The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 280

-Grayson’s POV-

“Are you sure about this?”

Ava’s voice was soft, careful, as if s

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knew exactly how heavy this moment was for me. It took me a second to register her words before I turned to her. And when I did, despite everything–the weight pressing against my chest, the ghosts lingering in the air–I smiled. Just at the sight of her.

I had been doing that a lot lately or at least for the past three days.

Three days. That’s how long it had been since I almost lost her again. Since I put an end to the threat hanging over the realm once and for all.

I exhaled slowly, turning my attention back to the house in front of me.

The remains of it.

Elaine had been right when she said I needed to confront my past to move on. Talking to my parents–or what was left of them–wasn’t going to change anything. Telling my father how much I hated that I became him, how I blamed him for making me like this, telling my mother that I wished I had never become like this… none of that would erase what was already written.

I had to come here. To where it started.

To where the hate first took root, before it festered and spread, before it grew into something so consuming that I didn’t even realize I had let it shape me.

“You want me to go in with you?” Ava asked again.

I dragged my gaze away from the house and shook my head. “I think I have to do this myself.”

She nodded, though she didn’t look convinced. I knew she wanted to argue, but she didn’t. Instead, she squeezed my hand one last time before letting go.

I turned back to the house.

The fire had taken almost everything. Almost. The structure was still standing, but it was a hollow shell of what it once was. The roof had caved in years ago, leaving jagged, blackened beams exposed to the sky. The walls were cracked, some sections barely holding together, others collapsed entirely, leaving gaping holes like open wounds.

And yet, it still felt… imposing.

Even after all these years, even as the vines crept up its broken frame and nature slowly tried to reclaim it, it still stood like it was daring me to step inside.

I inhaled.

Even now, even after so much time had passed, I could still smell the smoke.

Not fresh, not like it had just burned–but old, settled deep into the bones of the house, into the very ground. A scent that would never truly leave.

I forced my feet forward, stepping past the threshold.

The moment I did, the past crashed into me.

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10:30 Fri, 21 Mar

Chapter 280

Not just in memories, but in something deeper. Something tangible.

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calling my name.

once been grand. My mother had kept the floors polished, the dark wood always gleaming. A chandelier used

dirt and debris. The chandelier was gone–either melted in

in my mind, I was five

house was alive.

see my mother standing in the foyer, arms crossed as she smiled at me. She was beautiful–not in a delicate way, but in

had said, amusement in her

in mud, trailing it through the house as I ran to her, my little legs barely able to keep up with my excitement, “It wasn’t me!” I had laughed, though I had been the only one outside.

but there was no anger there. No real disappointment. Just

the vision shifted.

The warmth vanished.

I was

And

my

standing in that same entryway, his hand gripping

He had growled. “You think it’s

to hold back my tears. He hated when I cried. Hated when I showed weakness.

But it hurt.

My arm hurt.

had cracked, “I didn’t

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shoved me back, sending me

Not because he had hit me. Not yet. But because the weight of his disappointment had felt worse

after that

laughter had started to fade.

then, another shift.

I was twelve.

the top of the grand staircase, staring down at my father as he spoke

deep, commanding, full of confidence. The kind of

once thought I wanted to have.

realized what he was

of man he

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white. That was the first time I had ever truly thought

to another

ruins faded away, replaced by a warm

Elaine.

me away from the top of the stairs. Her blonde hair was wild from running around outside, her cheeks flushed pink. She wasn’t older than seven, and yet she had always been the one

insistently, “Before they find us!”

father and his men were

care about any of

hand tighter and pulled harder, her blue eyes shining with mischief. “You’re gonna

the hallway, past the grand windows where golden sunlight streamed in, past the shelves lined with books we were

a “trap” using two chairs, a blanket, and

is gonna be perfect,” she whispered, crouching behind a bush. “When Liam

eyebrow at her. “You do know Liam

completely undeterred, “That’s what makes it funny.”

then. A real, full laugh that felt foreign now.

light in that house, in that