The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 226

Chapter 226

-Ava’s POV-

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The first thing | saw was the flash of annoyance on her face. Annoyance at my interruption? Or annoyance at

being caught?

My eyes flickered to her hands, expecting to see a phone clutched between her fingers-sproof that she had

been talking to him. But there was nothing. When | looked back at her face, the irritation had melted away,

leaving behind something else. Exhaustion.

| shrugged it off, “Well?”

The annoyance flared again, “Do you see a phone in my hand?”

“No,” | shot back, folding my arms. “But | just heard you say, ‘I'm so mad at you, Liam, for everything you did,

but if you cback, | know we can fix this somehow.””

She rolled her eyes, “I was talking to myself.”

| raised a brow. “Right. That's normal.”

“It is when you have a lot on your mind,” She snapped. “And since you're so interested in my private

conversations, maybe you should work on your own boundaries, Ava. Eavesdropping is a bad look.” She dragged

my nout, slow and biting, full of disdain.

At least that hadn’t changed.

For a split second, | considered letting it go. Walking away. But screw that. Maybe if | hadnt been such a

pushover for most of my life, | wouldn't have let people like Damien use me. Maybe | wouldn't have been left

with so many scars | couldn’t even begin to process.

| narrowed my eyes, “Says the person who put a bug in my phone to spy on me.”

Something flickered in her expression. Guilt? It was gone too fast to tell.

| pressed on, “Did you know? That Crystal was-or is-my twin sister?”

She exhaled sharply, and for the first tsince this conversation started, she looked... tired. Not defensive. Not

smug. Just tired.

“No,” She said after a pause, her voice quieter. “I didn’t know that.”

For a moment, | didn’t know what to say.

She ran a hand through her hair, her fingers shaking slightly, “And | wasn’t talking to Liam. Well... | was. But not

really. | was practicing. Rehearsing what | would say to him if | ever.... if | ever saw him again.”

There was something raw in her voice, something vulnerable that | wasn't used to hearing from her.

| hesitated, “And you really think you can fix things? You can forgive him after everything he’s done?”

She let out a slow breath and turned toward the fountain, her gaze fixed on the water. “I don’t know,” she

admitted. “I really don’t know.”

Silence stretched between us.

Then she spoke again, softer this time. “I don’t even know how to process this kind of pain. | don’t know how to

feel. What to think. From the very start, he despised me. Used me. And the worst part?” She let out a bitter

laugh. “I loved him. I still love

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Chapter 226

him.”

| didn’t respond at first.

Because this was Elaine.

Elaine, who had been nothing but a thorn in my side. Elaine, who had spied on me, manipulated me, done

everything in her power to make my life hell. | wanted to hate her. | did hate her,

And yet...

I sighed, staring at the rippling water in the fountain, “Honestly? | don’t know what | would have done either?

She turned her head sharply, eyes narrowing. She wasn’t expecting that.

I shrugged, shifting uncomfortably, “If | found out the person | loved never actually cared about me—that | was

just spawn in their game?” | let out a bitter chuckle, shaking my head, “Yeah. | don’t know how | would even

begin to process that.”

She scoffed, turning away. “You don’t have to pretend to sympathize with me.

“I'm not pretending.”

A long silence.

The only sounds were the faint trickle of the fountain, the distant rustling of leaves.

Then she exhaled sharply, “It’s not even about forgiving him. It’s that | don’t know if | can’t. Her voice wavered

slightly, and she clenched her fists at her sides. “Does that make sense?”

| hesitated before nodding, “Yeah. It does.”

“Everything | felt for him-it wasn’t fake. It wasn’t a gto me,” She said, her voice thick with emotion, “And

maybe | was blind. Maybe | was stupid. But it was real. And now, | don’t even know who | am without that.”

| studied her, arms crossed. “Then maybe you need to figure out who you are outside of him.”

She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Easier said than done.”

“I know.”

