Luna Rising by Sloane Murphy

Chapter Four

“She needs to shift back. She’ll heal quicker.”

Uncle Roman’s voice filters through my hazy brain as I wake up. Oh shit, the burning in my ribs is so fucking real. That asshole Lycan is going to have hell to pay. Once I can breathe normally again, that is.

“Luna, you’re okay, sweetheart.” Mom’s voice is worried, and I force my eyes open to stare up at her, squinting as I blink against bright lights. It takes me a second to realize we’re in a room in the medical building, but the doctor is nowhere in sight. Dad and Roman are standing to the right of the room while mom stands over me. “Doc said you have a few bruised and broken ribs. One pierced your lung. The worst of it has healed while you were out, but Roman is right. If you shift, you will heal faster.”

Considering how quickly my wolf retreated when I was hurt, I’m not sure they’re right. I try to sit up anyway. My ribs roar in agony, and I bite down on my lip to stop the whimper that I oh so want to let out.

“She’s obviously not okay. Isn’t there anything we can do?” Maddox complains, startling me enough to jostle my ribs again. I suck in a breath and glance toward him, realizing that I was so focused on the pain that I hadn’t even realized he was in here.

“I’m fine. Or at least, I will be. Is everyone else okay?” I practically pant once I’m sitting up, thankful for the sheet covering me so I’m not butt-ass naked in front of everyone. I mean, I know they wouldn’t care but still.

“Everyone else is fine,” Dad confirms, and I give him a tight smile.

“Good, what about the wolf who attacked me?”

“He’s waiting to be questioned,” Roman answers me, his voice little more than a growl, and Maddox clenches and unclenches his fists.

“I think it's pretty obvious why he attacked me, so questioning him is probably pointless. And sorry, you guys, but can you please dial back the testosterone in here. It’s overwhelming. I’m fine, no one died.” I roll my eyes as I push myself to stand. I hate being seen as so fucking weak, but all it took was one hit to fuck me up. Thatch will never let me live this down.

“You’re right, no one died, but we’re lucky Maddox was there to help you. Otherwise there’s no telling what might have happened,” Mom says, and I let out a sigh.

“I probably could’ve handled it just fine, I don’t need a protector, Mom. Now I’m going to go and shift, finish healing, and sort my shit out. Maybe I can be the one to question the asshole if it has to be done?” My gaze bounces between my mom, Dad, and Roman, who’s wearing a shit-eating grin.

He slaps my dad on the shoulder and laughs. “Man, she is so your daughter.” He shakes his head, swallowing some of his mirth before turning toward me and saying, “Sure thing, Luna. We’ll leave the questioning to you, but I’ll wait just outside in case he decides to try anything else. We’ll keep your parents far enough away that you can deal with this yourself.”

“Thank you, Uncle Roman. Can I speak to him in the morning? I’m going to need to crash after all of this.”

“Sure thing, sweet pea. I’ll get him situated. He can be uncomfortable for a night.” He grins at me, and I should probably feel bad about the amount of discomfort I suspect Uncle Roman will impose on the guy, but I’m just not. If I have to be uncomfortable while my body heals, that fucker can be uncomfortable too.

“Thank you. Now if you guys don’t mind, I’m going to go sort out this screaming in my ribs. I shouldn’t be long.” I drop the sheet and walk out of the room, head held high. It would be hard to miss my dad's exasperation and my mom's frustration when they start talking all at once as I leave. I’m glad Uncle Roman agreed to what I asked since Dad won’t go against his word.

Maybe I need to try to get him on board more often.

I head outside and shift the minute the cold air hits my face. The pain decreases almost instantly, and I realize Uncle Roman was right about the shift helping heal my battered form. Maybe if I’d stayed in my shifted form, I would’ve already been healed. If Maddox hadn’t carried me home, Roman probably would’ve had me shift already. I know Maddox was just trying to look after me, but I’m kind of sick and tired of being the one everyone feels the need to protect.

Maybe once I’m out of here and exploring the world on my own, people will actually respect me.

I do a loop of the forest in wolf form, making sure to keep all of my senses on high alert for any other wolves. As I scent the air, the only other Lycan I smell with me is Maddox, who is keeping his distance. It’s impossible not to smell him since he’s upwind, and a low growl rumbles in my throat at the realization that they really don’t trust me to take care of myself. Maddox won’t even be sorry for it.

Men.

Once I’m near the house again, I shift back to my human form and head to my room. I hear Maddox shift back and enter the house behind me, but there’s no real shock there since he and his dad are staying with us for the night. What I don’t expect, however, is to emerge from my bathroom ready for bed to find Maddox asleep on top of my sheets already.

