Alpha's Discarded Luna (Talia) novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Talia’s POV

He stops in the doorway. His eyes take in the scene: Nick groaning on the floor, Imema sitting amidst shattered ceramic, bleeding from new cuts on her hands and knees. And me,

upright in the bed, damp and defiant.

“What happened?” Aires’s voice is flat.

Nick scrambles up, a born performer. “Aires! Look at her! The ‘poor victim’ of the crash just kicked us both to the ground! It’s all an act! She’s fine! But Imema-” He gestures dramatically. “She pushed her into the broken glass! She’s malicious!”

Aires’s gaze flicks from me-

flicks from me-unscathed except for the water soaking me–to Imema. Her wounds are fresh, bleeding, undeniably real. She doesn’t cry out. She bites her lip tears swimming in her eyes as she tries and fails to rise, only managing to smear more blood on the shards.

It’s a masterful tableau of silent suffering.

Aires moves. He doesn’t ask for my side. He walks to Imema, carefully lifts her from the glass-littered floor. He looks at Nick. “Call for a cleaner. I’ll take her to be treated.”

Nick nods, smug. He shoots me a triumphant glare. I simply

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Chapter 29

close my eyes, shutting them all out. I hear the unspoken promise in the air: He’ll be back for you.

Bonus

ago,

she was

An hour later, they return. Imema is in a wheelchair now, her hands and knees freshly bandaged. An hour struggling to stand. Now, she can’t walk at all. The escalation is both subtle and blatant.

I glance up from my phone, then look back down. I have nothing for them.

Aires’s frown deepens at my indifference. “Talia. Do you have an explanation?”

“No.”

Nick explodes. “Of course she doesn’t! From the car ‘accident’ to this attack, it’s a pattern! She’s trying to kill her!”

“Is that true?” Aires asks, his eyes boring into me.

I don’t look up. “Believe what you want.”

My apathy is a catalyst. Imema’s tears finally spill over. “I know you misunderstand, Talia. My relationship with Aires, it’s not what you think… I can explain…”

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I finally lift my head, a sarcastic smile on my lips. “Are you sure, Ms. Volkov?”

She wipes at her tears. “It’s all in the past… Everyone has a past. Can’t you find it in your heart to forgive me?” Her lip trembles. “Do I… do I have to die for you to be satisfied?”

I meet her watery gaze, my smile turning gentle, almost kind. “Sure. Then you should die.”

“Talia!” Aires’s roar shakes the room.

I scoff. “Why are you yelling at me? She’s the one offering to die. Am I to blame for her suicidal ideation?”

Imema’s eyes go wide with a convincing, frantic horror. “If that’s what you want…!” She lurches up from the wheelchair with surprising strength for someone with freshly bandaged legs and staggers toward the large hospital window. “Then I’ll do it! I’ll give you

what you want!”

“Imema, no!” Nick shouts, lunging.

Aires is faster, blocking her path, his hands on her shoulders. “Imema! Stop this!”

She becomes a whirlwind of hysterics, sobbing, screaming. “She hates me! I should never have come back! Let me go! Let me

gies”

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Chapter 29

The room descends into chaos-Nick’s shouts, Aires’s commands, Imema’s theatrical wails.

A clear, icy laugh cuts through the noise. Mine.

I look at Imema, my head tilted. “Since the Alpha and his herald don’t want you to die, then don’t. It’s so performative. Why not eat shit instead? That would amuse me far more.” My smile is sweet, poisonous. “You want to make me happy, don’t you, Ms. Volkov? You wouldn’t refuse, would you?”

Nick is purple with rage. “You vile-! How dare you!”

I widen my eyes in faux innocence. “I tell her to die, she runs for the window. I suggest an alternative, and you’re still not pleased? Do you prefer she jumps? Is that the outcome you’re both hoping for?”

“Talia, that is enough.” Aires’s voice is a whip-crack.

r

My smile vanishes. My face hardens into stone. “The only ones who need to stop are you. You are the ones creating a spectacle in my sickroom.” I lock eyes with Aires, letting him see the depth of my contempt. “I haven’t begun to settle my grievances with you, yet you barge in here with your circus. Don’t be so shameless, Aires.”

I lean forward, my voice dropping to a deadly calm. “First, I did

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< Chapter 29

not push her. Second,” I let my gaze sweep over the weeping Imema, “even if I had, she earned it.”.

A cold fury sparks in Aires’s eyes. He opens his mouth to speak.

The door swings open.

“What is this noise? This is a hospital room, not a town square.”

Raymond Capaldi stands in the doorway. He takes in the scene with a single, sweeping glance: the tear-streaked actress, the apoplectic sidekick, the furious Alpha, and me, the epicenter of the storm.

A slow, easy smile touches his lips, but his golden eyes are cold. “My apologies for interrupting this drama. The physician was quite clear, Lia requires rest and quiet.”

He steps fully into the room and looks directly at Aireș.

“Wha

you

n wait until after she’s discharged. Don’t

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Alpha’s Discarded Luria

Chapter 30

Aires’ POV

Raymond Capaldi ignores everyone else. He places a simple thermal cup on my wife’s bedside table with a casualness that feels like a territorial claim.

“Lia, you must be hungry. I brought you something.”

“Thank you, Mr. Capaldi,” Talia says, her voice soft. Too soft. A tone she hasn’t used with me in years.

Nick, ever the fool, seizes the opening. “Can’t even wait for the divorce to be final, Talia? This is a hospital, not a cheap motel. Have some shame.”

He’s holding back for my sake, but his contempt is a live wire. “You’re disgraceful.”

r

Capaldi doesn’t even glance at him. His focus is on me, a faint, challenging smile on his lips. “Alpha Perseus. Even if you despise your mate, mustering your… entourage to harass her while she’s injured is poor form.”

My face feels carved from ice. “You know she is my wife. So explain your… solicitude.”

Hedone my homework on Raymond Capaldi. Heir to the 16:31