body shook. It took a long time before they let me go. I could feel how relieved they were that we made it through the toughest battle we had ever faced in our lives. When they stepped back, they looked at me with pride and bowed their heads to bare their necks.
“What? No...”
The rest of our pack approached us now in their human forms. Each one of them went to one knee, bowed their heads, and bared their necks at me. I felt the power shift inside of me as my parents relinquished their power and control of the bonds over to me.
“I, Valko Pierce, hereby name my daughter, Dylan Pierce, Luna of this pack. Long may she reign.”
“LONG MAY SHE REIGN!” My pack yelled and then cheered.
I watched my mates all go down on one knee, one by one, and do the same. My eyes brimmed with tears as I realized I was now officially the luna of my pack, a job I wasn’t sure if I was ready for but knew I would do a great job. After today, everything wouldget easier. I would lead my people with integrity.
I would be the luna, I was destined to be.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Dylan
It was a whirlwind after that battle. There were so many things that we had to do one of them being to burn the bodies of those who had fallen. This would never be a favorite moment of my life. It smelled putrid, and I almost threw up more times than I could count, but this was the way we handled things. It was all members of our pack we focused on first, needing time to help the families prepare to see the members of their family like that.
There were just more bodies from the enemies than not. It took a lot more time to alert the families due to not knowing where many of them came from. Lupe had stretched her nets out wide to get this many people to fight for her. The Monarch had done most of the work to track everyone’s families down to find out what the deceased wanted when it came to burial.
Taking over the pack meant I had to take on a lot of responsibilities I wasn’t trained for. This being one of them. We didn’t have a death in the pack for a long time. We lived long lives and it only came down to battles like we just went through. There was a lot more to it than I thought, and it took far too much time away from my mates.
Silas stepped in and helped where he could. He had been groomed to take over the pack since he was born, so he knew more than what I did. I just sat back and watched so I knew what to do when this happened again.
Though I was going to try extremely hard not to ever let this happen again.
Jackson and Hunter filled in where Silas couldn’t. Watching the three of them work like this brought a smile to my face.Though it was nice having some time with Silas when my head wasn’t on a platter.
