Rush bit his lip and backtracked in his mind. I could feel his uneasiness through our bond. “No, I just want you to be safe. I have no doubt that you can protect yourself.”
“Then I want to be there,” I announced.
“Sloane,” Rush choked out, a ghost of a smile on his face. “That’s not going to happen.” I shoved his arms away from me, pushing him back a few steps on his tumbling feet. Casey stood up, nervously looking between Rush and I. Rush didn’t retaliate. His face was unwavering.
“I can be useful here.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Rush said, glancing nervously at the other men as if he didn’t want them to see me undermine him.
“Then why can’t I be here when it comes time? I’m not just going to sit on my ass and wait for all the big, strong men to take care of it. Don’t you have female Warriors?”
“We do,” Rush said pointedly, with a terse tone. “But a Luna is not a female Warrior.”
“Maybe this Luna is.”
“You’re not going to win on this, Sloane. I am your Alpha-”
“I’m so tired of this,” I growled. Rush’s face scrunched in confusion. “You undermine me every time I bring up the fact that I’m your Luna. You don’t get to make these kinds of decisions for me, I am a part of this pack, and when it comes to being able to protect my pack, I get to decide where I am and what I do, not you. You ask for my help and then get angry when I try. You tell me I’m your Luna, but what does that actually mean to you?”
“I’m-”
“I’m not finished,” I hissed. “You don’t get to pick and choose which parts of me you love. You don’t get to say you love that I’m a strong, independent woman and then throw that away when I stand up for myself. This ends now. All of you. I know Cordelia wasn’t the most nurturing person, but at least you all respected her enough to listen to what she had to say. I will be a part of the decisions this pack makes from now on or so help me, this pack won’t have a Luna. I won’t be just a trophy.”
Rush’s jaw clenched, and his eyes wandered, but I knew it was from fault. The rest of the men’s heads hung low; with embarrassment or respect, I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter.
“You will kneel before your Luna,” I cautioned. Jonah took his place on one knee, arm bent over his chest, head still bent. Casey, Beckett, and Hollis followed his lead. Rush remained standing long enough to see that I was serious, and slowly, he took his place on one knee, arm over his chest, head looking directly at me as I scanned the group. When I was satisfied, I turned and left, walking towards nowhere in particular, but needing distance.
Cordelia surprisingly stood thirty feet back from us, arms crossed, a delighted smirk on her mauve lips. I ignored her and walked past, she turned on her heel and followed behind me.
“I didn’t know you had that in you,” she admitted. I shook my head and walked faster. “Although I was elated to hear my name in your speech, I was hurt to hear you don’t consider me nurturing after all I’ve done for you these past months.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, not completely sure I wanted to hear her insane babbling.
“I knew from the moment you stepped out of that car, you weren’t a Luna.” I rolled my eyes and growled. “You were scared, skittish; you looked to your father, to a man for your strength. You waited for my son to introduce you, you didn’t dominate the room, and then you said your title like you were telling me what color your shoes were.” I stopped walking and faced Cordelia, guarded. “Your Luna title should have been draped over you like a cape and crown, and you wore it like a sweater with holes in it. You can hate me all you like, but I did what I had to to push you in the right direction. Everyone coddled you, Rush would’ve kept you locked up in his bedroom pregnant with pups every chance he got; and that Kenna girl wouldn’t say a word against you.
“You needed to hate me, you needed someone to push you, to bring out this side of you. I saw a spark in you after your induction, but then you immediately gave all your power back to Rush. I saw the flame in you when you kicked me out of my home, and I knew you would get there eventually, but what I just saw you do, bring a group of pack officials to their knees, that was the moment. That was the moment you became the Luna this pack needed, the Luna I was always trying to push you to become, the Luna I saw you could be.”
“Why?” I asked, so wondrously perplexed.
“You would do anything to protect your pack, your family, correct?” I nodded. She smirked. “So would I.”
“So that’s why you’ve been such a raging bitch to me? Because you wanted to guide me?”
Cordelia smiled, although it looked foreign on her face. “I’ve been a raging bitch, as you so politely called it, from the moment I became Luna. The men around here don’t respect you if you’re anything less than that.”
“What about Hollis?” I narrowed my eyes, breathing out in ill-timed humor. “What about Rush? You know they think you’re a callous, cold person, right?”
“The Weston men are good men. But good men will let a ripe, motivated Luna full of potential…wither. I refuse to let myself be a leaf on their family tree that just dies off when a new Luna arrives. I will be the whole damn branch.”
“Rush isn’t like that,” I told her, shaking my head as I took a step to walk
