Chasing His Kickass Luna Back novel Chapter 58

I’m pacing my living room, a glass of whiskey in hand, lost in my thoughts. The night has been a cocktail of emotions—high spirits at the party, laughter with Abby… And then, of course, there was the palpable tension with Chloe.

I thought I had managed to keep my feelings under wraps, maintain the casual facade. But Chloe had to go and ruin it, filling the air with words like poison darts.

“Stay away from him,” she had whispered to Abby, not knowing that I was within earshot.

Who the hell does she think she is?

I throw myself onto the leather chair, my fingers gripping the armrests, the echo of Chloe’s words still fresh in my mind. “Stay away from him,” she had said, as though her voice could erect a wall between Abby and me—a wall I’m not certain even I could scale at this point.

“What is her problem?” I growl to myself, my thoughts a whirlwind of frustration.

“She clearly dislikes you,” my wolf interjects, his voice a rumbling presence in the depths of my consciousness.

“You think I can’t see that? And it’s not the first time, either,” I retort, my mind slipping back in time, to another party, another confrontation.

It had been a similar occasion. Friends, laughter, a lively atmosphere.

Abby had been radiant, the center of my universe. But then Chloe had started arguing with me. About what, I can barely remember.

What I do recall is the anger, my territorial instincts flaring up, the undeniable urge to assert my dominance. I had ended up kicking her out of the party.

The aftermath was equally vivid. Abby had been furious, her eyes ablaze with a fire I had rarely seen.

“You’re trying to ruin my friendships, Karl,” she had yelled, her voice strained with emotion. She had left with Chloe, her best friend, her confidant. Abby hadn’t come home for two days. When she finally did, the atmosphere between us had been colder than a winter night.

“You were a jerk to Chloe,” she’d told me, her voice heavy with disappointment when I tried to kiss her. “If you can't be nice to my friends, then don’t expect any affection from me.”

I groan, dragging my hands down my face, the weight of the past settling on my shoulders. “Is this what it's always going to be?” I ask out loud. “If I ever have a chance with Abby again, am I going to spend my life tiptoeing around her friends who can’t stand me?”

“You weren’t the best husband,” my wolf remarks, a touch of reproach in his tone. “You left Abby. You mistreated her. What do you expect?”

“I know, okay? I know I screwed up. And I’m working damn hard to be a better man—to be the kind of man Abby deserves,” I snap, my voice tinged with bitterness. “But it’s like no one can see that. No one’s even willing to give me a chance to prove I’ve changed.”

“Abby sees it,” my wolf whispers, his voice softening. “She might not fully realize it yet, but she senses the change in you. Otherwise, she wouldn’t allow you back into her life, even in the small ways that she has.”

I lean back into the chair, letting the words sink in, a tiny glimmer of hope in a sea of doubt and regret. Maybe my wolf is right. Maybe Abby does see the changes in me. And maybe, just maybe, that will be enough to rebuild what I’ve shattered.

Just then, my phone buzzes on the coffee table, ripping me from my internal monologue. The caller ID displays Gianna, my ever-efficient secretary.

“Hello?”

“Karl, you need to come home next weekend,” she says without preamble. “Your Council has called a meeting. Can you come?”

Home. The pack. The responsibilities I’ve been skirting ever since I moved to the city. I realize I can’t put it off any longer.

“Fine,” I say, gritting my teeth. “I’ll be there.”

I hang up, feeling the weight of my double life—the life I left behind and the one I’m struggling to build. It’s a constant juggling act, and sometimes I drop the ball.