Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 117

117 Don’t Say His Name

Arya’s POV

I stood there shaking, arms wrapped around myself, tears hot and vicious on my face.

Maxwell looked older all at once.

Not weak

Not softer.

Just… tired in the way powerful men looked when they realised silence had already cost too much.

His expression hardened into decision.

“I’ll look into it,” he said.

Relief and dread hit me together.

He lifted a hand before I could speak. “Quietly. Discreetly. No accusations. No names thrown around

until I know what I’m holding.”

I nodded too fast. “Yes.”

He looked at Lev. “Use Blackbirth channels where necessary. Men you trust.”

Lev’s reply came immediately. “I will.”

Maxwell’s gaze returned to me, heavy and direct. “And you stop calling yourself what enemies call

you.”

My throat tightened.

I nodded again, slower this time. “I will.”

He grunted once, then turned to the guard. “Double the outer watch. Nobody from Nightwind crosses close enough to smell our walls without a report in my hand.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

The guard moved.

Maxwell looked back at me one last time, his face rough with anger held under control. “Wash your face. Eat something.”

It was such a practical order, so ordinary in the middle of everything, that I almost laughed and cried

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1120ont Say His Name

harder at the same time.

He left before I could answer.

The hall felt too open after he was gone.

Too bright.

Too full of what i had just said.

I could still hear my own voice in the air.

My baby died for a lie.

I couldn’t stand there another second.

I turned and walked fast toward the inner corridor.

Not running.

I refused to call it running.

I heard Lev behind me anyway.

Of course I did.

I made it halfway down the hall before his hand closed around my wrist.

Firm.

Warm.

Certain.

I stopped with a sharp breath.

“Let go.”

“Look at me.”

“No.”

He stepped in and guided me back two paces until my shoulders touched the wall.

Not slammed.

Not forced.

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Just placed.

His body bracketed mine without pressing fully into me, one hand still around my wrist, the other flattening against the wall beside my head. There was space to breathe. Not enough to pretend he wasn’t controlling the distance.

My pulse kicked hard.

Anger came first.

The rest followed immediately.

“Don’t run from me,” he said.

I glared at him, chest still shaking from crying. “I said I’m not running.”

“You are.”

“I am trying to be alone.”

He looked at my face, at the tears I hadn’t fully wiped away, at the fury I was using to hold myself

upright.

“No,” he said, voice low. “You’re trying to disappear before I can see what it cost you.”

The words slid under my guard too easily.

I bared my teeth. “And what if I don’t want you seeing anything?”

His gaze dropped to my mouth and held there for one brutal heartbeat before rising again.

“Too late.”

The corridor seemed to narrow.

I could feel his heat now, close enough that my body reacted before my pride could tighten around it. The bond stirred, low and aching. My skin remembered the training wall too vividly. The way he had pinned me, taunted me, denied me. The way my body had betrayed me in his hands.

I hated that memory.

I wanted it back.

“I can’t do this with you right now,” I whispered, because the truth came easier when I was angry and exhausted and pressed against stone.

“Do what?”

1767 Say His Name

Get 28

“This.” I jerked my chin between us. “Whatever game you’re playing. Training. Pushing. Touching me like you know what I need.”

His jaw tightened slightly. “I know what you do when it hurts.”

I laughed, bitter and shaking. “You know nothing.”

His thumb moved once against the inside of my wrist, a slow stroke over my pulse that made my

breath hitch against my will.

“Then tell me I’m wrong,” he said.

I swallowed.

He leaned in, slow enough for me to stop him. Slow enough to make the choice mine and not mine at

all.

His mouth hovered close.

His breath warmed my lips.

The space between us burned.

The bond roared awake under my skin.

My eyes fluttered once.

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