The Rejected Luna’s Forbidden Obsessions

Chapter Four

Chapter Four The Scent of Foreign Wolves

The warning came just as the sun began to peek over the trees at dawn.

I was already wide awake—sleep had become a total stranger to me ever since the public rejection—when the sharp, three-note howl of the eastern border patrol cut straight through the quiet morning air. It was not the regular sound for an all-clear. It was the frantic alarm used when unknown, foreign wolves were caught trespassing on our pack land.

By the time I rushed into the main hall, the rest of the pack was already gathering there. The warriors moved around with tight, purposeful energy, getting ready for a fight. The new Luna stood near the high table right beside my former mate, her face looking composed but very pale. Then Conor and Collin walked in from the opposite hallway like two matching storms. They were both fully armed, and both of them were giving off that dangerous, controlled violence that made the younger wolves quickly step out of their way without being told.

Collin’s golden eyes found me the exact second he crossed the doorway. The eye contact lasted only for a single second, but it felt heavy, like a warm hand pressing down firmly on the back of my neck.

Conor spoke first, his voice carrying easily over the nervous murmurs of the crowd.

“Our eastern scouts reported a group of twelve strange wolves crossing the river before the sun came up today,” he announced. “They carry the distinct scent of the Iron Ridge Pack. They sent no formal request for passage. They carried no white flag.”

A ripple of real fear and unease moved through the hall. The Iron Ridge Pack had been quiet for years—way too quiet. Their Alpha was well known for testing pack borders the moment he thought he smelled weakness or trouble.

My former mate straightened up proudly. “We will send a full fighting party. Drive them back across the river before they can reach our inner markers.”

Conor’s golden gaze slid over to him, looking completely cold and unimpressed. “We already have two fast patrols moving to intercept them right now. Collin and I will take a third group. If they are just here to poke around, we will end this conversation quickly. But if they are here for something else—” He let the dangerous sentence hang unfinished in the air.

The new Luna spoke up, her voice sounding careful and smooth. “What about the rejected one? She should stay safely inside the pack house. Having a broken mate bond makes her a complete liability in a real fight.”

Her words were spoken softly, but the mean intent behind them was clear to everyone.

Every head in the room turned to look straight at me. A hot wave of shame and anger crawled up my throat, but I forced my face to stay completely blank. I had learned very quickly over the last few days that showing any pain only fed people like her.

Collin answered her before anyone else in the room could even open their mouth.

“She comes with us.”

The new Luna’s eyes narrowed into angry slits. “That is completely unnecessary—”

“It is already decided.” Collin’s tone left zero room for argument. He turned his gaze directly onto me. “Go get your gear. You have five minutes.”

I did not wait around to ask permission from anyone else. I turned on my heel and hurried back to my room, my heart slamming hard against the ruined, aching bond in my chest. I quickly changed into dark training clothes, heavy boots, and buckled on the short steel blade I had kept from my days as Luna.

When I stepped back out into the hallway, both twin brothers were waiting patiently for me.

Conor’s eyes dropped down to look at the half-healed wound still marked on my throat, and then shifted to the sharp blade at my hip. “Do you still remember how to use that thing?”

“Yes,” I answered quietly.

“Good. Stay right between us all the time. If anything goes wrong out there, you do not try to play a hero. You fall straight back.”

Collin did not say a single word, but as we started moving toward the eastern pack gates, he kept right beside me on my left side. He walked close enough that his broad shoulder almost brushed against mine. The broken bond in my chest stirred restlessly at the close contact, feeling completely confused and aching for more.

The dark forest beyond the pack’s inner markers was still thick with heavy morning mist. We ran together in a strict formation—Conor taking the lead at the front, Collin staying right at my side, and six senior warriors spread out behind us. The sharp, heavy scent of the Iron Ridge wolves reached our noses long before we actually laid eyes on them. It smelled like iron, burning pine smoke, and something cold and unpleasant underneath.

We found them waiting in a small clearing near the edge of the river.

There were twelve of them, exactly as the scouts had reported. Their Alpha stood right at the center of the group—he was a tall, heavily scarred wolf with cold eyes the exact color of wet stone. He smiled a wide, ugly smile when he saw us approach, but that smile never reached his dead eyes.

“Blood Moon,” he called out loudly. “I heard a rumor that there was a big change in leadership here. I thought I would come over and see it for myself.”

Conor stepped forward, rolling his heavy shoulders once to loosen up. “You are standing on our land without permission. Any conversation we have belongs at the border line, not here.”

The Iron Ridge Alpha’s gaze slid right past Conor and landed heavily on me. Recognition flickered across his face, and then turned into something much uglier.

“Ah. The discarded Luna,” he sneered, loud enough for all the warriors to hear. “I heard all about that public rejection. Nasty business. A broken bond like that must hurt like hell.” His smile grew wider. “Perhaps she would prefer a pack that actually knows how to treat its females instead of throwing them away like trash.”

The air in the clearing instantly changed.

I could feel the sudden, terrifying stillness in the twin brothers. Conor’s large hands slowly flexed into fists at his sides. Collin’s quiet presence beside me sharpened into something deadly and lethal.

When Collin spoke, his voice was dangerously soft. Almost gentle.

“Look at her again,” he whispered, “and I will rip your eyes right out of your head before we send the rest of you back home in pieces.”

The Iron Ridge Alpha’s arrogant smile finally faded away. The foreign wolves behind him shifted nervously, their hands drifting down toward their hidden weapons.

Conor let out a deep, rolling growl that shook through the clearing, low and absolute. “This is your last chance. Leave now. Or die here.”

For a second, I thought the strange Alpha might actually push his luck and fight. Then, he glanced over at the twin Alphas once more—really looking at them—and whatever terrifying thing he saw in their eyes made up his mind. He raised a single hand in the air. Slowly, his wolves began to back away toward the river.

But right before he turned to follow them, he spoke one last time, making sure every single Blood Moon wolf heard his parting words.

“Weakness always invites visitors, Blood Moon,” he shouted back. “You have a rejected Luna walking around free and two powerful Alphas who still haven’t chosen a mate. That kind of wild instability is not going to stay quiet for very long.”

He disappeared into the thick trees with his pack, and they were gone.

Thick silence hung heavy over the clearing until the last trace of the foreign scent completely faded from the wind.

Conor turned his head just enough to look back at me. His bright golden eyes were still flashing with the wild edge of a wolf fighting to stay in control.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked.

“No.”

Collin’s warm hand settled briefly against the small of my back—it was steady, incredibly possessive, and gone almost the exact second I felt it. “We are heading back home now. Move.”

We ran all the way back in a much tighter formation than before. The twins did not speak another word until the big wooden gates of the pack house came into view. As we walked through, Conor leaned down and spoke in a voice so low that only I could hear it.

“He looked at you like you were something sitting out on a table for anyone to take.”

I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. “I am not.”

Collin’s quiet reply came instantly from my other side, sounding much darker and far more dangerous than Conor's warning.

“No,” he agreed softly. “You are not. And the next foolish wolf who forgets that simple fact is not going to be walking away from us.”

The broken bond twisted hard and painfully inside my chest.

For the very first time since the night of my public rejection, the deep pain in my soul felt secondary to the dark, possessive warning humming in the voices of the two Alphas.

Something major had shifted out in the forest that morning.

And I was no longer certain that the greatest threat to my life was still coming from outside the pack walls.