The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 85

-Grayson'’s POV-

“I think it's tfor you to go home.”

The words cut through the silence like a knife, dragging my attention away from the glowing laptop in front of

me. | snapped my gaze upward, my annoyance flaring before | could even process who was speaking. Liam

stood in the doorway, watchingwith a look that said he wasn’t going anywhere until | acknowledged hirri

| tried to ignore him, but his next words made it impossible. “It's been five days.”

| raised an eyebrow, keeping my voice controlled but not quite masking the irritation that crawled through me.

“And how would you know that?”

“Elaine told me,” he said casually, as though his point were already clear. “And, well, given the recent

circumstances. I'm sure your rotten attitude has something to do with Ava. | didn’t want to say anything, but it's

starting to affect my work. Everyone's on edge because of you. They're putting in effort to do things right, but

everything's falling apart. Eliza was crying when | cup here.”

My jaw tightened, and | resisted the urge to stap back with something bitter. Instead, | let my gaze darken, my

tone low and hard “She’s fucky she’s not fired. No one can do anything right

“Have you ever thought that maybe you're the problem?” Liam voice was unwavering, despite the sharpness in

mine.

The ice in my stare froze him in place, but he wasn’t done. “I mean, you're clearly upset about something that

happened. with Ava, and now everyone else is suffering for it. Why don’t you go home, figure this out, and give

us all sbreathing room? It’s bad enough that you're angry about something on a normal day, but now that

it’s related to her, it’s just another level Go home, fix it, and tone down the broodiness.”

| opened my mouth, ready to tell him to watch his tone, but he cutoff, waving his hand dismissively. “Yeah,

yeah. | know. | should watch my tone because you're all-powerful and scary. He didn’t wait forto respond,

turning on his heel and leaving without another word, leavingwith nothing but the silence of my office.

“I killed then”

The words rang through my mind as if | were still standing in that room. It was bad enough that this sentence

hauntedin memories that | would never forget. Not the part where | drove a silver blade through my father’s

chest, the part where | stared at my mother’s blank eye knowing | was responsible.

| don’t know why | said it. Maybe | needed her to understand the darkness | carried, the horrors of what | was

capable of. Maybe | wanted her to know just how deep the monster insideran, to see if she would stay

despite it-or because | didn’t want to hide that part of anything anymore.

It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thought; the words had formed before | even thought them, and her shock

mirrored. everything | needed to know about how she sawnow.

That's why I'd been avoiding her. As much as Liam irritatedhe was right. My anger was a fire that would

conseverything arounduntil | did something reckless. | didn’t want to burn her, too.

But as | walked through the door of my mansion, my first instinct was to find her. The need to seek her out was

stronger than the urge to retreat. She was in the kitchen, | was told, and | found myself moving toward it before |

could stop myself.

My feet carriedfaster than | intended, driven by something | couldn't name-something that pulledto her

despite the chaos inside me. But what | found there was a conversation Chadn’t expected, one that instantly set

my blood boiling

it was disrespect-pecially from my pack.

If there was one thing | would never tolerate

08:52

Chapter 85

24.92

| stood in the doorway, storing at the old man who was so clearly afraid ofthat he looked seconds from

soiling himself

And then, | heard her voice-soft and questioning, cutting through the tension. “Who is a great king that everyone

likes,

I narrowed my eyes at her, already knowing what she was doing. It was a distraction-a deliberate attempt to

steeraway from what was happening. But before | could react, she grabbed my hand, pullingaway from

the confrontation.

I didn’t resist as she ledaway, though I could feel the heat of boy gaze still burning a hole through the old

man’s back. | shot him one last glare, the message lear: This isn’t over.

i

Then. Ava turned to me. her face suprisingly calm, free of the disgust | had expected. Instead, she was smiling

softly as if nothing had happened “I didn’t know you were coming back today”

| couldn’t stop myself from pausing, momentarily disarmed by her smile. But the weight of the conversation |

had just interrupted quickly hitagain. | wasn’t in the mood to be distracted.

