All Chapters of THE LUNA HE SHOULDN'T HAVE REJECTED: Chapter 11 - Chapter 18

“I thought you’d be asleep by now.” Frey said, leaning against the tree like he owned the whole forest.I nearly jumped out of my skin.“Gods, Frey, you—” I pressed a hand to my chest and glared at him. “Do you creep on every girl who can’t sleep, or is it just me?”He smiled, sharp as a blade in moonlight. “Only the dangerous ones.”I stepped off the cabin porch and into the cool night air, arms crossed. My cheeks burned hotter than I liked to admit. All around us the camp was quiet. The fire was nothing but a faint orange glow in the pit, kids curled up in blankets like little foxes. The air smelled like ash and damp pine.I’d been trying, but failing to sleep for hours. My body was heavy but my mind just… wouldn’t shut up. Rafe’s voice still rang in my head from earlier, every word another bruise. The children’s hollow eyes haunted me. Even Frey’s crooked smile left me feeling all tangled up inside.Now here he was, all tall and lean, leaning like he’d been waiting just for me. M

"Let me go."Light flared down my arm, searing into my knuckles, and when my fist connected with his jaw, the whole forest seemed to shudder around us.He didn’t just stumble.He went flying.His body hit a tree hard enough to split the trunk down the middle, wood groaning and splintering under him before he dropped to the ground in a cloud of needles and bark.I stood there, chest heaving, the golden light still swirling around me, sparking from my fingertips to the blackened ground. My breathing sounded too loud in the silence that followed.Then I heard it.A laugh.Low. Rough. Infuriatingly amused.Rafe pushed himself to his feet, brushing a streak of blood from his lip with the back of his hand.“Feel better?” he asked, his voice curling into a dark smile.My lip curled, and I took a step toward him, the ground quivering faintly under my feet as the light coiled tighter. “Don’t start with me, Rafe.”But he was already grinning through his split lip, his silver eyes burning hotter

"Come closer, Selene."The whisper still lingered in the air long after it should have faded, curling through the dark like smoke.I took a step without even realizing it. Then another.The trees pressed in around me, and the faint golden shimmer over my hands dimmed into nothing, leaving me feeling exposed.My claws stayed out, though. My nails dug into my palms as I walked, following that voice, even though every instinct screamed at me to turn back.But it was the mention of my parents that kept me moving.Whoever she was — she’d said she had a message from them. And I… I couldn’t walk away from that. Not now.The forest felt colder here, and quiet in a way that didn’t feel right. Not a single branch creaked. No birds rustled above me. The usual smell of pine and earth had been swallowed up by something sour and metallic.I kept walking.The voice didn’t call again, but it didn’t have to.It felt like invisible strings were tugging me forward, guiding me through trees I didn’t reco

I stood there staring at him, my chest tight. The mark. That same cursed symbol burned into his skin.“Start talking,” I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt.Frey didn’t answer. He just pulled his sleeve back down and looked away.“You’re going to ignore me now?” I snapped.“I told you,” he said, calm but clipped, “it’s nothing.”“Don’t,” I said, stepping closer. “Don’t lie to me. Not again.”“Again?”“You think I don’t see it? That symbol—Silverfang. You said it yourself. Why do you have it?”He let out a short breath, the kind that sounded more like a warning. “You wouldn’t understand.”“Then make me.”“Selene—”“No,” I cut in. “You tell me right now if you’ve been working for Rafe this whole time. Were you his little errand boy, keeping tabs on me?”Frey’s eyes snapped to mine. “That’s not what this is.”“Then what is it? Because it looks like every person I’ve trusted ends up lying to me.”He clenched his jaw, muscles ticking. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”