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

did exactly what I was told. I seduced him. I played my part. But Dylan…” Her lips twisted, as if saying his name

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Chapter 269

held my

he never pretended to be anything he want. He was fohtees calculated–just like his uncle. And he had his own plans already in

her gaze narrowing as though she were recalling something specific.

knew why I had come to the pack, the way he watched me, the way he memored

lips curled into something close to a

as a weapon. Dylan saw me as a person.”

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

the first time in my life,

be used.

looked back at me, something almost amused glinting in her expression.

me away, he welcomed it. He let me in. Let me see how he worked, how he operated. And then one day, he looked at me and said-” she let the words hang between us, her voice dipping lower–Why are you fighting for a man who will never see you as anything but a means to an

felt my

that was it,” She said simply. “That was the moment everything

jaw. “So you switched

then. A slow, deliberate curve of her lips.

a choice.”

took a step closer, her voice softer, but no less lethal.

“What?”

strategic move in a long list of plays. “Damien was planning to pull the plug. He was going to take me away. But this?” She placed a hand over her stomach. “This

hollow laugh left her lips, but it lacked

Let him think I was still on his side. Meanwhile, I watched. I waited. As he tore through the realm,

another step forward, her gaze burning into

Dylan had to

hands curling into

Crystal. Just

flashed with something sharp.

Chapter 269

unwavering, “He sees me. And I love

my throat

mine, her next words chilling me

stand beside him and

+48)

she had just said just like it had before and at first, I thought it was my body betraying me, the

on Crystal, who was watching me with that same knowing smirk.

we?” My

I

flickering in her eyes, “We’re on a ship.”

What are we doing on a ship?” Her smirk deepened, but before she

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

Dylan.

calculating gaze sweeping over me before settling on Crystal. But for the first time since I had known him, I saw something

A smile.

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