Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 204

Chapter 204

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Minutes pass that feel like hours after Savin leaves me to ruminate on his not-so-veiled threat. Instead, I’m calculating the door-the hinges, the lock, whether there’s anything in this room that could be useful when i hear the footsteps on the stairs again.

Too light for Savin. Too controlled for his goons. I can’t even venture a guess who this new person might be but I’m not looking forward to another visitor to my dungeon.

Then the door opens and Tatiana Volkov steps inside. If I thought I was unenthused before, I’m downright apathetic now. Nicolai’s ex-lover is the last thing I need to be dealig with right now.

I know her immediately, of course. She’s exactly as I remember from the estate-beautiful, polished, the kind of woman who moves through spaces like she expects them to rearrange around her.

She looks at me on the floor of this basement room and her expression is-gleeful might be too strong a word, but not by much.

She’s been planning this moment. I can see it in the quality of her arrival. The way she takes her time crossing the room and crouches down to my level, which is itself a choice. She wants me to understand she doesn’t have to crouch. She’s choosing to, so I understand the distance between us.

“I wanted to see you like this,” she smiles at me like my predicament is some kind of gift, which I suppose it is to her. “After everything.”

Just like with Petry, I meet her eyes and just like with him, I don’t speak.

“You know what’s always bothered me about you?” She tilts her head. “You never understood what you were walking into. What his world actually is. You showed up-a divorced Luna, fresh from someone else’s mate bond, pregnant with another man’s child-and you just decided you belonged there.” She makes a sound. “The audacity.

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“And yet,” I say, raising an eyebrow to punctuate the point.

Her eyes narrow but the blank look behind them tells me she doesn’t get my hint.

“And yet here you are,” I explain, “in a basement, visiting someone who inconvenienced you.”

Her expression goes flat. “Nicolai was meant to be mine,” she snaps. The courtesy is gone now. “Our families were aligned for it. My father and his had agreements, expectations. And then you appeared and he got- distracted.” She says the word like it’s something small. A lapse of judgment. “You were never the right fit for his world, Skye. You’re a divorced Luna with a co-mate arrangement that makes him look like he can’t hold what’s his. That’s your legacy. That’s what you gave him.”

She’s building toward something. I can feel it in the specific quality of her performance-the point she hasn’t quite gotten to. And she doesn’t make me wait long.

“And now,” she goes on, “you’re here. And you’re going into heat. And you’re going to be here for whatever my father decides comes next.” She looks at me steadily, pity in her eyes that I don’t buy for a second. “I’m sorry about that. Truly. I didn’t want it to be like this.”

She doesn’t sound sorry. She sounds like someone who has been practicing sincerity for an audience that isn’t in this room.

“But.” She stands, nearing the end of her diatribe. “I’m going to do you a small favor. My father’s men upstairs,”

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she says, “have been very disciplined. Their orders are clear. You’re leverage. They’re not supposed to touch you.” She looks at the door. “But your heat is close enough that even disciplined men have limits. They’ll come in eventually regardless of their orders.” She smiles but not for my benefit. She’s genuinely enjoying herself. “I’m going to help nature take its course. I’m going to tell them I forgot to lock your door. Oops! Maybe one or more of them will volunteer to come down and take care of that little oversight for me.”

I can’t help the sharp exhale of breath that her words tear from my chest. How can a woman facilitate the assault of another woman? You’d have to be truly evil.

“And when they’re done,” she continues, “if there’s nothing left that Nicolai would recognize-nothing he’d want back-I’ll be there for him. I’ve been patient this long. I can be patient a little longer.” She moves toward the door. “He’ll need someone who understands his world. Who fits in it properly. Someone who was always supposed to be there.”

She pauses at the threshold.

“Oh. And your son.” She says it lightly. Like an afterthought. Like Benji’s name is a detail she nearly forgot. “Benj, is it? I’ll be very good to him. I’ve always wanted children, and he’s a sweet boy.” She tilts her head. “You should know that. Whatever happens, he’ll be cared for.” 1

She leaves. The door closes. I wait, counting seconds.

One. Two. Three. Ten. Twenty. No lock engages. Just as promised.

Above me, the quality of the voices changes. Lower. The specific shift when men stop pretending they’re not paying attention to something. Then there’s movement toward the stairs.

I close my eyes and picture Nicolai’s face. The particular expression he has when he looks at me when he thinks I’m not watching. I imagine Jaxon’s voice telling me I know what I want. I want you. And Benji’s laugh-the full- body one, when something really gets him.

I am Skye Winters. I don’t go quietly. I am not going to make this easy for anyone.

The footsteps on the stairs are getting closer.

I start working on the restraints.

Cara Anderson Author

Thank you for reading!

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