The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

V

Chapter 268

-Ava’s POV-

I blinked, pushing myself up, but pain tore through me, sharp and unrelenting. A gasp slipped past my lips as the sensation threatened to pull me under again. At the same time, memories poured into me, scattered and disjointed, and my hands flew to my stomach in an instinctive, desperate movement. My heart pounded as I focused, searching–feeling.

Relief crashed over me when I knew, just knew, they were okay.

If I survived this–if I actually brought them into this world–I was going to scream to the heavens for hours.

I tried again, forcing myself up despite the protest of my body. The pain bit down even harder, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through.

Where was I?

What had happened?

The last thing I remembered clearly was Dylan’s voice, venomous and cold, I’m going to kill Grayson. Then the overwhelming pain of my legs healing, the way it consumed me–dragging me under.

I must have blacked out.

Despite the pain, I tried to move again, but a voice cut through the silence.

“Do you want to know the first time I saw you?”

I froze.

My head snapped toward the sound, and my eyes locked onto Crystal.

She sat there, perfectly composed, sipping tea as if we weren’t in the middle of whatever this was. A small smile curved her lips, and for a moment, the room seemed to sway.

I stared at her, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t trust my voice.

She leaned back, completely unbothered, and continued, “It was on our eleventh birthday. Long before that, Damien had already told me who I was, where I came from–who all of you were. He told me I had a sister.”

Crystal’s fingers traced the rim of her cup, her eyes distant, “And I hated him for taking me away from my family. But I never said anything. I let him mold me into what he wanted. Still, I was just a child. I was naive. So, one day, I snuck out because I wanted to see you.”

Her voice was steady, but there was something beneath it. A flicker of something unreadable in her expression.

She placed the cup down and tilted her head slightly, “I remember everything about that night. I found my way back to our parents‘ house–it wasn’t difficult. I knew who they were, what they represented. But what struck me the most was celebration. It was your birthday. And it was grand.”

Her lips curled into something almost amused, almost bitter, “There was music, lights, an endless parade of people there just to celebrate you. And I stood outside, watching from the shadows, taking it all in. Watching my mother, my father-” Her voice hardened slightly, “-watching the family I was stolen from dote on you, the daughter they got to keep.”

The weight of her words pressed against my chest, but she didn’t stop.

“I remember thinking, ‘I want to go inside. I want to see her up close. I want her to see me.”

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as much as I could. No one noticed me at first. Why would

“Then, finally,

I said nothing.

and deliberate, “You bumped into

A pause.

looked at me, and for the briefest second, I thought–maybe–you saw something. Maybe some unspoken connection would ignite, maybe there would be a flicker

Her eyes darkened.

you wrinkled your nose and asked, ‘Who let this thing in?”

between

slap to the face, but Crystal

that didn’t belong. And you know what they did?

a light, breathy laugh, but there was nothing joyful

Ava. That was the moment I learned exactly who we were. Prideful, stuck–up people

onto mine, unwavering. “And I realized something that night. I had spent my whole life mourning a family that had never mourned

trace of familiarity in the story she had just told me, but all I found was a deep, unsettling void. I had no recollection of that night. No memory of ever treating someone like that. Of turning my nose up at a lost little girl, of standing by while our parents discarded her like she

wasn’t that exactly how they would have wanted

like a

me to be the perfect daughter–the perfect

never

Had I?

looked down on anyone, never dismissed someone as if they weren’t worth acknowledging. And yet…

ad no

the other version of me. The one showed me how I like to

Repression.

good at

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don’t remember that happening.” My voice was hoarse, uncertain, “And if

in sharply before I could

was I!”

lashed out like a whip, raw and unfiltered.

family. The family she had been stolen from. But you-” Her voice cracked, just slightly, before she pressed forward, “you all

ebbed, but the resentment remained, simmering just beneath

then, just like that, her

Cold. Calculated.

end of me ever seeing you all as

ran down my

continued, her voice smooth now, detached. “That I carried the essence. That I was

about me. I chose to focus on what mattered. I stayed quiet. I