All Chapters of The Alpha’s Dead Luna: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

EMILYClaire muttered something sharp and incomprehensible under her breath before collapsing onto the bench at the table. I stood there for a moment, feeling strangely weak and shaky and overwhelmingly relieved. My threat had worked. For now, at least, Claire and I had reached a sort of silent standoff.Then I noticed Linda kneeling on the floor, quietly gathering the mess Claire had made when she had knocked Gabby’s dinner to the ground. The sight jolted me out of my daze.I hurried into the kitchen and quickly prepared Claire’s meal. Once her plate was ready, I carried it out to the table and set it before her without a word. Immediately afterward, I made another plate, this one for Gabby.My nerves tightened again as I carried it down the hall.Claire watched me with open disdain. “You spoil him,” she said flatly.I ignored her and knocked on Gabby’s door. When no answer came, I gently pushed it open and stepped inside.He was sitting on the edge of his bed, very straight and sole

JULIANI stared at her from across the room, unable to move.Time seemed to stretch endlessly between us. Seconds slipped into minutes, yet neither of us took a single step.It had been one long week.The longest one week of my life.Not long after leaving south Valley, after leaving Emily, I had been forced to confront a truth I hadn’t wanted to face. It had struck me somewhere on the trail and clung to me ever since, dogging my thoughts day and night.My lust for Emily had changed.It had grown into something far stronger.Something far more dangerous.It had become an obsession.No matter what I did or where I went, she was there in my mind, in my thoughts, intruding at the most inconvenient moments. I would be riding with the men, discussing business or planning the next move, and suddenly her face would appear in my mind as clearly as if she stood before me.The bitterness of our last argument had faded quickly, buried beneath the much heavier weight of that obsession.So what if

EMILYDinner that evening was painfully awkward.Gabby sat between Julian and me, happily chattering and unaware of the tension thickening the air around him, but I could feel it with every breath I took. A current of awareness pulsed between Julian and me, sharp and undeniable, making even the smallest movement feel charged.I could barely swallow a bite of food.His gaze kept drifting toward me. I felt it again and again like a physical touch on my skin. And whenever I dared to lift my eyes, they were drawn helplessly back to him.Then there was Claire.She sat directly across from me, glowering so fiercely it seemed she might kill me with nothing more than the venom in her stare. When she wasn’t glaring daggers at me, she leaned against Julian in a showy display of possession, stroking his arm and pressing herself against him as if determined to remind everyone exactly who she believed he belonged to.At last Julian told her curtly to stop.“I’m trying to eat,” he said flatly.Clai

EMILYAt some point, without even realizing when it happened, I must have fallen asleep.When I opened my eyes again, the room was dim and quiet. For a moment I lay still, disoriented, until my gaze lifted and I saw him.Julian was lying on his side beside me, his head propped up on one hand. His other palm rested flat on the mattress, his fingertips just barely touching my arm.He was watching me.The intensity of his gaze made my stomach tighten.Now that the fever of passion had faded for the moment, an awkwardness crept in that hadn’t been there before. My heart fluttered nervously in my chest. I gave him a small, uncertain smile.He didn’t return it.Instead, his eyes moved slowly over my face, studying every detail as though he were trying to read something written there.Needing something, anything to say, I cleared my throat softly.“Did I sleep long?” I asked.His voice was calm. “Maybe half an hour.”I rolled onto my side so I was facing him fully.His gaze drifted downward

EMILYIt was siesta time, and Gabby and I were walking down the familiar path toward the river for our swim. Before Julian had returned, this had been our daily ritual, our quiet escape during the hottest hours of the day.The past couple of days had been different. Instead of swimming, Julian and I had spent siesta together.The thought made a soft warmth spread through my chest.But this morning he had left before dawn to go hunting, so Gabby and I were returning to our old routine.I was humming softly as we walked, holding Gabby’s small hand in mine while he skipped along beside me. The sun was bright overhead, and the dusty ground warmed beneath our feet.Then I saw her.The tune died instantly in my throat.A familiar figure dressed in bright gypsy skirts was striding toward us from the cluster of houses behind the remuda. Claire.I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her since the night I had first slept with Julian.My spine stiffened. I slowed, then stopped completely, bracing mysel