The Sickened Luna's Last Chance novel Chapter 313

My neck flushed as I realized what I’d just said without meaning to. Shit. That was close. Too close.

“I mean…” My mind raced to come up with a viable excuse. “I’ve been around enough Lunas to know. Working as a servant, you hear things. See things. I’ve witnessed plenty of Lunas bending over backwards to please people, often to their own detriment.”

And it was the truth. Being Alexander’s Luna had led to my detriment in one way or another.

Anya tilted her head slightly, still confused. But before she could ask anything else, the sound of pebbles crunching beneath rapid footsteps made us both look up.

Alexander appeared from behind the hedges a moment later, out of breath and disheveled from running. He looked between Anya and me, and his face dropped when he saw the tears on Anya’s cheeks.

“There you are,” he said, striding forward. “I’ve been looking everywhere for both of you.”

I stood immediately, positioning myself between him and Anya. My wolf stirred restlessly at his closeness, but I shoved her down so hard this time that she whined and retreated. “What do you want?”

Alexander’s throat bobbed. “I made a mistake.” He held his hands up as if in surrender and took a step closer. “I was going to choose Anya. Her name was on the paper. But then my wolf… He took over completely. I couldn’t control him.”

Anya gasped behind me.

Alexander kept his green eyes locked onto mine. “He insisted that you’re my mate, Stella. He wouldn’t let me say anything else. He practically ripped control away from me and made me say your name instead.”

Of course he did. Because it was true.

But Alexander could never know that. Neither could anyone else.

“Well, he must be mistaken, because you’re not my mate,” I said coldly, even though the lie made a lump form in my throat. “Your wolf is just confused because I look like your dead wife. That’s all.”

“Stella-”

“And even if you were my mate,” I cut him off, lifting my chin, “I wouldn’t want to be your Luna. I told you from the beginning that I don’t want this. I never wanted it.”

Alexander’s face went pale. Something that might have been hurt flashed through his eyes, but I refused to let it soften me. This was for his own good; he might never know it, but I did. I wasn’t going to condemn him like the farmer and Liam.

Unless I found a cure, which was highly unlikely, I had to push Alexander away as hard as I could. Even if it broke both of us for reasons he would never be able to understand, I had to keep him away from me.

“Now, you need to make this right with Anya,” I said, stepping aside. “She’s the one who deserves to be Luna, not me. She’s the one who actually wants it. So figure out whatever mess you’ve created and fix it.”

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I turned to Anya and squeezed her shoulder gently. “You’ll be amazing whether you decide to be Luna or not,” I whispered. “And ultimately, it’s your decision. Not his.”

With that, I brushed past Alexander and walked out of the garden. My wolf stirred again, whining and clawing at my insides, begging me to turn around and go back to our mate. But I kept walking. I didn’t look back.

Not even when I heard Alexander call my name.

Not even when every fiber of my being screamed at me to stop.

I just kept walking until I reached my room, where I locked the door behind me and finally let myself collapse to the floor in a puddle of tears and pain. 1