The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 43

-Grayson'’s POV-

I saw red.

Everything blurred together as my rage took over. Two men fell lifeless before me, meant to guard the operation

but th were nothing more than obstacles in my way. Their blood splattered across the floor, yet it did nothing to

quench the a boiling in my veins.

The red burned brighter when | walked in and saw her. Ava. Tied to a chair, unharmed-physically, at least-but my

we didn’t care. He wanted blood. And not just theirs.

Ricardo.

Even with those men dead and the fool that had tried to sell her off dead, even with Ava safe in a hotel room

right now, 1 wolf clawed at me, unsatisfied. My body screamed for rest, but | wouldn't allow it. Not until Ricardo

Sylvester paid. I'd already set things-in motion. He would suffer, and I'd be there to watch him bleed.

“No one touches what's mine!

That sentence kept playing on a loop in my head. But she wasn’t mine. Not really. Ava Pierce wasn’t mine.

The night had fallen, casting a dim glow across the city. | stood by the window, staring at nothing, trying to calm

the beas inside me. | was close to losing control, something | prided myself on keeping. But with Ava...

everything felt like it was slipping.

“I'm sorry.”

Her voice cut through the silence like a whisper, but it hithard. My shoulders stiffened, but I didn’t turn. |

didn’t want i look at her. | was mad-at myself, at her, at everything. Luca hadn't suffered enough, not for what

he had done. Not for wh he would've done if | hadn't been there.

Control

1 lived for control, thrived on it. But it was slipping, evadingmore and more each day. Especially around her.

“I was stupid,” she continued, her voice small, barely above a whisper. “I was really stupid. | shouldn't have

followed a complete stranger. | wasn’t thinking... | just wanted a little air of freedom”

Her words dug into me, twisting the knife in my gut. | finally tumed my head, my eyes locking onto hers. The

anger was

there, simmering just beneath the surface, and | made sure she could see it. She had her knees pulled up to her

chest, those eyes of hers shifting between colors like they always did when she was anxious or scared.

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Good.

| needed her to feel the weight of her mistake. | needed her to understand the gravity of what had almost

happened.

She sighed, breaking the silence as she pushed herself off the bed. “I want to take a shower. Please is there

anything for me

to wear?”

Lignored her question. “Do you know what would've happened | hadn’t found you in time?” My voice cout

cold, harsher than I intended, but I didn’t care.

She flinched, but | wasn’t done. She needed to hear this.

“I would've been dead. Or sold off to a man named Ricardo Sylvester, she whispered, her voice trembling.

Chapter 43

So, the bastard had mentioned Ricardo. | clenched my fists, struggling to keep my anger i

thick with tension, and the weight of what could have happened still hung in the air.

in check. The air between

“You don’t get it, do you?” My voice was sharp, cutting through the silence like a blade. “There are men out

there- dangerous men. Worse than you can imagine. You were lucky today. If | hadn’t found you, Ricardo

would've had you trustwhen | say, you don’t want to know what he does to the women he ‘collects.”

Her face paled, but | didn’t stop. | couldn't. She needed to understand.

“And this isn’t just about today. If you're going to be my wife, Ava, it makes you a target. Everyone who wants to

get t will go through you. You think you can handle that?” | didn’t wait for her to answer. “You can’t. Not unless

you start be

smarter.”

She stood there, not saying a word. Just... accepting it. She knew she’d made a mistake. | could see the regret

written a her face, but | wasn’t going to go easy on her because of it.

The silence between us stretched out, and I finally sighed. “You can go shower. There'll be clothes waiting for you

whe

cout.”

She didn’t say anything, just nodded and walked towards the bathroom. The door clicked shut behind her, and |

exhale breath | hadn't realized | was holding

| pulled out my phone, already texting someone to get sclothes sent up. | wanted her comfortable, at least.

As | wai for a response, | ordered food-something decent, and several kinds of gelato.

She was in over her head, that much was clear. And now, because of me, her life was tied to mine in a way she

probably didn’t even fully understand yet. But that didn’t change the fact that she was reckless.

Ava didn’t know how much danger she was truly in, not just from men like Ricardo, but from the world I lived in.

The w she was now a part of. She thought she wanted freedom, but what she didn’t realize was that with me,

she'd never have it Not truly.

No one touches what's mine.

And that included her-whether she realized it or not.

The sound of the shower running filled the silence, and | stood there, staring out the window once again, trying

to ignore the nagging feeling in my chest. She wasn’t supposed to matter this much. | wasn’t supposed to care

this much.

But I did.

And that made everything more dangerous-for both of us.

| watched as her soft footsteps padded through the room, a slight hesitation in her movement when she noticed

the food already on display. Her gaze flickered over the table, then tobefore she moved again, walking over

to the clothes I'd laic out for her. She muttered a quick “thanks” under her breath before disappearing back into

the bathroom to change

| didn’t respond. There wasn’t much to say. | turned to the platter and served myself, sitting down as | cut into

the food. The momentary comfort of eating settled over me, but my mind was elsewhere, churning, regless

| wondered why she wasn’t looking atlike | was skind of monster after what I'd done to Luca. The way |

tore his hand off, the sound of his screams a part ofexpected her to seeas something dangerous,

something to be feared.

Yet she hadn't. Not yet, at least.

Her footsteps sounded again, quieter this tas she made her way back to the bed, curling her body into the

blankets like she could make herself disappear.

| watched her, the silence stretching between us.

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Chapter 43

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“You aren't going to eat?” | asked, my voice breaking through the quiet.

“I'm not hungry,” she replied, her voice muffled by the covers.

| huffed out a breath, irritation curling in my chest. “Stop acting like a child. Stand up and ceat.”

“I said | wasn’t hungry,” she muttered, her tone sharper now.

| narrowed my eyes, my grip tightening around the fork. She was testing my patience, and she knew it. | set the

fork dow and leaned back in the chair, my gaze never leaving her. “If you don’t get up and eat, I'll force the food

down your throat myself.

There was a pause, then she snickered, the sound soft but mocking. It was enough to pushover the edge.

Without another word, | stood up, walking over to the bed in two quick strides. | yanked the blankets off her, my

voice lo and cold. “Get. Up.”

She whipped around to face me, her eyes flashing with anger. “I know | screwed up, okay? You don’t need to

scoldlike child and makefeel even more stupid.”

| clenched my jaw, my temper flaring. “You're proving my point right now.”

Her eyes burned with frustration, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “Stop it!” she snapped. “I made a

mistake, but | don’t need you treatinglike this!”

“You think this is about your mistake? This is about you not listening!” | shot back, my voice rising.

She stood up from the bed, her face flushed with anger as she took a step toward me. “I'm not a child, Grayson!

You don’t need to treatlike one!”

1 scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “You act like one when you refuse to do something as simple as

eating.”

“I'm trying to deal with everything, okay? But you don’t get to makefeel small just because | messed up.”

| took a step closer, my voice lowering as | spoke. “You think I'm making you feel small? You don’t get it, do you?

| don’t care about your mistake. | care about you not getting hurt. About you doing something reckless and

putting yourself in danger

Her face softened for a split second, but then the stubbornness returned. “I can take care of myself.”

My frustration boiled over and | exploded, “No you can’t! I don’t understand is happening here but | know | am

prepared to let the word burn to the ground before I let anything happen to you and it’s drivinginsane!”

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