Page 95 of Rising Luna
What the fuck is wrong with you three?
It felt like a come on!Jackson snarled.Like we are going to stand by and let him make it seem like he wants onlyYOUto go on that walk.
“Judging by your mates’ reactions, I assume they think it would only be us.” He smirked at them. “No disrespect intended, men. You may come along as well since you will play a part in what’s to come for Dylan.”
That didn’t seem ominous at all.
I moved my arm so we could head toward my favorite trail. There was a spot I loved to go to when I was a kid. It was off the normal trail and a beautiful stream ran through it. With trees all around it and a small back for me to sit on, it was my own little sanctuary. Others in the back never came there, so sometimes I would go there when I wanted to get away from everyone.
The Monarch walked by my side, making my mates walk behind us. They weren’t happy about it, grumbling through the bonds about how they should be with their mate and not the oversized king. I didn’t show how badly I wanted to laugh about that, so I just waited for him to start this conversation.
“You are a major talk through our people. The word has gotten out about what has played out here.”
This got my attention. I didn’t know anyone outside of those who fought here had heard about it. I sure as hell didn’t talk to other packs and I didn’t think anyone from the pack would have. It was a dark day in our history, and it would be written down so future generations would see the signs, so it would never repeat in our history.
“What has been talked about?”
“How a Shadowborn rose above the shadows to save not only other Shadowborns, but all of the werewolf species. It didn’t matter to her who she was fighting for because it wasn’t for one side or the other. It was for them all.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I didn’t want us all to fall. It didn’t occur to me that it would make a difference for everyone. At least not make me the center of a conversation. Sure, it was a Shadowborn who fought another Shadowborn who was trying to take over the werewolf population, but-“
“You’re rambling, love,” Hunter cut me off.
The Monarch chuckled, but didn’t seem to mind. “It’s become something we need to pay attention to. For the longest time, we thought Shadowborns were ones who we would need to beconcerned with. Shadowborns were the “evil” ones of our kind, and we may need to eradicate them from our world.” He looked at me. “That was never the case, and you sure showed everyone how wrong that ideology was.”
“I did what anyone would have done.”
“Yet there were half a dozen teachers who weren’t Shadowborns that did nothing to stop Lupe from gaining the power she did.”
My mates’ energy brushed against my mind, telling me they were there if I needed them. It made my heart race hearing the Monarch talking about this to me. He was making me out to be this amazing hero when I was just someone who didn’t want Lupe to take over the world.
“There has been a lot of movement from rogues since the battle. At that time, I thought they were moving in a weird pattern. It turned out they weren’t. It took me a bit to get the right people in the right places to take inventory of how many rogues there were and if they were Shadowborns or not.”
I bit my lip. I had a feeling I knew where this was going, but it had to be too good to be true. More Shadowborns? We thought we were losing numbers. If they were turning rogue, that explained why we lost so many. It also meant we could finally have more packs!
“And what did you find out?”
“The majority of them are, in fact, Shadowborns. They had grown afraid of being part of a pack from how Shadowborns were hunted down. There was a sanctuary they lived in for the longest time. Until they heard about you.”
I stopped walking and Jackson nearly walked into me. He wrapped me up in his arms as I tried to center myself. It was one thing to have Shadowborns out there, and it was another for them to want to be part ofmypack.
Hunter stepped closer to me and put his hand on the back of my neck to massage it. It helped me center myself as I stared at the king of the werewolves. Where was this going? Our pack was at capacity. If I had to take care of more wolves than I already had, there would be a lot of adjustments I would have to make. It would also increase my power, and I could see the Shadowborn hunts starting up again.
“Where is this conversation going, Alpha?” Hunter asked him as Silas came over to the other side of me.
We weren’t far from that little place I loved going to. I wanted to go there now to get my head on straight. This conversation was more dangerous than I thought it was since too many people still hated Shadowborns with a passion. Silas’s father, and Alpha of his pack, was one of them. That was someone else on my list I had to freaking deal with.
“We want Dylan to be the Ambassador to the Shadowborns.”
My jaw dropped to the damn ground. This couldn’t be real life.
“What does that entail?” Jackson asked him.
My mates were handling this conversation better than I ever would have. This opened a lot of doors for the Shadowborns. An Ambassador meant I wouldn’t just be a Luna of my pack. It meant I would be the person who could advocate for Shadowborns and show our world we aren’t the monsters they think we are. This opportunity was life changing!
“It would mean I would be the one who shows the world who Shadowborns really are instead of the enemies everyone needed to fear–just wolves trying to live in this world just like them. We can just do cool magic shadowy tricks, too.”
The Monarch chuckled, and my mates looked at me, all beaming with pride. Their love for me crashed through the bonds, and I had tears brimming in my eyes. This was more than I could have ever hoped for. A few months ago, I thoughtfinding mates would end my freedom. Being an Alpha-female meant I would be mated to powerful and dominant males, and they weren’t easy to live with. I knew that because of how my father was with my mother and me.
