The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

hapter 199

Chapter 199

-Ava’s POV-

“So the Beta is the one responsible for all of this? So he can take the throne?” My mother asked.

| kept my gaze locked on the window, watching the blur of buildings and trees flash past as the car sped down

the road. | hoped my silence would give her the hint to stop talking to me, but, as always, she didn’t know when

to let things go.

| clenched my fists trying to contain the anger simmering just beneath the surface. Yes, | had gone back to her.

Yes, | had asked her for the pack’s help in finding Grayson. But that didn’t erase years of pain or make it easier

to sit in the scar

with her.

“Ava, you're askingto use the pack,” she pressed, her voice sharper now. “The least you can do is answer my

question.”

“I don’t HAVE to do anything.” | snapped, finally turning to glare at her. “You already agreed to let them help. If

you're just going to use this to guilt-tripor hold it over my head, then tell the driver to stop the car and you

can take them and leave. I'm not in the mood for this today-or any other day, for that matter.”

She sighed heavily, but to my relief, she didn’t say anything else. | turned my attention back to the window, the

cold glass against my temple doing little to cool the heat rising in my chest. Still, just being near her brought the

anger bubbling back to the surface, no matter how hard I tried to shove it down.

“Did you have to cwith me?” | asked, unable to hold back the venom in my voice. “Or ride in the scar

as me? Shouldn't you be doing something else-like, | don’t know, being a terrible mother?”

“That's enough, Ava,” she said tightly. “Now you're just being cruel.”

“I'm being cruel?” | scoffed, turning to face her fully now. “I'm the one who's cruel? What do you call the way you

and Father treatedmy entire life? | never did anything wrong. | never asked to be schild of prophecy.

And yet you two ruined my childhood. You ruined every year after because you thought | was the wrong choice.”

Her expression hardened, but there was a flicker of something in her eyes-guilt, maybe? Regret? It was hard to

tell, and | wasn't in the mood to care.

“That's not true,” she said quietly. “Everything we did, we did for your benefit. We tried to make you strong.”

“But you mademiserable instead,” | shot back, my voice trembling with barely contained fury. I sucked in a

sharp breath, trying to steady myself. “That's why I left, you know. That's why | wanted to escape everything-to

pretend, even for a little while, that | wasn’t Ava Pierce. Because being your daughter is nothing but anger and

pain and questions that never get answered.”

The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating. | stared out the window, willing myself to stay calm, but the

question that | had asked but didn’t allow myself to get the answer and I'd been avoiding for weeks clawed its

way to the surface. | couldn't hold it back anymore.

“Do you know where she is? Or if she’s alive?”

My mother’s silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer than

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I'd ever heard it. “I don’t know where or who she is. Your father and | could never find her-or the person who

took her. But | know she’s alive. I've never stopped feeling it.”

“Way to be maternal,” | muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes and turning away from her again.

I let my thoughts drift, trying to process what she’d said. A sister. | had a sister. | hadn't let myself think about it

too much

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Chapter 199

before now, but the realization was sinking in like a stone in my chest. Somewhere out there, there was someone

who was supposed to be my other half.

Was she like me? Did we look alike? Were we identical or fraternal? It was almost funny-the idea that there could

be someone walking around who looked exactly like me. But the thought was bittersweet, too,

Did she even know | existed? Or had she been lied to her entire life, the way | had been?

Was she happy?

Safe?

The car jolted to a sudden stop, snappingout of my thoughts.

“What's going on?” My mother asked sharply.

The driver's voice was calm but apologetic. “Luna, we've reached the end of the road.”

| opened the door and stepped out, glancing around. My surroundings offered nothing but dead ends and empty

streets. Frustration bubbled up in my chest as | reached out through my mental link to Isabella.

‘We've hit another dead end, | told her, trying to keep the bitterness out of my tone.

Her reply calmost instantly. I'm still pissed at you, she began, as she had every twe’d spoken since |

reached out to her to ask if Rickon had made progress in the hours | refused to help. ‘But we haven't found

anything either.

Rickon’s wolves had been searching alongside my mother’s pack, combing through the city for any trace of

Grayson. His scent had been faint at best in the places we'd checked, and the phones-his and Elaine’s-had been

found abandoned in a bar. It was like they’d vanished into thin air.

| clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms as the weight of it all threatened to crush me. | had dragged

everyone into this, and for what? We were no closer to finding them than we had been when this started.

