Alpha’s Rue: His Shunned Luna (Athena Enchanted) novel Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Chapter 280

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Aeliana wakes up shortly after Noah leaves, gasping for air like she’s woken in the moment before she suffocated. I move fast, caressing her forehead, letting her know I’m here. “Hey,”

Her head turns towards me, the monitor still going off. “You’re fine.” I tell her, “I’m with you.”

She nods, giving me a weak smile. “You came.”

“How do you feel?”

“I’m okay,” she says, trying to get up. I help her up slowly, propping a few pillows behind her. “I just feel a little lightheaded. Why am I here?”

“You passed out in your closet,” I tell her, settling down beside her.

She frowns, mumbling something under her breath. “Aeliana,” I coo, Her eyes lift to mine and she raises an eyebrow, touching the back of her head. “I’m going to ask you a question, and I need you to answer truthfully,” I tell her.

She doesn’t speak, she nods, her throat bobbing when she swallows. “How long have you been having panic attacks?”

She freezes, her eyes widening for a moment before she shakes her head. I keep watching her, waiting for another lie, but she promised she’d be truthful, so I wait. “A while.”

“Siren, I’m going to need more than that. Please talk to me,” I urge, taking her hand, rubbing my thumb over her pulse. “Hmm?”

She nods, “Okay.”

“For how long have you been having panic attacks?” I repeat. “When did it start? I want the truth.”

Her lips part, but she doesn’t speak, she closes her eyes and sucks in a breath. I don’t rush, I wait for her to gather herself. “Since you left.”

“Left?” I frown.

“For the academy,” she clarifies, her voice low, with her gaze fixed on the wall ahead. She tries so hard to look at anything but me. “I had my first panic attack that night, it was the first time I realised that you were actually gone since you’d left early that morning. It was the longest we’d gone without talking, and I knew that I couldn’t find you when I needed you. Not just you, Rowan, and Maddox were gone too, that meant all my best friends were gone, and I was all alone.”

“We had letters,” I swallow. I promised to write to her, every time I received her letters, I’d immediately make sure mine reached her sooner.

She shakes her head, her gaze meeting mine briefly, “Don’t mention them.”

“Okay,” I nod. “But why didn’t you tell me about this? You should have written to me about this, you could have told me you were having panic attacks at any point and time, but you chose to keep it from me, why?”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” she shrugs. “I couldn’t tell you back then because it was stupid, and now…I was embarrassed.” She swallows. “I’m not just your friend anymore, I’m your Luna, I’m supposed to be strong, capable, not this..” she huffs, shaking her head. “What kind of Luna has panic attacks? I didn’t want you to see me as a liability, King.”

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harter 280

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I bring her hand to my mouth and give her a soft kiss. “No, I will never see you as less of a Luna for that, you can tell me anything, Aeliana.”

She nods, still avoiding my eyes.

“Noah’s here,” I tell her. “She told me you had stopped having panic attacks back in Clinshore?”

“I did,” she nods, chewing on her bottom lip. “But they were rare, I learned to manage my attacks, and I was often able to stop them, but sometimes it’s just too much.”

“How many have you had since you returned?” I ask, my voice strained. I can’t get past the fact that she’s kept this hidden for nearly a decade, suffering in silence even when she didn’t have to, even when she had me.

Her answer is instant, “Two!” She blurts out, but it’s sudden and random.

“Aeliana,” i warn. I’ve witnessed her have two panic attacks, so I know she’s lying. “Look at me,” I demand.

She does, somehow failing to hold my gaze. “A few.”

“How many make a few?” I probe, wanting to know just how many times it was that I failed her, times I couldn’t be there when I promised countless times I’d always find her if she ever needed me. “What triggers you?”

She shrugs. “Sometimes my mind just can’t process things, and I try so hard to process or block them out, but it doesn’t work, so I go into panic mode. It’s several things..”

I nod, “What kind of things?” I ask, trying my best to sound calm when I’m falling apart on the inside.

“Ummm…” she trails off, trying to remember, pretending to think long and hard, but the answers are on the tip of her tongue. That’s not the kind of thing one forgets, I’ve seen her experience it twice and I’ll never forget those moments. “Oh, Seraphine’s wedding, when I saw her-something that I hated, my body started failing me.

My mind is working overtime, I start replaying the events of Seraphine’s party. The first time I saw her, the way she stumbled, the wide eyes, she wasn’t just shocked to see me, she was already rattled when I got to her. “You were having a panic attack when the bond snapped into place?” I say, less of a question and more of a realisation. I feel like an idiot.

“Yes, but it didn’t go far, it faded when I was talking to you.” She says. I remember that moment, after the bond snapped into place my wolf felt her distress and acted on his own, he released pheremones to calm her. “But when Alpha Dante said you needed to marry me, I kind of—”

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