Pursuing My Rejected Luna by Cara Anderson novel Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Jaxon

Once we’re alone in our bedroom, I don’t know how to start.

I’ve rehearsed this conversation a dozen times in my head. But now, facing her, all my carefully planned words evaporate.

“I went to the cabin,” I blurt out. “To think.”

“Your note said you left on pack business.” She states the fact flatly, like the falsehood doesn’t surprise

her.

“I lied. It wasn’t pack business.” I run a hand through my hair. “I needed to get away. To figure out what

I’ve been doing wrong. And I realized… I’ve been doing everything wrong.”

Skye crosses her arms, waiting.

“From the beginning, when I accused you of drugging me,” I continue. “After your Shifting Party when the bond snapped into place and we mated… I woke up the next morning feeling so groggy, with only flashes of memory. I felt so out of control. I was so convinced you’d manipulated me somehow. Forced the bond.

“I know.” Her voice is cold. “You told me that. Multiple times.”

“I know. But I never… I never really listened to your denial. Never considered that maybe I was wrong.” I take a step closer. “I was so focused on the loss of control, on my wolf taking over without my permission. I couldn’t accept that I’d allowed that to happen, told myself there had to be some other explanation.”

“So you punished me for it,” Skye says quietly. “For three years.”

“Yes.” The admission tastes like ash. “I punished you for taking my control away. And I never gave you a chance to defend yourself. I just decided you were guilty and treated you accordingly.”

Skye’s expression shifts-shock, hurt, fury all warring for dominance.

Her voice is dangerously quiet despite knowing I’d thought this before. Hearing me say it again, admitting I truly believed it, makes it fresh. “You spent three years treating me like a criminal, and you never once actually asked me directly if I did it?”

“I’m asking now,” I say. “Did you drug me, Skye? Did you do anything to force the mate bond?”

She stares at me for a long moment.

“No.” The word is ice. “I didn’t drug you, Jaxon. I didn’t force anything. I was just as much a victim of the mate bond as you were. Our wolves took control and we mated. The only difference was, I actually thought you wanted me.”

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Her words are like a dagger to my heart. 3

“I was terrified that night,” she continues, her voice shaking now. “Terrified and overwhelmed and completely lost in sensation. But I thought-I actually thought-that you felt it too. The connection. The rightness. When you held me afterward, I thought we were going to be happy.”

“Skye-”

“But you couldn’t even look at me the next morning.” She’s crying now, tears streaming down her face.” You rolled over, got dressed, and left. And when you finally did speak to me, it was to accuse me of manipulating you. Of trapping you. Of taking away your precious control.”

“I was wrong-”

“You’ve spent three years convinced I was some kind of manipulative witch who trapped you into marriage,” she interrupts, her voice breaking. “And nothing I said or did could change your mind because you’d already decided who I was. The villain in your story. The obstacle to your freedom.

“Did you even once ask yourself how I could have even managed to slip you something? I had a boyfriend, if you recall. I spent the entire evening with him while you and my sister seemed inseparable. We were never together until you came to congratulate me and the bond snapped.”

She moves toward the door.

“So no. I didn’t drug you. But I’m done trying to prove I’m not the villain you’ve made me out to be.”

Before she can walk past me, I drop to my knees.

“Already planning on it.”

“And you give me space. Real space. Not this suffocating attention you’ve been showing since you found out about the pregnancy. I need room to breathe. To think. To figure out if this is even possible, if I could ever learn to trust you again.”

I nod. “Whatever you need.”

“And if at the end of this,” she says carefully, “I still want to leave… you won’t fight me. You’ll agree to a civilized divorce and shared custody.”

The condition feels like a knife to the chest. But I nod anyway.

“If that’s what you truly want. After giving me a real chance. Then yes.”

Skye studies me for a long moment, searching my face for something.

“Okay,” she finally says.

Just one word, but to me, it’s a lifeline.

She’s giving me a chance.

One last chance to prove I’m not the monster I’ve been for three years.

I just hope I’m capable of actually changing.

Because if I’m not, I’m going to lose everything that matters.

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