Clashing with the Luna

POV: Delaney

Of course, sending a desperate text to Dex is not enough to secure my escape from the packhouse. He actually calls my phone. The cracked screen lights up with his name, vibrating aggressively against the mattress where I dropped it. I snatch the device up, hitting accept and bringing the phone to my ear.

"Are you sure?" Dex’s deep voice comes through the speaker, laced with heavy skepticism. "Have you talked to Harris about this? He is going to be pissed if you leave and do not say anything to him. I do like living, you know."

"He doesn't get a choice, Dex." I grip the phone tight, my knuckles aching from where I scrubbed them earlier. "I don't want to be here right now. I need a safe place to go. If you won't help me, I will call someone else."

My irritation spikes. He is actively stalling my departure. Every second I remain in this house feels like breathing shattered glass. The scent of pine and the suffocating realization that I am no longer Harrison's priority crush my chest.

"I am on my way," Dex sighs, his tone reluctant. "Just do me a favor and talk to him face-to-face before you cross the threshold. You are important to him."

"Um, sure, whatever. I will see you in a couple of minutes."

"I mean it, Del. Talk to him."

"Or what, Dex?" I snap, the anger boiling over. The mood swings hit me hard, crashing over my logic.

"I will make you," he grunts.

I hang up on him. I do not have the patience for his alpha-male posturing today. I grab my packed bags by their canvas straps and violently shove my remaining belongings inside. I sling my backpack over my shoulder. The weight grounds me. I step out of my bedroom, the long hallway stretching out in the dim light of the evening. I carry my two bags downstairs, the wooden steps creaking slightly under my boots. I drop the bags by the heavy front door with a dull thud.

I grit my teeth. I need to find Aunt Valerie. If I slip out into the night without officially telling the Luna I am leaving, she will launch a frantic pack-wide manhunt. She will tear the woods apart looking for me. It is strange that I did not see her when we arrived to meet Sienna today. Her authority would have smoothed over the disastrous introduction.

I carefully creep down the corridor, passing the formal dining room. My ears pick up unmistakable sounds echoing from the common room. I follow the noise, completely unguarded. I do not bother to knock or clear my throat. I push the oak door open and step inside.

I freeze in absolute horror. The sight burns into my retinas.

Harrison has Sienna pinned against the back of the leather sofa. His pants are shoved down around his thighs, exposing his erect penis sliding in and out of her wet vagina. Sienna's legs are wrapped tightly around his waist, her bare breasts heaving as he drives his hips into her. A deep guttural moan tears from Harrison's throat, followed immediately by a sharp, piercing female screech from Sienna as she notices me standing in the doorway.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Sienna screams, frantically clawing at Harrison's chest to cover herself.

"Oh shit! Sorry." I stumble blindly backward, my hands flying up to shield my eyes. "Did not mean to interrupt. I was just looking for Aunt Valerie before I head out."

I physically back out of the doorway as fast as I possibly can. The hallway walls spin. A sudden, humiliating sting of hot tears prickles the corners of my eyes. I fiercely fight them back. It genuinely took less than a single hour. Less than an hour for him to bury his cock inside his new mate and completely forget that my broken heart even existed in his home.

"Del, wait! Come back," I hear the frantic rustling of clothing, zippers pulling, fabric tearing.

"Nope! Not a chance," I shout over my shoulder, moving faster toward the front door. "Continue. I will find her on my own. Sorry for the interruption."

I break into a jog. I just need to reach my bags. I just need to get the front door open. But Harrison is blessed with incredibly fast supernatural reflexes. Before I can even make it halfway down the hall, a gust of wind hits my face. His massive frame materializes right in front of me, his broad shoulders firmly blocking my absolute only path to the heavy front door.

I slam my eyes shut. I fiercely refuse to look up at his face. I keep my eyes squeezed tightly shut against the emotional pain. I do not need his mate trying to beat me up for looking at his naked body moments ago.

"Where are you going?" Harrison demands, his chest heaving. "Why do you have a bag packed? And why are you looking for Mom?"

"I was going to tell her I was heading out. Are you dressed? I like my eyes where they are in my face. I do not need them ripped out."

"Yes," he lets out a breathless laugh. "Now look at me and tell me where you are going. What is going on?"

I open my eyes. He is wearing his jeans, though his chest is still bare. "I told you, I have not been sleeping well. I am going to stay at Dex's house so I am not a massive problem for you." My voice trembles, but I force it to sound hard.

