The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven novel Chapter 144

Chapter 144: Withdrawing The Warriors

Draven.

Dennis’s eyes dropped to my chest before they found my face again, already twitching with mischief.

"You just wrapped up your swimming lessons with Meredith?" he asked, brows raised. "And you came straight here instead of changing out of your wet shorts?"

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to. The soaked fabric clinging to me was doing all the talking.

His gaze slid down again, and before he could open his mouth to say something even dumber, he noticed the sheet of paper in front of me.

"What’s this?" he asked, already leaning over the desk like a nosy pup.

I picked it up and folded it in half. "An agreement."

Dennis’s interest sharpened, the way it always did when he sensed something personal. "What kind of agreement?" he prodded.

I didn’t bother answering.

And that was when he moved faster than I gave him credit for. His hand shot out and snatched the sheet from my fingers.

"Dennis—"

Too late. He leaned back in his seat like a king on a throne and unfolded the page leisurely. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth the second his eyes scanned the header.

"Wow," he mouthed, before lifting his gaze to mine. "You actually drew up a rulebook to teach your wife combat?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How is that your business?"

He ignored the question the same way he ignored most things that didn’t serve his entertainment. His eyes twinkled.

"You should have added a rule against being too stiff. I mean, who writes ’no lace on the training grounds’? That’s a real warrior’s concern right there."

My jaw ticked, but I said nothing. He was trying to get a rise out of me. Again.

Dennis kept reading, pausing after each line like a self-appointed narrator of mockery.

"No whining. Cry later?" He snorted. "You sound like Father. Only less charming."

I reached for the paper again, but halfway through the motion, I stopped and leaned back. Let him read. I wasn’t in the mood to wrestle a grown man over stationery.

Dennis continued, dramatically enunciating each rule.

"Fail your swimming evaluation, and this agreement dissolves... wow. Harsh. You planning to drown her if she messes up?"

I didn’t respond. Silence was my way of inviting him to shut up.

He finally reached the last line, eyes still dancing with humour as he refolded the sheet and slid it across the desk toward me.

"I just can’t believe you, of all people, could be this uptight over training your own wife. Why should I even be surprised?"

I didn’t pick it up immediately. I let it sit there a moment before reaching for it, folding it once more, but this time I didn’t set it back on the desk. I held it in my hand and stared past him.

Something else was clawing at the edges of my mind.

Dennis noticed the shift. He tilted his head.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

My fingers tightened around the paper. "Something."

He leaned forward slightly. His voice had dropped the sarcasm. "Something like what?"

"I’m thinking of pulling the hunters back. Calling off the search."

That earned me a raised brow. I met his gaze without flinching.

"It’s better we let the vampires come to us," I said. "Hunting them exposes our people. We risk losing more than we gain."

Dennis leaned back in his chair, his earlier amusement replaced by consideration. "That’s true. Our men could run into a troupe and not come back. Then we’d be down good warriors—and still have no answers."

I reached for my phone. Tried the mind-link first—nothing. Jeffery was probably blocking out to focus, like he always did when tracking movements or training.

So I dialled instead.

"Alpha," Jeffery’s voice came through, crisp.

"You have time?"

"Yes, Alpha."

"Come to my office. We need a brief talk."

He acknowledged the order, and I ended the call with a quiet sigh.

It didn’t take long. A knock came, and I gave permission. Jeffery entered and walked straight to the desk, taking the chair beside Dennis after I gestured him down.

"I’m calling the hunters back," I said, getting to the point. "It’s too dangerous to keep looking. We will let the vampires make the first move."

Jeffery nodded, face grim. "I’ve been thinking the same. Let Duskmoor’s government shoulder some of the risk. They’ve been hiding behind our backs while we bleed on their soil."

Dennis chuckled darkly. "About time they stop sipping tea behind tall gates. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they lost a few of their own."

I turned to him sharply. "As much as I’d like them to carry more weight, any attack affects us, too. You know that."

Rhovan stirred in the back of my head. "Go to her. Join our mate in the shower."

"Won’t you like to see our mate’s body and taste her out once again?" he asked, trying to tempt me. But it was all for nothing.

~**Meredith**~

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