Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 215

215 New Phone, Old Blood 2

Arya’s POV

The silence changed after that. It was still there, but it did not feel as sharp anymore.

Maxwell exhaled, reached into his coat pocket, and brought out a small black box. I

frowned at it because the last thing I expected from him in the middle of all that was a

gift.

“What’s that?”

He held it out to me.

“Take it.”

I took it from him and opened it.

A phone.

Brand new.

I blinked, then looked up at him.

“A phone?”

He gave me that dry look of his.

“That is usually what they’re called.”

In spite of everything, my mouth almost twitched. Almost. I looked back down at it and

turned it over in my hand. The screen was smooth. Untouched. Clean. It was such a

simple thing, but it hit me harder than I expected. Maybe because it was not just a

phone. Maybe because nothing about it felt careless. Maxwell cleared his throat like he

did not quite know what to do with the softness of the moment either.

“I’ve been meaning to give it to you. The timing never seemed right.”

My throat tightened a little at that. He looked at the phone instead of me when he spoke

again, and somehow that made it worse in the best way.

“Now that you’ll be away from home, I want you to stay in touch without needing to rely

on Lev for everything.”

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My cheeks warmed at once.

Of course they did.

Ria purred immediately.

He noticed.

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I kept staring at the phone because I did not trust my face. It was not even the gift itself

that got to me. It was what it meant. It was practical. Quiet. Thoughtful. Not something

flashy or dramatic. Just Maxwell making sure I would still have a way to reach back here.

A way to call. A way to stay tied to them. A way to reach home without asking anyone

for permission and without depending on anyone to hand it to me. That mattered more

than I knew how to explain. Maybe because so much of my life had been built around

waiting. Waiting for someone to choose me. Waiting for someone to be fair. Waiting for

someone to decide whether I deserved comfort or not. This did not feel like that. This felt

freely given.

“Thank you.”

I said it softly because anything louder might have cracked.

Maxwell gave the smallest shrug.

“You’re welcome.”

That was it. Just those two words. Nothing grand. Nothing that tried to make the

moment heavier than it already was. I stood up before I could overthink it, crossed the

little distance between us, and hugged him. Maxwell went still at first like he was

always a little caught off guard by softness, then his arm came around me. Warm.

Steady. Solid. I closed my eyes for a second because I needed that more than I wanted

to admit. This man had not given birth to me. He did not owe me this. He did not owe me

room in his life, or care, or protection, or patience. But he gave it anyway, and there was

still some wounded part of me that did not know what to do with kindness that did not

ask for pain back in return.

When I stepped back, he looked at me for one small second with that quiet softness he

usually kept hidden.

Then he glanced toward the door.

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“Where is Lev?”

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I sat back down and held the phone box in my lap.

“He said he wanted to do something. But he’s around.”

“That explains nothing.”

Maxwell’s eyes flicked to mine, and I immediately looked back down at the box.

Ria sounded smug in. my mind.

‘You miss him’ she said

‘I absolutely do not.’ I replied

She practically laughed at me.

Before she could keep talking, footsteps sounded in the hall. Two male voices. One lighter. Easier. The other lower. Steadier. My pulse reacted before I could stop it, which was beyond annoying because I had not given it permission to do that. The door opened,

and Lev walked in with David beside him. The whole air in the room changed the second he stepped inside. Lev did that without trying. Or maybe he did try. With him, I honestly could not tell. He was in dark clothes, his sleeves pushed up a little, his shoulders filling the doorway for one moment before he moved further in. His eyes found mine almost at once. Then they dropped to the box in my lap. Then back to my face.

That one look should not have done anything to me.

But it did.

David, thankfully, ruined the moment before it could grow teeth.

“What did I miss?”

“Nothing.”

I answered too fast and Maxwell spoke over me.

“I gave Arya her phone.”

David grinned right away.

“Ah. Finally.”

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I looked at him.

“You knew?”

“I know many things.”

“You absolutely do not.”

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He ignored that and came further into the room. Lev stayed standing beside the chair for a second before he finally sat, but even seated he felt too close. Too present. Too aware. That was the thing with him. He could sit in total silence and still make it feel like he

was touching every nerve in the room. His eyes stayed on me.

“You told her.” David said.

He said it to Maxwell, not as a question, just a fact.

Maxwell nodded.

“I did.”

“Well, I jumped the gun and told Lev,’ David confessed and maxwell didn’t seem pleased but he didn’t say anything.

Something flickered in Lev’s face. Only for a second. Barely anything at all. But I saw it. The tension in his jaw. The coldness that moved quietly behind his eyes. He did not like it. He did not like it at all.

Good.

The thought came before I could stop it, and I hated how much satisfaction it gave me. Hated it because it was ugly. Hated it because it still felt good.

David looked at me then, and his grin softened in a way I did not expect.

“I’ll miss you.”

That caught me off guard enough that I looked at him properly. He meant it. I could tell

he meant it, and that softened something in me before I could stop it.

“You’ll live.” I said.

David pressed a hand to his chest dramatically.

“Heartless.” He said.

215 New Phone, Old Blood 2

“You’ll manage.” I replied

“The house will be boring without you glaring at everyone.” He joked

I frowned at once.

