The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 269

Chapter 269

Ava’s POV-

48

I exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself. The pain was still there–sharp, relentless–but I forced it aside. There was no time for weakness, No time for doubt.

Crystal stood across from me, her expression unreadable, her gaze cold and calculating. But I had to try.

“I know a lot has happened, Crystal. I know nothing I say can erase what you’ve been through. But I’m pregnant.” My voice was steady, but my heart pounded violently against my ribs. “You can’t have so much hate in you that you would kill two children, too.”

Something flickered across her face–too quick, too fleeting for me to fully grasp–before she shut it down.

“And so are you,” I continued, looking at her stomach, “This isn’t a world a child–any child–should be brought into.”

She didn’t move, didn’t speak further. Just stared. Watching. Calculating.

I swallowed hard and pressed forward, “It’s not too late.”

She exhaled sharply, shaking her head with a bitter laugh, “Save the redemption speech, Ava. It’s never going to work.”

Her voice was flat, emotionless, but her eyes–they burned. With what, I couldn’t tell. Anger? Pain?

“You still don’t get it, do you?” She asked, tilting her head slightly. “I don’t care about fixing this. I don’t care about making things right. The only thing that matters to me now is taking over–with Dylan.”

I tensed. My fingers curled at my sides.

“How did that happen?” I found myself asking before I could stop myself. “Damien sent you to Dylan’s pack to dismantle it, to ruin him. So why did you stay? Why did he mark you? Why are you carrying his child?”

For a moment, she just watched me, her lips pressed together as if she was deciding whether or not I was worth answering. Then, slowly, she rose to her feet.

Her fingers trailed lazily along the edge of the table as she moved toward the window, her back to me.

“You really want to know?” she asked, her voice light, almost amused. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

She turned fully then, arms crossing over her chest as she leaned back against the wall.

“Damien thought he had me on a leash. Thought I was just another one of his pawns, a weapon he could control.”

Her eyes darkened, something venomous creeping into her tone.

“But the thing about weapons, Ava? If you’re not careful, they cut you, too.”

She exhaled, her gaze drifting somewhere beyond me, lost in memory.

“I was sent to Dylan’s pack with one goal–to ensure its downfall. To get close to him, to make him trust me, and then to destroy him from the inside. Damien wanted his pack to be the first to fall.”

voice dropped lower, something unreadable laced in

seduced him. I played my part. But Dylan…” Her lips twisted, as if saying his name tasted different now. “He wasn’t what I expected.”

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Chapter 269

my breath.

to be anything he want. He was fohtees calculated–just like his uncle. And he had his own plans already in

her head slightly, her gaze narrowing as though she were recalling something

he watched me, the way he memored every wordt

to a smile, but it didn’t reach

weapon. Dylan saw

pit formed in my stomach, but I forced myself to stay

the first time in my life,

be used.

something almost amused glinting

see how he worked, how he operated. And then one day, he looked at me and said-” she let the

air between us thickened. I felt my

said simply. “That was the moment everything shifted.”

“So you switched sides?”

smiled then. A slow, deliberate

made a choice.”

no less lethal. “I chose him. And that’s why I had to

“What?”

strategic move in a long list of plays. “Damien was

left her lips, but it lacked

a while, I let him believe I was considering it. Let him think I was still on his side. Meanwhile,

her gaze burning into

when it was, all Dylan had

me, my hands curling into fists at my

Crystal. Just like Damien

flashed with

Chapter 269

her voice unwavering, “He sees me. And I love him. Just like he loves me”

swallowed hard, my throat dry,

onto mine, her next words chilling me to the

will stand beside him and this child I carry, he will be the

+48)

at first, I thought it was my body betraying me, the lingering pain warping my senses, but

on Crystal, who was watching me with that same knowing

My voice came out

than I would’ve

head, amusement flickering in her eyes,

still asked. “Why? What are we doing on a ship?” Her smirk deepened, but before she could answer, footsteps

barely had time to register the sound before the door swung open, and

Dylan.

before settling on Crystal. But

A smile.

seen before. Not the ones that dripped with amusement at someone else’s suffering. No- this was different.