Page 63 of Rising Luna
Don't move,Hunter growled in my mind.
Why?
Something is off. Why would she be out here without backup? Don't taunt her when I can't even see or sniff out anyone else out here except us.
Hunter had a point. It was far too weird for Lupe to be out here by herself. Why would she be out in front of our dorm? She knew we were the ones trying to bring her whole operation down. Coming here could entice me enough to kill her. With her standing here, trying to look innocent, but I knew better than to trust a snake. It meant something was happening. She wasn't here to take anyone.
She was here to gloat.
"You know, Dylan... I really thought you were smarter than this." She rolled her shoulders, and her pale gray eyes narrowed at me. "When you first walked through those doors, I thought you would be the champion I had been waiting for. The power I could feel coming off you was something I hadn't felt in a long time. Even before you were mated, your power rivaled mine."
Hunter pulled me back against him, and I could feel him trying to nudge me to get behind him, but I wasn't moving. If there was a thing I knew, it was to watch for someone rearing up for an attack. Lupe looked far too relaxed to do something stupid like attack us with no back up. Hunter alone could best her.
"What do you want?" I said through my teeth.
I was over having to hear her voice. Sometimes, I wished I carried a gun so I could end someone before they could blink. This was one of those cases.
"Do you think you’ve won, Dylan? When you released your mate from that chair and took him back here, did you think that was the end of it?"
Oh good. A villain speech followed up by her assuming I thought I’d won. It's beyond cliche, and yet this was my life. I thought I'd never have something like this happen to me. If I was a fan of these things, I would be jumping up and down about howthiswas happening!
"Well, you aren't in a pine box six feet under, so nope. I didn't think it was the end."
She laughed and my skin crawled. "Even though you aren't as smart as I thought, I will say it has been entertaining watching you run around this school like a hero. Tracking every clue you could find to bring down the operation that was already very much in motion. It can't be stopped, Dylan, so why are you fighting this so hard?"
I scoffed. "Are you that dense? Why would I want my entire race to end up like those mindless zombies?"
She shook her head. "They are powerful without their humans holding them back. We were never meant to live this way, you know. This isn't what the Great Moon wanted for us."
This couldn't be real. There was no way in hell Lupe would think I would believe that. The Great Moon may have a plan for me, but it wasn't to become whatever Lupe was creating. The Great Moon seemed to be lining my destiny up to be here to stop this.
Getting rejected was the hardest damn thing I had to live through. When I came here, I hoped it would just be me going through all these classes, passing everything they threw at me, and then going back home. Jackson and Hunter came along, changing my thinking about mates entirely. But to know I was mated to one beta of a powerful pack and another that was beta ofthemost powerful pack in our world, something told me it wasn't for nothing. I'm to be the next leader in my pack. I am mated to two powerful betas, powerful enough to be alphas of their own packs.
I was sent here to put an end to Lupe's plans.
Though, it looked like Lupe didn't think the same way.
"You are more fucked up than I thought, Lupe. If you think the Great Moon wanted your version of things to happen, then why hasn't she created your versions yet?"
Lupe stopped and blinked at me. It's like she thought I would just buy into whatever she said right now.
"How do you know she hasn't?"
"Because I've witnessed people in my pack coming into their power before I came here! No one turned into the version you are trying to create!"
"You know, it's surprising to me you haven't tried to kill me for what I have done to your mate."
Of course she would bring that up right now. This was a distraction. I couldn't play into it. "Silas isn't my mate. Which I am guessing was your end game with him since he will never be my mate."
Lupe laughed again, and I took a step closer to her because I wanted her to never get the chance to laugh again. Hunter grabbed my arms again and pulled me against him. I thought he would have jumped in by now, but it was clear he was being the guard as Lupe rambled. Knowing him, he was watching the tree line and Lupe instead of caring about what came out of her mouth.
"Oh, you silly thing. You missed it all. I really overestimated you."
Hunter and I both jerked our heads to the treeline as we heard someone approach. My jaw dropped as the person came into view. No. This couldn't be. This had to be a nightmare.
Dressed in jeans and a black button-up shirt, the person I thought left this academy was walking right toward us. He stopped to be at Lupe's side, and his look of indifference stared at me.
"You were far too distracted to notice what was going on, Dylan. Now it will be easy to do what I have planned to do from the moment I met you." She turned toward him and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you at the pack house. Have fun." Then she walked into the treeline, my heart remaining frozen in my chest.
