Reclaiming My Broken Luna by Selene Souchon

Chapter 266: Painful Truth

Astrid's POV

My body ached from the grueling training session I had endured all day. Every muscle felt like a knot, protesting at every slightest movement as I finally prepared to sink into the relief of my bed.

Sleeping had been my only source since I arrived to this pack. But just as I began to settle into the covers, my phone buzzed, pulling me sharply back to reality.

I frowned when Giselle's name appeared on the screen. Her message was terse, asking me to come to the Pack garden immediately to deliver the "urgent" papers she had requested earlier.

I frowned. Urgent? There had been nothing remotely pressing about those papers when she asked for them this afternoon, though she was in a rush like the world was on fire.

Something didn't sit right. Why the Pack garden? Why now? But I couldn't ignore her. She'd left me no valid excuse to refuse. Maybe it was important, or maybe I was just too tired to argue with the situation. I shoved my fatigue down and dragged myself out of bed, my body still screaming for rest. As I made my way to the garden, the weight of weariness clung to me like a second skin.

When I arrived, I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

The garden was bathed in a soft, golden glow from twinkling lights strung through the trees. The romantic sound of violins drifted on the night air, creating an atmosphere that felt like a fairy tale. It was beautiful, romantic.

What's going on? My questions were answered when I finally entered.

At the center of it all were Giselle and Killian, seated at a candlelit table, intimate and far too close for comfort.

My heart twisted painfully in my chest, a lump forming in my throat as I froze. I couldn't move. I didn't need to wonder why Giselle had asked me to come. The answer was sitting right in front of me. She wanted me to see this.

She wanted to make sure I knew that Killian was hers now. That he cared for her more than he ever did for me.

Killian, seated across from her, saw me first. His expression shifted-surprise, tension, and something else I couldn't quite place.

trying to reach out

to explain, I

in her seat, her eyes gleaming with thinly veiled triumph. "Ah, Astrid, there you are," she

though she hadn't been waiting for this exact moment. "I almost forgot about those papers. Thanks for bringing them here," she added, with that smile-insincere, cruel, and meant only

hadn't forgotten. She deliberately said that to send a message to me. To make sure I'm

jaw clenched so tightly I thought it might crack. My fingers dug into the edges of

Killian's eyes met mine again. He looked...troubled, as if he wanted to explain, to stop the hurt that was radiating off of me. But I wasn't interested in his comfort. "Here," I said, my voice flat as

attention already shifting back to Killian,

said, her tone dripping with

I was in no mood to

could feel

gnawing, unbearable ache of

should be

one sitting on Giselle's seat as Killian's rightful

said a word, but I could feel his eyes on me, like he wanted to say something but couldn't. I could sense

point in staying any

go," I muttered through gritted teeth, my voice barely audible. I

papers had never mattered-Giselle had won, and I had walked straight into her trap. She had succeeded in making

stopped me in my tracks. "Astrid-" he began softly, almost pleading, but I couldn't bring myself to look

and unexpected was

had told myself for so long that I hated him, that I had moved on. had convinced myself that all

him with her, something deep within me cracked. The pain I felt wasn't just anger.

even say? What words