Alpha King Chases Abandoned Luna

The Alpha King is unavailable 73

Memories flashed back to when I was eight years old. I followed my adoptive mother-a pack healer-back to the Stone Estate with Matriarch Evelyn Stone.

The elderly Matriarch had treated me like her own granddaughter. Her kind amber eyes-the same eyes her grandson would inherit, though lacking the warmth hers contained-made me feel safe.

"She looks like a little lost pup," Matriarch Evelyn had chuckled. "We'll have to fatten you up, won't we, dear?" But Eleanor Stone, Ethan's aunt, had watched from the shadows. Her cold eyes followed my every move.

"Another stray?" she'd muttered. "This house isn't a charity ward.”

Matriarch Evelyn had silenced her with a single look. "The child stays, Eleanor. That's final"

For weeks, I'd been safe under the Matriarch's protection. Then came the night of the full moon ceremony. Both my adoptive mother and Matriarch Evelyn were required to attend, leaving me alone in the vast estate.

Eleanor seized her opportunity.

"Come here, girl, she'd called, her voice falsely sweet. "I have something to show you."

Naive and trusting. I'd followed her to a heavy wooden door. Before I could react, she'd pushed me through it. I tumbled down stone steps into darkness.

"Perhaps some time alone will teach you your place," she'd sneered, slamming the door.

The bolt had slid home with a sound that still haunted my nightmares.

I'd screamed until my throat was raw. The darkness pressed in, suffocating in its completeness.

Then came the sounds-tiny claws scratching against stone. The soft squeaking that signaled I wasn't alone.

I'd sobbed, pressing myself against the wall.

found me. I'd been huddled

covered in rat bites.

had been terrible to behold. "How dare you?" she'd thundered at Eleanor. "This child is under

protection!"

damage had been done. My fear of dark, enclosed spaces-and

again in that same nightmare. Betrayed

door. "Ethan! Please! You know I'm terrified of this

silence that answered felt like a

didn't do anything

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The shades t

My entire body trembled

again, weaker now. Remember when you found me in the alley? When those roques attacked me? You promised you'd never let anyone hurt me

cold stone seemed to leach the warmth

heard footsteps. My heart leaped with desperate hope. "Ethan? Is that you?

came, but I could sense a presence on the

the wood. "I'm begging you." The footsteps retreated, growing fainter until they disappeared entirely. Whoever

me in a crushing wave. My body

was the same position I'd adopted countless times in the orphanage. When trying to protect myself from the

(Ethan's POV)

against my hip as I