This Time, I Refuse to Be His Luna Chapter 08

This Time, I Refuse to Be His Luna Chapter 08

Ethan stayed in the cabin for two days to recover.

He did not dare enter my room.

He did not dare touch me again.

He slept on a wooden chair in the outer room.

Even when he had a fever, he only called my name.

On the third day, a car stopped outside.

When Caleb got out, there were wounds on his face and neck.

He stood outside the fence and did not dare come in.

“Is the Alpha here?”

I walked out of the gate.

“What is it?”

Caleb glanced toward the cabin.

“Logan has been expelled from the inner circle. Mason was sent to guard the northern border. I was stripped of my position too. Alpha said we humiliated you back then, and we should pay for it. I’m not here to play victim. I only wanted to ask you for one word. If you’re willing to speak up for us, he may at least stop.”

I looked at him.

“You have this wrong. Whatever punishment you receive is between you and Ethan. It has nothing to do with me.”

—

There was movement inside the cabin.

At some point, Ethan had walked to the doorway.

I continued speaking to Caleb.

“Also, I didn’t leave because I was angry. I will no longer lose control because of Ethan’s scent. I will no longer break down because of who he loves or doesn’t love. You keep asking me to forgive because you still think of me as the old Olivia who couldn’t live without him. She no longer exists.”

Caleb’s expression changed.

“Alpha…”

“Get out.”

Ethan released only a faint thread of Alpha dominance, and Caleb’s legs almost buckled.

He said nothing else and quickly drove away.

I turned back to Ethan.

“If you can walk, why didn’t you leave with him?”

Ethan’s face was pale, and his tone was very low.

“I’ve already dealt with them. Sophia has also been driven out of the Blackthorn territory. Every project the Bennett family got through Blackthorn, I’ve taken back. I’ve also asked the Council of Elders to investigate the center. The people who injected you with suppressants and forced you to watch those videos will not stay. Is that still not enough? What else do you want me to do?”

—

I picked up the broom and swept the dead leaves in the yard to one side.

“I want you to recover, then leave. Stop disturbing me.”

He lowered his eyes and said nothing.

After a long time, he asked softly, “Can I go see Mom and Dad?”

My hand tightened around the broom.

“Yes.”

At dusk, I took him to my parents’ graves.

Ethan knelt before the tombstones and apologized to them.

He apologized to the family that once brought him home from under the bridge.

He also apologized for failing to keep the promise he had made back then.

I stood beside him.

I did not stop him.

I did not comfort him either.

After we returned to the cabin, the rain started drifting down again.

Ethan took the initiative to chop wood, start the fire, and cook porridge.

He had not done those chores in many years, and soon, wood splinters cut his hands until they bled.

—

“I made a promise to Mom and Dad.”

I asked, “What promise?”

“That I won’t make you cry again. That I won’t use power to force you to look back. That if you want to leave, I’ll let you go.”

I set the bowl on the table.

“It’s too late to say that now. I remember when you were good to me. But that cannot erase the harm you caused later. The good things existed. The bad things existed too. I won’t forgive every suppressant injection that came later just because the past once gave me beautiful memories.”