“I do not glare at everyone.” I protested

The silence that followed offended me deeply.

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I looked from one face to the next. David was smiling. Maxwell looked unconvinced. And

Lev, damn him, actually looked amused. I narrowed my eyes.

“I do not.”

“You do,” David said.

“Frequently,” Lev added in that low voice of his.

I turned to him so fast I nearly forgot to breathe.

“You too?”

His gaze held mine without shame.

“Especially me.’

Heat rushed up my neck so fast it was humiliating. David burst out laughing like the

traitor he was. I wanted the floor to crack open and take me with it because why did Lev

have to say things like that so calmly? Why did he have to look the way he looked while

saying them? Why did he have to make it sound like something between an accusation

and a secret?

Maxwell looked at David then.

“I thought you would return to Blackbirth with them.”

David’s laughter faded. He glanced at Maxwell, then shrugged once, but this time it did

not look careless.

“It’s time I started spending time with my father.”

The room went quiet after that. I looked at Maxwell and the look on his face almost hurt

to see. It was subtle. He hid it quickly. But I still saw it. A small softening around the

eyes. A brief stillness. Something that said those words had reached somewhere deep in

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him. Something old. Something tender. Something that probably did not get touched

often.

“That would be good,” he said.

David smiled.

“Yeah. I think so too.”

And just like that, something warm moved through the room. Something real. Not loud.

Not showy. Just real. A father being given a chance. A son choosing him openly. There

was something gentle in it that made my chest ache, but not in the same way everything

else had been hurting tonight. This ache was softer. Kinder. The kind you do not run

from.

I glanced at Lev then.

He was watching them both, silent as usual, but there was something in his face too.

Thought. Distance. Maybe even something like longing, though I could not be sure. He

did not mean for anyone to read him. Then he turned and caught me looking at him.

I looked away first.

Coward.

Maxwell broke the moment by turning fully toward Lev. His voice was calm, but

command had come back into it now. Pure Alpha. Pure father.

“Nothing should happen to Arya.”

I froze.

David made a choking sound that was definitely the beginning of a laugh. My face

burned instantly. I wanted to disappear. Maxwell kept going like he had said nothing

strange at all.

“You will bring her back to me in one piece.”

“Maxwell,”

I started, already dying inside, but Lev answered before I could finish.

“I intend to.”

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That did not help.

That made it worse.

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Because he said it too evenly. Too seriously. Too much like he meant it in every possible

way. Ria was practically melting inside me.

Oh, he means that.

I could not even look at him. David was laughing openly now. Openly. I shot him a glare

and he only laughed harder.

“I am right here,” I muttered.

“Yes,” Maxwell said mildly. “That is why I said it in front of you.”

I stared at him in betrayal.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“A little.”

David grinned wider.

“I definitely am.” He added.

I grabbed the nearest cushion and threw it at him. He caught it easily, still laughing, and

that should have been the end of it.

But then Lev smiled.

It was quick. Barely there. Gone almost as soon as it appeared. But it was real, and that

stupid rare smile hit me harder than all the teasing had. It changed his whole face for one second. Took the edge off just enough to make him look even more dangerous instead of less. My stomach tightened in a way that had nothing to do with fear. I looked down at the phone in my lap quickly and pretended that was what had my full attention.

Maxwell shook his head once, then looked at Lev again.

“I mean it.”

Lev’s voice stayed steady.

“I know.”

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That settled something inside me before I could stop it. Because beneath the teasing

and the heat and the embarrassment and David being impossible, he meant it too. He

knew. And he would. He would bring me back safe. He would stand between me and

whatever needed standing against. He would not say it sweetly. He would not dress it

1. But he would do it.

That should not have affected me the way it did.

But it did.

sat there with the phone box in my lap and my pulse still uneven and looked around

the room. Maxwell had come home carrying a decision I did not like. David had reminded

me that this house, these people, had somehow become important to me when I was not

paying attention. And Lev sat only a few feet away, too close, too quiet, too dangerous

to my peace of mind. Nothing had truly changed. Not on the surface. My anger was still

there. My list was still there. My hurt had not gone anywhere.

And yet everything felt different too.

Because even with all that old anger alive inside me, even with revenge sitting cold and

patient in my chest, there was warmth here now too. Strange warmth. Unwanted maybe.

Inconvenient definitely. But real. The kind that slips in quietly and makes a place for

itself before you realise it is there.

Maxwell looked between all of us and exhaled.

“I’ve said what I needed to say.”

David snorted.

“Have you?”

“Enough.”

That only made David grin more. I finally looked at Lev again, and of course he was

already looking at me. That dark heat was still there in his eyes. Quiet. Controlled. But

there. My breath caught for one second, just one. Old blood remembered. Old wounds

remembered too. Nothing erased that. Nothing softened it enough to make me forget.

But something else was growing now right there in the middle of all that ruin.

Something darker than comfort. Something less safe than peace. Something that felt like

a slow fire instead of a clean one.

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And as David started laughing again and Maxwell shook his head at all of us, I felt Lev’s

eyes stay on me.

Not light.

Not harmless.

A promise of its own.

And in spite of everything, my heart answered first.

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