Rejected Luna of the King Alpha

Chapter 7 – Targets

We didn’t so much welcome Grace as let her in like a gas leak.

She stood in Mara’s cramped hallway, boots off, black uniform making the peeling wallpaper look worse.

“This is not an official visit,” she said. “Call it a courtesy.”

“From the palace,” I said. “Scary.”

She glanced at the child’s drawings on the wall, something tightening in her jaw. “Your son’s estate registration pinged three systems. Half the Council now knows his name, his age, and that he exists.”

My throat went dry. “That was fast.”

“Wolves gossip,” Grace said. “Also, you’re not just any exile. On paper you are the king’s… former rejected, currently glitching mate, and mother of a child with rights to royal land. Some will see that as threat, some as opportunity. All of them will drag you into it.”

Mara crossed her arms. “What does your king see?”

“Right now?” Grace said. “A reason to march down this street, drag you all into the palace, and lock the doors.”

My wolf shivered. Mara bristled. “Over my dead body.”

“Exactly what we’re trying to avoid,” Grace shot back. “From today, this address is a soft target. I can put a team outside, but once the Council convenes you’ll have eyes everywhere—ours and not.”

“And your fix?” I asked.

“Move,” she said. “Now. Safe house. Warded, near the palace, my people on rotation. Not a dungeon. Just closer to where I can get to you in under a minute if something smells wrong.”

“No,” Mara snapped. “This is my house. I’ve kept them safe here three years.”

“You did,” Grace said. “But they didn’t know who they were hunting then. They do now.”

She turned to me. “Don’t pretend this doesn’t paint a bullseye on your son’s back.”

Images flashed: a dark corridor, a circle on stone, my child’s fear ripping down the bond.

“Where?” I asked. “The safe house.”

Grace’s shoulders eased a fraction. “Two streets off palace grounds. Mixed block, heavy wards, your own door. You’ll hate it. You’ll be alive.”

El appeared with my son on her hip, his backpack already on, Wolfie dangling.

“What’s happening?” he mumbled.

“We’re moving,” I said. “Tonight.”

“Because of the king?” he asked. “Gamma said he’s bigger.”

Grace choked. Mara closed her eyes.

“Because too many people know where we sleep,” I said. “We take Wolfie. Everything else can stay.”

Mara’s stare could’ve stripped paint. “I am not doing this because I trust your king,” she told Grace. “I’m doing it because I like my family breathing.”

“Good enough for me,” Grace said. “Two hours. Pack light.”

When the door shut behind her, Mara turned on me, eyes bright.

“He has had his hands on your life twice,” she said. “First to throw it away. Now to ‘save’ it. Don’t you dare forget either.”

“I won’t,” I said.

But my wolf was already staring toward the palace, not with longing—

With the cold certainty that if we wanted to keep our son, we’d have to walk straight into the place that had once broken us.