CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED & TWENTY THREE


    Talia’s POV


    How dare he just leave while I was still talking?


    ‘Please calm down. He is doing this for our benefit,’ my wolf said in an attempt to calm me down.


    ‘You’re supposed to be on my side,’ I growled.


    ‘I am, but he’s right. We just recovered. Let him handle this,’ my wolf urged, but I ignored her. I was not going to allow him to treat me like a child. I allowed my ex to take control when he returned, and the pack turned on me. I would not allow that to happen again.


    ‘But Nn is not like that. He…’ I pushed my wolf down midsentence. I quickly moved to leave the room, but De stepped in


    front of the door.


    “De, what are you doing?” I asked.


    “You can’t leave,” De said.


    “Move,” I told her.


    “No.”


    “There is a riot at the border. I need to be there,” I told her.


    “And Alpha Nn ordered you to stay here,” De argued.


    “De! You are my Beta not his,” I snapped.


    “I made a promise to protect the pack just like you did. Nn is now my Alpha too, and it is my responsibility to keep you safe,” De countered. “You’ve been recklesstely trying to prove yourself. You just need to rx and let Alpha Nn handle this.”


    I scoffed. “I am not a child that needs to be protected.”


    “No one is treating you like a child, but you were poisoned less than a week ago. You almost died. You don’t need to exert yourself,” De shot back. “Alpha Nn is trying to protect you.”


    “I do not need protection from my own pack,” I argued.


    “Listen to me, Talia. You weren’t here seeing how Nn nearly lost his mind when you disappeared,” De exined. “He didn’t sleep; he barely ate. He med himself for everything. At least try to understand where he’sing from.”


    “I understand why he is worried,” I said. “But I am Luna of Bloodmoon. If there is unrest because of my proposal and I hide in a room, what message does that send?”


    “That you are recovering.”


    “No, the pack would see me as weak. They already see me as a distraction.”


    “No one would dare say that.”


    “Maggie did. Walden did.”


    “Maggie doesn’t count and it’s Walden’s job to be an asshole,” De countered. “Everyone loves you.”


    “They don’t know me like you do, De,” I answered. “Yes, they would never dare say it aloud, but they already think it. It they didn’t, there wouldn’t be fighting right now.”


    “That is not true,” De argued. “I am sure they are fighting for different reasons and if anyone ever disrespected you like that, I would handle it.”


    +25 Bonus


    “It is not your responsibility to defend me every time someone challenges me,” I said. “I am Luna and I have to take control”


    De didn’t move from blocking the door. She looked conflicted but she wasn’t backing down. “Please, Talia, just stay here Nn can handle this on his own.”


    I sighed and ran a hand over my face. “Don’t make me order you to stop blocking me, De. I don’t want to do it, but I will if you don’t move.”


    “Talia! Are you really going to use rank on me?”


    “I will if I have to!”


    De’s eyes widened in surprise and hurt. I had never pulled rank on De before, and I didn’t want tomand her to obey if I didn’t have to. Finally, she stepped aside. “Goddess, Talia, you don’t have to be so stubborn all the time,” she pouted.


    “Thank you for understanding,” I told her.


    De rolled her eyes and said, “It’s not like I had a choice. Let’s go.”


    “What are you talking about?” I asked.


    “You’re not going by yourself. I would rather have Nn not throw me in a dungeon,” De replied.


    We reached the border within minutes. Warriors and vigers were arguing in clusters. Marco was trying to break up a fight while Walden and Nn were arguing. I could feel his anger through our bond.


    “This is utter chaos,’ my wolf scoffed. ‘We need to handle this right now.’


    “Enough!” I shouted. My voice carried farther than I expected, but not everyone stopped arguing. Then, Imanded, ” Silence!” The Lunamand wasn’t as strong as an Alphamand, but it was enough to make them think twice.


    All eyes turned toward me. Nn looked at me in surprise. “Talia, what are you doing here? I said I would handle it,’ he said through our mind link.


    ‘You will not deal with this on your own,’ I told him.


    “I understand that you are angry about the wall,” I began. “You believe it is unnecessary because you believe our warriors are strong enough to handle rogue incursions.”


    “They are,” Walden said firmly as he cut in. Nn had begun growling due to Walden’s constant challenges to his authority.


    “I agree,” I said. Murmurs rippled through the crowd. “Normal rogue invasions have never broken this pack.”


    “Then why change our system?” a viger demanded. “Why force this when it is not needed?”


    “Because what attacked me was not normal,” I admitted.


    There were more murmurs of confusion. Even Walden looked shocked by my admission. None of the warriors truly understood the horror of the mad rogues; only Nn, Maggie, De, Marco, and I had witnessed the nightmare firsthand.


    A warrior near the front frowned. “Rogues have attacked before. They use wolfsbane sometimes. This is nothing unusual ”


    “But they weren’t just using wolfsbane,” I responded.


    Walden folded his arms. “But the doctor said…”


    “The wound that nearly killed me was not from wolfsbane alone,” I answered, cutting Walden ott. “The rogues that kidnapped me were mad rogues. That is why I almost died.”


    The reaction was immediate. The color drained from people’s faces. Fear reced anger.


    +25 Bonus