Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 133

Chapter 133

Nicolai

There’s a version of me that other Alphas know.

There’s the version of me that delivers threats with the cadence of pleasantries. The version who never needs to raise his voice to end an argument because it’s understood, by anyone who’s listening, that I’ve already won. The version who is always the calmest person in the room, because showing fear is a death sentence.

This week alone I handled two such situations that required the Woolf family’s particular brand of resolution. The first involved a shipping partner who had developed the impression that our arrangement included a renegotiation option I had not offered. Dimitri handled the preliminary conversation. I appeared at the end of into reinforce our stance on the matter. The partner revised his position immediately and permanently.

“Did you have to say it like that?” Dimitri asked after.

“Like what?” I raised my eyebrow, feigning ignorance.

“Like you were commenting on the weather.” He grumbled. “Would it kill you to lose control from time to time? Not a lot, just enough to seem human.”

“I was commenting on the situation. Calmly.” I’d replied, completely unruffled.

“The calmness is the frightening part.” He’d muttered under his breath.

The second thing involved a border dispute with a pack. A situation that hardly bears repeating. Their apparent selective amnesia led them to forget who they were dealing with. I reminded them. End of story.

Like I said, there’s a version of me other men fear, for good reason.

That version of me did not anticipate Benjamin Marco. Six pounds fourteen ounces of dark hair, his mother’s eyes and a completely unreasonable number of opinions about almost everything.

He is, without question, the most demanding business associate I have ever encountered.

I come home after handling both of these situations only to have Benji make a sound at me from his bouncer that I have learned, over six weeks, means I’d like your attention now, peasant, and don’t even think about making me

wait.

“I know, son” I coo at him. “Give me five minutes to clean up first.”

He gives me approximately forty-five seconds.

I pick him up and he settles immediately. I stand in the kitchen of my vast estate, holding a baby, and think about the border dispute that is now a closed matter, and about the shipping partner who has caved to my demands, and about the six pounds fourteen ounces in my arms who has just successfully bent me to his will using only a tiny sound.

He is, without question, the most effective negotiator I’ve encountered. I find this both absurd and more important than anything else on my schedule..

Once I’ve rocked Benji to sleep and finally managed to wash away the scent of those other Alphas’ fear, I make my way to my office. When I find Dimitri already sitting there with one foot on my desk, his dirty shoe dangerously close to my favorite coffee cup, I realize resistance is futile. He’s no more likely to let me work than Benji was.

“I see you’ve mastered fatherhood already. When do you plan to make things permanent with his mother?” He

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Chapter 33

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asks with that knowing smirk that makes me want to punch my best friend right in the mouth. “Oh, that’s right. She still has a mate bond.”

He says the words like he’s making some dramatic announcement he expects to astonish the room. He’s not. It’s something I’m all too painfully aware of.

“She’s never formally rejected it.” He presses on, ignoring my frown that clearly says I don’t want to talk about this now.

“I know.” I grunt, refusing to engage.

“It’s been eight weeks since the birth. Six since you’ve been-” He pauses. “Whatever the word is for what you are now.”

“Together,” I say. “The word is together.”

“Together. And the bond with her ex-husband is still technically intact.”

I lean back in my chair. “Yes.”

“Does she feel it?” The question is invasive in a way only he can get away with and he knows it.

“She told me she does. Months ago. That it’s faded but present.” I look at the ceiling. “She described it as an echo.”

Dimitri leans forward with his elbows on his knees, which is the posture he uses when he’s about to say something he’s been sitting with for a while and wants to be sure I’m listening.

“What if she does it for the wrong reasons?” I say finally. “Because she’s here and I’m here and it seems like the obvious next step. Because she’s grateful, or because everything around her points in one direction.” I look at Dimitri. “In six months, she’ll have had more time. More space. More opportunity to understand what she’s choosing. And I want her to choose this when she’s had all of that.”

Dimitri is quiet for a moment before he responds.

“That’s not nothing.” He finally admits. “But it’s also-” He pauses. sighs. “Nic. You know I love you like a brother.”

“You’re going to say something unkind.” I huff.

“I’m going to say something true. There may be a small part of this that is also about postponing the moment when she chooses and it becomes completely, irreversibly real. Because once it’s real, you have to stop being afraid of losing it.”

I look at him for a long moment, processing his words.

“Get out of my office,” I bark.

He shrugs, stands, and heads for the door without protest. “Think about it.”

He leaves.

I stare at the ceiling and think about it.

Cara Anderson Author

Thank you for reading!

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