Rejected by My Alpha Now He Replaced Me with a Copycat Luna novel Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Nox’s POV

I could feel Raven’s pain reaching out to me like a living, breathing thing. Tendrils of it scraped against my skin, but more than that, I saw the life in her eyes fading. The vitality and fieriness drained with each second until she darted from the kitchen.

I watched her go. Waited for a count of five until I knew she’d had time to disappear behind her bedroom door, and then I whirled on Asher. My fist connected with his nose in a satisfying blow.

Fighting wasn’t something I enjoyed the way my pack mates and brothers did. But in this case, I was willing to do whatever was necessary to protect Raven.

Asher’s shock at my attack was short-lived. He answered with a blow to my ribs that forced all the air from my lungs and possibly cracked a

bone or two.

I didn’t give a damn. My fist connected with his jaw in an answering uppercut that had his head jerking back with a satisfying snap.

Asher sent a roundhouse kick in my direction, but I ducked beneath it, sweeping his leg out from under him. IIe crashed into the kitchen table, fury on his face as he righted himself. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Kael moved then, finally taking on a little of the alpha role he should’ve stepped into the moment Asher began railing against Raven. “Enough.” His voice carried weight and fatigue in that single word. But he put a hand on Asher’s chest to keep him from charging forward.

“Shouldn’t you be telling him that? He’s the one protecting that traitorous bitch,” Asher snapped.

There were answering growls in the room from me, Dexter, and even Ezra.

Asher’s jaw went slack. “You can’t honestly tell me you’re still falling for her shit.”

“She’s our mate,” Ezra gritted out.

“So fucking what?” Asher shot back.

“You can’t fake that,” Dexter said quietly.

“Some sort of spell,” Asher suggested.

I glared in his direction. “I’ve never heard of that kind of magic. Ever.” Though it wouldn’t have mattered if I had. I knew that what I felt for Raven was real. The bond was real. She made me feel more at peace and seen than anyone ever had. She’d also been through hell. One that no one deserved-but especially her.

Asher scowled at me. “You might be a tech genius, but you don’t know every piece of magic that exists.”

“But I know Raven. Probably better than any of you do because I shut up and listen,” I growled.

They all turned to me then. Even Ezra’s eyes widened a fraction as the shock hit them all.

“I’ve put the pieces together. She’s running. Running from someone who hurt her. Someone who left her body riddled with scars and terrified of the dark. Do you know what she said when the power went out? They hurt me in the dark.”

Those words had haunted me ever since. Replayed in my mind in an agonizing loop. I scanned the faces of the men in the room, males who were Raven’s mates, my brothers. “She has been terrorized, touch-starved, and so much worse. And the three of you just wounded her worse

than

any of that by believing a bunch of bullshit lies.”

Anger coursed through me. No, fury. Because I didn’t have a clue how we’d undo the damage done over the past five minutes-if we even could. But I knew one thing for certain. If Raven decided she needed to leave, I was going with her.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to forgive Asher, or Kael for that matter. I trusted our alpha to be smarter than this, more reasonable.

The color drained from Kael’s face. “Fucking hell.”

“Exactly.” I snarled. “You’re better than this.”

Pain swept through his expression. “I know I am. I just-all I could think about was Clara and what she’d been through. And knowing that Raven

came from hin…”

“Not by choice. She has been terrorized by the same man you three have. But it’s so much worse because he was supposed to love her.” I met each of their eyes, trying to punctuate my point.

Asher simply scoffed. “If you’re still falling for her bullshit, you’re stupider than I ever could’ve imagined,” he spat as he stalked out of the kitchen. The door slammed a second later, and after a few more, thunder rolled.

It was fitting that a storm hit at a moment like this. I just hoped the power held this time. Lightning flashed, illuminating the kitchen. No one else had moved. We all stood there silently, thinking about the damage we’d wrought. None of us was innocent. Not even me.

Because I should’ve stopped Asher weeks ago. I should’ve gone to Kael and forced him to make Ash leave until he was ready to come to terms

with the fact that he had a true mate. But it was too late now. He’d inflicted the sort of damage that couldn’t be undone.

(0)

(0)