Chapter Forty-Four
We walked to the door that led down to the cells, and Trina was waiting for us with a bowl of everything I needed. “Thank you for gathering everything, Trina.” I grabbed the bowl from her, and she bowed.
“It’s no trouble, Luna Amy.” I felt my head snap back, and then I turned my eyes to Rowan, who smirked.
I closed my eyes, and I was strapped on that cold table again. My baby was being cut out of me while I screamed. ‘I’m the Luna.’ The pain took my breath away, and I felt the urge to vomit. Brandon’s amused face swarmed behind my eyes.
“You seem surprised, Love.” He pulled me to his side. “But you are no longer an unmated Alpha, and now we don’t have to hide anything anymore.” He kissed me. “You will forever be called Luna Amy. That or my Queen.”
“You told her to call me Luna?” My voice was a little breathless. The bile rushed up my throat, and I felt like I was choking on it.
He pulled back and looked a little hurt. “Do you not want to be my Luna?”
I grabbed his face. “Of course.” I needed to explain it to him, but I was still smelling the burn of silver on my flesh, and I gagged.
He recoiled from me, from my reaction, and I knew I had hurt him. “Then what’s wrong?” He stared at me, and I felt like he could see inside my soul, like I was bare, and he did not like what he saw there.
“Nothing.” I winced at how panicked my voice sounded.
My dad and mom came around the corner. My father had gone to grab her as we headed down. My mom rushed over when she saw my face. “What’s wrong?” My father walked a little slower, but I felt everyone’s eyes on me.
“Nothing.” I tried to sound convincing, and I failed because Rowan pulled away again, and I saw shutters coming down, like he was distancing himself from me.
He is…he thinks you don’t want to be his Luna. Nix growled. Fix it.
Megan rubbed down Nix’s agitated side. You know why she is panicking. Calm down. Then she turned to me. Explain yourself instead of hurting our mate.
“Tell me what happened.” My mom’s voice sounded confused.
Trina bowed. “I called Alpha Amy, Luna, and she had…a strong reaction.” Trina bowed. “I’m sorry, I was just following the King’s directions.” Then she excused herself.
Rowan snorted. “I hadn’t realized how much Amy here hated being my Luna.” He turned away. “I’m going to go for a walk.”
Panic crawled up my back. “Wait!” I grabbed for him but he slid his hand out of my own. “Please. Let me explain.”
He stopped, but didn’t turn around. “What is there to explain? Someone called you Luna, and you turned green.” His voice was laced with pain, and that hurt my heart. This all spiralled so quickly.
“Bug?” My father’s voice snapped me out of it. “Talk to us.”
I felt my mouth opening and shutting, but there was no sound. Rowan scoffed and took a step, but it was my mom who answered. “Was this the first time someone called you Luna since you died?”
I whirled and grabbed her hands. “Yes.” I choked out. The panic inside me made no sense. “I don’t…” I trailed off because I couldn’t explain it myself.
Rowan turned, and he stared at my face. “Why does it matter?”
My dad stepped closer to me, and I met his eyes.
I saw understanding there. “When I first came back, for years after, I would call for your mother. And then panicked when she wasn’t answering.
I had spent one and a half lifetimes loving her, and then she was gone.
Inside, inside I knew why she was gone. But…
it didn’t remove the emotions attached to it.
Whenever anyone asked if I was going to get a new Luna, I lost my mind. ” He grabbed my mom when she gasped.
“Gav.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her close, but turned to Rowan.
“Her reaction had nothing to do with you.”
Everyone turned to me, and I took a deep breath, because at least Rowan wasn’t walking away anymore.
“When she called me Luna…I was back on the table.” I shuddered.
“I haven’t had a flashback in so long, I wasn’t prepared for it.
” I closed my eyes. “The pain, the smell hit me all at once, and I felt like I was going to throw up.” I reached for Rowan’s hand.
“I love being your mate, being your Luna. I just haven’t been called that since my first life, and I panicked.
” I pulled him back, and thankfully he didn’t resist. “My dad was right. My reaction had nothing to do with you, but everything that happened the first time around.”
Rowan searched my face, and he must have seen I was telling the truth because he pulled me to him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that.”
My mom furrowed her brows. “Why did you act that way?” We all turned to her, and she grimaced. “Amy, you have had years to process everything that happened, and I have never seen you react so viscerally, even when you first woke up you handled it better than today.”
