บททั้งหมดของ Beneath the Wolf Moon: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

The rest of the week passed in a haze of tension so thick it felt like a storm cloud hung over me wherever I went.School had become a battlefield of whispered insults and cold stares, but what unsettled me the most wasn’t the cruelty of Savannah’s minions or even the way everyone seemed to treat me like I was some kind of fragile, breakable thing.It was him.Jaxon Carter.He was everywhere.Even when he wasn’t in my line of sight, I could feel him. His presence lingered in the air, heavy and magnetic, making my breath catch whenever I sensed him nearby.And though he never said much, never stayed long enough for others to notice, our eyes met more often now.And each time they did, something inside me shifted.It started on Monday morning, when I rounded the corner toward my locker and nearly collided with him.My heart leapt into my throat, my body freezing as though my bones had forgotten how to move.He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded over his chest, his tall frame

The first thing I noticed about Jaxon that day wasn’t his broad shoulders or the way his hair fell in perfect, dark waves over his forehead.It was the way the air seemed to change when he walked into the room.It was subtle—so subtle I almost convinced myself I imagined it—but I swore the temperature rose a degree or two, the oxygen growing thick and heavy, like a storm was building somewhere close by.I had been sitting alone at my usual table in the corner of the library, pretending to focus on an essay for history. The truth was, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. About the way his eyes had burned into mine when he’d visited me in the hospital. About the way his voice had dipped low and rough when he said my name.Even now, days later, my skin still tingled where his fingers had brushed my cheek.And then he was there.I didn’t even hear him approach—just glanced up and saw him standing at the edge of my table, one hand braced on the wood, his eyes fixed on mine with quiet intens

The heavy oak door clicked softly behind me as I stepped into the dining room, where the golden glow of the chandelier struggled to soften the chill that wrapped itself around the space. The table was set with careful precision, but it felt more like a stage set for a performance I wasn’t invited to take part in. The polished silverware gleamed coldly under the dim light, and the neatly folded napkins seemed to mock me with their flawless edges.I hesitated at the threshold, my fingers twitching at the seam of my shirt as I took in the scene before me. My mother sat poised at the head of the table, her posture stiff as always, a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes plastered onto her face. My father, equally unyielding, filled his plate methodically, his eyes never meeting mine. Ethan was seated across from me, his usual confident aura muted, replaced by an almost palpable tension.The silence stretched uncomfortably long, broken only by the faint clinking of cutlery and the subtle

The morning light barely filtered through the heavy curtains of my bedroom, casting faint shadows that stretched like quiet fingers across the floor. I lay still beneath the weight of the blankets, my eyes tracing the uneven patterns of light and dark on the ceiling. For a long moment, I didn’t move, just listening—to the soft hum of the house, the distant sounds of cars starting their day, and the faint flutter of my own heartbeat, slow and deliberate in the quiet.There was a restlessness gnawing at me, subtle but persistent. It wasn’t just the bruises that throbbed beneath my skin or the ache in my ribs from the fractured bones that still hadn’t quite settled. It was something deeper, an unease that pulled at the edges of my thoughts like the tide pulling at sand.I thought of Jaxon, though why he came to mind so early this morning, I didn’t know. His absence from school was already noted by the whispering currents that rippled through the hallways, but it felt bigger than just a m

Jaxon rested his forehead against mine, his breath warm and steady.“I won’t let them hurt you,” he murmured.I nodded, tears pricking the corners of my eyes—not from fear, but from the strange, dizzying sensation of finally feeling seen.The second their footsteps faded into the hallway, the thick tension in the air didn’t ease—it only tightened, like a coil ready to snap. I stayed pressed against Jaxon’s solid chest, my cheek still resting where his shirt met my skin, each breath of his warming me in a way that was confusing and intoxicating all at once.His arms didn’t loosen; instead, they seemed to draw me closer, as if trying to shield me from a world that had been nothing but cruel and unforgiving. The steady beat of his heart beneath my ear was like a lifeline—something real and unshakable in the sea of everything else I’d been tossed into.My fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt, gripping just enough to keep myself anchored because I felt like I might dissolve if I l