Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rescuing His Enslaved Luna Queen: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

Ivy's POVPrince Colin looks me up and down, a heavy sort of glare that takes over my body. I squirm under his glance, feeling strangely uncomfortable as I’m observed–as though I’m being examined. It’s not the slimy sort of stare that I’ve incurred from men before. That’s not what Prince Colin is doing. He’s sizing me up for combat. I can feel myself start to buzz with anticipation. Prince Colin smirks as he meets my gaze. “Just to be fair, I won’t shift.” “Sounds good,” I agree. I take a few steps back from him, assuming the starting position Sylvia and I usually begin with. “Um, when should I…?” “Whenever you’re ready,” Prince Colin replies. I narrow my eyes, looking the young prince up and down. He hasn’t taken any sort of fighting stance–he looks relaxed, posture slightly slouched, arms crossed lazily over his chest. But he has the same sort of latent strength that Spencer says. I can recognize it in how he carries himself. Prince Colin is dangerous–he just doesn’t let it

Ivy's POVJust as Spencer’s claws are about to brush against me, he pulls away abruptly. I start to breathe out a sigh of relief when Spencer withdraws his claws, but before I can process everything that’s just happened, Spencer starts to roar at me angrily. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” He snarls at me, shifting back into his human form. His eyes are dark and heavy with rage, and this time it’s directed at me. “What the fuck, Ivy? What’s wrong with you? If I hadn’t pulled back in time, I could have killed you!”“Spencer, she didn’t know–” Sylvia begins, walking towards him quickly and staring up at him in concern. “It’s not her fault!”“Stay out of this, Sylvia,” Spencer growls lowly. I stare up at him with wide eyes, stunned silent. Whatever words I was going to speak shrivel up and die on my tongue in the face of his anger. This is the first time I’ve ever been scolded so harshly by Spencer. Is this how he talks to the people he’s upset with? I don’t like that

Ivy's POVSpencer pulls his hand away at once. When he looks at me, for once, there’s genuine hurt in his eyes–or concern, at least. Doubt. Hesitation. Some indicator that all isn’t well, that we have things we need to talk about. I’ve got his attention, at least. “How could you ask me that, Ivy?” Spencer asks, shaking his head at me. He’s clearly upset. “Without a doubt, I love you. I’ve been good enough to you already–I’ve changed so much for you, in ways you could never understand. Before I met you, before I had you as my mate, I never used to care about being kind to anyone. I didn’t care what people thought of me. I never would have brought a child back from the battlefield. Of course I love you. How can you not see that?”I shake my head in frustration. He’s still not seeing me. He still doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say. It almost feels pointless to try and argue with him, like I’m talking to a brick wall, but I can’t just give up on him completely, can I?“Spencer–”

Spencer's POVWatching Ivy walk away, I suddenly feel myself struck by the full force of one of the most painful moments of my life. I stare at the sheets where she’d once laid. My hands burn where I touched her–I should have stopped, I know I should have stopped. But I couldn’t bear to let her go. And now she’s gone. Will she come back? She has to, doesn’t she? I can feel the mate bond pulling between us like a string, linking us together eternally. She’s always in the back of my mind, impossible to ignore. Ivy and I share more than just a mate bond. We share a Blood Oath. We share a life. We even share a child, now. Love like ours doesn’t just vanish in a day–it’s stronger than that, and no external force could ever break it apart. Right? I grit my teeth, bunching the sheets together in my fist. Colin. It’s all because of Colin. This is what he does–he’s always wanted to take away the people around me, the people I care about. He’s always wanted to turn them against me, ever s

Spencer's POVAs Delilah and I walk out of my suite, I suddenly see Ivy heading to the dining hall with Jason. Ivy seems like she’s cleaned herself up since we last spoke–she’s out of her training clothes, and small bandages have been applied to her myriad cuts and scrapes. Now she’s dressed in a purple gown that glitters and gleams. Her hair is pulled back, soft auburn curls bouncing with every step, and she’s wearing just a bit of makeup–enough to enhance her beautiful features without covering anything up. Ivy is holding Jason’s hand as she leads him down the halls, and they look like the perfect mother-child pair. They don’t seem like they need me at all. As I watch them go, I want nothing more than to pull Ivy aside and talk over the day’s events with her. There’s so much I want to say. But I keep thinking about the look in her eyes when she left. The disappointment there, the anger, the fear. Would she ever want to speak with me again? I swallow my feelings as I walk away s