“This is pointless,” | said aloud, my voice hard and clipped. “We’ve been running around in circles, chasing

shadows. We're wasting time, and Grayson-" My voice caught, and | clenched my jaw, forcing myself to continue.

“Grayson doesn’t have tfor us to keep screwing around.”

My mother stepped closer, her expression softening just enough to makeuneasy. “Ava-"

“No,” | snapped, cutting her off. “Don’t. Don’t pretend to care now. You don’t get to play the concerned parent

when you've spent my entire life being anything but.”

She flinched, just slightly, but didn’t argue.

| turned away from her, my eyes scanning the empty streets once more. The scent of Grayson had been faint-

too faint to follow-but | couldn't shake the feeling that we were missing something.

The driver's voice broke through my thoughts. “Luna, what are your orders?”

| looked to my mother, waiting for her to make the call. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Keep

moving,” she said. “Search the surrounding area. We'll find something.”

But as | climbed back into the car, the sinking feeling in my chest only deepened. Twas slipping away, and

with every second that passed, the chances of finding Grayson alive felt thinner and thinner.

| closed my eyes, leaning back against the seat, and for the first tin what felt like hours, silence settled in my

mind. | felt

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Chapter 199

my wolf stir again, stronger this time, her voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.

“He is your fate. Let go. Focus. Find him.”

The words echoed in my head, growing louder and louder until they becthe only thing I could hear. My heart

hammered in my chest, and somehow, something insideshifted. | exhaled slowly and forced myself to let go-

of everything. All the anger, frustration, and pain.

The rage at my parents for their lies and the way they'd treatedmy entire life. Gone. The resentment | held

toward Grayson for not believing in me, for not trustingenough. Gone. The ache of not knowing my sister,

the questions that still clawed at the edges of my sanity. Gone. Isabella’s anger at me. Gone..

| let it all go.

And then | focused. Grayson. Only Grayson.

| thought of every moment that had tiedto him, every fleeting second that madefeel whole. The way he

looked at me, his protective intensity, his rare, disarming smile. His voice, low and certain, replayed in my mind

like a melody.

“I would rather let the world burn than let anything happen to you.”

“No one touches what is mine.”

“You look beautiful no matter what

you

wear.”

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“I just... | can’t lose you.”

“I love you.”

| felt a sharp pull in my chest, and my eyes snapped open-but | wasn’t in the car anymore. My surroundings

shifted, and | was standing in a narrow, dimly lit hallway. The cold concrete walls pressed in around me, and the

faint hum of machinery filled the air.

I didn’t understand what was happening, but I didn’t have tto question it. Footsteps echoed down the hall,

growing louder, accompanied by voices. | moved quickly, ducking behind a stack of crates in the shadows. My

pulse raced, but | forced myself to remain still, quiet, focused.

The voices grew closer, and | recognized one of them instantly. Liam. His tone was casual but laced with a sharp

edge, the kind of tone he used when he was speaking to someone beneath him.

“Everything's set,” Liam was saying. His voice grew louder as they passed by my hiding spot. “They’re in the

vault below the old steel factory. The explosives are in place. We're just waiting for the signal.”

| gasped, slapping a hand over my mouth before the sound could escape. My mind raced as his words sank in. A

vault. Explosives. He's going to blow it up.

Liam and whoever he was speaking to moved further down the hall, their voices fading, but | didn’t dare move

until I couldn't hear them anymore. My heart pounded, and | could barely breathe. The air aroundseemed

heavier, charged with a sense of dread that settled deep in my bones.

Then, suddenly, | was back in the car. My eyes snapped open, and | turned to my mother, disoriented and

breathless.

“Ava? Are you okay?”

| shook my head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. My hands trembled, but | forced the words

out. “I know where they are.”

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Chapter 199

Her eyes narrowed. “What? What are you talking about?”

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“They're in a vault,” | said, my voice trembling but steadying with each word. “It's beneath the old steel factory

on the edge of the city, Liam has them, and he’s planning to blow the vault up.”

| swallowed hard, the dread sinking deeper into my chest before | finished, “In exactly one hour.”

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