She turned then, her gaze locking onto mine, sharp and searching.

“You still want Grayson because you love him just like | do Liam,” She said suddenly.

My stomach twisted, “That's not the sthing.”

“Isn't it?”

| clenched my jaw, “No.”

She tilted her head, watchingclosely, “You sure?”

| bit the inside of my cheek. | didn’t owe her an answer.

Elsine sighed, dragging a hand through her hair, “You can stand there and pretend all you want, but love isn’t

something you just switch off, Ava. You can hate someone for hurting you. You can wish they never existed. But

that doesn’t erase what you felt for them.”

Chapter 226

| swallowed hard, “That doesn’t mean they deserve forgiveness.”

She shook her head, “No. It doesn't.”

Another silence stretched between us.

Then she let out a slow breath, “But it also doesn’t mean the love just disappears.”

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| looked away, staring at the water. | didn’t want to have this conversation. Not with her. Not when she was-

against all odds -making too much sense.

She sighed again, her voice quieter now, “Not that any of it really matters. Not if we don’t make it out of this

alive.”

The silence between us stretched, heavy and unspoken. My eyes followed hers as they drifted downward,

lingering on my stomach. The look in her gaze was almost... longing.

When she realized | had caught her staring, she quickly looked away, her expression shuttering.

| hesitated, then spoke, my voice quieter than before, “I'm really sorry about what happened.”

Her lips pressed together, and for a moment, | thought she wouldn't respond. But then she gave a small, sad

smile and placed a hand over her stomach, “I was really excited,” she murmured, almost to herself. Her fingers

traced absent patterns against the fabric of her shirt as she stared downward, “I was so happy, and | really

hoped she would be a girl. | was going to spoil her silly.” Her voice caught slightly, but she forced a breath and

continued, “I know | might coff as a bitch to most people, but | knew-I knew-I would make a great mother.”

Something in my chest twisted painfully.

| had every reason to hate Elaine. Every reason to walk away and never look back. But in this moment, all | saw

was a woman who had been shattered by loss, who had been used, discarded, and left with nothing.

And no one-no matter what they had done-deserved what Liam had done to her.

“I read somewhere,” | said after a pause, “that people raise their children the way they were raised. It's instinct-

doing what's familiar, what's ingrained in them.”

Elaine lifted her head, her eyes searching mine as | continued, “I know | don’t want to raise my child the way |

was raised. So I'll fight against that instinct every day.” My throat felt tight, but | swallowed it down. “But on the

days | can’t... will you doa favor and spoil her silly?”

Elsine blinked. Then, to my surprise, she let out a quiet, breathy laugh, “Her?”

| shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But I'm hoping, too, that it'll be a girl.”

For a long moment, she just looked at me, something unreadable in her expression. Then she exhaled, her lips

quirking up into the smallest of smiles.

“I think you'd be a good mother,” She admitted softly.

| didn’t know what to say to that.

Neither of us spoke for a while. The air between us had shifted, no longer charged with hostility but something

else— something unfamiliar. Maybe even understanding.

And then, just as quickly, that moment was shattered.

Elsine’s entire body went rigid. Her eyes widened, then unfocused, as if she were looking throughinstead of

at me. Her breathing grew shallow, and then, just as suddenly as it had happened, she snapped back to reality.

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Chapter 226

She looked at me, her face pale, It was Liam.”

A chill ran down my spine.

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“He shut a mental door between us before, but he just reached out.” Her fingers curled into fists. “He said....

he’s decided to doa favor.”

The way she said it made my stomach churn. “What kind of favor?”

Her gaze locked onto mine, unreadable but intense, “He wanted to informthat Damien is planning something

against us tomorrow. Something big.”

| stiffened.

Elaine swallowed, her throat bobbing. “And that he’ll make sure | survive it.”

Something cold settled in my gut.

She hesitated before delivering the final blow, “If | bring you to them.”

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