Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19 The Price Of A Rib

Jensen’s POV

I didn’t

Not yet.

go back to Sharon’s room.

I went straight to security.

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If Clark had told the truth, I needed to see it with my own eyes before I let myself believe anything else. Before I decided what Sharon had become.

The surveillance room was quiet when I entered. The tech on duty straightened the moment he saw me.

“Alpha,” he said, bowing.

“Pull footage,” I said. “VIP wing… Sharon’s floor. Yesterday, full window.”

He didn’t ask questions; he just turned back to the screens.

The footage rolled in silence–nurses, guards, her parents, then nothing that mattered.

Then Clark appeared later.

My focus narrowed.

He wasn’t supposed to be there.

I had placed him on perimeter rotation that night. External only, far from Sharon. Far from Natalie.

But the screen showed him entering Sharon’s room just after dusk.

I leaned forward as the time went by.

“He was telling the truth earlier,” Cairn said, referring to Clark.

Twelve minutes passed.

No one entered the room.

When Clark left, he was shaking. Carrying a bag, he didn’t go in with it.

He looked scared.

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Chapter 19 The Price Of A Rib

Cairn stirred beneath my ribs.

“That was pressure,” he said quietly.

“No,” I replied, trying to convince myself. “It wasn’t.”

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“I need the footage from inside the room,” I ordered the tech guy, who looked surprised about everything happening.

“Yes, Alpha.”

He switched the footage, moving a few minutes before.

Sharon was upright in bed. Smiling and talking with her hands as she passed him something small.

Dark.

Even on grainy footage, I recognized the obsidian.

I straightened.

“Audio,” I said.

The tech hesitated. “VIP rooms are-

“I authorized monitoring,” I cut in.

The sound came through distorted but clear enough.

Sharon’s voice was calm. Measured.

…you know the rite; I don’t need her dead. I need her quiet.”

Clark spoke after a pause.

“And the Alpha?”

There was a moment of silence.

Then Sharon laughed.

“He’ll never believe her.”

Something cold settled in my chest.

Cairn went very still.

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Chapter 19 The Price Of A Rib

That silence told me everything.

“Cut it.” I said.

The tech shut the feed down.

I stepped back from the screens, my reflection fractured across black glass.

She hadn’t panicked.

She hadn’t been afraid; she had planned this.

I left security without another word.

The hallway outside Sharon’s room was quiet.

Too quiet.

I didn’t slow down.

I didn’t even knock.

The door slammed open hard enough to rattle the equipment inside.

Sharon looked up sharply. Surprise flickered across her face before she masked it.

“Jensen,” she said. “You’re back.”

Paper littered the floor.

My breath caught as I stared at the eagle… torn apart.

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I crossed the room and bent down, lifting a fragment between my fingers. One curve of a wing. One broken line of script.

Natalie’s work.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

My voice was level as I tried to keep Cairn at bay

Sharon swallowed. “I was upset.”

“You ordered Clark,” I said. “I saw the footage.”

Her eyes flashed.

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Chapter 19 The Price Of A Rib

For a moment, the mask slipped.

Then she laughed.

“So,” she said lightly. “You checked.”

I was on her before the word finished leaving her mouth.

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My hand closed around her throat and drove her back against the headboard. The monitors screamed.

“Why,” I asked quietly, “did you order the Rites of the Hollow Soul?”

Her hands clawed at my wrist, weak but frantic.

“She was never yours,” Sharon rasped. “She was using you.

“She served the pack,” I said. “Something you’ve never done without demanding payment.

“She could hear them,” Sharon gasped. “The whispers. That’s why you couldn’t let her go.”

My grip tightened despite myself.

“You silenced her,” I said. “Do you understand what that means to a Transcriber?”

She laughed, breathless and sharp.

“You promised me,” she choked. “You said you’d stay. You said you’d protect me until the

end.”

“And you decided that meant you could mutilate her soul.”

“You’re killing me,” Sharon snapped suddenly. “Co on. Do it. Don’t forget you’re alive because of me.”

The words struck hard.

The rib.

The crash.

Her bone in my body.

My hand trembled.

Cairn growled low.

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Chapter 19 The Price Of A Rib

“That is not a reason to hurt her, kill her, Jensen

I released her, ignoring Cairn’s instructions.

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Sharon collapsed back onto the bed, coughing. When she looked at me again, there was no fear in her eyes.

Only satisfaction.