Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 20

Chapter 20 The Breaking Point

Natalie’s POV

I woke up and knew immediately that something fundamental was wrong.

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It wasn’t pain; I had lived with pain before. Spent long nights hunched over stone tables, bearing migraines after transcription. The deep ache that followed after listening.

But this was different; this was absence.

The room came into focus in pieces. White ceiling, soft lights recessed into the panels, a monitor ticking steadily beside me. The pack hospital.

I lay still for a moment, breathing carefully.

Then I listened.

It was instinctive–I didn’t reach or strain. I simply opened myself the way I always had, the way I had since I was a child, before I even understood what transcription was.

But nothing answered.

I frowned slightly and tried again.

Still nothing.

The silence pressed back at me, no resonance from the Archive stones. No hum beneath my thoughts, no whispers threading meaning through the world.

My breath caught.

“No,” I whispered.

I pushed myself upright too fast. Dizziness washed over me, but I ignored it. Panic crept in, sharp and fast, clawing at my chest as realization settled.

The ridge.

Clark

The spike.

I grabbed at the blanket with my bandaged hands, grounding myself, then looked to my right.

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Chapter 20 The Breaking Point

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A nurse stood there, already watching me. She didn’t look surprised; that alone terrified me.

“Tell me,” I said. My voice shook despite my effort to keep it steady. “Tell me the connection is still there.”

She hesitated.

That hesitation shattered whatever hope I had left.

“I can’t hear them,” I said, the words falling out of me. “I can’t hear anything. That’s not normal. I should hear something.”

The nurse stepped closer. “Natalie, your body went through severe spiritual trauma. The healers are stabilizing you, but-”

“But am I hollow?” I asked.

She didn’t answer.

I closed my eyes.

That was confirmation enough.

The whispers were gone.

Gone.

My hands trembled as I pressed them into the mattress; I had built my entire life around that connection. Every choice I had made after leaving the pack, every contract, every

transcription… It wasn’t just work.

It was my identity.

The door opened.

I didn’t need to look.

I knew who it was.

The room felt heavier the moment Jensen stepped inside; it filled space without asking permission.

I opened my eyes and turned my head.

He stood just inside the doorway, holding a thermal container like a peace offering. His expression was careful and controlled. The look he wore when he was preparing for damage control.

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Chapter 20 The Breaking Point

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The nurse glanced between us, then quietly took the container from him and stepped back.

“Get out,” I said.

Jensen blinked. “Natalie-”

“Get out.”

I reached for the pillow beside me and threw it at him. It hit his shoulder and slid to the floor. He didn’t flinch, but something flickered in his eyes.

He crossed the room in three strides and grabbed my wrists before I could throw anything else.

“Stop,” he said. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Let go of me.”

He didn’t.

“Natalie, listen to me,” he said quietly. “The whispers are gone, yes. But that doesn’t mean your life is over; I’ll take care of you. You don’t need them anymore.”

That did it.

I laughed–it came out sharp and broken.

“You don’t get to decide that,” I said. “You don’t get to decide what matters to me.”

His grip tightened slightly, not painful, just firm.

“I’m trying to protect you.”

“From whom?” I demanded. “Yourself? Or your so–called mate?”

I yanked my hands free and shoved at his chest. This time he let me go.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the way my vision swam.

“I gave you five years,” I said. “Five years of my life, I had transcribed the texts that built your alliances. I cleaned up your ancestors‘ messes; when you chose Sharon, I didn’t fight you. I simply walked away.”

He opened his mouth.

I didn’t let him speak.

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Chapter 20 The Breaking Point

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“All I wanted was to keep my work,” I continued. My calling. I didn’t touch her, and I didn’t threaten her. I left, and this is what you did to me?”

His jaw clenched.

“I didn’t order it.”

I stared at him.

Clark’s voice echoed in my memory. She wants you gone.

“Your mate did this to me!” I yelled. “And you’re here on her behalf.”

He stepped closer again. “Natalie, Clark lied. He’s already been arrested; he’ll take responsibility.”

I shook my head slowly.

“That’s not justice.”

His expression hardened. “It’s what I can give you.”

The words settled like lead between us.

Something in my chest cracked.

“I’m calling the Council,” I said. “I’m pressing charges against Sharon Summers. She performed a forbidden rite on a civilian–born Transcriber, that’s not pack business. That’s a crime.”

“No.”

The word was immediate.

Jensen’s hand closed around my arm.

“You can’t.”

I laughed again, this time without humor. “Watch me.”

“She’s dying,” he said. “Moon sickness. She doesn’t have much time left.”

I yanked my arm free. “And that’s supposed to mean something to me?”

“She’s scared,” he continued. “She wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“She ordered my soul mutilated,” I said. “Do you hear yourself?”

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“You’re asking me to destroy what little peace she has left.”

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“And she destroyed everything I was,” I shot back. “Did I give her the sickness? Did I earn this somehow?”

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