The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 126

-Grayson'’s POV-

The buzzing of my phone finally broke through my concentration, draggingaway from the solitude | had been

clinging to. My eyes flicked to the screen, Ava’s nglaring back atlet out a long sigh before turning off

the screen without answering.

Rickon, sitting across fromwith his usual smirk plastered on his face, raised a brow. “Are you sure you don’t

want to take it? | promise | won't make smoochy noises.”

I leveled a flat look at him, lacking the energy to muster a proper glare. “Do you ever stop?”

Leaning back in his seat, he lifted his glass to his lips, shrugging casually. “Didn’t get a lot of attention growing

up. So, i figure I'll keep doing everything | can to get it now,” he said, a faint smile touching his lips. For a

moment, | thought that was the end of it, but then | caught the shadow in his eyes. “If you want to blame

someone for how | act, blmy parents.”

| stayed silent, caught off guard by the unexpected admission. Rickon, always quick with a sarcastic remark or a

grin, had let something slip that felt... raw. It wasn’t what | expected, and for a moment, | didn’t know what to

say. Somewhere in his flippant comment, | saw a reflection of my own damaged past, the ghosts of a childhood

neither of us could escape.

Before | could decide whether to say anything, my phone buzzed again, shattering the moment. | silenced it

without looking at the screen.

Rickon’s tone shifted slightly, a hint of seriousness creeping in. “Why aren't you taking her call?”

| didn’t answer immediately, leaning back in my seat and running a hand through my hair. Finally, | said, “For the

sreason | told you not to mention this to Isabella. And | hope you didn’t.”

His raised hand, the one not holding his glass, was a gesture of mock surrender. “I didn’t say a word. You know,

I'm quite honored. Out of everyone you could've dragged on this little adventure, you chose me.” He grinned,

the familiar teasing glint returning to his eyes.

| shook my head, already regretting the decision. The moment | called him to joinon this trip to Italy, | knew

I'd made a mistake. But | needed someone | could trust to accompanyto Ricardo’s pack. Whatever trouble

they were stirring up needed to be curbed because | wasn’t in the mood to let things escalate into a full-blown

war. Not when | already had too

fires to put out. many

It had been two days since Carter informedabout the situation, and I'd spent that tputting everything in

place for my departure. | hadn't told Ava about my plans, nor had | mentioned the curse. Things between us

were good-no arguments, no tension-and | wanted to keep it that way. Bringing up issues | could handle myself

would only complicate things. That's why | left Liam in charge and called Rickon.

The phone buzzed again, and | sighed heavily.

Rickon smirked, clearly enjoying my frustration. “She’s not going to stop calling, you know. Why don’t you just

answer it?”

| glanced at the screen before switching off the phone entirely and tossing it onto the seat beside me. “I've

already told her I'm at the office and might not be back tonight. I'll cup with something else later.”

“You do realize,” Rickon began, swirling the liquid in his glass, “that lying is a slippery slope, right? One lie turns

into two, then three, and before you know it, you've dug a hole so deep, you can’t climb out of it.”

| didn’t respond, instead closing my eyes and leaning back in my seat, trying to find a moment of peace. The

silence stretched between us, but it didn't last long. Rickon began breathing heavily, exaggerated and

obnoxious.

00000RO00000000000

10:40 Sat, Jan 4

Chapter 120

| opened one eye, glaring at him. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” he asked innocently, his expression the picture of feigned ignorance.

“You know exactly what,” | growled, shutting my eye again.

He let out a long, tic sigh, and | could practically feel him grinning. “Fine, fine. But you can’t expectto

sit here quietly for a six-hour flight. I'm not exactly the ‘silent and brooding’ type like you.”

“And what exactly do you expectto do about that?” | muttered, already dreading whatever suggestion was

about to cout of his mouth, “Tell you a story.”

| opened my eyes to glare at him again. “Don’t answer that.”

His grin widened, and | could see he was enjoying every second of this. “Fine but you know, you're really bad at

this whole travel companion’ thing. I'm trying to make the tpass, and you're just sitting there, scowling at

me. How about a game? Something simple.”

“No.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, the grin never leaving his face. “Con, it'll be fun. We

could play ‘Would You Rather’ or maybe-"

“No.”

“Twenty Questions?”

“No.”

Rickon let out another tic sigh, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. “You're no fun. You know

that, right?”

“I didn’t bring you here to have fun,” | said flatly, closing my eyes again.

Silence fell again, but | knew it wouldn't last. Rickon was like an overgrown pup-restless and incapable of sitting

still for long. Sure enough, a moment later, he spoke again.

“You know what | think?”

“No, and | don’t care,” | said without opening my eyes.

Ignoring me, he continued. “I think you're not as bad as you make everyone think you are.”

| cracked one eye open, giving him a look that was equal parts annoyance and disbelief. “Is that supposed to be

a compliment?”

He shrugged, the grin softening into something almost genuine. Just an observation. You put up this whole ‘cold

and unapproachable’ act, but I think deep down, you're not half as bad as you want people to believe.”

| closed my eye again, refusing to engage. The last thing | needed was Rickon psychoanalyzingon a flight to

Italy.

The silence this tlasted barely five seconds before Rickon clapped his hands together, the sound startling in

the still cabin. His grin was maddeningly smug, as though he’d just cracked the code to the universe.

“All right,” he said, leaning forward like he was about to unveil sgenius plan. “How about this? I'll shut up if

you play one gwith me. Just one.”

FD

10:40 Sat, Jan 4 G

Chapter 126

| opened one eye, narrowing it at him. “If it'll get you to stop talking, fine. One game. But don’t makeregret

this.”

90%

Rickon’s grin widened into a wolfish smile, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “Oh, trust me, Your Highness, you're

going to love this.”

FD

Somehow, | already doubted. A part ofwondered if a plane crash might be better than whatever torture he

was about to putthrough.

If only | had known then how closely the universe was listening..

word

word

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