He frowns, playing completely dumb. He reaches a hand out, trying to softly manipulate the situation. "What are you talking about? I left you my scented shirt specifically to help soothe your horrific nightmares. That usually works when I am gone. And since when have you ever been a problem?"

My hands ball into fists at my sides. "Are you truly that incredibly dense?" I snap viciously, my anger finally boiling over the edge. "The shirt is not working anymore. And it officially became a massive problem the precise second you found your mate. A mate who you very obviously and completely forgot to say absolutely anything to regarding my entire existence. She clearly does not want my human ass anywhere near here, and you aren't going to be able to selfishly choose both of us."

"I am literally standing right here, you know."

Sienna's sharp, dangerously annoyed voice suddenly comes up uncomfortably close directly behind my shoulder. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. "Don't you dare talk about me like I am not standing right in the damn room."

I close my eyes again. I inhale a slow, deep breath, pulling oxygen into my lungs. Exhale. I force my muscles to uncoil. I remind myself not to get an attitude. She is a victim of his stupidity just as much as I am. She has every right to be furious.

"I still do not understand the problem?" Harrison looks back and forth between Sienna and me, genuine confusion twisting his features.

I glare at him. A low growl vibrates in my chest, even though I am entirely human and lack a wolf. Harrison's eyes widen. He takes a step back, holding his hands up in a placating, surrendering gesture. He finally realizes we are both ready to commit murder, even if his thick skull cannot comprehend why.

"Why are boys so stupid?" I mutter. My temper edges closer to the breaking point. I let out another heavy sigh. I slowly and carefully turn around to directly face her, desperately trying to de-escalate the explosive tension.

Sienna glares at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her clothes are hastily thrown back on, her hair wild.

"Sienna, I am Delaney," I start, thoroughly explaining the situation. "I am Harrison's best friend. We are absolutely nothing more than strictly platonic best friends. I live here in the packhouse. I have been here for the last three years. My mom was his mom's best friend. I am here because my parents tragically died three years ago. I still have nightmares from that day. Harrison and I were practically sibling twins raised together in the exact same household. He usually sleeps in my room with me..."

I barely manage to get the desperate, pleading words past my lips. I do not even finish the sentence before she completely loses her temper.

A vicious, terrifying snarl rips from Sienna's throat. She launches her entire body directly at me. Her hands shoot forward, violently grabbing fistfuls of my hair.

Pain explodes across my scalp. The sheer force of her momentum knocks me backward. We crash heavily onto the unforgiving hardwood floor. The impact forces the breath from my lungs in a sharp gasp. I take the brunt of our combined weight, my spine slamming into the oak planks.

She is incredibly clumsy in her blind rage, lacking formal combat technique, but she possesses terrifying supernatural strength. Her werewolf muscles coil and snap with deadly force. She straddles my hips, pinning my lower half down.

"You fucking bitch! You cannot have him!" she screams at the top of her lungs.

She wildly swipes her sharp claws directly at my face. I jerk my head to the side. Her nails catch my cheek, successfully drawing a bright line of warm blood across my skin. The sharp sting of the cut radiates across my cheekbone.

I bring my arms up to block her next strike. She thinks I am just some random girl trying to claim her mate. Harrison never explained my presence. He never warned her. Now I understand her feral frustration, but I refuse to let her tear my face apart.

I try to speak, fighting to get the words out while deflecting her attacks. "I do not... want him..."

Her fist connects squarely with my stomach. A brutal, breath-stealing punch. I grunt, my abdominal muscles clenching tight. Adrenaline and years of intense warrior training instantly kick in. My instincts take over.

I plant my feet flat against the hardwood. I violently thrust my hips upward, utilizing her own wild momentum against her. Her balance falters. I grab her shoulders and twist hard.

I successfully flip her heavy body completely onto her back. We roll across the floorboards. I end up on top, straddling her torso. She thrashes beneath me, kicking her legs and snapping her teeth. I grab her wrists. She fights me, but I use my leverage and body weight to drag her arms upward. I aggressively pin both of her wrists firmly against the floorboards above her head, locking my elbows to stop the assault.

She snarls, spitting curses, but she cannot break my grip. We are both panting heavily, our chests heaving. Blood drips down my face, falling onto the collar of her shirt.

"I do not fucking want him you crazy ass!" I yell, staring directly into her wild, angry eyes. "He is exactly like my own brother!"

