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.

against the wall.

found me. I'd been huddled in a corner, trembling uncontrollably, my

covered in rat bites.

dare you?" she'd thundered at Eleanor.

protection!"

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

same nightmare. Betrayed by the very person

fists against the heavy door. "Ethan! Please! You know I'm terrified of

answered felt like a

whisper. "I didn't do anything wrong. I would never hurt a child-not Emma,

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The shades t

louder, more insistent. My entire body trembled with terror as I pressed

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

face as I slid to the floor. The cold stone

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

the other side of the door. Someone was listening to my

fainter until

cold stone floor, despair washing over me in a crushing wave. My body curled instinctively

adopted countless times in the orphanage. When trying to

(Ethan's POV)

against my hip as