I Refuse To Be Your Luna (Flourish and Harold) novel Chapter 2

Flourish’s POV

I did not cry after leaving Stonehedge Lodge.

Honestly, that scared me more than if I had.

Because six years with Harold Virel should have earned at least one dramatic breakdown beneath the moon.

Instead, I felt… cold.

Not empty, just painfully awake.

The western estate stood quiet when I arrived near dawn, silver lights glowing softly through the tall windows. This place was supposed to become my home after the Luna Rite.

Funny how quickly a place could stop feeling welcoming.

The guards at the gates looked confused when they saw me returning alone in ceremonial white.

One of them opened his mouth to ask questions.

I kept walking before he could.

Inside, servants immediately straightened the moment they saw me.

“Lady Flourish?” Mira hurried forward. “Did the rite finish early?”

pulled the ceremonial crest from my dress and set it down.

“No,” I said. “It didn’t happen.”

Silence dropped heavily across the entrance hall.

Mira nearly dropped the towels in her hands.

Because everybody understood what those words meant.

An Alpha abandoning a Luna Rite was humiliating enough.

But abandoning it beneath the blood moon?

Stonehedge would gossip about this for years.

Mira looked horrified. “Should we prepare chambers for Alpha Harold when he arrives?”

I almost laughed.

“He won’t be staying here tonight.”

The words came out sharper than intended.

Mira immediately stepped aside which was better.

I did not trust myself to speak kindly right now.

I walked upstairs alone.

The western estate still smelled like fresh moonflowers and candle smoke. Servants spent weeks preparing the place for the completed bond ceremony.

For me and Harold.

For a future that suddenly looked ridiculous.

I pushed open the master bedroom doors and froze immediately.

The room smelled like her moon herbs and winter sage.

Phina.

My wolf stirred angrily beneath my skin.

Near Harold’s bed sat several medicine bottles beside a half-empty cup of healing tea.

A soft grey blanket rested across the couch near the fire.

Not just any blanket.

Harold’s blanket.

The one he never let anyone touch because his late beta gave it to him years ago.

Yet Phina’s scent covered it completely.

My chest tightened painfully.

Slowly, I walked deeper into the room.

A dark silk robe hung beside Harold’s clothes near the wardrobe.

Not mine.

Phina’s.

My stomach twisted.

How long had she been staying here?

How long had everybody known except me?

Then a notification sound broke the silence.

I turned toward the couch.

Harold’s tablet lit up briefly across the cushions.

Normally, I would never touch it.

Harold hated people using his personal things.

Once, he snapped at me for moving it while cleaning coffee off the table.

Yet tonight, the device sat unlocked beside Phina’s medicine like she used it freely.

A bitter laugh almost escaped me.

Of course she did.

I picked up the tablet slowly.

The screen displayed a reminder notification.

Phina’s treatment after moonrise. Don’t forget this time.

My throat tightened.

Below it sat another unfinished note Harold apparently forgot to delete.

Move Phina into western room permanently before winter gets worse.

I stared at the words for several long seconds.

Western room.

This room.

The future Luna chambers.

A painful knot tightened inside my chest.

Not because I still doubted what Harold felt for her.

But because he planned all of this before tonight.

Before the failed rite.

Before humiliating me before the elders.

He already made space for her here.

Scrolling down I found a private voice memo.

Without thinking, I pressed play.

Soft breathing filled the bedroom first.

Then Phina laughed quietly. “You really shouldn’t touch me there.”

Harold’s voice came low and rough. “Then stop climbing into my bed wearing that.”

A kiss followed.

Slow. Intimate. Familiar enough to make my stomach twist.

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