He Thought I Became His Perfect Luna, I Had Only Stopped Loving Him Chapter 02

He Thought I Became His Perfect Luna, I Had Only Stopped Loving Him Chapter 02

I was the best healer this pack had ever produced.

Years ago, I’d saved Elder Lioraen’s life, the oldest and most mysterious elder in pack history. His word alone could override an Alpha’s command. He agreed to help.

But there was only one chance.

“One month,” he said, “and the Luna bond will be dissolved.”

One month.

Then I’d be free.

I started packing.

Five years in this house, and there was barely any trace of me left.

As I pressed the last shirt I actually wore into the bottom of my old trunk, the bedroom door swung open.

Stellan’s gaze swept over the trunk.

The corner of his mouth pulled into that familiar, condescending smirk.

“Playing this game again? How many days are you planning to run away for this time?”

He didn’t wait for an answer.

“After everything that happened, Rhoslyn isn’t safe in the dorms anymore. She’s moving in.” His voice was flat, final. “She has severe asthma. The master bedroom faces east and gets the best airflow. You’ll move to the small room next door.”

Past his shoulder, I could see Rhoslyn standing in the hallway, her little white dog tucked in her arms.

She smiled at me.

“Stellan, don’t be like this. I can stay anywhere. Don’t make things awkward for Aelwen.”

“Nothing awkward about it.” Stellan stepped forward and pushed my trunk to the side. “As Luna, you’re expected to be gracious to guests.”

He watched me. Waiting. Expecting the usual fight, the raised voice, the red eyes, the whole performance about love and possession he’d grown so tired of.

Instead, he heard this:

“Okay.”

He blinked.

The scathing reply he’d already loaded died in his throat.

I didn’t even glance at the trunk he’d shoved aside. I just turned and started collecting my things from the bathroom.

Something faint and unnameable shifted in his chest as he watched me walk into the much smaller room without another word.

The guest room was small, but clean.

I set down my things.

Then the headache hit, vicious and sudden, dragging nausea with it.

I swallowed a painkiller.

My mind slipped under.

I don’t know how long I was out.

A crash jolted me awake.

The door burst open. Cold air flooded in.

Then an iron grip clamped around my wrist and yanked me out of bed. I hit the floor hard.

I looked up.

Stellan stood over me, his face twisted with a rage I’d never seen before. Those cold black eyes were burning. There was nothing rational left in them.

“Aelwen. I completely underestimated how vicious you could be.”

He dragged me across the cold hallway, out into the yard.

Rhoslyn stood in the winter night, soaking wet and shaking, her lips going blue.

“I was gone three hours!” he shouted. “Three hours, and you locked her out in the cold? She just broke her fever. Do you understand what this could do to her?”

The wind cut straight through me.

My head was splitting. My vision blurred at the edges.

Rhoslyn looked at Stellan, eyes full of tears.

Then her gaze slid to me.

And almost imperceptibly, the corner of her mouth curved up.

“I didn’t,” I said. Steady.

“Didn’t?” Stellan dropped my wrist. Let me fall. “My own warriors saw you give the order! Are you saying everyone here is lying? Or that Rhoslyn lost her mind and did this to herself just to frame you?!”

The cold shock cut through the fog in my head a little.

I tried to pull up the memory.

Nothing. Just thick, pressing darkness and pain hammering against the inside of my skull.

“I don’t know what happened,” I said. “I don’t remember.”

That sentence lit the fuse.

Stellan’s last shred of patience burned out.

“Oh, you don’t remember. Fine. Then I’ll give you something to remember.”

He stepped back, eyes like frozen glass.

“Take her coat.”