Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 254

254 Fair Game

James’ POVO

Get 5>

Menu

I had barely sat down in my office when the door flew open so hard it struck the wall. I did not need to

look up to know who it was. Only one person in Nightwind still moved with that much entitled rage, as

if every room owed her a bow before she entered. Only one person still had the nerve to burst into my

space after all the filth that had come to light and act like she had any right left to question me. Leah.

I leaned back in my chair and looked at her fully. She was furious. Not irritated. Not upset. Furious. Her face was tight with it. Her eyes were wild. Her breathing was too fast. The pretty little softness she liked to hide behind was gone now. In its place was the spoiled daughter underneath. The one who

had been raised to believe that men would always bend when her father’s name stood behind her.

It would have been laughable if I wasn’t so tired.

“How dare you?” she snapped at once, not even bothering with greetings or pretence. “How dare you sign a pact with Maxwell and place Nightwind under Dragonclaw?”

I stared at her.

Not because I had no answer. Because the audacity of her still amazed me. After everything. After the sham. After the lies. After Arya being dragged through dirt because of her and her father. After the pack learning the truth. After my own life becoming a joke under Marcel’s hands. She still had the nerve to storm into my office and act like I had betrayed her.

I said nothing at first. That only made her angrier.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” she demanded as she marched further into the room. “Do you know what it means? You are only a figurehead now, James. Maxwell has swindled you out of your land, and you are too stupid to see it. You will never get your pack out of his hands.”

Her voice grated on me. Everything about her grated on me now. Maybe because I could see it all too clearly at this point. Every false softness. Every performance. Every sweet little expression that hid calculation underneath. She was not even good at pretending anymore. Not now that the ground under her feet had shifted. Not now that the pack had started looking at her with disgust instead of

acceptance.

I folded my arms over my chest and let her finish.

Then I said, “That is none of your business.”

Her mouth parted. I kept going before she could throw another fit.

“All I ever wanted was the safety of my people and my mate,” I said.

< 254 Fair Game

Get 5

Menu

The words hit me as I spoke them. My mate. Arya. I felt the old ache at once. The old filthy regret. The thing that never left me no matter how much work I buried myself under.

Leah heard it too. I saw it in her face. The bitterness. The jealousy. The anger that Arya still had that place in me. That she always would.

My jaw tightened.

“If I had taken this route from the beginning,” I said, “instead of being afraid I would lose the land, Arya

would still be with me.”

That silenced Leah for half a second. Only half. Then her face twisted.

“So this is about her again?” she asked, almost shrieking now. “Everything is always about Arya. Even now. Even after all she did.”

I laughed. I really laughed. Not because anything was funny. Because hearing Leah talk about what Arya did after everything I had just exposed to the pack felt like the kind of joke only the devil would

enjoy.

I leaned forward slowly and rested my elbows on the desk.

“I lost everything before I realised the best course of action,” I said. “I am not letting more of my people die just so I can say I remained an alpha over a fully independent pack. If being a figurehead secures

lives, then so be it.”

That made her stare at me like I had gone mad. Maybe she could not understand that. Maybe in her world titles mattered more than bodies. More than blood. More than the children of the wolves who trusted me. Maybe that was what Marcel raised in his house. The kind of people who thought power was only real if it looked big and proud and unshared.

I was past that now. Too much had happened. Too much had been lost.

Leah took another step closer to my desk and jabbed a finger in my direction.

“How can you betray my father after all he has done for you?”

That was when the anger really came. Not loud. Not explosive. Worse. It came cold.

I stood up slowly from my chair.

Leah faltered. Not much. Just enough that I noticed. Good. Let her see something in my face she had never respected before. Let her understand that I was done swallowing every outrage just because Marcel came wrapped in politics and her face came wrapped in false innocence.

“What did your father do for me?” I asked quietly.

< 254 Fair Game

She blinked.

I stepped around the desk.

Gets

Menu

“What exactly did your father do for me, Leah?” I asked again, my voice still low. “Tell me. I would love

to hear it from you.”

She swallowed and lifted her chin.

“He was helping Nightwind get recognition.”

I laughed again, harsher this time.

“Helping?” I repeated.

She glared at me. “Yes.”

“Your father ruined my home,” I said. “He ruined my pack, and he made me a laughing stock.”

Her eyes widened. I did not stop.

“He delivered none of the promises he made. Not one. All he ever tried to do was swindle me out of my land and force you to become Luna so he and his bloodline could seize control of Nightwind.”

She took a step back.

Good. Let her hear it with no one else in the room to save her. Let her hear how ugly the whole thing

sounds when there is no crowd to perform for.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify