APEX

Ch. 9: The Luna's Plan

Rhys

My body's unfortunate response to blood was a well-guarded secret. Not even my family knew about it, aside from my father, who wasn't exactly thrilled to discover his Alpha son's embarrassing weakness. Usually, I had time to avert my eyes before the wave of dizziness hit, but in the case of Calla's bloody face, I was already dizzy and disorientated from having a bomb detonated nearby. I lost my shit at the worst possible moment. I should have been the one to take charge, gotten Neil immediate help, made sure the swarms of imbecilic humans didn't come near Calla, but instead, she was the one who had to save my ass.

It was humiliating but also impressive. She'd taken control and pummeled that poor human until he'd left a pathetic man-shaped impression on the side of the truck she'd slammed him into. That woman could fight. Ferociously. It made me wonder what I'd be up against in the bedroom. My brain, as well as my wolf, wanted me to pursue this line of thinking, but as I was riding in a police car with Calla next to me and two cops in the front seat, I set that particular daydream aside, to be brought out again later on when I was in a position to fully enjoy it.

"Mmmm," Calla moaned beside me.

Surprised, I turned to her wondering if perhaps her attraction to me had triggered a similar fantasy to my own.

No such luck.

"I'm going to be sore in the morning," she said, circling her shoulder and rubbing it with her hand. A big welt had formed at the base of her neck. There should have been a mark there, but not this injury. If the world were fair, instead of being attacked, we'd have spent our time much more pleasurably, and her neck would have borne not a painful welt, but the mark my teeth made as I claimed her as mine. That thought struck me with a surprising amount of passion. This was the dregs of the full moon—it had to be. I had a primal need and still hadn't found a mate to properly meet that need. Having a sexy Luna so close to me was simply confusing my wolf, making him think he wanted more from Calla than just a casual, albeit immensely pleasurable fuck.

To put this misguided possessiveness to bed, so to speak, I made my brain focus on the unerotic task of inventorying my own bumps and bruises. A bit of whiplash, a scrape on my knee, and I'd taken a hit to the side of my head that had likely caused a minor concussion.

Both of us would heal quickly, but for the time being, it wasn't pleasant.

Back at HQ, my brothers finally decided to grace us with their presence.

"Shit, man," Liam said, "I thought you were exaggerating. You look like you just got off the battlefield. You too." He motioned to Calla.

"Take a seat," Calla said.

We were in the same conference room that we'd used the day my father decided to upend my life and make Calla our boss.

"I wanted you all here this evening to go over the logistics of tomorrow's press conference."

"You're going to do a press conference looking like that?" Aamon wrinkled his nose like he'd smelled something foul. "What a shame."

She narrowed her eyes. "Why is that?"

"You're aligned with us now, unfortunately." He scrunched up his nose like he was smelling rotten eggs rather than the intoxicating flora aroma continually drifting from Calla's direction. "And here you are, one of the most beautiful Lunas in Sury history, and you're going to represent us by getting in front of the camera all banged up. Do you know how that will make Apex look?"

"Aamon," I shot him a warning glance. "It's a press conference about Apex misbehavior, not a beauty pageant."

"Alleged misbehavior," Aamon mumbled.