Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 101

101 Where He Touched the Ruin

Arya’s POV

“Then fight me.”

The words slid into me like a blade and a promise at once.

For a second, I forgot how to breathe.

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Lev’s mouth was still near my ear, his body heat pressed into my side, his hand steady at my jaw and my wolf was a traitor inside me, awake, pacing, restless, drawn to him with a hunger that made me furious. Ria wanted to lean into him. Wanted to scent him. Wanted to test his throat with her teeth and

then drag him closer.

I hated her for it.

I hated myself for understanding it.

My pulse beat hard in my neck. I could feel where his thumb had been, where his breath had warmed my skin, where his voice had settled into my bones like he had spoken directly to the part of me I had been trying to bury beneath anger, grief, and spite.

Fight me.

Not submit.

Not obey

Not calm down.

Fight

I turned my face sharply, forcing space between us. Lev let my jaw go, but he did not move away

That was the thing about him. He yielded inches and somehow held the room anyway.

flooked at him properly then

His expression was unreadable in that infuriating way of his, calm, controlled, watchful. No smug grin No mocking satisfaction No theatrical dominance Just certainty. The kind that did not need to

announce itself

It made my temper spike

“You talk like everything is simple,” I said, my voice low and rough “Like I can just fight, just train, just

< 101 Where He Touched the Ruins

breathe hard and bleed and somehow what happened to me stops mattering.”

His gaze stayed on mine. “I didn’t say it would stop mattering.”

“Then what are you saying?” I snapped.

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He leaned back enough to look at me fully, but he did not take his hand from me it had shifted from my jaw to my shoulder at some point, broad and warm and possessive without squeezing I was sti sitting too close. Too aware. Too… held.

“I’m saying,” he said quietly, “you are carrying too much of it inside your body.”

I let out a brittle laugh. “That’s your grand insight?”

His eyes flicked down my frame, not in a hungry sweep like most men did, but in assessment. He took

in my shoulders, my hands, the way I was braced, the way my knees were locked even while sitting.

“Yes,” he said. “Your jaw is tight. Your shoulders are raised. Your breathing is shallow. Your fists keep

clenching. Your wolf is pressing against your skin. Your anger is packed inside your muscles so tightly that your body has forgotten the difference between readiness and pain.”

I stared at him.

Because he was right.

That made me angrier.

I shoved against his chest.

“Move”

He didn’t

1 pushed harder, using both hands this time, intending to slide off his lap and stand, needing distance before i did something reckless like lean in and let him put his mouth on me again, let him speak that low dangerous truth into me until I forgot why I should hate every part of this

He caught my wrist mid push

Not rough

Not hesitant

Just fast

His fingers circled my wrist and held His other hand moved to my waist, firm, anchoring me in place

when I twisted to rise

<101 Where He Touched the Ruin

Heat shot through me so suddenly my breath broke.

“Let go of me,” I hissed.

“Sit.”

The word was quiet.

It still landed like an order.

My temper flared hot and wild. “I am not one of your soldiers.”

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–

“No,” he said, eyes on my mouth for one terrible heartbeat before returning to my eyes. “You’re not

I tried to wrench my wrist free. His grip tightened a fraction.

Not enough to hurt.

Enough to remind me he could.

“Lev.”

My voice came out like a warning and a prayer all tangled together, and I hated that too.

He looked at my wrist in his hand, then slowly, deliberately, let his thumb slide over the inside pulse

point.

My pulse jumped violently beneath his skin.

“You feel that?” he asked.

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