His Luna
879 Words
Noah’s POV
"I’ll kill Julian."
The words left my lips as a vow, my voice echoing against the cold stone of the hallway. The moment the threat left my mouth, the estate’s power grid came back to life.
A maid, Betty, stumbled out from the power room entrance, her skin the color of ash. She was shaking so violently that her uniform rattled. I didn't care about the cause of the failures, I was too consumed by the missing Aria situation.
Cassian, however, was in a different headspace. He lunged toward her, his posture predatory.
"What the f**k, Betty? Explain yourself."
The maid jumped, her breath hitching in a sob. "S-sorry, Alpha. I forgot to flip the main breakers immediately… I was… I was..."
"Useless," Cassian spat, rolling his eyes as he began to pace in agitated circles, his muttering lost to the sudden roar of the estate's ventilation.
Betty didn't wait for a dismissal. She bolted, her footsteps retreating as quickly as her trembling legs would allow, no doubt fearing the violence she could feel radiating off my brother.
"We need to find her, Cassian," I said, my voice tight.
"Looking for me so soon?"
The voice wasn't one I recognized, yet it felt like a ghost haunting the hallway. Both Cassian and I spun toward the sound, our instincts screaming at the intrusion.
Standing by the marble pillars was a woman who had been erased from our history, Elena.
Cassian’s face turned to stone. His jaw locked, and the air around him grew heavy with the scent of ozone. She had been his Luna, until he had rejected her only a month ago.
"I told you you'd regret it," she said, strolling toward us with a chilling casualness, as if she owned the very floorboards she walked upon.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice dangerously low. I didn't even bother to look her in the eye; my focus remained on the thought of Aria.
"Why, my Alpha-in-law," she purred, a dark smile playing on her lips. "I knew I was missed. And I happen to know Cassian has missed me, too, though he’d sooner rip his own throat out than admit it."
Cassian turned his back on her, his spine stiff with rigid, repressed fury. "Leave, Elena. I have far more important things to worry about than your delusions."
"No, you don't," she countered, letting out a sharp, mocking chuckle.
I gestured sharply toward the hallway. "Guards, escort her out! I don't have time for this nonsense."
"You'd kick your own Luna out," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper that carried across the hall, "while she’s carrying your nephew?"
The silence that followed was absolute.
I froze.
Cassian turned, his eyes glowing with a violent, molten gold. Any second, the wolf was going to break through the surface of his skin.
"What?" Cassian growled, his voice a guttural sound that shook the light fixtures.
"I'm pregnant, Cassian."
"Liar!" Cassian roared, his voice echoing off the ceilings.
"You know better than that," she snapped back, stepping into his personal space. She didn't flinch as he loomed over her. "Can’t you hear it? Your own child’s heartbeat."
I held my breath, shifting my focus. Beneath the noise of the estate, I heard it.
A faint, rhythmic beat, two hearts in one body. My brother’s face went white, the rage draining away into a look of pure shock.
"That's impossible," Cassian whispered, his hand shaking as he reached out, then pulled back.
Elena looked at him with icy disgust. "How could it be impossible? You’ve always been a reckless boy, and you couldn’t help yourself that night. And now it’s impossible? You can’t reject your own flesh and blood, Cassian."
"That child isn't mine!" Cassian shouted, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him.
I stepped between them, my mind racing. "We have more important things to deal with right now, Elena. A maid will show you to a guest room. We’ll discuss the validity of your claims when we have resolved other pressing issues."
She gave me a sheepish, knowing smile and turned to follow a passing staff member, leaving us in the sudden, suffocating quiet.
I turned to my brother. He looked like a man who had just seen his own grave.
"Of all the things you've done, Cassian, I always think you've hit the bottom, and yet you keep surprising me."
Cassian didn't look at me. He stared into the darkness of the hallway. "I don't love Elena, Noah. And I won't have a bastard for a child with her."
"You should have thought about that before you slept with her," I retorted, but my words were cut short.
The heavy front doors of the estate groaned, the sound of metal twisting against metal. I looked up just as they swung open.
She stood at the entrance, framed by the cold night air. Her dress was shredded, her skin was stained with dried blood that wasn't her own, and her eyes… they weren't black anymore.
“Aria…”
- Writer