She stops thrashing for a split second, the words registering through the red haze of her jealousy.

"But you would obviously know that," I pant heavily, "if you two actually spent just as much time fucking talking as you do fucking! Now stop trying to claw my eyes out!"

I finally pause to catch my breath. The hallway falls eerily silent. The sound of our ragged breathing echoes against the walls. Sienna slowly stops fighting my hold. The tension bleeds out of her muscles. She stares up at me, her chest rising and falling, processing the truth of my words.

I keep her pinned for another second, making sure she isn't faking her surrender. I lift my head and look down the hallway.

Absolute, burning disgust washes over me.

Harrison, Dex, Wyatt, and Cody have been silently standing there the entire time, watching the violent brawl unfold on the floor like an entertained audience. None of them intervened. None of them tried to pull the raging Luna off the fragile human.

"Oh Goddess, that is so fucking hot," Cody says, slapping Harrison on the back. He bites down on his lower lip, a perverted smirk plastered across his face. "How did you get so lucky?"

I stare at them, deeply betrayed. "So all four of you assholes just stood there and let us fight?" My voice drips with venom. "You weren't concerned for your best friend or your future Luna hurting each other? We should beat the shit out of all of you instead."

Dex and Wyatt share a look and roll their eyes. Dex walks over, his heavy boots thudding against the wood.

"You two get it out of your system?" Dex asks. He reaches his large hand out to me.

I raise an eyebrow, looking back down at Sienna. "Maybe."

I slowly release her wrists. I sit back, shifting my weight off her waist, waiting for her to take a cheap shot. She doesn't move to strike. I grab Dex's offered hand. He hauls me to my feet. Wyatt steps forward and helps Sienna up from the floor.

I brush the dust off my jeans. I run my trembling fingers through my tangled hair, wincing as I hit a sore spot on my scalp. I wipe the blood from my cheek with the back of my hand. I do not look at Harrison. I do not look at any of them.

"I am ready, Dex. Let's go," I say, my voice devoid of emotion.

They need to talk. They need to decide if my presence is something she can deal with. I know deep down that a true Alpha desperately needs his Luna. In this brutal hierarchy, she is the most important piece of the pack's powerful future. My friendship with Harrison rests solely in her hands. I absolutely refuse to selfishly stand in the way of their bond.

I step over the scattered luggage and grab my heavy bags off the floor. I turn to completely leave the house with Dex. I set my jaw tight. I will not cry again. I said my peace. This is for Harrison to explain and fix.

My hand violently reaches for the doorknob.

Sienna physically steps in front of me, stopping me dead in my tracks. I brace myself for another attack, dropping my bags.

Surprisingly, her hand reaches out. She gently and softly catches my bruised knuckles in her palm. The Alpha aggression is completely vanished from her posture. Her eyes hold genuine regret.

"Wait, do not go," her voice is sweet but confident. "Please, we should talk."

I shake my head, looking past her shoulder at the heavy door. "I really do need to try and sleep. That wasn't a line. Do not make this any harder for me. Please. I need to go." My plea comes out as a ragged whisper. The air in the hallway grows thick, making it harder to breathe.

"But you live here," Sienna whispers back, stepping closer. "Let's go put these heavy bags away, and we can actually get to know each other properly. It seems like we will be spending a lot of time together."

She pulls on my hand, sliding her fingers down to grab the strap of my duffel bag. It isn't a harsh or controlling motion. It is an olive branch.

Something inside me snaps. I am exhausted, physically battered, and entirely emotionally drained. I do not have the energy to fight her anymore. A rogue tear slips down my cheek, mixing with the smeared blood. I hate my stupid emotions.

She takes my heavy bag. She slides her gentle hand onto my upper arm, turning me around. I sling my backpack over my shoulder. I keep my eyes glued to the floorboards, focusing solely on putting one foot in front of the other.

We slowly head back up the stairs to my room, deliberately leaving the dumbfounded guys behind in the hallway. We do not cast a single backward glance at them.

"Del..." Harrison breathes out my name as I pass.

I shake my head and keep walking up the steps.

"I think your girls just left you hanging," Cody chuckles behind us. "I hope you finished whatever you started in here, brother, otherwise you are going to sleep with some blue balls." The rest of the guys erupt into laughter. The crude sound fades as we reach the second-floor landing.

