Alpha’s Rue: His Shunned Luna (Athena Enchanted) novel Chapter 191

Chapter 191

“Blondie?” Audrdy snarls, rolling her eyes. “I see Noah is rubbing off on you.”

His smile falls, and they share a look, nothing short of unpleasant. “Is it that bad?” I ask, Noah is a good girl, she’s got a mouth on her, and no filter, but still.

“Do you mean Noah’s influence on Rowan, or your mate’s drinking and smoking habits?” She asks, an eyebrow raised. “I’d say yes to both, but her behaviour is worse, you can fix Rowan’s adopted tendencies, but you can’t fix an addiction, not easily. You need to check her, she’s like a zombie sometimes, whatever pills or powder she’s taking isn’t working for her.”

“Audrey,” Danielle warns. “Stop it. What Luna Aeliana does is not your business, and should not be discussed so openly.”

“Dani, everyone in this pack is aware of her previous drug problems. When you’re the Gamma’s daughter, your personal life becomes public, more so when you make it public.” She says, “I’m only looking out for her, for the Hartley and Vale family. She might hate me, but she’s my best friend’s little sister, so I worry for her.”

“You worry?” Rowan slowly asks, “About Aeliana?”

Audrey nods, “I do. She’s our Luna, she’s Kingston’s wife, and, as I said, Seraphine’s sister. These are the two people I care the most about, so of course I’m worried her habits are leading her astray because it affects them.” She sighs, her voice too calm for the storm that is now brewing in my head. “Please talk to her before this gets worse.”

“Gets worse?” I pause, I’ve heard of Aeliana’s drug situation. Back when I was in the academy, she was caught with drugs in her locker at school and tried to frame her sister, but they tested both of them, and she tested positive. Another time was after her sex scandal, they ran a few tests at her Father’s orders, and she tested positive for about six different illegal substances. Substances known to kill when taken in large doses, it was a scandal on its own. “Is she-”

“Yeah, she seems to have fallen into her old ways again, what if people find out she’s back on drugs?” she hisses, clutching her invisible pearls. “That won’t look good for you, or for Mooncrest. And Alpha Dante will certainly blame you for failing to control her.”

Danielle slaps Rowan’s shoulder repeatedly. “Hey, babe, don’t you have Noah’s location?”

“Yeah,” Rowan nods, scrambling for his phone. I try to analyse the patterns of Aeliana’s demeanour over the last couple of days. Is that why she seemed different? “She’s at her house right now, which means Aeliana is there too.”

“I’ll fetch her,” I say, turning to leave, but he grabs my shirt.

“Leave her be, she will be back.” He says, the calm in his voice is enough to drive anyone over the edge.

“You expect me to sit still?” I huff, “I told you something was wrong, I felt it, something is up with her.” I snap, and if I had come back sooner, this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe she felt abandoned and turned to distractions.

“Kingston, you’ve had a long trip,” Rowan tells me, shaking his head. “Why don’t you freshen up, rest a while, and if you want her back home, tell her to come home.”

“Or wait to see how long she stays out, and the state she returns in.” Audrey offers.

I nod.

This is the only way I can see how bad it is, I can’t let Audrey’s perception dictate how I handle this. I know her, I

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know she exaggerates situations, and I know Aeliana, I simply need to talk to her, it’s just that easy. “Let’s let everyone know not to tell her I’m back.”

“Of course,” Audrey nods.

“I’ll get some sleep,” Danielle yawns. “I’m so tired, I couldn’t sleep.”

“Babe you slept just fine,” Rowan laughs.

“Let me have this, Rowan.” She groans, “I’ve been babying my brother. It’s my turn.”

He swoops her into his arms, “Of course, babe. I’m going to bathe you, dress you, cuddle you, and give you plenty of kisses.”

I watch as Rowan carries her upstairs, listing everything he’s going to do for her. Everything that I was determined to do for Aeliana, I’d hoped to have a few undisturbed hours just holding her, making up for my time away, but instead, I’m left with concern and jetlag.

“Would you like something to eat?” Audrey offers, “I could ask someone to make it along with something for Danielle of course.”

“No,” I sigh. “I’m fine.”

She nods, “I can get your bath ready.” She says. Her doing things for me sets alarms off in my head, I hated it when we were together, but I let her do what pleased her. However, her offering to do anything for me now feels like a one-way ticket to the doghouse. “You must be tired, I can give you a foot massage or-”

“Drey,” I slowly begin. “If Aeliana sees you anywhere that close to me? I’m a dead man.” I tell her, “Being touched by other women is off the table.’

“It’s just a massage,” she innocently says. “You got plenty when we were dating, and you did have a few casual one-night stands.”

I swallow, realising how unfair I was to her in our relationship. I had picked up women who reminded me of Aeliana quite a number of times, but she was okay with everything. Although I never could have the same woman twice. “That’s different, you were okay with those things, but she isn’t.” I sigh. Aeliana doesn’t like to share, and neither do I. If I dare to fuck another woman, she will fuck two men just so she’s a step ahead. “My point is, I’m married to Aeliana, and my being touched by any other woman would upset her.”

“Does she not trust you?”

“No,” I painfully nod. “And doing things like that would only make things harder on me. She would get the wrong idea if she saw us together, I hope you understand that.”

“So we can’t be friends because it upsets her? You said we’d always be friends, Kingston. Why am I losing you entirely?” She asks, her voice trembling. “It’s not fair, she can’t do this to us.”

“We’re friends, Audrey, just not…” I sigh. “We will always be friends, our friendship doesn’t make her uncomfortable it’s how close we can get, and as long as nothing happens between us, we’ll be friends still.”

“What if she forbids it?”

I shrug.

The choice is obvious. I’d rather cut her, and whoever else is needed off, no matter how painful it might be on both ends, because it’ll never hurt as much as losing Aeliana a second time would. “You’re my friend, of course we can’t hang out behind a closed door like we used to, but I’m here for you, okay?”

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