“Just get into bed. I’m not going anywhere.” His voice is gravelly from his state of half-sleep. I stand near the edge of the bed for all of a second, but frankly, I’m too tired to argue with him over the fact that I don’t need to be protected. I climb under the covers and get comfortable, and I don’t miss the self-satisfied huff that he lets out. “Night, Luna.”

I close my eyes and sigh, hating how much safer I feel with him lying beside me. “Night, Maddox.”

* * *

“Are you ready?”

I glance up as Roman walks into the kitchen. His long, dark hair is messy as fuck, but he doesn’t seem to care. I freeze with my forkful of eggs halfway to my mouth. I mean, do I look like I’m ready? I cock an eyebrow but take the mouthful and swallow before grinning up at him. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Well then, little Luna, I guess you get your first experience of a true Alpha’s life today. Let's go.” He turns and leaves without waiting to see if I’m actually ready to go, and I scurry to slip my feet into my combat boots and grab my leather jacket before flying out the door after him. He chuckles softly when I catch up but doesn’t say a thing.

We walk in companionable silence, marching across the square in front of the house and into our self-sufficient little town. Once we reach the building my dad uses for unruly wolves, Roman looks down at me, clearly examining me, eyes narrowing as he takes me in. “You feeling better?”

“I’m fine,” I tell him, crossing my arms and jutting out my chin. Standing up to the Alpha of Alphas isn’t something many people could do and live, especially with the level of sass I’m currently throwing at him. Fortunately for me, I’m not most people and Uncle Roman loves the shit out of me. The thing I love about him is that he doesn’t ever question me beyond the initial query. He takes me at my word, like a fucking adult, and believes that I know myself well enough to be honest with him.

Plus, I really am fine.

He nods and opens the door to the building, and I follow him in. I’ve never been in here before as there’s been no need, but there’s something almost haunting about the place that makes my hair stand up and a chill run down my spine. We pass a dozen doors as we walk through, and the quick glimpses I get tell me that they’re all cells. I know that sometimes if a wolf’s first shift is super volatile, they’ll hold them in here until they learn to get their shifts under control, but it all feels so much more clinical than I realized.

We reach the door at the end of the hall. Roman reaches for the door handle, but pauses before opening it. He gives me a very serious look indeed before saying, “I told you that you could do this on your own; but if you don’t get answers, I’m going to ask some questions myself.”

I nod since that seems fair, at least. Chances are this guy isn’t going to talk to me at all, but I want to at least try.

He opens the door and waves me in. “I’ll be just outside if you need anything.”

I roll my eyes at him but step into the room, letting him close the door behind me. I startle a little as it automatically locks. The stark white room has a metal table in the middle, and the rogue wolf is handcuffed to it, slumped down in his chair, looking uncomfortable as fuck.

Good. I guarantee he isn’t half as uncomfortable as I was last night with a punctured fucking lung.

I take a seat and analyze him. He glares at me like I’m the reason for everything that’s gone wrong in his world.

“What the fuck are you doing here, bitch?” he spits across the table at me. Rude much? I just cross my arms, remaining silent, while quietly grateful none of his saliva actually reached me.

I give it a moment before asking, “You attacked me. Why?”

He snarls at me, and I let out a sigh. This is obviously going to go well.

“Because the boy wouldn’t. Your father took everything from us. He deserves to know what that feels like.” The fire in his eyes is matched by the venom in his words. There is so much rage, so much hatred, and all of it is aimed in my direction.

“So you wanted to kill me?” I ask, tilting my head, trying to figure him out.

“Of course I wanted to kill you, but then that runt got in my way, and your asshole father showed up.” I grin at him, noticing how he doesn’t say a word against Roman. Clever little Lycan, especially considering that Roman is just outside. He’ll be able to hear every word in here with his Lycan hearing. It’s good to know this piece of shit is mindful of some things at least.

“Then why hit my ribs? You could’ve gone straight for my throat. I didn’t sense you coming.”

“Of course you didn’t. You’re the little princess sitting in her ivory tower. You have no idea what’s coming. And if you didn’t sense me coming, you’ll never catch them. I’m just the beginning.”

I lean forward, a tight frown pulling my lips down, but he only grins maniacally at me in response. “What does that even mean?”

“You’ll find out,” he says ominously before there’s a popping noise, and he starts to foam at the mouth.

“Roman!” I scream, instinctively knowing that something is very, very wrong. He’s here in less than a heartbeat, pulling me out of the way.

“Fuck!” Roman shouts, as the Lycan convulses in his chair before going deathly still. He kicks my chair across the room in his fit of anger.

My eyes go wide as it hits me. “Is he… dead?”

Roman moves, blocking my view of the dead Lycan, who I can’t seem to tear my gaze from. He bends down and looks me in the eye, making sure he has my full attention. “Luna, I need you to go and get your dad for me, okay?”