We reach my bedroom at the end of the hall. I walk inside and drop my backpack onto the floor by my desk. I take a deep breath, steadying my frayed nerves, before turning around to face her.

Sienna carries my duffel bag inside and drops it next to my school gear. She surveys the room, taking in the human touches, the textbooks, the framed photos.

"Were you really just going to leave? No fight at all?" She crosses her arms, seeming appalled by my quick surrender.

I rub my tired face. I walk over to my bed and sit down on the edge of the mattress. I pat the empty space next to me, inviting her to sit.

"He is strictly my brother. Not my boyfriend," I state firmly, repeatedly reiterating the facts. I need her to understand this down to her bones. "There has never been anything romantic between us. I may be human, but I have known him my whole life. We are tight. I understand how mates work. I know how integral they are to a werewolf's sanity. He is an Alpha, and an Alpha needs his Luna. There is nothing more important than that for the future of the pack. I am not getting in the way of that out of selfishness. So yes, I was going to leave. Because you didn't want me near him. You didn't want me here."

Sienna sits down next to me. The mattress dips under her weight. She looks at her hands, guilt flashing across her features.

"I have never once run at my brother like that," I add, offering a small olive branch of my own. "I am usually more inclined to throw a heavy book at his head."

The heavy, suffocating tension between us finally, miraculously breaks. A strangled laugh escapes my lips, and Sienna offers a genuine smile.

"How close are you and your brother in age?" I ask.

"Six years difference. He is twenty-six, I am twenty."

I nod. "Harrison and I were born on the exact same day. In the same hospital room. Our moms were best friends. My mom was visiting the packhouse, and they both went into labor at the same time. We were raised exactly like twins. It is a purely platonic, deeply ingrained bond."

Sienna nods slowly, absorbing the history. She seems to accept my thorough explanation, fully recognizing the sibling dynamic. "That explains a few things then. Not why he sleeps in your room, but we will get to that later. What about the other guys?"

I blink, caught off guard. "What about them?"

I try to get my breathing under control. My head pounds from the crying, the fighting, and the sheer exhaustion.

"Oh, come on." Sienna bumps her shoulder against mine. "There is no way you left all of them alone. That much hotness walking around the packhouse, and no mate yet. And they are all so protective over you. You are close with all of them. Anyone can see it."

I frown, confused by her phrasing. "What are you talking about, 'no mate yet'? I am a human girl. Do you know the odds of me being mated to a werewolf? I cannot even be inducted into the pack because the elders think the bite will kill me. I am sure being marked by a mate would be just as bad."

"I do not think I have ever heard that before," Sienna muses, tilting her head. "We do not have any humans in our pack right now, so I am not sure how the mating mechanics work for you."

"No idea," I say darkly, picking at a loose thread on my quilt. "But Aunt Valerie will not even entertain the idea. So I am a mateless, completely human girl in a werewolf pack, with no actual connection to the pack. Living with the Alpha's family, but not blood-related."

Sienna studies my face for a long moment. Then, entirely without warning, she completely pivots the conversation. A sudden, highly mischievous giggle escapes her lips. She leans closer, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"So... I believe you have never had any romantic interest in Harrison. It is written all over your face," she says, giggling like a schoolgirl sharing secrets at a sleepover.

Knowing with absolute certainty that I am surrounded daily by incredibly protective, devastatingly attractive werewolves, she shoots me a knowing wink.

"But," she continues, pointing a manicured finger at my chest, "you very deliberately avoided my other question earlier. And that clearly means you have absolutely given the other guys in this pack a test drive."

I groan, desperately trying to dodge the incredibly invasive question. "Test drive is a strong phrase."

"Oh, give it up!" Her Alpha nature makes her completely relentless. She is deeply eager to intimately know exactly what kind of men surround her new Alpha mate. "I need to know these guys. I will get some of that information in my own time here, but I want to know what kind of team the Goddess put around my Alpha. How they treat a woman can be a big indicator of the type of people they really are."

She smiles, a huge, entirely too eager smile on her face. Her brain has already made the switch to calling Harrison 'her Alpha.' She is marking her territory, but she is also hunting for gossip.

"They are all great, but I might be biased," I shrug, forcing a casual smile, hoping she will drop the subject.

She doesn't drop it. She leans in closer, invading my personal space, practically vibrating with excitement.

"So which one of those massive warriors are you actually dating right now?" she presses relentlessly. "Who was your first?"