The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 112

-Grayson’s POV-

Elaine didn’t give me a chance to speak or explain myself. She turned and bolted out of my study, her footsteps echoing down the hall. I cursed under my breath, frustration and dread twisting in my chest. Liam, who had been sitting across from me moments before, rose to his feet, concern etched into his features.

“Stay here,” I snapped at him, my voice sharp. “I’ll handle this.”

Without waiting for a response, I pushed past the door and into the dimly lit corridor. Elaine was already disappearing around the corner, moving with the kind of desperation that cut me deeper than I cared to admit.

“Elaine,” I called after her, but she didn’t stop.

I let out a weary sigh, knowing I was about to make things worse but having no other choice. The weight of my Alpha aura rolled over the space between us, commanding her to stop. “Stop moving, Elaine,” I said firmly, my tone leaving no room for defiance.

Her steps faltered, and her body froze. Her shoulders were rigid, her back turned to me as she stood motionless in the middle of the hallway. I didn’t relish using my authority over her but there was no other way to make her stay and listen. Slowly, I closed the distance between us until I was standing just a few feet away.

“Yes,” I said, my voice steady but hollow. “I started the fire that night. But I didn’t mean for it to kill your parents or my mother. Things got out of control.”

The admission fell heavily between us, like a boulder dropped into a bottomless chasm. Her shoulders stiffened further, and when she finally turned to face me, her eyes were filled with tears, brimming with pain and fury.

“Just how inhuman have you become, Grayson?” Her voice trembled with emotion, each word sharper than the last. “You were responsible for that night, and you don’t even have the decency to feel remorseful? After all these years of lying to me?”

“Elaine-”

“No!” she cut me off, her voice shaking with barely restrained rage. “That night, I watched my father go up in flames. Do you have any idea how many nightmares I’ve had because of that? How screwed up that moment made me? And you… you wake up every day and act like it’s my fault I’m this way–when you did this, Grayson!”

She shoved me, her hands pressing against my chest with more force than I expected. It wasn’t enough to move me physically, but the impact of her words hit far harder than any physical blow ever could.

“You ruined my childhood!” she cried, her voice cracking under the weight of her anguish. “You made me grow into this around her to be just as broken so I don’t have to feel alone. And then you act like who wants everyone miserable person taking me in was some kind of grand favor, as if I wouldn’t be this way if it weren’t for you!”

makeup smudging as she wiped at her face in vain. It was a heartbreaking sight, one that left me feeling utterly powerless. I wanted to say something–anything–that could make this better, but the truth was, there was nothing. Nothing I could say or do would undo what I had done.

the first place. I hated what I had done to her, hated the way I had destroyed her life. And yet, I couldn’t find the

did nothing at first that night, isn’t

words were a knife twisting in my chest, but I didn’t flinch. Everything she was saying

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Dec 27

Chapter 112

in denying it.

are…” she paused, her voice breaking as she sniffled and rubbed at

eyes.

“You are….

just a monster.”

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it–the full extent of the damage I had done. She wasn’t just angry or grieving. She was broken. Completely

I reached out and pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly. “I didn’t mean

didn’t fight me. She just stood there, crying against my chest, her sobs muffled but still heart–wrenching. She was saying something–words I couldn’t

for it to happen, how can you spend all these years acting

my mouth to respond, but she wasn’t finished.

done, you bring that commoner here.” Her voice dripped with disdain as she said the word. “You continuously belittle me because I am this way, even though you’re the one who made me like this. And still, you pick her over and over and over again.”

and I froze, realizing where this

to start making this right?” she demanded, her eyes burning with a mixture of desperation and fury. “Then

didn’t deserve but somehow had. She was light where I was darkness, hope where I was despair. And yet, as I looked at Elaine–her tear–streaked face, her trembling lips–I knew

leave. I was going to do so eventually because Ava Pierce means nothing to me.”

on my tongue, but I forced myself to say them. The moment they left my lips, I felt a strange, gut- wrenching sensation, like a part of me had been ripped

then, I felt it–her