Rejected by My Alpha Now He Replaced Me with a Copycat Luna novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Raven’s POV

I winced. The truth was. I hated the idea of leaving. My wolf snarled and spat at the thought, grasping for the reins of control. I clamped down on her, not allowing the shift she so desperately wanted. I’d thought simply being in the vicinity of other wolves would help, but apparently, it wasn’t enough. Not even close. She was still edging into feral territory.

“There’s too much heat here. I need to keep moving,” I admitted. I left out the part about me not trusting Asher not to sell me out to the highest bidder. And Michael’s cool million-dollar offer would be at the top of that list. I shuddered at the idea.

“You can’t,” Kael clipped. “It’s not safe.”

“Let her go,” Asher muttered. “For all we know, she’s the one who tipped off the dark mages about our location.”

My jaw dropped. I wouldn’t even do that to him alone. Certainly not to the rest of the guys.

“Hey, shit for brains,” Dexter shot back. “Remember the part where she stepped in front of a sword for me? Doubt she’d do that if she was working for the dark mages.”

Asher’s jaw worked back and forth as his eyes started to glow. “She could’ve done it to ingratiate herself to us.”

“Dude,” I muttered. “You might have nice beds around here, but that isn’t worth a sword to the gut.”

A smile stretched across Dexter’s face. “You know, I have fifteen-hundred-thread-count sheets. I order them special from Italy. You might want to try those out before you bail.”

Kael smacked him upside the head, and Asher glared. “Not the time, Dexter.”

“Right. Thwarting runaway plans is more important,” Dexter mumbled.

My gaze found Nox’s among them, the only one who hadn’t said a word. Like usual, he only held my stare for a single beat, maybe two, but in that brief moment, I saw the hurt there. Hurt that had guilt springing back to life inside me.

“I appreciate everything you guys have done,” I began. “It’s not that I don’t. I just-this is what’s safest for me.”

“They know what you are,” Ezra growled low. “The dark mages.”

My gaze shot to him. “They don’t. My scent shields didn’t falter in that battle.”

Annoyance fluttered to the surface because this was a point of pride. Ezra prowled toward me, that panther-like grace in full effect. He stopped mere inches from me and inhaled deeply. His wolf flashed in his eyes, and I saw annoyance there.

“They know you smelled wrong. And they know someone put up a shield to block their magic. How long do you think it will take for them to figure out it was you?”

My heart hammered against my ribs as the memory of the mage I’d fought flashed in my mind.

“What. Are. You?” He’d known something was off about me.

“Is that the most you’ve ever heard Ezra speak at once?” Dexter whispered.

“Shut up,” Nox hissed.

I straightened my spine. “All the more reason for me to leave.”

“Luv, they’ll already have people watching the entrances and exits to town,” Dexter reasoned.

Hell.

I knew in my gut he was right. Knew leaving on my own right now would put me at risk. But so would staying. The dark mages would find me just as easily in my tiny apartment above Jack’s.

My wolf raked her claws against her prison, demanding I free her to slay every one of those dark mages. But we would be no match for them.

“There’s only one answer.” Kael’s voice rang out, alpha vibes bleeding into his tone. “You’ll have to stay here.”

I blinked at Kael a few times. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“You’ll need to stay here,” he replied matter-of-factly as if his words weren’t completely unhinged. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“For you, maybe,” Asher snarled. “All you care about is fucking her and picking up the pieces of whatever mess she’s got herself caught up in.”

I bristled at that, but Dexter gave him a hard shove before I could say a word. “Do you want me to break your nose this time? Twice in forty-eight hours might be a new record.”

“You can’t tell me you actually think this is a good idea,” Asher clipped. “We have a no-females rule in the compound for a reason.”

I scoffed. “What is this? Second grade and a no-girls-allowed club?”

Asher skewered me with a look that should’ve had me stumbling back a few steps, but I wasn’t about to back down to this idiot. It didn’t matter how good of a fighter he was.

“It’s a no-traitors-allowed club,” he snapped. “And you haven’t proven yourself not to be one.”

“These are extenuating circumstances, Ash,” Kael said, his voice calm. “She fought with us and saved Dexter’s life. She’s earned our loyalty.”

“If Dexter was stupid enough to leave his back wide open, then he would have deserved whatever he got,” Asher shot back.

The entire room went silent for a beat and then erupted. It wasn’t Ezra who decked Asher this time; it was Dexter. And his fist connected with Asher’s jaw, the force of it enough to send Asher’s head snapping back.

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