Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17

+15 Bgnus

Chapter 17

Skye

“Why should I help you when you’ve done nothing but cause me pain?” I snap at my aunt, ensuring my walls are still firmly in place.

My father always said I was too soft-hearted, just like my mother. But I only need to look at my crumbling marriage to remember that’s never gotten me anywhere I want to be.

“Maybe you shouldn’t. Not for me.” She starts, and her raw honesty takes me by surprise. “But no matter what’s happened between us, I am still your mother’s sister. Dalton is her nephew. If she were here, she would fight tooth and nail to protect her family. I know she would want you to do the same.”

Fuck! Her words are nothing short of emotional warfare. But it doesn’t change the fact that I know they’re true. Even in her absence, my mother has always been my guiding light. I know she would be disappointed in me if I didn’t at least try to help.

“I’ll talk to him,” I hear myself say. “I promise I’ll find a way to help you.”

Diana’s face floods with relief. “Thank you. Skye, thank you so much—”

“You should stay for dinner,” I interrupt, standing. “It’s the proper thing to do, Luna to Luna. We can discuss the details then.”

“Of course. Whatever you think is best.”

I nod and move toward the door, already knowing Jaxon won’t help.

Because whatever Dalton did to end up in the Lycan King’s prison without charges or bail, it’s serious. The kind of serious that even friendship with the Prince won’t be enough to overcome.

He’ll see it as beneath him, or too risky, or simply not his problem. He’ll give me a dozen political reasons why he can’t get involved, why it would compromise his position or the pack’s standing.

And he’ll expect me to accept it. To go back to Diana and deliver the bad news with a smile.

But I made Diana a promise. And unlike my husband, I keep my word. I just need to figure out how to keep it

without him.

So I spend the next two days making calls of my own. Not to Jaxon’s contacts-those bridges were never mine to begin with. But I have friends. Wolves I’ve helped over the years, favors I’m owed, connections I’ve built quietly while performing my Luna duties.

If I’m going to find a way to help my aunt, I need to know what I’m up against. And by the end of the second day, I have my answer.

Unfortunately, it’s the same answer Diana got. The same answer everyone gets when they ask about the capital’s high-security detention facility.

No charges have been made public. No bail has been offered. There is no information to be found. In other words, Dalton is done for.

Whatever he did—or whatever they think he did-it’s serious enough that normal channels won’t touch it.

I’m in my office reviewing pack records when Jaxon appears in the doorway.

“We need to talk,” he says.

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I look up, keeping my expression neutral. “About what?”

“Your aunt’s request.” He steps inside, closing the door behind him. “About her son.”

“What about it?” I don’t even pretend to be shocked that he knows.

His jaw tightens. “You haven’t said anything to me. Haven’t asked me to help.”

“Should I have?”

“Most wives would.” There’s something in his voice I can’t quite identify. Frustration, maybe. Or confusion. “You know I have connections in the capital. That I could potentially help if I chose to.”

“You’ve already chosen not to.” I set down the file I was reading. “You clearly know the reason for her visit. If you were willing to help, you would’ve done so already. And I’m not asking you to change your mind.”

The silence stretches between us.

“You’re not even going to try?” he asks finally.

“Would it change anything?”

“No.” The word comes out sharp. Defensive. “But that’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

He doesn’t answer. Just stands there looking at me like I’m a puzzle he can’t solve, and I realize with sudden clarity: he expected me to beg. He expected me to come to him with tears in my eyes, pleading for Diana’s sake, giving him the opportunity to be magnanimous in his refusal or-more likely-to hold it over my head as leverage.

But I didn’t. And now he doesn’t know what to do with that.

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