บททั้งหมดของ The Alpha’s Dead Luna: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 69

EMILY South Valley.The name alone had sounded ominous when Julian first spoke it. Now that we were here, I understood why.It was dry and suffocatingly hot deep in the bowels of the constricted valley. For two relentless days we had crossed an arid desert mountain range, following narrow, treacherous trails that climbed steep inclines again and again. At times we rode at dizzying heights, one careless slip away from plunging into bottomless gorges that twisted alongside us like waiting serpents. On the opposite side, sheer granite cliffs soared upward, hemming us in.The morning of our third day had marked our descent.It took hours.Going down proved no kinder than climbing up. The slopes were slippery and strewn with loose rock. The horses picked their way carefully while I tried not to imagine what would happen if one hoof lost purchase.This was different.This was heat like I had never known.Hotter than an oven. Hotter than anywhere I had ever been.I felt as if we had descend

EMILY A heavy wooden table stood on the far side of the room, benches flanking it and a single chair at its head. It, too, was crowded with dirty dishes and glasses.Voices drifted from what must have been the kitchen. I followed them and paused in the doorway.Claire and a large, older woman bustled about, clearly preparing a meal. Vegetables, flour, meat, pots, pans and everything was spread across counters and a rough worktable that dominated the room.They both stopped to stare at me.I let them look. I lifted my chin and affected an indifference I did not feel. I could smell myself. I could imagine the grime on my face. The older woman smiled faintly and returned to her work.Claire did not.I watched her rage bloom like a poisonous flower. She gripped a cleaver and brought it down on the table with a violent crack. I jumped despite myself.This woman is capable of hurting her enemies, I thought. And you are her enemy.“Julian said you would give me clothes,” I said coolly. “And

EMILY I hadn't heard a single sound in the godforsaken night, so when he touched me shoulder, I jumped with а loud сrу."I didn't mean to frighten you," Julian said.It was one of the blackest nights I had ever experi-enced, the sky heavy and dark, unlit by any stars, with the giant rock walls of the valley leaning in on them, somehow making the night even darker. Yet in the murky blackness it was impossible to decide where the sky ended and the cliffs began, and I had finally gotten the fantastic impression that the two had merged and were hovering over me like a low, overburdened ceiling, threatening to cave Julian was a relief because he was real and human, yet he was the last person I wanted to be with, too. I could barely make out his form, much less his expression. Only his teeth, glimmering brightly when he spoke, and the sheen of his eyes. I stepped back. He was like an apparition, adding to the unreality I had been experiencing. He was my own private demon come to taunt me.

EMILYThe door burst open and slammed against the wall so hard the sound cracked through my sleep like a gunshot.I jerked upright, my heart racing, the last threads of a dream snapping away. Morning light flooded the room in a blinding stream, pouring through the narrow window and laying gold across the rumpled bed. For one wild second I thought Julian had come storming in, temper blazing.Instead, I realized, with mortifying clarity, that I was wearing nothing but my drawers. The heat had been suffocating through the night, thick and wet, clinging to my skin like a second layer. I snatched the sheet to my throat, clutching it tight as if it were armor.Claire stood framed in the doorway.She was dressed as though she were stepping into a fiesta instead of a kitchen, she wore flaming red blouse, black skirt, and another flash of gold beneath it that caught the sun when she shifted. Pink combs speared through her dark hair like tiny weapons.“Get up!”I blinked at her, still dazed. “P