The Nameless Luna – Book One: Chapter 20

My mind is reeling with everything I’ve learned, but I’m still missing something. Ector, Elaine, and Joseph aren’t just the characters of some distant tale. They are my mate’s past.
‘How old was Tristan when this happened?’ I ask, my voice heavy.
A profound sort of sadness fills Nico and Lucy’s eyes. It’s the kind of sorrow that comes when someone you care about has suffered, and no matter how much you wish it, you know that harm cannot be undone.
‘He was thirteen when his father died at Joseph’s hands,’ Nico says, and the anger behind his words seems mismatched with his usually friendly face. Those lips are meant for crooked grins, not bitter pursing. His bright blue eyes darken like storm clouds, ginger brows furrowing. ‘Elaine wanted Tristan to stay by her side after that, but he could not forgive her for the affair. He couldn’t forgive her for the part she played in his father’s death, and Joseph knew Ector’s son would pose a threat to his own rule. He banished Tristan from his own pack, though I suspect Tristan would have left the territory of his own accord even if he hadn’t been forced out.’
So he went from being the Alpha’s heir to a Rogue. A lone wolf. An exile. It’s all starting to make sense.
‘He did not return when his mother got sick a year later. Tristan was only sixteen when Elaine passed away as well. No one will ever know if she lived to regret what she did to Ector. She died in the bed she made, leaving the Avalon pack in the hands of a tyrant. Without Ector to hold him back and Elaine to soften his temper, Joseph’s cruelty got the better of him. He ruled the Avalon pack with manipulation and greed until Tristan returned.’
‘I was only fourteen years old the first time I met Tristan,’ Lucy says suddenly. Her expression has darkened as well, but with a different sort of hurt in her eyes. ‘I was the Omega of my old pack, always picked on and mistreated by those who ranked above me. My brother stuck up for me, but he was reckless about it. He got into too many fights and insulted too many powerful people. I asked him to run away from home with me before he could get himself killed. Tristan was three years older than me when he found us wandering around the highlands on our own. He’d been living as a lone wolf for longer, and he knew how to survive without a pack. He’d made allies across different territories and found friends in kindred outcasts, but he never stayed still. Even when he wasn’t alone, he always seemed lonely. He helped us.’
I can’t decide whether it’s nostalgia or regret that washes over her soft features. In the Bane pack, I’d ranked even lower than the Omegas, and I remember how they would use me. I was the only thing beneath them, and when all the worst labor of the pack fell on their hands, they dumped it onto mine. But the idea of bright, charming, gossip-loving Lucy treated like a disposable lackey, forced to rely on her brother to punch their way out of abuse and hardship… it makes me sick.
Nico slides a cup of coffee across the table to Lucy with an encouraging smile. When she takes it from him with a grateful nod, I can’t help but notice the way his hand lingers over hers just a moment too long.
Lucy takes a long sip and sighs before continuing, ‘When Tristan turned eighteen, he returned to the Albion territory to reclaim his title. Mark and I went with him. We followed him back from exile and stood by while he challenged the man who killed his father. He fought fair and square against Joseph, and he killed him with more honor than he deserved. By then, the Avalon pack had grown far and few under Joseph’s selfishness. Tristan didn’t want to rebuild what his own mother had destroyed, so he started from scratch. He opened his territory to rogues, lone wolves, outcasts, misfits, and all those who did not feel at home. The Albion pack died with Joseph, and Tristan buried the past along with his parents.’
‘And now you’re the Rovers,’ I mumble softly, wrapping up the story with a neat little bow that ties all the loose threads of this mysterious pack together.
‘And now we’re the Rovers,’ Nico echoes, but his eyes shift to me with a strange look when he says ‘we.’
I suppose he’s right. Whether it’s as a guest, captive, or bride, I am a part of this.
‘So you see, we were all surprised when Tristan disappeared overnight only to return with his fated mate,’ Lucy explains, her attention turning to me as the narrative returns to the present. ‘Because even with a Seer’s vision, no one expected him to seek you out. He watched a broken mating bond destroy his parents and everything they ever built, and he does not trust it. He doesn’t believe in it the way most wolves do.’
For good reason.
The mating bond blinded Tristan’s father to his Luna’s betrayal. They said Ector loved Elaine right up to the end, until the heartbreak of it killed him. I can only imagine what seeing that must have done to his son.
‘I always thought he hated the idea of mates entirely,’ Nico says, surveying me with a sincere sort of confusion.
‘No, I don’t think he hates it,’ Lucy says with a frown. ‘He just… fears it. He doesn’t want it, or at least he never did.’
Honestly, it’s no wonder Tristan doesn’t trust me, and Mark doesn’t like me. I represent the same fateful power that led to his family’s demise.
I’ve been pushing him away when he’s the one who has every reason to be wary of me.
Destined or not, prophecy or not, Bane or not… he does not want me to be his mate. After all, how could he? I told Tristan that I agreed to go with him because it was my only option. But what if he’s the one who had no choice?
What am I even doing here?