The Luna Who Heard Cruel Secrets Chapter 06

The Luna Who Heard Cruel Secrets Chapter 06 I Tried To Leave The Pack

So that was how the Pack saw me.

A joke.

That evening, I didn’t wait for Rhett.

Or maybe the truth was that I didn’t dare.

I was too afraid of seeing Daisy in the passenger seat.

Too afraid of that rose–and–musk scent twined together with his.

Instead, I slipped into a small tavern inside the Pack territory.

Antlers hung from the wooden walls. The air smelled of malt and old wood. The lights were low, and voices hummed quietly in the corners.

I sat down at the bar and drank.

Then drank more.

The rye was steeped with moon dew grass, harsh and dark, burning down my throat and landing in my stomach like fire.

At some point, someone dropped into the seat beside me.

Allen.

“Luna? Why are you here by yourself?”

He glanced down at the row of empty glasses in front of me.

“Does Alpha know where you are?”

I leaned against the bar, face half–buried in my arms, then lifted my eyes to him through a drunken haze.

“Allen… Do you think Rhett hates me?”

Allen blinked.

Then he laughed.

“How could that be? If Alpha hated you, why would he ever have taken you as his mate?”

“Because he pitied me!”

The words burst out of me, and suddenly the tears came too, hot and uncontrollable, splashing onto the wood grain of the bar.

“Everything I ever did was one–sided. He just reached out and gave me scraps whenever he felt like it. He’s going to be with his fated mate. Allen, help me. I want to leave the Pack.”

Allen scrambled for napkins and shoved a handful into my hands, lowering his voice in a panic.

“Luna, don’t cry. Please don’t cry. I’ll help you, okay? I’ll help.”

I looked up immediately.

“Really?”

“Of course. If you want to leave, no one can stop you.”

He leaned closer.

“Go home tonight. Tomorrow morning, find an excuse to stay at the manor. The moment Alpha leaves, I’ll arrange for someone to get you out.”

I listened.

Then, drunk and dizzy, I made my way back to the manor.

When I walked in, Rhett was already sitting on the sofa. The second he saw me stumbling through the doorway, his brow tightened.

“Where were you, Anna?”

That question sobered me almost instantly.

“My good friend dragged me to the tavern for drinks,” I said. “Sorry. I should have told you.”

Rhett narrowed his eyes at me for a long moment, then turned and went back into the bedroom.

I washed up, my nerves twisting tighter and tighter, and eventually followed him inside.

I eased myself onto the bed.

Rhett looked at me once, then silently held out an arm.

I understood.

Obediently, I moved over and tucked myself into his side, settling onto that familiar arm and

into the warmth of his body.

It felt too good.

Too safe.

Too much like home.

What a waste, I thought.

Tomorrow I would leave the Pack.

This would be the last time I ever lay in his arms like this.

The next morning, I made up an excuse to stay behind at the manor.

Before leaving, Rhett stood there and looked at me for a long time, as if he wanted to say something and then decided against it.

The second he was gone, I contacted Allen.

The people he arranged arrived quickly and got me into a car.

Through the window, I looked back at the manor.

It had once been my home.

Mine and Rhett’s.

But it didn’t belong to me anymore.

Soon it would belong to someone else.

“Let’s go,” I told the driver.

The car had barely gone any distance before it slammed to a stop.

I looked up.

Rhett was standing in front of it.

And Daisy was beside him.

Rhett walked to the door and pulled it open in one smooth motion.

Then his voice dropped from above me- cold as a northern blizzard.

“Anna. You’ve gotten bold. You thought you could sneak away behind my back?”

I lifted my head, trembling.

Rhett’s face was right there.

And whatever expression was on it–it wasn’t anger.

It was fury.

The kind of fury only an Alpha showed when his territory had been trespassed on, and every last shred of reason was hanging by a thread.

Behind him, Daisy stood with her arms folded, leaning casually against the wall. There was a faint smile on her lips as she watched me, like this whole thing was some mildly entertaining performance.

Then the servants‘ thoughts started shrieking through my head again.

“There he is! There he is! The Alpha really brought Lady Daisy to catch her!”

“Luna is finished. There’s no way Alpha would ever let her run.”

“Even if he doesn’t like her, he’d never allow her to leave on her own.”

The words crawled across my mind like ants, itchy and maddening and unbearable.

I looked straight at Rhett and decided I was done holding anything back.

I stepped out of the car, stumbled, and nearly rolled my ankle.

Rhett reached toward me on instinct.

I slapped his hand away.

“Don’t touch me!”

Then I pointed straight at him.

“Rhett, isn’t this what you wanted? To humiliate me? You want to watch me embarrass myself in front of you and Daisy, don’t you? I’m not going to give you that satisfaction! I’m leaving. I’m leaving this place! You and your fated mate can go live your perfect life together!”

The second the last word left my mouth, the world seemed to go silent.

Even the engine noise vanished.

Every trace of Alpha composure shattered on Rhett’s face.

Shock.

Disbelief.

And something dangerously close to panic.

“What did you just say?”

He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist.

“Say it again.”

Pain shot through my arm, but some absurd kind of courage had taken hold of me by then.

I lifted my chin and shouted every word back at him.

“I said I want to leave! Can’t you understand something that simple?”

I didn’t know where the strength came from, but I ripped my wrist out of his hand, turned, climbed back into the car, and slammed the door shut.

“Drive!”

The driver looked terrified.

He didn’t move.

“Drive!”