The Luna they betrayed became Untouchable

Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Alpha Damon’s pack house was larger than I’d expected, though I supposed a man who’d rebuilt an entire pack from nothing would want every visitor to understand exactly what that rebuilding had bought him.

Tristan stood behind me, clearly wary of the decision I’d made. "Luna—" He cleared his throat. "My Lady, are you sure about this?"

His gaze flickered back to the pack house before us. I hummed quietly. "I am as sure as I could be."

"That doesn’t sound like certainty."

"It sounds like honesty." I turned to face him. "I don’t trust Damon. I don’t trust anyone who approaches me with an offer that seems too good to be true. But I trust my need for allies more than I distrust his motives."

Tristan’s jaw tightened. "And if his motives include using you?"

"Then I’ll make sure he finds me difficult to use." I met his eyes. "I’ve spent five years being used, Tristan. I won’t let it happen again."

He held my gaze for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Then I’ll be right behind you."

With that, we walked toward the pack house. The guards bowed as I walked, almost as though they were expecting me.

Perhaps they had been expecting me.

"Lady Evelyn Valemont." A deep voice called out to me, and I paused, looking up to see a man walking toward me. He stopped in front of me, then bowed.

"I’m Beta Ren. Alpha Damon has been expecting you. Please, come this way," he said.

I nodded again, following the man now. I couldn’t help but notice that the more we walked, the more the interior of Bloodmoon grew darker. My brows furrowed as I looked at the paintings.

Whoever had drawn those was clearly in pain. So much pain, it hurt my eyes.

I slowed my pace, my eyes lingering on one in particular: a wolf standing alone on a cliff, its silhouette stark against a blood-red sky.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?"

Beta Ren’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. He had stopped a few paces ahead, waiting for me.

"Haunting," I corrected quietly.

Ren’s expression flickered with something—surprise, perhaps.

"Alpha Damon commissioned most of these himself," he said. "He has a... particular taste in art."

"I can see that."

I tore my gaze away from the paintings and continued walking. Ren led me through a series of hallways, each one darker than the last, until we finally reached a large wooden door.

He knocked once, then pushed it open.

"Alpha. Lady Evelyn Valemont."

I stepped inside, Tristan behind me.

Alpha Damon’s study was nothing like the rest of the pack house. Where the corridors had been dark and haunting, this room was warm—lit by a crackling fire, lined with bookshelves. A large desk sat near the window, and behind it, Damon rose from his chair.

"Lady Evelyn." He smiled, but there was nothing warm about it. "I was beginning to wonder if you’d changed your mind."

"I don’t change my mind once I’ve made it up," I said. "I take my time reaching decisions. Once I’ve reached one, it holds."

"A useful trait." He gestured toward the chair across from his desk. "Please. Sit."

I did, though Tristan remained standing near the door, arms crossed, his eyes tracking Ren as the Beta took up a position along the far wall.

Damon settled back into his own seat, studying me with the same unhurried patience he’d shown at the auction. "So. You’ve come around after all."

"I’ve thought it through," I said. "And I have conditions."

"Of course you do." He folded his hands atop the desk. "Let’s hear them."

"First: I retain full control over every medical and healing decision made under the healing house’s name. You may fund it. You may profit from it. But you will never dictate what it produces or who it serves."

"Agreed."

"Second: This is an equal partnership. Not patronage. I’m not your subordinate, Alpha Damon. I’m your ally."

His eyes glinted. "Agreed."

"Third: Transparent accounting. I want to see every coin that moves through this partnership without any hidden agenda."

"Agreed."

I paused, searching his face for any sign of deception. I found none.

"And finally: If at any point I feel that this partnership is no longer serving me, I walk away. No questions. No arguments. No retaliation."

Damon was silent for a moment. Then he laughed—a low, genuine sound that seemed to surprise even him.

"You drive a hard bargain, Lady Evelyn," he mused.

"I’ve learned the hard way that if I don’t, someone else will drive it for me."

He nodded slowly. "I can respect that." He extended his hand across the desk. "You have my word. I agree to all your conditions."

I hesitated for only a moment before taking his hand. His grip was firm, his palm warm.

"Then we have an agreement," I said.

Damon released my hand and leaned back in his chair. "I’ll have a formal contract drawn up. We can sign it before you leave."