My dad tilted his head and turned to Rowan. “And you usually are more understanding, and don’t take things as personal attacks when something happens.” He closed his eyes and muttered a few words. Then he waved his hand and everything disappeared.
“What the fuck?” I took the first clear breath since Trina had called me Luna. “What’s going on?”
Rowan furrowed his brows. “I feel better. Less defensive.” He looked at my dad. “What did you do?”
My dad dusted off his hands. “I cleared the spell attacking your bond.”
Both Rowan and I turned to my dad. “A spell attacking our bond?” Rowan’s voice was soft. “Who is still alive with magic?”
I shook my head. “Everyone I have known so far is dead.” I blew out a breath. “Looks like we aren’t out of the woods yet.”
My dad snorted. “We are never out of the woods, pup.” He nodded towards the bowl still in my hands. “Are you ready?”
I nodded. “Can you give us a minute?” I asked my parents to go ahead.
“Of course, baby.” My mom kissed my cheek as she skirted past us down the stairs, and my father clapped Rowan on the shoulder as he stepped past us.
I snapped a barrier into place. Rowan lifted one brow, and I shrugged. “I don’t want anyone to hear what we have to say, and I don’t know who we should trust.” He bobbed his head, agreeing with me. “Are we okay?” I hated how insecure I sounded.
He stared at me for a second and blew out a breath. “Was it truly magic? Or do you secretly not want to be my Luna?”
I panicked and dropped the bowl, reaching for him.
Rowan, thankfully, was fast enough to catch it before it hit the ground and my arms ended up around the neck.
I pulled him towards me, causing him to stumble.
“I love you. I know I probably don’t say it enough, but I do.
I have loved you since before my first heat.
I have spent the last few years hating how much I loved you.
I want to spend every day for the rest of my life loving you.
” He looked at me, and I could see a small ember of worry still there.
“I will be your Luna from now until the end of time. No one else’s in this life or any that come after. I’m sorry I made you doubt it.”
His eyes searched my face, as if he were searching for the truth, and then his eyes closed and panic jumped up my throat again.
But he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head.
“The spell seems to cling.” His eyes opened, and the devotion I saw there settled my nerves.
“I love you too, rabbit.” He kissed me. “Now…let’s go down there and figure this out.
We can worry about who is using magic against us after. ”
I nodded. “Let’s go.” I grabbed the bowl from him and turned to head down the stairs, but stopped at the secret room with the weapons. I pushed in and grabbed a few things.
“Silver?” I thought he was going to question why I would need it, but he just grabbed a needle and a bottle of liquid.
I tilted my head. “Yeah, I figured I would start with regular torture before moving on with magic.” He snorted and pulled off the top of the bottle he grabbed. He gave it a sniff before he jerked his head back and sneezed. I laughed. “That’s wolfsbane, you fool.”
Rowan rubbed his nose and put the cap back on the wolfsbane. “I read it, but I wanted to see how strong it was.” He looked at me with a curious stare. “Why does your father have pure wolfsbane here?”
I grabbed a few more things and nodded toward the door. “Because he doses my food with it.”
“The fuck? What do you mean he dosed your food with it?” He growled as he stormed out the door, leaving me to follow.
“I mean, he took the time to build up my resistance to it gently so that no one could use it against me.” I bumped his shoulder as I passed him.
“Calm down, butthead. It saved me more than you can imagine.” I headed down the stairs to the secret cells, bypassing the regular cells filled with the guards.
Rowan paused at the top of the hidden staircase and looked down the other corridor. “Aren’t we going that way?” He pointed towards the screams coming from the other cells.
I shook my head. “That’s only the guards, and Greyson is handling them. We are headed to the VIP section of my dad’s jail.” I continued down the stairs.
“The VIP section?” Rowan snorted.
I looked back at him with a smile. “All the big shots end up down here.” I laughed as I turned the corner.
I went into the first interrogation room that my father said held Theo, and the room went quiet.
My mom and dad were leaning against the wall by the door, and Theo was in his chair, still gagged. “Don’t stop on my account.”
My dad snorted. “We can’t ungag him because he will kill himself. We were debating the best way to prevent that.” I dropped everything in my arms onto the table and arranged it all.
“How do we know he wants to talk then?” I grabbed one thing from the table. While everyone was still listening to Theo’s grunts, I wrapped cloth around the thing in my hands and then slid it into my pocket before I turned back to everyone.