“What were you doing in the kitchen?” | demanded, my voice more forceful than | intended.

Her smile didn’t falter. “I wanted to meet the Omegas. It was going well. They even invitedto their feast

later”

My fury flared up instantly. “What feast?”

The fact that she wasn’t fazed only irritatedfurther. “The one you and | will be attending this evening. It's so

you can meet your pack members. They need to see that you're a human being.”

A laugh of disbelief almost escaped me. “There will be no feast. My voice was low and dangerous, the anger

insidensing, “I didn’t sign off on anything. If | find out who is responsible for this nonsense, 1—"

She interrupted, her smile fading into a sharp look of irritation. “You'll what? Threaten someone? Kill them? Just

like you were ready to kill that old man back there if | hadn't stepped in?” She crossed her arms, glaring at me

with a mixture of disbelief and frustration. “You didn’t even know what he was going to say, but you were already

thinking of ways to murder him.”

Her words were like a slap in the face. | tried to speak, but she cutoff, her tone unwavering “Things were

going well until you showed up and ruined it with your bad attitude.”

| blinked, stunned. “My bad attitude!”

“Yes, Grayson,” she said, her eyes hard as she met mine, unflinching. “You have a terrible attitude. Let's start

with the fact that you've been disappearing for five days, without a word. Don’t even tellyou texted me. She

pulled out her phone and started scrolling. Tuesday: | won't be coming back. Full stop Wednesday: Dealing with

killing issues. Won't be returning. Full stop. Thursday.”

| opened my mouth to argue, but she held up her hand, silencing me. “Letfinish. I get it. | pushed too far

with asking about your past. But you need to understand something. You can’t keep acting like this. Elaine

punishes Omegas for staring at her, but you're too busy hiding on your high horse to notice that. You refuse to

even acknowledge the people who work hard to keep you up there.”

She was relentless, and for the first tin a long while, | felt exposed. “The people in this pack-the Alphas in

this realm- they make you king. And they're people with feelings. You act like you find reasons to be angry when

there's no reason to be You're like a storm waiting to break, and everyone else has to suffer because of it”

| tried to speak, but she wasn’t done. “I'm not finished, | will make things right with the pack. Tim going to show

them what it means to be a leader-one who carts respect, not through fear, but through understanding. There

will be a teast, and I'll make sure it happens. You can choose to be there and show them that you're human, or

you can stay stuck in your attitude. But either way, that’s your business.”

She paused, looking atwith a finality that left no room for argument. “And you tell Elaine to stop punishing

Omegas, or

08:52 Tue, Dec 17 AGO.

Chapter 85

1 will.”

With that, she turned on her heel, walking away, and then shouted back in Italian, “Tu sei assolutamente

impossibile!” (You) are absolutely impossible!)

And just like that, she was gone. Leavingstanding in the hallway, speechless, unsure of what to say-or what

to do next.

| let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through my hair as | tried to shake off the suffocating tension that had

built up inside me

still trying to digest all her words. So, | decided to go with the original plan and headed for the exclusive open

held on my estate, where | usually let loose.

The familiar breeze hitas | began to undress, the cool air against my skin comforting in its own way. But as |

started to stretch, something felt... off. It was a subtle shift, like a whisper | couldn't quite place, an absence |

hadn’t noticed until now. My instincts kicked in, and | reached out.

Nothing.

1 paused, trying to ignore the strange tug in my chest, brushing it off as nothing. | reached again, this twith

more urgency, more focus. Still, nothing. The emptiness stretched further, the absence of that connection-his

presence- becoming clearer, more distinct.

My breath hitched, my body going rigid as the full weight of the situation hit me. | reached out again, my heart

hammering in my chest

Silence

No growl, no sharp, instinctual pull. Just an overwhelming void.

And then it hit me. A cold, paralyzing realization that crashed throughlike a wave. I couldn't feel him. |

couldn't sense

him

It was like my wolf... was gone.

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