บททั้งหมดของ I Need You, My Luna: บทที่ 161 - บทที่ 170

DANIELLE'S POV"I told you."Skye drops a plastic tray of food onto the table between us and sits down across from me, her expression a careful mix of exasperation and something that might be pity, which is somehow worse."I warned you, Danielle," she continues, folding her arms. "I told you to be careful. I told you not to do anything reckless. And what did you do?"I stare at the tray instead of looking at her, because if I look at her right now I'm going to cry again, and I've already cried enough today to last several lifetimes."You don't have to remind me," I murmur, my voice scraped thin."I think I do," Skye replies, though her tone softens slightly. "Because clearly the lesson didn't land the first hundred times I said it."I press my palms against my eyes, my elbows on the table, the orange jumpsuit they made me wear scratching uncomfortably against my skin every time I move. I never thought I'd be wearing something like this. I never imagined a version of my life that invo

XARION'S POVI don't remember most of the drive home.I remember leaving the hotel parking lot. I remember the flowers still sitting on the passenger seat beside me, white peonies wilting slightly in the afternoon heat because Megan didn't want them. And I remember arriving in my own driveway and simply not having the energy to get out of my car.So I didn't.I sat there instead, engine off, hands still loosely curled around the steering wheel, and at some point my forehead found its way down to rest against the back of my hands, and I just stayed like that.I went to Megan's hotel to check up on her.That was the entire plan. Show up, bring something simple and sincere, remind her that I'm trying, that I'm different, that we both finally know the truth about everything that happened four years ago, and that I'm still not going anywhere.And instead I drove away with my chest cracked wide open and a bouquet of flowers she didn't want.I keep hearing her voice.‘Ever since you came bac

MEGAN'S POV"He wasn't yours," I reply, my voice still even. "He never was.""He would've been," she snaps. "If you hadn't shown up, he would've eventually come back to me. I know he would have. But instead, you appeared out of nowhere with your little act of generosity, and suddenly everyone's talking about Megan Pierce like you hung the moon."I look at her, really look at her, and what I see isn't the bold, calculating Danielle I’d built into a threat in my head. It's a woman sadder and more pathetic than that. A woman who loved someone so completely without reciprocation that she eventually couldn't distinguish between love and ownership, between wanting someone and being owed them."I wish you'd never come back to Arkon," she continues, her voice dropping into a hiss now. "I wish you'd stayed wherever you were hiding with those children of yours and never come back. Everything was fine before you came back.""Was it?" I counter. "You call that fine? Because the fine you're descr

MEGAN'S POVI look at the twins.They look at everything except me.But I can see it, now that Gwen's gone and there's no one else to keep up appearances for. Their little faces aren't as set as they're trying to make them. Maverick's jaw has that slight wobble to it that means he's working hard. Makayla's eyes are too bright.They're not indifferent. They're heartbroken.And they're four, which means they don't have the emotional capacity to hide heartbreak for long, no matter how determined they are."I know you're both angry with me," I start again, my voice softer now, no performance in it. "And I know you think what I'm doing is unfair. I heard everything you said yesterday. I haven't stopped thinking about it."Maverick's eyes dart to me briefly before returning to staring past me."I need you to know that I love you both more than anything I've ever loved in my entire life," I continue, my voice threatening to crack but holding. "Every decision I make, even the ones you hate, I

XARION'S POV"Right," Andrew confirms, nodding slowly. "Definitely about Megan."I set the coffee back down and give him a look that in a professional context would be described as withering. "Andrew. I just said I don't want to talk about it.""You did say that," he agrees pleasantly. "Very clearly. With your whole Alpha voice and everything. Very authoritative.""And yet here you are.""And yet here I am," he concedes without a trace of remorse, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Because you've read that quarterly report four times since I walked in without retaining a single word of it, and you've got the look on your face that you get when you're trying to outrun your own brain, and I've known you long enough to know that never actually works."I stare at him.He stares back, entirely unbothered."I don't want to talk about it," I repeat, and even I can hear that my voice carries considerably less authority the third time.Andrew raises his hands in surrender. "Fine