The Luna Who Heard Cruel Secrets Chapter 04

The Luna Who Heard Cruel Secrets Chapter 04 He Dragged Me Back

The instant the knock landed, I shot upright.

My bare feet hit the cold floor, and my heart started pounding like a war drum.

I opened the door just a crack, hiding my whole body behind it and only showing half my face.

“Rhett… did you need something?”

He didn’t answer.

He just stepped forward and wedged one foot into the gap before I could close it again.

His gaze slid through the opening and pinned me in place, dark and unreadable.

Whatever was on his face–anger or something worse–it definitely wasn’t a good sign.

“Why did you move in here?”

I lowered my eyes and stared at the grain of the wooden floor.

“I wanted to… sleep by myself.”

“By yourself?”

He repeated it slowly, each word sounding as though it had been forced out through clenched teeth.

Then he smiled.

It was not a pleasant smile.

It was sharp. Cold. It made my scalp prickle.

“Anna, have you forgotten that we’re already mated? And I’m still the Alpha of this Pack. Everything here belongs to me.”

My fingers dug hard into the edge of the door, nails almost biting into the wood.

He was right.

Everything here was his.

He was the highest, most powerful Alpha in the Pack.

But what choice did I have?

Was I supposed to wait until the White Wolf moved into the manor?

Into our bedroom?

By then, I wouldn’t even have the last scraps of dignity left.

“Then… should I just move out entirely?”

I asked it carefully, already shrinking farther back into the room as I reached for the suitcase in the corner.

The world flipped upside down in the next second.

Rhett didn’t even give me time to keep lying.

One arm wrapped around my waist, and he hauled me out from behind the door as easily as if I were an unruly cub, tossing me over his shoulder.

The floor and walls spun wildly in my vision.

“Rhett! Put me down!”

I kicked in the air on instinct.

He smacked me, hard, across the backside.

The sound rang out in the silent hallway.

“Quiet.”

I went utterly still.

Heat exploded from the tips of my ears all the way down to my collarbone. My face burned hot enough to cook on. I buried it against his back in sheer humiliation.

And right on cue, the servants‘ thoughts started rushing in again.

“God, Alpha is so strong–he just threw Luna over his shoulder with one hand?”

“He must be furious. He’s probably dragging her back to the room to teach her a lesson.”

“Look at his face. It’s dark as hell. He looks like he could tear her apart any second.”

“Just wait. Luna’s about to be packed up and thrown out of the territory.”

Those thoughts sliced into me like shards of ice, instantly smothering the tiny flicker of warmth that had tried to rise in my chest.

Of course.

He was probably just annoyed with me for causing trouble.

Rhett dumped me back onto the bed in the master suite.

Then he came down over me, bracing both arms on either side of my head.

Those eyes of his locked onto mine.

“Anna.”

His voice dropped low.

“What exactly have you been doing these past two days? Last night, you said you were nervous. Today, you refused to let me drive you to the theater. And tonight, you tried to sleep in a different room.”

Each word came out clean and deliberate.

“Have I been too indulgent with you?”

I turned my head away, unable to meet his eyes.

A wave of grievance rose so fast it almost made me choke.

You’re the one who doesn’t love me.

You’re the one who’s about to run off with the White Wolf.

And now you’re blaming me?

I sniffed once. My nose stung.

“I’m not making trouble,” I said. “I just thought… you’re the Alpha of the Pack. You can’t spend every day glued to me. People will talk.”

Rhett let out a short, incredulous laugh.

He reached down, caught my chin, and forced my face back toward his.

“Who would dare talk about me?”

Then his eyes moved slowly across my face, his expression shifting into something strange-

half scrutiny, half something darker.

“Who was it that used to cry and say she couldn’t stand being apart from me? Who said one minute without me felt unbearable? And now you want distance?”

His thumb slid from my chin to the corner of my mouth and pressed there, not hard, not gentle.

“Anna, are you done playing with me now? Is that it? You want to throw me away?”

The last few words came out soft, but there was something vicious under them, like he wanted to chew them apart between his teeth.

I froze.

He was the one about to become the White Wolf’s fated mate.

He was the one about to choose someone stronger, more mysterious, more worthy.

I opened my mouth.

No sound came out.

Then Rhett kissed me-

No.

Not a kiss.

A bite.

He sank his teeth into my lip and left a sharp mark there.

Then he drew back just enough to look down at me, my blood staining his mouth.

“Sleep.”

He rolled onto the bed and dragged me bodily into his arms.

His chest pressed against my back, his heartbeat slamming into me through layers of skin- heavy, fast, relentless.

His chin settled on top of my head, and his breath brushed the shell of my ear.

“If you run again…”

His voice dropped over me from above, rough and low, threaded with the warning growl only a

wolf could make.

“I’ll keep you in this manor for the rest of your life.”

I went rigid in his arms, not daring to move.

The mark at the back of my neck throbbed with heat.

His pheromones poured over me like a tide–his scent, fierce and unreasonable and entirely his.

I closed my eyes.

My lashes trembled.

And all I could remember after that was the fact that his arm stayed locked around my waist all night long.

He never let go once.