The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

hapter 199

Chapter 199

-Ava’s POV-

“So the Beta is the one responsible for all of this? So he can take the throne?” My mother asked.

I kept my gaze locked on the window, watching the blur of buildings and trees flash past as the car sped down the road. I hoped my silence would give her the hint to stop talking to me, but, as always, she didn’t know when to let things go.

I clenched my fists trying to contain the anger simmering just beneath the surface. Yes, I had gone back to her. Yes, I had asked her for the pack’s help in finding Grayson. But that didn’t erase years of pain or make it easier to sit in the same car

with her.

“Ava, you’re asking me to use the pack,” she pressed, her voice sharper now. “The least you can do is answer my question.”

“I don’t HAVE to do anything.” I snapped, finally turning to glare at her. “You already agreed to let them help. If you’re just going to use this to guilt–trip me or hold it over my head, then tell the driver to stop the car and you can take them and leave. I’m not in the mood for this today–or any other day, for that matter.”

She sighed heavily, but to my relief, she didn’t say anything else. I turned my attention back to the window, the cold glass against my temple doing little to cool the heat rising in my chest. Still, just being near her brought the anger bubbling back to the surface, no matter how hard I tried to shove it down.

“Did you have to come with me?” I asked, unable to hold back the venom in my voice. “Or ride in the same car as me? Shouldn’t you be doing something else–like, I don’t know, being a terrible mother?”

“That’s enough, Ava,” she said tightly. “Now you’re just being cruel.”

“I’m being cruel?” I scoffed, turning to face her fully now. “I’m the one who’s cruel? What do you call the way you and Father treated me my entire life? I never did anything wrong. I never asked to be some child of prophecy. And yet you two ruined my childhood. You ruined every year after because you thought I was the wrong choice.”

Her expression hardened, but there was a flicker of something in her eyes–guilt, maybe? Regret? It was hard to tell, and I wasn’t in the mood to care.

“That’s not true,” she said quietly. “Everything we did, we did for your benefit. We tried to make you strong.”

“But you made me miserable instead,” I shot back, my voice trembling with barely contained fury. I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to steady myself. “That’s why I left, you know. That’s why I wanted to escape everything–to pretend, even for a little while, that I wasn’t Ava Pierce. Because being your daughter is nothing but anger and pain and questions that never get answered.”

The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating. I stared out the window, willing myself to stay calm, but the question that I had asked but didn’t allow myself to get the answer and I’d been avoiding for weeks clawed its way to the surface. I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“Do you know where she is? Or if she’s alive?”

My mother’s silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer than I’d ever heard it. “I don’t know where or who she is. Your father and I could never find her–or the person who took her. But I know she’s alive. I’ve never stopped feeling it.”

“Way to be maternal,” I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes and turning away from her again.

I let my thoughts drift, trying to process what she’d said. A sister. I had a sister. I hadn’t let myself think about it too much

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Chapter 199

chest. Somewhere out there,

alike? Were we identical or fraternal? It was almost funny–the idea that there could be someone walking around who looked

she even know I existed? Or had she been lied to her entire

Was she happy?

Safe?

car jolted to a sudden stop, snapping me out of

My mother asked sharply.

apologetic. “Luna, we’ve

empty streets. Frustration bubbled up in my chest as I

her, trying to keep the

still pissed at you, she began, as she had every time we’d spoken since I reached out to her to ask if Rickon had made progress in the hours I refused to help.

for any trace of Grayson. His scent had been faint at best in

crush me. I had dragged everyone into this,

clipped. “We’ve been running around in circles, chasing shadows. We’re wasting time, and Grayson-” My voice caught, and I

closer, her expression softening just enough to make me uneasy. “Ava-”

don’t get to play the concerned parent when

flinched, just slightly, but didn’t argue.

Grayson had been

through my thoughts. “Luna, what are

waiting for her to make the call. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Keep moving,” she said. “Search the surrounding

into the car, the sinking feeling in my chest only deepened. Time was slipping away, and with every second that passed, the chances of finding Grayson

time in what felt like hours, silence settled

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Chapter 199

wolf stir again, stronger this time, her voice cutting through

Let go.

and louder until they became the only thing I could hear. My heart hammered in my chest, and somehow, something inside me shifted. I exhaled slowly and forced myself to let go–of

for not believing in me, for not trusting me enough. Gone. The ache of not

let it all go.

then I focused. Grayson. Only

that had tied me to him, every fleeting second that made me feel whole. The way he looked at me, his protective intensity, his rare, disarming smile. His voice, low and certain, replayed in my mind like

would rather let the world burn than

what is

look beautiful no matter

you