When the Hidden Luna Rises novel Chapter 18

**Chained by Fate**
**Eliza Rowan**
**Chapter 18**

A heavy, almost suffocating silence enveloped the venue, as if the very air had thickened in response to the unfolding drama.

A few reporters, their pens frozen mid-scribble, exchanged glances of disbelief. Among the audience, younger she-wolves discreetly dabbed at their eyes, their emotions laid bare.

In that moment, they witnessed something profound.

An Alpha, a figure of strength and authority, setting aside his pride in front of all, kneeling in a gesture of love.

To them, it was a poignant redemption of feelings long buried.

They believed this was a reunion that the cosmos had conspired to orchestrate.

Yet Kelsey was not merely an observer in this spectacle.

She stood before Ryan, her expression calm but her heart icy, a chill creeping in where warmth once resided.

Five years—five long years of her youth had slipped away, marred by humiliation and degradation, reduced to nothing more than a shadow, a mere tool in someone else’s game.

As Ryan knelt there, vulnerability etched across his features, it struck her as touching, yes, but it also revealed something stark—he had sacrificed his dignity for a fleeting moment.

What had she lost? Her entire essence had been consumed over those five years.

If she chose to forgive him, he would bask in the world’s adoration, hailed as the “devoted Alpha.”

He could proclaim, “I’ve finally discovered my true love.”

But what would that make her?

Once again, she would merely be a prop in his tale of redemption.

It felt so unjust.

A cold smile twisted her lips, the corners lifting in a sardonic arc.

“Ryan,” she began, her voice steady, almost devoid of any inflection,

“These last five years, they were not just ordinary times.”

“Because of you, I was beaten and dragged to the police station over a hundred times.”

“The worst of it? Two of my ribs were broken.”

With purposeful steps, she approached him, each word a razor-sharp blade cutting through the air.

“If you truly loved me, then why was I forced to endure all of that?”

“I thought you were my refuge.”

“But now, it’s clear to me that all the storms I faced were conjured by your very own hands.”

Ryan’s throat tightened, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he struggled to find his voice, his complexion drained of color.

“Kelsey, it wasn’t like that. I had my reasons,” he stammered, desperation creeping into his tone.

She lifted her chin, her gaze piercing enough to make him recoil slightly.

“Reasons?” she echoed, a soft yet bitter laugh escaping her lips.

“Under your so-called ‘reasons,’ I was insulted, beaten, and branded a slut, yet you never once stood up for me.”

“Ryan, you don’t love me.”

“You simply can’t bear the thought of losing a she-wolf who knelt before you, allowing you to wield control over her.”

“Your version of love is nothing more than possessiveness.”

With that declaration, she raised her hand and hurled the “proof of innocence” documents at him.

The papers flew through the air, scattering like leaves caught in a tempest, landing against his shoulders with the harshness of a slap.

Ryan’s face turned an ashen hue, the color draining as if all vitality had been siphoned away.

He yearned to step forward, to explain, to defend himself, but her voice cut through the tension once more.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify