“Luna,” Beckett growled, trying to keep his voice calm. “That’s exactly why this war needs to happen. I won’t lose anyone else; I won’t let anyone else be a victim like our sisters were.”
“If there was a way we could communicate with the human hunters without starting a war,” I said excitedly.
“There isn’t,” he denied firmly. Beckett looked up and pursed his lips.
“The humans are people, too,” I argued. “They have sisters and families.”
“Luna, I say this with respect.” He caught my eyes. “You need to decide whose side you are on, and you need to stick to it because playing this double agent is only going to hurt you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, but if you aren’t loyal to this pack, you need to tell me right now. I will protect you with everything in me, but my loyalty lies with this pack, not with you. I will kill for this pack, I will die for this pack, for Rush, and for you. Will you do the same?”
Rivers of Doubt
When Rush came home, he found me in his office, mulling over a map of our pack grounds. I didn’t look up from the paper as he entered and walked to the back of the chair where I was sitting. His hands rested gently on my shoulders, his thumbs kneading a knot near my neck.
“What are you doing?” he asked softly. I sighed and let one of the ends of the map curl up.
“Just thinking,” I offered.
“About pack grounds?” He chuckled lightly and brushed my hair from my neck. I leaned into his hands and closed my eyes.
“About pack safety.”
His hands slid down my neck, and then he moved in front of me, leaning his backside against the edge of his desk.
“What’s this about?” His face became serious as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Nothing.” I shook my head, smiling slightly. “I just want to make sure our pack is safe.” Rush pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “Okay, I just wanted to see how close our borders were to the human town.”
“Why?”
I sighed. “Because I wanted to make sure if anything happened on our grounds, that the innocent people in the human town would be okay.”
“What is with you and the human thing?” Rush smiled crookedly, amused at my concern.
“I don’t want anyone else to go what I went through,” I told him, filling my voice with sadness. It wasn’t the reason I was looking through the maps, but I knew it would satisfy Rush enough to leave me alone.
His hands fell to the flat surface of the desk. “Sloane,” he soothed, touching my fingers on the desk.
“I know,” I smiled. “It’s just still fresh. Just let me worry about this, okay? It gives me some peace of mind.”
“Absolutely.” He nodded his head once and then stood up. “I’m going to take a shower.” He walked out of his office and closed the door behind him. I fanned the map out flat against the desk and located a tall, white, house on Middlevale.
I closed my eyes for a moment and pictured Hazel running into her house from my truck, her trusting smile illuminating her brown eyes. Her hand waved to me, and she opened the front door. Her younger cousin’s face skimmed behind her, running after a small, white dog.
Rush’s presence lingered in the room, even after he left, and it created a panic in my chest. What I was doing wasn’t meant to hurt him, but he would see it as betrayal, and I could understand why.
Rush’s head peaked through the door, his hair wet and dripping down his neck. I smiled softly and let the map shrivel up under my hands.
“Do you want to get something to eat? I’m starving?” He bounced up and down on his heels slightly. I nodded and clambered up from the large chair, too large for my body.
“Did you get everything settled with Beckett and the Border Guards?” I glanced up at him sideways.
“Yeah,” he breathed happily, hand skimming my shoulder as he placed his arm around me. “I’ve talked to a few of the other Alpha’s too, they said their borders were also compromised. They've given their guards permission to kill anything and anyone that steps foot near their boundaries.”
The air escaped my chest quickly, and I stepped back from Rush’s hold. He paused and leaned back, looking at me with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Rush,” I panted, latching onto his forearm. He placed his warm hand on mine, calming me slightly. “Please, we can’t be those people. The humans don’t even know what boundaries are; these are just woods to them.”
“Yes, woods where my family live,” he stated calmly, too calmly. I let his arm go and turned around, breathing heavily into my hands. “Sloane, tell me what’s wrong.”
I spun around quickly; my hands spread out in front of me. “Have you not heard me these past few weeks? Rush, that’s murder. Whatever way you want to spin it, it is murder.”
“Protecting my pack is not something I take lightly,” he growled, head tilting to the side. “It shouldn’t be something you take lightly, either.”
I grunted, lips pulling back. “That doesn’t justify anything.”
“I know-”
“No, you don’t,” I interrupted him, eyes set in a dead line at him. “You don’t understand. I thought that I would be an aunt one day. I thought that my sister and I would be able to grow old together with our mates. She’s gone because someone made the decision to kill whoever they saw as a threat. You’re just creating more people like me; you aren’t fixing anything. You’re creating more victims who will want revenge, and they’re going to come looking for you; for me.”
Rush’s lip moved, but the rest of his body remained still, veins in his arms throbbing. “Can
