Chapter 246: Why Not?
The maelstrom of emotions that dashed through me didn’t come solely from one source. Blaise, Damon, and I all had conflicting feelings, our eyes promptly meeting at the drop of Darach’s question.
I was Blaise’s mate― the whole world knew me as Blaise’s mate. How was I supposed to suddenly take up the position of luna, abandoning one brother for another?
But a pack couldn’t do without a luna. Even the beta’s mate had a prominent position in the pack in assisting the luna in her duties. I couldn’t be both at the same time, and Elijah’s mate had rejected him and was also a piece of shit.
At this rate, becoming the luna of Fangborne would be inevitable. My hands reached for the silver necklace around me, an object charmed to recognize the luna of Fangborne and serve as a crown. I may wear this but I was in no way a leader for this pack.
"I don’t have a wolf," I said, answering the question before either of the twins could recover from the initial shock of the question. "I cannot serve Fangborne properly as its luna."
"But a pack cannot be without one," Darach pointed out. "If you don’t become the luna, there are plenty of women who would gladly line up for the spot," he then mumbled the next words under his breath with a roll of his eyes, "though I could never understand why."
That was something I knew already. Damon had a whole harem of women willing to do anything just to be by his side― most of them weren’t even taken by force but submitted willingly, just like Susie.
Just as those thoughts rushed through me, Damon’s hand — which was still connected with my own — tightened its grip on mine. The warmth of his palm and the sensation of his fingers threaded with mine brought my attention back to the present. I looked up just in time to see him smile reassuringly at me.
"I’m not looking for a different luna," he said, not even bothering to look in Darach’s direction despite replying to him. "Besides..."
He trailed off, finally tearing his gaze from mine to glare hotly at Darach. Both men scowled as Damon continued to sneer venomously at him.
"We’re here because you had the stupid idea of taking Harper to Thunderstrike as your beta. That’s not happening."
Instantly, I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my chest. I looked at Damon thankfully, grateful that he had successfully steered the topic away.
While I knew that this would be something we had to revisit in the future, I didn’t want to think about it right now when we still had other things on our hands. The vampire and hunter attacks had just started and I had a feeling that their little silver threats were just the tip of the iceberg.
"I didn’t even want to be alpha," Darach pointed out, folding his arms across his chest. "You and your brother forced it upon me, along with the rest of the council present."
"You would be the lesser of two evils," Blaise said with a sheepish smile. "Your father did also start the topic. If he hadn’t tried to accuse us, perhaps the meeting wouldn’t have ended with Thunderstrike in your hopefully capable hands."
I could see that his eyes were trying their hardest to ignore Damon and I’s connected hands. When I tried to pull away, Damon would tighten his grip, disallowing me to do so.
"Except I might not be hopefully capable!" Darach yelled, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.
"Anyone would’ve been better than Thorton Elrod," Damon said. " And there’s no way in hell we would be voting for your sister. She would be even worse than her father."
"He’s my father too," Darach spat out in a way as though admitting their relationship was physically painful for him. "How are you so sure that I wouldn’t lead Thunderstrike the same way?"
"Then we will just vote you out of place again," Damon said with a shrug. "We’ve done it before, we can do it again if you’re just as stupid as your old man."
"But we’re confident that you will be able to make wiser decisions," Blaise swiftly added. "Right, Damon?"
"Arguable," Damon muttered under his breath but otherwise made no further arguments.
"I know no one in Thunderstrike," Darach said with a sigh. He moved forward, and without invitation from anyone, sat down on one of the seats at the table. "Most of the higher-ranked warriors are loyal to either my father, my sister, or both. I’m not exactly willing to put someone among my inner circle when they could just stab me in the back at any time."
"We understand," Blaise said, nodding diplomatically. "That is why we highly suggest you find someone either out of Thunderstrike’s inner circle or out of Thunderstrike entirely. They need not be a permanent member of your team if they aren’t a member of Thunderstrike; just enough to help you get started and buy you some time to get acquainted with possible parties."
"And yet you neglect the fact that I did choose someone out of Thunderstrike," Darach said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, is this how you want to play it, you foreign idiot?" Damon returned in the same aggravated tone. "In that case, we’ve also mentioned why that would be impossible. What will it take to get it through your thick skull that taking Harper with you is out of the question?"
The legs of Darach’s chair scraped against the wood of the floor, screeching loudly as he abruptly stood to his feet. He took a step closer toward us, and my feet immediately brought me forward to stand between Damon and Darach. Darach might be fueled by anger but without — and even with — his wolf, he was no match for Damon physically.
"Nicole wouldn’t be happy to see either of you in the infirmary again, patient or not!" I quickly said before the two men could meet in the center of their ego battle.
At the same time, Kaine cleared his throat.
"Actually," he said, "what about Milo Reed?"