I nod, mute, but make no move to leave. He turns me around, walking me from the room. “Just go get your dad, sweet pea.”

His voice is low and soothing, but the underlying command is still there so my feet move without me even really thinking about it. I can’t believe I just watched a man die.

After he tried to kill me.

I walk in a daze to the house, barely realizing I’ve made it before I’m in the kitchen where Mom and Dad are sitting and talking with Maddox.

Maddox is the first to notice my arrival, jumping to his feet on full alert. “What’s wrong?”

“Dad, Uncle Roman needs you in the interrogation room.” My words sound robotic even to me. It's weird. I think I might be in shock.

My dad just stands, looking down with a frown at my mom, and moves toward me. He kisses my forehead before leaving the house, silent.

“Honey, what happened?” my mom asks as Maddox ushers me into the chair my dad just vacated.

“He died…” I say, still unable to believe it really just happened. “He’s dead.”

* * *

Once the shock of that guy ending himself wears off, I find myself feeling more angry than anything else. Dad and Roman said he had a pill in one of his teeth, similar to the cyanide pills humans have been known to use, but his was filled with liquid obsidian—the only substance lethal to Lycans.

It’s an insta death sentence for Lycans.

None of it really makes sense to me, though. He didn’t kill me, he didn’t hurt my dad, and he didn’t succeed in anything other than rambling at me in that room before killing himself. Dad and Roman haven’t said another word about it beyond how he died. It’s maddening as hell, and I can’t get the puzzle put all the way together without all of the pieces.

Roman and Maddox left about an hour ago, with promises of being back for the pack party but nothing beyond that about the man. They took the interlopers with them, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen to them since they have nowhere else to go. I have a whole hell of a lot of questions that aren’t getting answered.

“Luna, how about tomorrow you shadow me instead of training and working at the cafe?” Dad asks as I finish clearing the table from dinner.

“You and I both know that I don’t want to be the next Alpha,” I mutter as I load the dishwasher. I’m suspicious of his intentions, and even though I want some answers, I’m not ready to give in. I heave a heavy sigh before saying, “I’m not sure what good that’ll be.”

“Come on,” he says, almost too cheerily. “I know you think you don’t want to be the next Alpha, but I think if you actually see everything that the job entails, you might be more excited about it.”

“Dad, all I want to do with my life is help people and explore the world.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. We’ve had this same argument a dozen times before.

His smile doesn’t dim as I turn to face him properly. If anything, he seems more excited than ever. “But Luna, you can do all of that as Alpha. It’s not all power plays and discipline like you seem to think.”

“If I agree to shadow you for the day, can we drop this discussion until at least after my birthday?”

His grin widens, and he nods his head at my compromise. In reality, he’s not wrong. I have no real idea of what being an Alpha really means. I’ve just always resented having my path chosen for me. Being thrust into something just because of who my parents are never sat well with me.

He holds up three fingers, like that means anything, and offers a solemn, “I swear,” with a shit-eating grin. I’m already half regretting this, but if one day buys me a few weeks of peace, I’m going to take it.

“I’m going to head upstairs, I have to do an assignment for class before I can sleep, and I get the feeling I’m going to want a decent night's sleep before tomorrow.”

“That's my girl!” Dad beams, and I can’t help but laugh at how dorky he is before I head upstairs. I drop onto my bed and pull my phone out, finally getting a chance to check it after all of the craziness the past few hours have entailed.

Nova: Dude, are you okay? There's been some crazy whispers flying around the compound today.

Nova: I’m going to guess your silence means a big fat nope (yes I popped my p). Check in when you can.

Nova: Bish, I’m worried, at least drop me a goddamn emoji so I know you’re not dead too.

Nova: If you don’t answer soon, Imma have to send an SOS to Maddox, and we both know he’ll turn his dad’s fucking car around.

Shit.

That was twenty minutes ago. I run a hand over my face and let out a deep breath and message her back.

Me: I’m fine. Kinda. I’ll explain everything when I see you next. I won’t be training tomorrow. I’m shadowing Dad.

Nova: Shadowing your dad? Finally stepping up to that Alpha birthright?

I smile at her response. Not even a mention of the guy who died. Girl knows me well.

Me: Nope, but this gets him off my case until after my birthday. Small wins.

Nova: If you say so, bish. I think it’s a sneaky tactic *shrug emoji* But really, I hope you’re okay and I’m here if you need me.

Me: Thanks. I’ll see you later

I drop my phone onto my side table and pull my laptop out from under the bed, going back through my notes from my online lecture the night before. My psychology degree is fun as fuck, but it also hurts my brain in the worst way.

I get lost in the assignment, not noticing how much time passes. I’m almost done when a loud crash sounds outside and sirens blare.

What the actual fuck is going on?