The Rejected Luna (Avery and Kaden) novel Chapter 5

**Between Then and Now by Mark Twain**
**Chapter 5**

I raised my head, directing my gaze toward Adrian, who stood silhouetted against the harsh light streaming through the window.

A decade had passed, yet it seemed to have left him untouched—if anything, the years had only enhanced the formidable aura of authority that surrounded him as a high-ranking Alpha.

For a fleeting moment, the present blurred into a haunting recollection from ten years ago.

I could almost see him again, standing there in the visiting room of the psychiatric hospital, hands clasped behind his back, observing with an icy detachment as the orderlies forcefully escorted me back to the isolation ward.

The shadows had concealed much of his face, but the glacial disdain in his eyes had pierced through the dimness, chilling me to the core.

Now, facing me, the same harsh light distorted his expression, but there was a tension in his posture that spoke volumes.

Isla, standing beside me, looked between us, her brow furrowed in confusion. “You know Hazel?” she asked, her voice laced with disbelief.

Adrian’s gaze remained locked onto mine, his voice strained with an intensity that was palpable.

“The bullet casing… the one you gave me. It’s still with you.”

Isla’s eyes widened in shock, her disbelief morphing into incredulity. “Hazel, you said he was just a regular customer!”

Her eyes darted to the bracelet she held tightly in her hand. “And you called this trash…”

Adrian’s expression darkened, shadows creeping into the depths of his eyes.

I placed the ledger down with a decisive thud. “If he wants it, give it to him.”

Sensing the rising tension in the air, Isla hurled the bracelet at him, her distrust palpable.

Adrian barely managed to catch it, his fingers trembling ever so slightly as he grasped the object.

“Hazel… how have you been all these years?” he asked, his voice tinged with a mixture of hope and uncertainty.

I forced a smile, though it felt more like a mask than a genuine expression. “Fine. Is there anything else, Alpha?”

The box of macarons he held was crushed in his grip, the delicate packaging crumpled and distorted as if it bore the weight of his unspoken emotions.

He lowered his head, enveloped in silence for what felt like an eternity, before his voice broke through the stillness, hoarse and strained. “I want chocolate chip cookies.”

I had poured everything I had to give—and even the things I didn’t—at his feet, hoping for some semblance of reciprocation.

In return, I was left shattered, a pariah whispered about in hushed tones by the entire pack.

That frigid winter night, I had collapsed in the snow, the cold seeping into my bones, feeling as if my very soul was fracturing under the weight of despair.

Yet, even in that moment of utter desolation, I had refused to surrender. I had dragged myself to his pack house, frostbitten hands pounding against the iron gates, screaming his name into the void.

In my desperation, I had clutched a shard of glass, ready to mar his face, to make him feel the same searing agony of betrayal that had torn me apart.

But instead of him, it was the pack warriors who had seized me.

They had labeled me a “madwoman,” a “psychotic nobody trying to climb the social ladder.”

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Adrian had finally emerged, holding Eden in his arms, a vision of innocence and fragility.

Once timid and shy, Eden now exuded confidence, clad in a custom cashmere coat, every hair meticulously styled, radiating an effortless grace that spoke of a life filled with love and care.

She had sighed softly, her voice a gentle whisper. “Hazel, why do you make this so hard for yourself?”