Chapter 102 The Beast and the Luna

Chapter 102 The Beast and the Luna
Third-Person POV
Strangely enough, the Alpha of the Black Wolves was wearing a pair of trousers and a shirt in the style worn by vampires. The males of his pack rarely wore anything more than a piece of animal hide covering their lower halves, but Derik was putting in an effort to make the human Luna feel comfortable in his presence.
He returned to the guest room where Esmeralda was waiting for him, now properly dressed, and dismissed the she-wolves who had been keeping her company. The time had come for a serious, private conversation with the human Luna.
Esmeralda told him everything that had transpired—Ares's behavior, Estela’s schemes, even how she had managed to break out of the dungeons, ending with the confrontation involving Alaor.
His cold blue eyes remained fixed on her throughout her account, adding every piece of information to what he had already gathered through his own investigations and spies.
“Are you saying that Alaor is actually Alpha Hermes's firstborn son? The product of his abuse of power over a Beta female who hid the true identity of her pup's father her entire life? Alaor’s father wanted power, even if it wasn't under his own name, and intended to use his bastard to get it. But when he had a daughter, he came up with the idea to bind her to the former Alpha’s legitimate son.”
“Estela, Alaor, and Ares were pawns in the hands of two twisted monsters, their childhoods ruined by abuse, giving rise to this obscene, incestuous triangle. Estela is pregnant with her own brother's pup and pinned it on Ares. It was all a setup. How could Ares, as clever as he is in everything else, be so foolish when it came to them?”
“Luna, being human, there are many things about us you do not understand. Our nature has a profound connection to bloodlines—at least, in most cases. Ares doesn't know that Alaor is his half-brother, but the bond is there. A powerful sense of loyalty blinds him from seeing that Estela and Alaor are breeding like rabbits right under his nose. Though, to be fair, even I wouldn't have imagined something so depraved.”
“I don't have siblings, but I don't think I could ever fathom them doing something so disgusting…”
“Ares also carries a heavy burden of guilt and a desperate need for acceptance from his people. He was rejected by his father, taught since birth that he caused his own mother’s death, and feared by his pack as a cursed beast forsaken by the Great Goddess.”
Esmeralda agreed with Derik. In her mind, she held a piece of information Derik lacked—the knowledge that Ares had also suffered horrific abuse at the hands of his father until his inner wolf was driven to the brink of madness.
“He isn't the sire of Estela's pup. Why didn't he confront the Council and put her in her place?”
“I don't know… Maybe he cares for her, I don't know. Maybe…” Esmeralda sighed. “Maybe he wants her as his Luna after discovering that I take medicine to prevent pregnancy.”
Derik stared at her, his eyes widening in complete shock at her words.
“You do not accept your mate’s seed?”
The dark, ominous tone in Derik’s voice and the intense way he looked at her as he asked the question made Esmeralda shrink back into her chair, like a misbehaving student standing before a school principal.
“I… Oh, come on, I’ve known Ares for such a short time, with this whole werewolf and fated-mate thing shoved down my throat. I’m young, I’m still figuring him out, and thinking about getting pregnant this early borders on irresponsibility!”
“Did you talk to him about this?” Derik asked, his brow furrowed.
“No… Our relationship has been incredibly tumultuous, at least for me. It’s like everything just gets resolved during sex…”
Derik flashed a cynical smirk, a glint in his eyes.
“Hm… If it doesn’t resolve the underlying issues, it’s a sign that the sex isn't that good…”
“That’s not it, the sex is amazing and—” She glared at him, noticing he was holding back a laugh. “You’re messing with me, aren't you?”
“A little. I find it entertaining to see your cheeks flush when you get embarrassed.”
She smiled timidly, her bright green eyes meeting the clear blue gaze of the Alpha, with whom she strangely felt so at ease conversing.
As she looked at him, Derik called upon his wolf to evaluate her. The wolf approved of Derik claiming her right then and there, without reservation. She was a healthy, beautiful female and a true-born Luna who could bear many pups. Derik believed that side of his personality would attach itself to anything with a womb and a passage where his member could enter and pups could come out.
However, it was his inner Lycan beast that seized the moment to take control. Esmeralda’s eyes widened as the man’s blue eyes turned pitch-black as the night. In its human form, the beast raised a hand and gently touched the Luna's face as she stared back.
“Luna!”
She smiled, feeling surprisingly comforted and safe in his presence.
“Alpha!” she said, touching his face in the exact same manner he touched hers.
The beast's eyes lingered on Ares’s mating marks on Esmeralda’s neck. When the beast spoke again, its words stunned both Derik and Esmeralda.
“Ares needs you!”
Such simple words, a sentence so brief, yet Esmeralda’s eyes filled with tears as she finally allowed her suppressed emotions to overflow from her heart. She wept, sobbing like a child, clinging to the Alpha she barely knew.
Derik wrapped his arms around her, the notions of mating with her seeming more and more absurd by the second. Esmeralda wasn't his; she belonged to another Alpha, and he would never inflict upon another male the agonizing pain he had suffered. Furthermore, his beast’s raw emotion surfaced, radiating from his chest. The urge to protect intensified—a calling from Hecate for creatures who shared no blood relation but possessed a bond greater than any known by their kind.
Derik wanted Esmeralda well, happy, and close by, but not as his mate or lover. Never as an item of pleasure; such a thought felt utterly perverse to him.
“I think if I had an older brother,” she said as his eyes shifted back to their natural blue, “I would have ruined his shirt with my tears just like I ruined yours!”
She offered a bittersweet smile, and he chuckled, leaning down to press a kiss against her forehead.
“Don't sweat it, I don't usually wear shirts anyway. You can cry and open up to me whenever you want.”
Esmeralda looked up at him, tears tracking down her cheeks.
“He threw me in the dungeons, Derik, while that Wolf Snake roams free. He doesn't need me!”
The Alpha chuckled at the nickname the human had invented for her rival.
“You told me the High Council was present when they uncovered the evidence of your crime, and Ares is a slave to the laws. He must have found a way to spare you as much as possible while still playing by the rules.”
“What crime? Preventing a pregnancy is a crime?”
“In our world, it is. Depending on the pack, the severity multiplies, and the New Moon Pack is one of the most conservative regarding the matter.”
“Are you justifying the barbaric thing he did?”
“No, I am simply putting myself in his shoes.”
“What would you have done in his place, then?”
“I would have told those old bastards to go to hell. I am nothing like Ares; I don't give a damn about laws, let alone the worthless Council. Estela would have been ripped in half publicly, bastard pup and all!”