The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 249

Chapter 249

-Grayson’s POV-

The winds came again.

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A violent force, howling through the in–between, ripping at anything left unanchored. I moved fast, pressing my back against the crumbling stone wall of an abandoned ruin, pulling the tattered shirt tighter around me. The wind was relentless, hungry, and if it touched me–if it reached me–1 knew what would happen.

It would pull me under.

It had happened before. I had been reckless, too slow to take cover, and the storm had nearly dragged me into the nothingness beyond. I had fought it, clawed my way back, but it had left me weaker each time.

This place wanted me gone. It wanted all of us gone.

“Still trying to fight it, huh?”

I didn’t turn. I didn’t need to. I already knew who was speaking.

Jonah.

A man who had been stuck here much much longer than I could imagine. A man who never shut up.

He sat on a broken column a few feet away, grinning like this was all some grand joke. He didn’t bother hiding from the wind. It never touched him. It had stopped trying a long time ago, as if it had given up on him. That alone made me suspicious.

“You know, you could just let go,” Jonah continued, swinging his legs like a child on a swing, “Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

I ignored him, eyes scanning the horizon. The storm was easing now, the howling fading into the distance. It had found someone else.

Someone who wouldn’t fight as hard as I did.

I exhaled slowly, stepping away from the wall. My muscles were tense, my body coiled tight, always ready. Always waiting.

Jonah hopped off the column, stretching like he had just woken up from a nap. “So, what’s the plan today, big guy? More brooding? More glaring at the sky like you can intimidate it?”

I started walking. He followed. Of course he did.

I had found him a few days ago, or maybe he had found me. Time didn’t work right here. It twisted, slipped through your fingers, made you doubt what was real. I had learned quickly not to rely on it.

Jonah, however, had learned nothing.

“You’re not much of a talker, are you?” He mused, hands tucked into his coat pockets. “That’s fine. I can carry the conversation. I’m great at that. People used to tell me I talked too much, but I don’t think there’s such a thing, you know? Silence is unnatural. It makes people uncomfortable. It’s like-”

I stopped walking, “You never shut up, do you?”

grinned, “Not if I

had survived everything this place had thrown at me–storms, illusions,

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Chapter 249

be the thing that finally

still fighting.” Jonah continued, falling into step beside me again, You’re strong, sure. Probably the strongest person I’ve met here. But even you can’t win against this place forever. No one

“I’m not staying.”

shut him up for a

like it.

tried to come up with one, I still had nothing.

realm existed in a state

Jonah, of

I had stopped trying to lose him. He had

He started, drawing out the word like he had been waiting for the perfect moment

I didn’t answer.

seem surprised.

trapped in a place that wasn’t quite life and wasn’t quite death. “Alright, maybe that was too direct. Let’s ease into it. What was your life like before this? Who

I kept walking.

Come on, man, you’ve been all broody and mysterious since I met you. That’s

said nothing. My mind was already elsewhere,

had to be a way out of here. There

every direction–ruins, shadows, and a sky that never changed. No sun. No stars. Just a heavy, muted gray, like the world was permanently stuck between night and day.

meant to be heard, as if my silence was a personal offense to

No surprise there.

watching it bounce across the cracked ground. “You know, I was a werewolf. Not a particularly loved one, either. People don’t like it when you

the corner of my

That

I ignored him.

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Chapter 249

didn’t take the hint. He never did. “I wasn’t a bad guy. I just… didn’t know how to keep my mouth shut. Pack politics? Corruption? I called it like I saw it. That didn’t make me

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turned on me. Said I was a problem. Said I was making

didn’t ask for details. I

written all

kept his voice light, but there was something sharp beneath it, something bitter. “Funny, isn’t it? People always say they want honesty until they actually get it. Then, suddenly, you’re the bad

I didn’t respond.

head like we were just out for a casual walk. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop monologuing,” he said, holding up his hands in mock

I kept walking.

the worst person to be stuck with. The

Just barely.

eyes widened, and he clutched his chest in mock shock. “Oh? Did I get