Abandoned Luna Now Untouchable (Cecilia) novel Chapter 34

Cecilia

The dinner party ended.

Sebastian emerged looking perfectly sober-piercing eyes clear, stride steady. But when he handed us the room card and told us to settte the bill, Beta Sawyer and I exchanged

glances. Our Alpha was definitely drunk.

Amara seemed more composed tonight than yesterday. She scurried to Sebastian’s side on quick, dainty steps, tugging at his arm with familiar ease that made my wolf bristle inside me.

“Want to come to my place?” she purred. “I have that whiskey you like.”

“No.”

Sebastian’s rejection was immediate, clipped-the single syllable leaving no room for negotiation. That was pure Alpha speech-short, direct, absolute.

We continued down the corridor, the tension still humming in the air.

Then it happened.

Sebastian’s boot caught on a raised edge of the carpet. His balance shifted.

Before Beta Sawyer or I could react, Amara stepped forward, already positioned like she’d been waiting for this exact moment. Arms slightly outstretched, her expression carefully composed.

He was about to fall straight into her.

But instead-his hand shot backward.

It caught my wrist.

There was no-warning.

One second I was walking behind him, the next-l was airborne. Yanked forward with such force that my heels barely touched the floor.

I collided with Amara. Hard.

She stared at me.

And in them, I saw something raw. Furious. Wounded.

He had pulled me between them.

He had chosen-me.

She stepped back. Slowly. Her jaw tight, spine rigid, hands clenched at her sides.

Then she turned and walked away without a word, her heels echoing down the corridor like gunshots.

I stood frozen.

Still catching my breath. Still processing.

Three days into this job, and I’d just been used as a shield-by an Alpha. Against another wolf.

And I had no idea what that meant.

Once in the car, I noticed a sharp pain in my knee. Looking down, saw an ugly purple bruise forming, specked with tiny blood spots where I’d collided with Sebastian’s leg.

Werewolf bones might as well be steel. My fair, delicate skin always bruised easily, but this looked particularly bad

Sebastian sat beside me, eyes closed, one hand supporting his head His face was peaceful, almost serene in the dim light of the car-like he hadn’t just used me as a human shield minutes earlier. He appeared to be sleeping.

At the hotel, I tried calling his name several times. No response.

Actually drunk, then.

Beta Sawyer and a male hotel attendant struggled to help him to his room. All six-foot-three of pure Alpha werewolf muscle-they were both sweating profusely by the time they managed it.

“How’s your knee?” Beta Sawyer asked when he emerged from the bedroom, his sharp eyes immediately noticing my injury. “You should ice that.”His concern seemed genuine.

Ill ice it in my room,” I replied.

“Go ahead. I can handle things here.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

At the door, I paused and turned back. “You should accompany the Alpha to the summit tomorrow. I won’t come up in the morning. The factory is on Jurong Island in the west-quite a distance. I want to head out early so I can get back sooner.”

“Fine,” Beta Sawyer agreed. “Call if you need anything.”

I murmured my assent and left.

Back in my room, i took a shower and settled into the armchair with ice for my knee. The moment I pressed it against the bruise, I hissed in pain.

Yet somehow, as the pain pulsed, I found myself laughing. The absurdity of my situation hit me all at once.

This trip-supposedly a working distraction from my divorce-was turning out to be quite the adventure. Between drunk werewolves, corporate intrigue, and being used as a human shield, it was certainly more eventful than my original plan of a solitary journey to experience the freedom of Iceland’s isolation.

“How long has it been since you came home? Since you sat down and ate a meal with your mate like a husband should?”

“You promised to take her to see the Northern Lights in Iceland. Instead, you lied-told her you had a business trip, then took your mistress instead.”

“She knows everything, Xavier.”

“She couldn’t sleep for weeks. Lived on sleeping pills just to get through the night. And yet she kept showing up at work like nothing was wrong. The only time she broke down, she cried for hours. I’ve known her since we were children. I’ve never seen her like that.” Harper’s voice trembled, but she didn’t stop.

“She gave up everything for you. Do you remember that?”

“She wanted to study medicine. But she changed her major to finance-just to be at your university. She disobeyed her parents for the first time. She agreed to a secret marriage.

She worked herself to the bone for four years just to prove she was worthy of you.”

“And you destroyed her.”

“She’s not divorcing you because she’s weak, Xavier. She’s doing it because she’s strong enough to walk away without screaming.”

“She sold everything. Even the wedding ring. Burned your wedding photos in front of you

-to remind herself never to look back.”

Harper paused. Her voice dropped, quieter, but no less cutting.

“I’m not telling you this to punish you. I’m telling you because she’s not coming back. If there’s anything left in you that resembles a man, you’ll give her the final shred of dignity she deserves.”

Silence fell.

Then Xavier hunched forward, like something had snapped inside him.

A growl tore from his throat-low, animal, broken.

And then he ripped the divorce papers in half.

“I won’t divorce her,” he snarled, eyes flashing gold

“Who says I don’t love her?” he shouted. “I love her! I love her! I love her!” Harper stared at him.

And for the first time in all the years she’d known him…

She wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her-Or himself.