Alpha’s Rue: His Shunned Luna (Athena Enchanted) novel Chapter 140

Chapter 140

“I don’t choose any sides,” I tell her, my words calm, unlike the internal turmoil I’ve been experiencing since our talk the other night. “You’ve convinced yourself that I do, so I never have a chance with you.”

“Because you choose Audrey’s side, you-”

“How about this? You talk to me,” I offer. “That’s all I’m asking for. Just communicate your thoughts and feelings with me, and I’ll handle the rest. I promise.”

She pauses, her posture rigid. “Why should I believe you? This isn’t the first promise you’ve made me.”

“Have I ever broken any?”

“Once,” she says with a slight nod. “And it hurt.”

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“Okay,” she nods.

“Yeah?” My head tilts, studying her face.

“Yeah.” She nods again, “I’ll try, but this is unnecessary.”

“It’s very much necessary, Siren.” I smile to myself, “Rowan and I are going to pick up a few things, we need to find a raw pure moonstone.”

“Mount Thione,” she quietly says.

“What?”

“That’s where you can find it,” her gaze lifts. “There’s a lot of it near the riverbank. Given you know how to identify good stones, you will most likely find it because it’s deserted and hard to get to.”

“I was going to go shopping for it in gem stores, but thank you, I’ll go to Thione.”

She nods like it’s nothing after casually having given me the most intelligent idea that anyone could have.

“Ellie, a moment,” I say. She looks up at me, wondering. I cup her face in my hands, and pull her face closer, kissing her gently. “See you later.”

“Later,” She says with a slight smile.

Rowan and I go about our day, Mount Thione is hard to get up to, the height and location of it makes me wonder how it is that Aeliana got know about it. It takes hours before we finally find the right-sized stones, and even after that, we have to take them to the elders for proper inspection and approval.

It’s a lot of running up and down the whole day, and when we finally make it back home, it’s late. Rowan declares he is going straight to bed, and even I head to my room, skipping Tanya’s dinner offer. I’m beyond tired, there’s nothing I want more than to lie down, but more than that, I want to see Aeliana.

That’s the only thing that gives me the strength to shower, the motive of seeing her. I spend much longer than necessary in the bath, massaging every sore spot that is bound to be sore again tomorrow.

It dawns on me when I’m halfway dressed that tomorrow changes everything, I’ve been Alpha for a long time but I still had to answer to my father, I still had two councils, but tomorrow? It will be me, I’ll solely be responsible for Mooncrest. The reality is unsettling, if I’m feeling this way, I wonder how Aeliana must be dealing with this. I throw my shirt on the floor and head over to her room, half-dressed and half panicked.

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The words seem to be stuck in my throat as I push the door open. “Aeliana,” I choke out, my voice strangled and weak, every bit of how I feel right now.

Her head whips over her shoulder, lotion bottle in hand. “Hey,” she frowns staring me up and down. “Long day?” She asks, surprisingly calm and collected.

She’s sitting at her vanity, wearing nothing but a turquoise towel that is knotted above her breasts. Her hair is still damp from the shower, she must have only just come out.

“Yeah.” I nod to myself. “Can I come in?”

“You’re already inside,” she smiles, “Sit, you look like you’ll pass out any second.”

Really?

Is my panic that obvious?

I grab the half-empty water bottle on her nightstand and sit down, downing the slightly chilled water in one gulp. Aeliana gapes at me but doesn’t say anything, instead, she turns back to the mirror. “Did you find the moonstones?”

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