Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 52

52 Ambition Made Me Blind 2

James’s POV

He stood a few steps inside, hands at his sides, posture respectful, but his eyes didn’t

drop.

That alone was a statement.

I leaned back against the desk edge, crossing my arms.

“What with the long face?” I asked, voice sharp. “Are we fighting too?”

Nixon’s jaw flexed.

He stared at me for a beat too long.

Then he spoke, and his voice was low, blunt, with none of the usual cushioning.

“Just let her go,” he said. “You have done enough.

The words hit like a slap.

Heat surged up my neck.

My arms uncrossed instantly.

My hands clenched.

“None of your business, Nixon,” I snapped. “Besides, she won’t survive out there.”

Nixon didn’t flinch.

That was the second statement.

“It is my business,” he said, voice firm.

My eyes narrowed.

He stepped forward one pace, just one, and the air between us tightened.

“That woman has been with you through thick and thin,” Nixon continued. “She bled with

you. Gave her all. And you turned on her at the first sign of a better future.”

“No,” I growled immediately, the denial tearing out of me before I could temper it.

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Because the words cut.

They cut deep.

They struck something I had been refusing to name.

Nixon’s eyes didn’t soften.

He didn’t back down.

He looked at me like he was staring at an Alpha he didn’t recognise.

“She is safer out there alone than in here with you,” Nixon said, voice rising slightly now,

controlled but fierce. “Or are you waiting for Marcel Rainhorn to finish the job?”

My chest tightened.

My fists flexed.

“Watch your mouth,” I warned.

Nixon’s lips curled, not in humour, disgust.

“Can’t you see,” he pressed, “that that man will do anything for his daughter?”

I shook my head once, hard.

“I know,” I snapped. “But he won’t kill her unborn child. That was the reason he agreed

to the Union to begin with.”

The words came out fast, like if I said them strongly enough, they would become

unbreakable truth.

Nixon stared at me.

Then he laughed.

A short, sharp laugh with no warmth in it.

It lit something in me like a match.

“I am sorry to say this, James,” Nixon said, voice cutting clean through the room, “but ambition and fear has made you stupid.”

The punch happened before I thought.

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My fist moved on instinct, powered by rage and humiliation and the unbearable feeling

of being seen too clearly.

My knuckles connected with his cheek.

A solid hit.

Nixon’s head snapped to the side.

Blood welled immediately at the corner of his mouth.

The room went still.

My chest heaved.

For a heartbeat, I expected retaliation.

I expected Nixon to swing back, to make it a fight, to make it physical so I could justify

my anger.

He didn’t.

He turned his face back slowly.

Looked at me.

And wiped the blood with the side of his hand, calm as stone.

That calm hit harder than any punch.

He didn’t glare.

He didn’t snarl.

He didn’t threaten.

He just cleaned the blood off his cheek like it was nothing, eyes never leaving mine.

“Arya was the biggest loser in this,” Nixon said quietly.

The words landed like a weight.

My throat tightened.

“I believe her,” Nixon added, steady. “You know. Poisoning isn’t her style.”

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My pulse hammered.

Rage.

Fear.

Doubt.

All tangled together, choking me.

“What are you trying to say?” I snapped.

Nixon’s gaze sharpened.

“I’m calling you blind,” he replied.

The anger surged again, but something else surged with it, panic.

Because a part of me knew what he was saying wasn’t empty rebellion.

It was logic.

It was pattern.

It was something I’d been trying not to see.

Nixon took a slow breath, then stepped closer again, not aggressive, just determined.

“The Rainhorns had two problems,” he said.

My jaw clenched.

“Don’t,” I warned.

He ignored it.

“The bastard their daughter was carrying,” Nixon continued, voice firm, “probably linked

to a rogue,”

My nostrils flared.

“And Arya,” Nixon said, sharper now, “who was the only reason Leah could not be the

true Luna of this pack.”

My stomach tightened.

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Nixon didn’t pause long enough for me to interrupt.

“A pack whose land is rich with gold and minerals,” he added, eyes locked on mine,

“riches that almost every Alpha around her wanted to get their hands on.”

I felt a cold thread slide down my spine.

Nixon’s voice hardened.

“So they chose to take care of all their problems,” he said, counting it out like facts, like a

report. “Disrupt the signing so you wouldn’t think straight. Get rid of the unwanted baby

and pin it on Arya. Then install their daughter as Luna.”

My mouth opened, denial, anger, something.

Nothing came.

Because my mind was moving too fast now, slotting pieces into place with brutal

efficiency.

Nixon kept going, relentless.

“Officially turning the pack against Arya,” he said, “by disrupting the signing and

promising war.”

His eyes narrowed.

“It was a smart move,” Nixon said quietly, “and you were too blind to see it.”

My heartbeat slammed so hard it made my ears ring.

Nixon’s voice rose, controlled fury bleeding through.

“You made them drag her,” he said. “Humiliate her.”

I clenched my fists again, but this time it wasn’t just anger.

It was something else.

Something sick.

“The Nightwind pack turned against the hands that fed them,” Nixon continued, eyes burning. “You had her beaten. And in front of everyone you cast her out with that blade.”

My throat constricted.

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I saw it.

The yard.

The whip.

Her body.

The crowd.

My hand holding the knife.

Her neck.

The cut.

The severing.

My stomach lurched.

Nixon stepped in closer, voice dropping into something deadly calm.

“And you think everything will be okay?” he demanded. “That you’d just feed her, tell her

sorry, and it will be fine?”

My head began to race.

Not with excuses.

With images.

With connections.

With the way Marcel had been too ready.

With the way Rebecca had smiled.

With the way Leah had played fragile.

With the way the timing had been perfect, perfect enough to be planned.

With the way Lisa and Margaret had been beaten and shipped off like loose ends.

With the way Arya had looked at me.

Like I was her enemy.

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Like she had already decided I belonged on the list.

My pulse thudded.

Hard.

Fast.

And the world tilted slightly, because for the first time since the chaos began, I started

seeing what my Beta was saying.

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