The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 224

Chapter 224

-Grayson’s POV.

I didn’t move.

I didn’t speak.

I just watched.

The moment the word sister left Crystal’s mouth, I knew nothing would be the same. The air in the room shifted, charged with something raw, something electric. Ava clung to me, her grip like a vice, but I didn’t comfort her. I didn’t whisper

reassurances.

Because this wasn’t a moment for comfort. This was a reckoning

I saw it in the way Ava’s body tensed, in the way her breath hitched like she had been struck. The realization crashed into her, one revelation after another, like waves dragging her under with no chance to breathe.

And I let her drown.

Not out of cruelty. Not because I didn’t care. But because she needed this. She needed to feel every ounce of it, to understand exactly what kind of game was being played around her.

Crystal was enjoying this. I could see it in her eyes–the sharp gleam of amusement, the way she performed for an audience, dangling the truth in front of Ava like bait.

Damien was worse.

He barely had to lift a finger, and yet, he controlled the entire room. Every shift of his expression, every calculated chuckle, every glance toward Ava was like a string being pulled in a game only he knew the rules to.

I hated him for it.

Hated the way he spoke to her, like she was some fragile thing beneath his control. Hated the way he indulged Crystal’s venom, the way he encouraged it.

And still, I waited.

Because right now, I wasn’t the one in the line of fire. Right now, I was just an observer, a ghost at the edge of their war.

But then I felt when the truth became too much for her to bear so I finally acted, pulling her back. Away from Damien. Away from Crystal. Away from the nightmare they had dragged her into.

But Damien-

Damien was waiting for that.

I saw the flicker of satisfaction in his eyes the second I stepped into focus, the way his smirk curled just a little wider then the arrows revealed themselves like a trigger at his words and then they came right at her.

I didn’t hesitate.

The second the arrows shot toward her, my body moved before my mind could even process it. My arm wrapped around Ava, pulling her against me, shielding her as the sharp projectiles sliced through the air.

Pain seared through my shoulder, hot and immediate. One of the arrows had grazed me, a shallow wound, but it didn’t

matter.

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Feb 21

Chapter 224

Ava mattered.

feel her trembling against me, her fingers gripping onto my jacket like she

with me, I ordered, my voice firm but low,

pressed the device strapped beneath my sleeve the moment Crystal opened her mouth, and now—

erupted into chaos.

doors burst open, and my men stormed in, dressed in black weapons raised, moving like a well–oiled machine. Their entrance was met with an immediate response–Damien’s men who emerged like he had been two steps ahead and had expected this sprang into action, and within seconds, the tense undercurrent of the night exploded

through the air, deafening, a violent symphony of

I didn’t flinch.

felt the impact of another hit–this time on my side. A sharp sting, the warmth of blood

was my only

blocking her from sight. She gasped, her breath unsteady, but she didn’t fight me. Not

voice was barely a whisper, shock, confusion

got you,” I assured her, my

him before he slipped through the fray, a smirk on his lips, that infuriating, calculated gleam in his gaze. He’d orchestrated this

I hissed under my

nowhere to be seen either.

nearest exit. My men provided cover, keeping the enemy

stumbled slightly, her

going,” I urged her, my grip

see the doorway, an open path

Then-

A gunshot.

Loud. Too close.

out,

heart stopped.

time to see one of Damien’s men aiming right

Instinct took over.

Chapter 224

13

take another shot. He went down, but not before I felt a sharp, burning pain tear through my side again.

Another hit.

teeth, swallowing the

go

Didn’t stop moving.

to get her out of there.

doors and

the edges,

had her. I had her, and I

blood soaking through my jacket, her hands reaching up like she didn’t know where

voice laced with

ground out. A lie, but one

still half–raised like she didn’t know whether to reach for me or push me away. And then something shifted in her expression. Like she suddenly remembered what we were to each

her body tensed, and she took a step back.

she could put real distance between us, my knees buckled.

but my body refused to cooperate. My breath hitched as I swayed,

of me was too much and we both went

body tense against mine as we hit the pavement, her arms bracing against my chest. She

saw it the moment realization dawned in her expression–the way her breath hitched, the way her lips parted