I shook my head. "I’ll draft the agreement myself," I replied.

His brows cocked up. "You do not trust your intending partner to draft a fair contract, Lady Evelyn?"

"I trust my own hand more than anyone else’s," I said. "Nothing personal, Alpha Damon. I simply prefer to know exactly which words I’m bound by before I put my seal beside them."

Something like approval crossed his face. "Wise."

"I’ll have it ready within the week. We can both put our seals to it then."

Damon studied me for a long moment, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes. Then, slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"Fair enough." He leaned back in his chair. "Draft the agreement yourself. Have your scribe send it over. I’ll review it, and if everything is in order, we’ll stamp it within the week."

"That works."

He rose from his chair, and I followed suit. He walked around the desk, stopping a few feet away from me.

"I look forward to our partnership, Lady Evelyn." He stretched his palm out. "Was there anything else?"

"Just one thing," I replied, meeting his eyes evenly. "I want to be clear about something, Alpha Damon. I know this partnership serves your interests as much as it serves mine. I’m not foolish enough to believe otherwise."

"I never assumed you were."

"Good. Because if this ever becomes more useful to your war with Kael and Alpha Lucien than to the healing house itself—if I ever become a weapon in your hands rather than a partner at your side—I’ll know it before you do. And I’ll walk away with everything I brought into this, whether you agree to let me or not."

For a long moment, Damon simply looked at her, something unreadable behind his eyes.

Then he smiled—a real one this time, sharp at the edges, but genuine. "I begin to understand," he said, "exactly why Silver Creek rose as fast as it did."

"Then we understand each other."

"We do." He inclined his head. "Safe travels home, Lady Evelyn. I’ll expect that contract within the week."

I walked out of the office, Tristan hot on my heels. Neither of us spoke until we were well clear of the pack house.

"Well?" I asked, once we’d reached the carriage.

"He agreed to everything," Tristan said slowly, "without contesting a single term."

"He did."

"That worries me more than if he’d argued," he continued.

I glanced at him. "Why?"

"Because men like Damon don’t give away that much leverage for nothing, my Lady. Whatever he’s planning, he’s confident it doesn’t depend on any of the terms you just laid out." Tristan’s jaw tightened. "Which means his real plan lives somewhere you haven’t thought to look yet."

I said nothing to that, because I suspected he was right.

---

It was night at the Valemont Estate now. Evelyn had returned and shared the news with all of them. They had even drunk to it—it was the beginning of something new and good.

Now, most of them had retired for the night, most except for Celine.

She walked around the pack house, making sure things were done for the day. It was her job as Luna.

She was nearly past the servants’ hall when a burst of laughter stopped her mid-step. Her brows furrowed at the noise. She readied herself to barge in and demand they stop making noise when she heard it.

"—did you hear? An entire alliance with Alpha Damon of Bloodmoon. Barely a week since the auction."

"That’s the kind of Luna Valemont deserved all along, if you ask me."

Celine’s hand froze against the doorknob.

"Alpha Varek’s a good man, don’t misunderstand me," another voice added, "but he’s never done anything half so bold as what she’s done in a fortnight."

"If the Moon Goddess had any sense, she’d have made Evelyn the Alpha and spared us all the wondering." They all burst out laughing.

Celine’s face hardened, her jaw tight. Slowly, she walked away to her chambers. Their words echoed in her mind repeatedly.

By the time she reached her own chambers, her hands had begun to shake.

If they had the chance, she thought, they would replace him with her without a second thought.

Varek was wrong. People didn’t speak that way about a woman they had no intention of one day following in the way a pack followed its Alpha.

She thought of Varek’s unshakeable faith in his cousin. His refusal to even entertain the possibility.

Her heart ached for Varek. She’d been there through it all. Alpha Roman had been irreplaceable after his death. Varek had a hard time gaining the pack’s trust. They had demanded back then for Evelyn. After all, she was Alpha Roman’s own child...

It had taken Varek and her everything to gain even a little of their trust... and now... Celine could see it all slipping from her fingers all because of Evelyn’s return.

She shook her head, her resolve strengthening. She wasn’t going to let this happen, no matter what.

Whatever it would cost her, she would do. Even if it would cost her Evelyn herself.

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