Chapter 22 22
POV LOIS
“What the hell?! What are you talking about?!”
What pack? What Luna? Who?!
Ezequiel started laughing at my sudden reactions. His face looked calmer now, serene, even a little amused. I smiled too, noticing how much more relaxed he seemed.
“I’m not a future Luna or anything. I’m Lois! Just Lois, nothing else.”
“You won’t be just Lois anymore. You’ve just become an important part of our pack, and my family is eager to meet you, Lois. It’s impossible for you to be just Lois from now on. You… you’re someone important. You’ll come with me to Liberty University, we’ll make sure you and Emmanuel feel well again, and you’ll be able to choose whatever major you want at the university—near your mate, under protection.”
“Ezequiel…” I pushed my weak hands against the bed. “Am I still asleep?”
“No. This isn’t a dream. But there’s more. Your parents will become part of our pack, and they’re already ready to leave and settle with our family, because now they’re part of us.”
What was all this?
What were these sudden, insane changes?
Why was he saying so many things that made no sense?
Future Luna of an entire pack?
“I don’t want any of this. My parents are staying here! And I’m not studying at that monster-filled university, not a chance! What are you talking about? Emmanuel and I didn’t talk about any of this. This can’t be happening to me! I didn’t ask for it. I want to stay as I am, and my parents stay here! I’ll go to Emmanuel, we’ll fix this and—”
“Lois, you two can’t be apart.”
“I’m not staying in that university! He should have told me all this! I never would’ve accepted.”
“You insisted it was a mistake. Why would he tell you all this if both of you thought it would disappear? There was no time, and you left. Now I’m here to convince you to go back with him.”
“And what if I don’t want everything else? What do my parents think about this? Are they just leaving without being asked? Do you really think I’ll stay in that university after everything that happened?”
“What else happened, Lois?”
His mask turned cold again. He didn’t seem to know what happened that night.
“Nothing. Nothing happened. I just have a question”—I didn’t need more trouble; it was better to say nothing. Emmanuel had nearly killed them that night—“what if I refuse all this?”
“Listen to me carefully, Lois. I’m here because I know I can convince you. Everything coming your way now will be good things, even for your family. Why refuse?”
“Because it’s too much?”
“Good things are never too much, Lois.”
“And if I refuse?”
“That won’t happen, because you can’t refuse. The pack wouldn’t accept losing its future Luna, so… you can’t. The future Alpha cannot be without his mate. That would cause a scandal—a very big one.”
“Are you saying they’ll force me?”
“No, they won’t. Because you will make the right decision, Lois. Don’t think about that. In a little while we leave, and when we get to Emmanuel you’ll handle your situation with him. First we get there. I’ll let you say goodbye to your parents. They’ll leave before us. They’re already expected. And don’t worry, I can assure you they’ll be fine.”
They would force me.
Of course they would.
If I refused, that’s exactly what would happen.
My parents probably hadn’t even been asked whether they wanted to move—if the Alpha ordered it, they had to.
We were nothing.
Be the Luna?
Who the hell would think of that?
They should be encouraging Emmanuel to reject me, because clearly this had nothing to do with me. It would be better for the Alpha to reject than to be rejected. So why didn’t he reject me? Even knowing he was the future Alpha of his pack?
Why didn’t Emmanuel tell me what I was getting into?
And now supposedly I couldn’t reject him?
But he could reject me.
My problems kept growing.
“And what about you?” I asked him. He stood by the door, waiting for my parents to come say goodbye.
“What about me? I’ll take you to Emmanuel, catch up on the classes I missed, and my life will go on after you reject me, Lois.”
“R-Reject you?”
He wanted that?
“You want me to reject you?”
Another one who couldn’t bring himself to reject me.
Did I look pitiable or what?
What were these brothers playing at?
“Of course,” he said without hesitation. “How else would it be? There’s only one Alpha, one Luna. Why should I be in the middle?”
“But rejecting you is…”
It was cruel. And he wanted me to be the cruel one.—“Are you serious that you want that?”
“Then what do you want? You’re not even sure you want to accept Emmanuel. You’re a mess of doubts, and yet you’re thinking of accepting another mate? You can’t, you’re going insane. It’s obvious you don’t like change, especially improvements. You can’t even accept that you got two mates, Lois. Rejecting me is the only way out.”
The only way out?
He seemed very sure of that—but I wasn’t.
I didn’t want two mates. I didn’t want either of them, not like this. Yes, I was full of doubts, but… rejecting him?
“Reject me, Ezequiel. Isn’t that easier?”
He walked over to the bed and held my face in one hand. His fingers felt cold, but also warm somehow. My tears fell the moment I saw his face—not cold now, but full of pain.
So much pain.
I swallowed hard, imagining what was going through his mind.
Why did he think he needed to sacrifice himself?
“Why would I make you go through something like that? You felt rejection once. You won’t feel it a second time from me. Reject me. It’s the only way.”
“I don’t want to!”
“You don’t want anything, Lois. You don’t want anything.”
He freed my face, but I grabbed his hand.
“You don’t know what you want.”
“They’re brothers. How could I have both of them? It’s… unthinkable, Ezequiel.”
“You’ve already had both of us.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks as memories flooded through me.
I had had both of them, and it didn’t seem unthinkable then. I enjoyed it—too much.
“What’s so different about this?”
“That it’ll be public! What would people think?!”
“And why should that matter? I don’t care what people think.”
“Then you don’t want me to reject you!”
“Of course not! I want you to choose me too, even if you think it’s a mistake. I want you to choose me. But if one of us has to step aside, it’ll be me.”