Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 178

Chapter 178

Jaxon

Rena knocks on my door, announcing I have a visitor waiting for me downstairs. As I don’t know anyone here, I can;t imagine who it might be. But I’m even more surprised to find Noah standing at the bottom of the stairs. He’s the last person I’d expect to show up here without calling first.

The fact that he did tells me everything I need to know before he says a word. Noah calls ahead. Noah is a man who believes in advance notice, who thinks showing up unannounced is a form of aggression that can usually be avoided with basic courtesy.

When Noah doesn’t call ahead, something has happened.

I meet him in the main hallway-Mikhail having let him through-and read his face.

“Council inquiry,” I guess.

“Elder Castillo filed it two days ago. Formal inquiry into leadership stability and the Alpha’s extended absence.” He says it straight. No softening. “I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”

“How bad is it?”

“Not insurmountable. If you come back.”

I nod silently for him to follow me to somewhere more private. I lead him to my temporary office where we sit and he lays it out.

The formal inquiry is a political problem with potentially far-reaching consequences-which is usually the kind of problem I know how to handle. I’ve been running Ironwood remotely from the estate, and it’s been working, mostly. Pack business gets handled. Decisions get made. Noah has been absorbing the day-to-day with the competence of someone who’s been functioning as a de facto Alpha for months.

But… The pack notices who’s present and who isn’t. They always do.

“The rumors have been building,” Noah says. “Not hostile-not yet. But people are asking questions about why you’re still here, what the arrangement is, whether this is temporary or permanent. Castillo filing the inquiry gives the questions an official forum where you’ll be forced to answer.”

“What are people saying? Specifically.”

“That you couldn’t hold your mate so you’re staying in another Alpha’s house hoping she’ll take you back.” He says it flatly, without cruelty. Just stating facts. “That’s the charitable version.”

“And the uncharitable version?” I ask though I’m not sure I want to know.

“That you’ve been coerced out of your own territory by Woolf,” He cringes as he says it.

What the fuck?

“Neither of those is accurate,” I scowl.

“I know. But accuracy isn’t the point. Perception is.” He leans forward. “You need to come back. Not permanently -I understand what you’re trying to do here, and I think it’s the right thing, whatever the optics are. But visibly. Show up, hold a council meeting, be seen running your pack. One week. Maybe two.”

And that’s the crux of the problem, one I’d usually have no problem putting an end to immediately. But the situation with Skye complicates everything.

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I think about leaving. About what the circumstances feel like right now-the careful new balance, the provisional agreement, the bond that’s warm and present and still figuring out what it means.

One week away from all of that. One week at Ironwood, managing perception, while Skye and Nicolai are here doing the same. A pit forms in my stomach at the thought. But do I have a choice?

“Okay,” I nod. “Okay, I’ll go.”

Noah looks relieved. “I’ll arrange the council meeting.”

“Noah.” He turns back to look at me. “Whatever they’re saying-I’m coming back. That’s not in question.”

“I know,” he says. “Make sure your pack knows it too.”

With that decision made, I now have to do something even harder. I have to tell Skye I’m leaving.

She’s in the garden with Benji, who is working on some kind of ambitious plan involving some rocks and the challenges of his own mobility and she’s watching him like it’s the most fascinating thing she’s ever seen. It makes me smile despite the reason I’m here.

She looks up when I sit beside her. “Noah’s visit,” she says. Not a question.

“Ironwood problem,” I confirm. “I have to go back. Just for a week. Maybe two.”

“How long?” She clarifies, her expression telling me she’s hoping she heard me wrong.

“A week. Maybe two.” I repeat.

Skye nods, looking away. She takes it all in with the particular stillness she has for things she’s processing. I watch her face-the thing she’s not saying is visible somewhere around her eyes.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Nothing.” She tries to defelct.

“Skye.” I chastise.

Her shoulders sag as she looks at me. “I was just thinking that this is the thing, isn’t it.” Her voice is even but her jaw is tight. “The thing that doesn’t have an answer yet. You have a pack. A territory. Responsibilities that require you to be present.” She glances at Benji, who has achieved something on the garden path and is registering his accomplishment audibly. “Eventually the west wing isn’t a sustainable arrangement. And I don’t know what that means. For any of this.”

I don’t have an answer. “Neither do I,” I say honestly. “But I’m not walking away from it. I’m coming back.”

“I know.” She sighs. She says it the way she says things she means but hasn’t fully let herself believe yet.

I’m about to stand, thinking my continued presence probably isn’t helping matters, when she grabs my hand, pulling my attention back to her.

“I heard you on the phone. With Noah. The other night.” She announces and I go very still. “I wasn’t eavesdropping,” she says quickly. “I was walking past. Your door wasn’t closed all the way. I caught-I heard enough.”

She meets my eyes, waiting for a response. But my mind can’t stop running through that conversation, trying to remember exactly what I said.

“What did you hear?” I finally give up and just ask.

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“That you know what you want. That you’ve known for a while.” She holds my gaze, daring me to deny it. “And that you weren’t sure you get to have it.”

The words I said to Noah, in what I thought was a private room. “It’s true,” I admit. “What you heard.”.

“All of it?” She looks worried now.

“Yes. All of it.” I confirm.

“Because I know you said you were ready to move on. And I don’t want our new bond to make you feel trapped) pressured into anything. I know this is a lot to ask, for you to stay and figure things out with us. “She’s rambling nervously, not even stopping to take a breath. “If you’ve decided, if you don’t want to-”

“Skye, breathe!” I interrupt her. “I never said any of that.”

“Please, just say it then. If you know what you want, have known for a while now, just tell me.” She implores.

Not demanding. Not pressuring. Just: say the thing that’s there, finally, out loud.

Answering will require me to lay it all on the line, leave the ball in her court, do the one thing I’ve been avoiding: Risk my heart.

But I don’t think I can avoid it any longer.

Cara Anderson Author

Thank you for reading!

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