Blue Moon Luna

Chapter 12

Saturday June 7

CREW POV

It was almost 4am by the time I got back home. I had needed space to clear my head, so I went for a drive. I think I may have said too much to Blue, and I was worried.

Not only that, but I had just told her I wouldn’t be rejecting her. That was not part of the plan. Cole was going to kill me.

Would she still want to see me? Was that fair to either of us? Probably not. I just couldn’t bear to not have her in my life. But she deserves the best. She deserves to be number one. The only one. But she can’t be.

These were dangerous times, and the future of our pack, of all the packs in the Northern Territory, was on our shoulders. My father had said it was a noble act to put our own happiness aside for the good of the pack. And I had to agree, it probably was noble. But there is nothing noble about breaking our fated mates' heart. Nothing noble about making her have to sacrifice everything for a pack who will never even know what she has done for them by stepping aside. She also has to sacrifice her happiness, possibly feeling empty for the rest of eternity, for the greater good. And she doesn’t even get to rule the kingdom like we do. That’s not noble, that's barbaric.

One month, all we had left was one month until we were crowned. Urgh. Fate was a cruel mistress.

COLE POV

I heard Crew pull up around 4am. I had sobered up after my bottle of whisky, but couldn’t sleep, so I remained in the study trying to busy myself with pack business.

‘Brother,’ I called through mind link. ‘Come see me in the study.’

Moments later, he appeared. He was covered with her scent. I could smell her all over him. More comfortable in his room yeah? I could smell he had made her reeeaaaaal comfortable.

My wolf was growling furiously. I couldn’t be too angry. I had done the exact same thing. But it was done now. We both got our fix and we are both now here, and can arrange to proceed with the plan and the crowning ceremony and what will happen after it.

“Have you not slept, brother?” He said casually, as he entered the room.

“I can’t say I have,” I replied. “Though it doesn’t smell like you got much sleep in either,” I snapped.

He just smirked at me. I sighed exhaustedly.

“No one can know, you know? Mum and dad would be furious, they’d probably put a bounty on her head. She wouldn’t be welcome and it would put us all at risk,” I lectured.

He nodded knowingly. “It’s hard,” I continued, “but we just need to get this over with. We need to reject her together and make sure she is taken care of financially. It’s the only way.”

Crew was unusually quiet. He stood staring at the floor for a solid 20 seconds before he spoke.

“I can’t,” was all he could muster.

“You can’t what?” I demanded.

“I can’t reject her,” he said solemnly.

“LIKE HELL YOU CAN’T” I roared. My bark wasn’t as bad as my bite, but it still managed to shake the whole house. “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??”

“I just can’t. It’s not her fault. We chose to do this. Granted, we don’t really have a choice. But Blue doesn’t have a choice at all. She wasn’t born into power or wealth, she didn’t ask for any of this, she is so innocent Cole, she doesn’t deserve it. I mean I just dropped her off at the most pitiful fu*king cottage I have ever seen. There were holes in the roof and the porch had started to rot!” He cried. “Did you know her parents are dead too? She’s a fuc*ing orphan Cole. She lives in poverty, she has no parents, she finally found her mates only to find that they are going to reject her and she thinks it’s her fault because she’s poor and small, and isn’t fit to be a Luna. Rejecting her is a step too far Cole, and I won’t be part of it.”

He sat in a chair opposite me, and sobbed into his hands. I’d never seen my brother cry before, and it made me uncomfortable. Normally I’d put him in his place, but his words have literally just broken my heart.

“She’s an orphan? And she’s poor?” I croaked.

He nodded without lifting his head from his hands.

“Cara told me that she doesn’t have any friends either,” I said shakily. “She told me she is bottom of the Academy pack hierarchy, and that she spends her lunch times alone in the library, and that she gets bullied almost daily. She even bragged that she was the one doing it most of the time.”

Crew growled loudly.

“Don’t worry, I gave her hell. She won’t go near Blue again. But she told me that yesterday, the reason she ran out of class and into the car park where I saw her, was because of her. Blue had done a drawing, she likes art, and it was of us. And Cara laughed and mocked her in front of the whole class for it. She was so traumatised, she fled, and was clearly so alone and vulnerable, with no one else to turn to, that she would rather get into a car with me, then go anywhere else.”

Now I was the one with my head in my hands.

What were we going to do?

Even I had to admit, after hearing all this. Rejection would probably crush her to a point of no return. And I didn’t want that. She didn’t deserve that. But could she handle not being rejected? Could she handle not being with us? Not as our Luna anyway. Being by our side and producing an heir would not be an option for her. Fu*k. This was such a mess.

“Let’s just give her some space. She has a lot to deal with. We won’t reject her. She can either choose to live with the mate bond still connecting us, or she can reject us herself. That is one choice she can make for herself,” I said.

Crew nodded.

“It was her birthday yesterday,” he said. “And we didn’t give her anything.”

Well, I wouldn’t say that. She definitely got something. I sniggered to myself. Crew smiled slightly, he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Well there's no point in sleeping now,” I replied. “Shops open in a few hours, let’s go get her something. She can’t be our Luna openly, but she is our mate, and we have been pretty sh*tty towards her.”

“Speak for yourself,” laughed Crew. “I have been a f**k*ng delight! But yeah, let’s hit the shops first thing, we can drop them at her house before she wakes up.”