Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 144

Chapter 144 The Fragility Of Guilt

Chapter 144 The Fragility Of Guilt

Jensen’s POV

The office felt like a cage.

Cairn kept pacing in my head every time I looked at the monitor, at that teaser video from the Sunlight Scribe Studio.

The runes, the fluid grace of the transcription… it was hers.

It was undeniably Natalie’s.

She was alive.

And she was coming back to my pack, and she wasn’t coming back as my hidden Scribe.

She was coming back as the Keeper.

A sharp knock at the door broke my trance.

Hansel stepped in, his expression unreadable, though I could sense his disapproval radiating off him like a cold draft.

+30 Free Coins

“Alpha Jensen, Ms. Sharon is here,” Hansel said, his voice flat. “She says she needs to see you. She seems quite insistent.”

My brows furrowed.

Sharon.

The woman I had mated.

The woman whose failing health had been the anchor dragging me away from Natalie for years and yet her failing health was a price she paid for saving me.

Today, of all days, her presence felt like an intrusion on the only moment of hope I’d had in months.

“What is she doing here?” I muttered, rubbing my temples.

I looked at the screen one last time.

I needed to know if she had seen the post. “Well, I happen to need to speak with her too. Let her in.”

Hansel simply gave a short, stiff nod and retreated.

Moments later, the door opened again, and Sharon was ushered inside.

“Jensen.”

Her voice was a fragile whisper.

She stood by the leather chairs, looking small and pitiful.

Her fingers were clutching the hem of her blouse so tightly her knuckles were white, and her face was a ghostly pale.

1/3

12:08 pm P p pp.

Chapter 144 The Fragility Of Guilt

As I looked at her, I saw the fear and unease dancing in her eyes.

Against my better judgment, a flicker of guilt stirred in my chest.

This was the woman who had sacrificed a vital organ to save me.

Cairn growled in disapproval… ‘Reject her now… Natalie is here!

Tignored, turning my full attention to Sharon.

+30 Free Coins

“Sit down,” I said, my voice softening despite my internal turmoil. I glanced at my assistant. “Hansel, get her some hot water.”

Hansel hesitated for a beat, his gaze shifting between Sharon and me.

I knew what he was thinking; that I was being played, that I was falling for the same old tricks.

But he left without protest, returning shortly with a steaming cup before tactfully excusing himself and closing the door.

The s lence that followed was heavy.

Sharon didn’t miss the guilt flickering in my eyes; she had always been an expert at reading the micro–expressions of my face.

Her fingers slid gently over the rim of the cup, her gaze fixed on the rising steam.

“I saw the news on Wolvesbond this morning,” she said, her voice dropping into a low, trembling register. “Natalie’s still alive, isn’t she? She’s the one behind that studio.”

The moment she mentioned Natalie, the warmth in the room vanished.

My brows knit tightly, and the wolf in me surged to the surface more forcefully.

The idea of Sharon even thinking about Natalie made my blood run cold.

“What are you planning, Sharon?” I asked, my voice laced with a warning that made her vibrate.

“I’m warning you… you are not to touch her. You are not to interfere with her return. If I find out your family is lifting a finger against her, there will be nothing left of your pack but ash.”

“Is that really what you think of me?”

Her voice broke.

Tears welled up instantly, spilling down her cheeks. She looked at me with a profound, wounded hurt that made me feel like a monster.

‘Those crocodile tears… get her out of here.‘ Cairn growled again but I ignored him.

“Jensen, I admit I was jealous of her,” she sobbed, her shoulders shaking. “I admit that I hated her for taking your attention, for being the one you spent your nights with. But I never wanted her dead… I’m not a murderer.”

She looked up, her eyes wide and pleading. “Otherwise, back during the fire… I could’ve just kept quiet, couldn’t I? If I truly wanted her gone, I could have just dragged you out and let you believe she wasn’t inside. I could have let the flames take her without a word. But I didn’t. I told you she was there.”

2/3

12:08 pm P PPP.

Chapter 144 The Fragility Of Guilt

+30 Free Coins

Her words gave me pause.

I felt the air leave my lungs.

Doesn’t matter… she’s lying… listen to her heartbeat.‘ He said again, making me shove him to the back of my mind.

My jaw tightened.

I knew Cairn was right.

I knew it.

And yet…

I thought back to that night, Sharon had been the one clinging to me, coughing from the smoke, but she had mentioned Natalie.

If she had simply stayed silent, if she had focused only on her own escape, I really wouldn’t have known Natalie was still trapped in that inner room until it was far too late.

A trace of doubt flickered across my mind. Had I been too hard on her? Had my grief turned into a blind rage that needed a target?

Sensing the shift in my aura, Sharon seized the moment. She leaned forward, the steam from the water dampening her lashes.

“Jensen, I’ve realized something over this time… through all the months of your silence…” she whispered, her voice thick with a devastating realization. “The one you truly love is Natalie. You only stayed with me, you only mated with me out of pity for my sickness. I’m just a burden to you, aren’t I?”

I pressed my lips into a thin line, my heart clenching.

For some reason, I found myself unable to argue.

I had stayed for the failing first love, for the sacrifice she made, but every fiber of my wolf was screaming for the girl I had left in the smoke.

But seeing Sharon like this- so fragile, so broken, as if she might shatter into a thousand pieces if I spoke the truth, the guilt inside me surged uncontrollably.

I had promised to protect her, and yet I was standing here mourning another woman while she was dying right in front of me.

1 reached out, my hand hovering near hers on the desk, caught between the need to find Natalie and the crushing weight of the woman I had promised to save.

3/3