The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

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Chapter 256

Chapter 256

-Ava’s POV-

| let out a shuddering breath, my fingers tightening around his hand. It felt cold, unnaturally still, and yet,

somehow, | still expected him to squeeze back. To open his eyes. To scowl atthe way he always did when |

challenged him. But there was nothing.

Silence.

Emptiness.

| swallowed against the lump in my throat, willing myself to be stronger than this, to be harder than this. But the

moment | spoke again, my voice cracked.

“You were supposed to fix things.”

The words felt like acid on my tongue.

“I hated you for so long, and spart ofstill does. But | would take us continuing how we’ve always been.

Forme seeing you as the enemy and fighting with you than this.”

My chest tightened as | stared at him, his face slack, peaceful in a way that felt unnatural. Luther Pierce was

never peaceful. He was absolutely dreadful and this was so wrong.

“I need you to wake up.”

My voice dropped to a whisper, raw and broken.

“I need you to fight like you always have. For once, not against me, but with me. | know it is impossible but |

need you to find a way to do that still.

My breath hitched, and | squeezed my eyes shut. Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. | had spent so much of my

life trying to break free of his shadow, and now, sitting here, | realized how much ofhad been built in

reaction to him.

| sniffled, shaking my head as | wiped angrily at my eyes. This isn’t fair.

“And you know what the worst part is?” | let out a breathless laugh, my voice shaking with anger and grief all at

once, “Even now, lying there, you still win. You still get to be the center of everything. You still get to consume

me, even in silence.”

| exhaled shakily, finally allowing myself to slump forward, resting my forehead against the edge of the bed.

“Damn you, Father.”

For a long time, | just sat there, the quiet hum of the healer’s quarters the only sound in the room. | thought

about everything-about the years of resentment, the hard-earned moments of understanding, the way we had

started to almost find a middle ground before it was all ripped away.

| thought about how | had never gotten the chance to hear him say he was sorry. Not properly. Not fully.

And now, | never would. And | wanted that so badly. | wanted to know what it would be like being on the sane

page family and this tit lasted for the rest of my life.

with my

| squeezed his hand one last tbefore whispering, “Goodbye, Luther.”

That was when it happened. A twitch.

A barely-there movement beneath my fingers.

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Chapter 256

1 froze, my breath catching in my throat. My heart pounded wildly as | stared at his hand, waiting, praying that |

hadn't imagined it.

And then it happened again.

A single, weak twitch of his fingers.

| sucked in a sharp breath, my pulse roaring in my ears. No. No, it’s not possible.

He wasn’t supposed to wake up. The healers had said | shot to my feet, my chair scraping against the floor as |

staggered

back.

And then, just as my vision blurred with tears, just as my mind caught up to what was happening.

His fingers twitched again.

| swallowed hard, my pulse still uneven from what | thought | had seen-what | knew | had seen. But now, as | sat

there, watching, waiting, there was nothing Just the sstillness, the sunnerving quiet that had filled the

room since | first walked in.

“Do it again.” | whispered. My fingers trembled as they hovered over his hand, waiting for another twitch but

nothing came.

1 let out a shaky breath, pressing my lips together as my shoulders sagged. | imagined it. Just like | had

imagined Grayson standing at his grave, looking at me.

That thought settled deep insidebut if that moment with Grayson hadn’t been a hallucination? What if it had

been him reaching out-calling tofrom the In-Between?

Still it was different because my father was dead so....

| studied his face once more, searching for something | wasn’t even sure existed. And then, before | could

second-guess myself, | did something | never thought | would.

| leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

The contact was brief, barely there, but the weight of it sat heavy in my chest. It felt like a goodbye, even if |

wasn't sure if | meant it as one.

| pulled back and let my gaze linger on him one last tbefore | turned and walked out.

Camilla was waiting just outside the door. She looked at me, searching my expression for something-maybe a

sign of hope. maybe devastation. | wasn’t sure what she saw, but when | nodded at her, she said nothing. She

just stepped aside, letting me

go,

I moved through the halls, each step heavier than the last, until | reached the back entrance. The cool night air

hitas | stepped outside, the familiar scent of damp earth and water wrapping around me.

And then | saw her.

My mother sat by the lake, barefoot, dressed in nothing but a sweater and sweatpants. Her shoulders were

hunched, her posture loose in a way that unsettled me. She looked lost. Not just in thought, but truly lost, as if

she didn’t know how to find her way back.

For a second, she tensed-maybe she heard my footsteps, maybe she felt my presence. But then she slumped

again, her shoulders curving forward as she stared out at the water.

| took a deep breath, pushing away the anger, the resentment, the endless list of why did yous and how could

yous. Seeing her like this... it was hard to hold onto those feelings the way | wanted to.

Chapter 256

| walked forward and sat down beside her, my eyes fixed on the lake. The silence stretched between us, thick

and heavy, before | finally broke it

You hadlocked in my room for three days when | went into the lake?

My voice wasn’t accusing just there. A simple fact. A memory, A piece of the past that still lived between us

The words tended between us, quiet but sharp, cutting through the willness like a blade,

For a moment, | thought she wouldn’t respond. She just stared at the water, her face eerily still, her hands curled

into the Gabric of her sweater like she was holding onto it for dear life.

And then, finally, she spoke.

| have never known how to be any other way, she admitted, her voice low, almost hesitant. “I thought | was

doing the right thing

| thought | was doing the right thing/

And just like that-those exact words were all it took.

The anger erupted.

word

word

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