Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 157

157 Moonlight, Not Promises 3

Arya’s POV

Get 5 >

Menu

I opened my mouth to think another lie, another defence, another clever bitter thing to

end the conversation with, and that was when I felt it.

Warmth at my back.

Not touch yet.

Presence.

My whole body went rigid before I turned.

Lev moved like night itself when he wanted to, silent, sure, without the clumsy warning

most men carried in their steps. One moment I was alone on the grass with my thoughts

and my wolf; the next he was there behind me, lowering himself onto the lawn with the

unhurried confidence of a man who did not need permission from the earth to take space

on it.

Moonlight caught the line of his jaw, the dark of his hair, the broad set of his shoulders.

He was dressed simply too, no formal weight on him, nothing polished, but there was no

version of Lev that looked less dangerous because he wore softer clothes.

My pulse jumped.

Ria surged forward instantly, shameless and pleased.

Don’t, I snapped at her.

Too late. She was already purring.

Lev did not crowd me immediately. He sat close enough for heat to travel, far enough

that I could have moved if I wanted to.

I did not move.

He looked at me for a second, really looked, eyes tracing my face the way he did when

he was assessing more than expression, then his gaze dropped briefly to the hand I still

had curled near my throat, then back to my eyes.

“You disappear often when your head is loud,” he said quietly.

070:39

32.41%

<157 Moonlight, Not Promises 3

Get 5 >

Menu

I stared at him. “Do you always sneak up on people in the dark?”

His mouth almost curved. “Only the ones who run.”

I should have snapped something sharper back. I should have used the opening. Instead

I looked away toward the garden.

“I wasn’t running.”

“No?” he asked, calm as ever.

“No.”

A beat.

“Then why are you out here alone, looking like you’re fighting ghosts?”

The words landed too precisely.

I looked back at him, irritated and exposed all at once. “Maybe I wanted quiet.”

He nodded once, as if that answer was reasonable and not the full truth. “And did it

help?”

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

His expression didn’t change, but something in his eyes warmed with that infuriating

patience, like he knew he had me and would wait until I admitted it myself.

I looked away again first because I was tired and because he made silence feel like a

conversation.

For a while he said nothing.

The moonlight stretched over us. A breeze moved through the hedges. Somewhere near

the path, leaves rustled lightly.

Then Lev shifted closer.

Not suddenly.

Not aggressively.

+10 39

32.46%

<157 Moonlight, Not Promises 3

Deliberate enough that I felt every inch of it.

Get 5 >

Menu

I tensed immediately, shoulders lifting, spine tightening, every instinct pulling in two

directions at once, toward him and away from him.

He noticed, of course he noticed.

One arm came around me, slow, giving me time to resist.

I did not.

The other followed, and then I was pulled back against him, seated between his legs on

the grass, my back to his chest, his body a wall of warmth at my spine.

Heat flooded through me so fast it almost made me angry.

I went rigid in his hold.

Lev lowered his mouth near my ear, his breath warm against the skin there.

“Relax,” he murmured.

My fingers dug into my own knees. “Lev, ”

“Let me hold you.”

Three words.

Quiet.

Steady.

No demand in the tone.

No performance in it.

Just certainty.

That somehow made it harder.

I could feel his chest rising against my back, slow and controlled, as if he expected me to

borrow the rhythm. His arm across my middle was firm but not trapping, his hand resting

flat against me, the weight of it grounding in a way I hated admitting I needed.

Ria melted instantly.

$10.39

32.57%

<157 Moonlight, Not Promises 3

Finally, she breathed.

I ignored her and tried to stay made of stone.

It lasted a few seconds.

Maybe less.

Get 5>

Menu

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify