True Blood Luna

Chapter 8

Elena’s POV

The ride back to campus was suffocating. Watching my ex-best friend from a distance, I didn’t know how to feel. I mean, how could she? Life is so cruel anyway.

I sat stiffly against the velvet seat, fingers twisted tightly in the folds of my dress, feeling like I was crawling out of my own skin. I was always wearing a smile, but now all I knew was gloom. I tried so hard not to think about Damien. But our last intimate night together clung to me, breaking my heart piece by piece, and now I’m left with the mocking smiles from people who have always wanted me to fail.

I sat there mindlessly, my mind drifting. I slowly broke into a smile at the thought of him — Kade. Yes, Kade.

His scent still haunted my senses: pine, smoke, and something older, like an oud-rich smell, something that didn’t belong in this world. I should like it, but on the contrary, I hated it. Hated how his voice wrapped around me like silk, hated the way he made the ballroom and everyone in it feel small and meaningless.

I hated that a part of me — a part I didn’t even recognize — wanted to follow him into the dark and never look back. I was supposed to still be crying for Damien, missing him and sulking into my pillowcase every night, but I was already drifting.

Too tired to feel small, to feel used, and to feel betrayed. Ava was restless inside me, pacing and snarling, just as furious, just as confused.

“He is not safe,” she whispered. She was really starting to confuse me. He is not safe, and yet she didn’t recoil from him; her wolf stirs when we are close to him, and she even pushed me to lean closer.

The ride bumped over a rough patch of road, jolting me out of my thoughts. I exhaled slowly, dragging trembling fingers through my hair. I couldn’t afford this.

I had enough problems going on right now, and this isn’t the time to be inviting another into my life — especially one with eyes like that, voice like that, an overpowering demeanor like that. Certainly not one older than me. All I wanted was to get my head straight in the game and graduate.

By the time the vehicle rattled to a stop in front of the dormitory building, my head was pounding. The campus grounds were empty and silent.

I gathered myself and hurried inside, my heels clicking loudly against the stone floors. The guards at the entrance barely gave me a glance, too used to students stumbling back from late-night parties.

I didn’t stop at the common rooms or the lounges. I climbed the stairs two at a time, desperate to get to my safe space. I was going there to find my solace.

When I finally stumbled inside and slammed the door behind me, I let out a shuddering breath. The room was cold and dark, exactly how I left it.

My bed sat unmade. A cracked mirror hung on the wall. A half-eaten sandwich grew stale on the desk. Home sweet home.

Suddenly, a memory flashed in my head. Damien used to sneak in here and spend the night with me, but now he’d be hurdled in the arms of Selene. How I detested her. She’d stolen everything from me.

I yanked off the suffocating gown and tossed it over a chair, pulling on an oversized sweater instead.

The moment I sat down on the edge of my bed, the emotions hit me like a storm. Anger, grief, loneliness, exhaustion, and betrayal. I felt alone, my heart pounding hard in my chest, my stomach churning.

I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, swallowing down the sob clawing at my throat. I wasn’t going to cry over Selene. Over Damien. Over the life I thought I had.

I’m moving on. They are my past.

They could keep their glittering parties and their fake alliances. I didn’t need any of them.

I had survived worse. I was still standing. Barely.

We are stronger than this, Ava whispered. We are made for more.

I lay back on the thin mattress, staring up at the ceiling, slowly letting myself drift into the comfort of the night.

And that’s when I saw him again.

Not in flesh and blood. In my mind.

Kade. He was stuck there like a disease that wouldn’t go but was spreading across my entirety and would kill me, unfortunately.

Standing in the shadows of the ballroom, watching me with those dark, dangerous eyes.

Not pitying.

Not mocking.

Just watching me.

My heart twisted painfully. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the image away.

I didn’t even know him.

He was older — far older.

Such a shame for anything of that sort to cross my mind.

I imagined Selene laughing at me and Damien’s disappointment.

But Kade, there was something different about him.

There were lines of experience around his mouth and secrets buried deep in his gaze that I could never begin to understand.

He was trouble. I could smell it. He was dangerous.

And yet I couldn’t stop.

I shut my eyes tightly again as I let the sweet melodies of nothingness drag me into sleep.

⸻

It was dark.

The woods stretched out around me, gnarled and whispering, the moon slicing silver through the trees.

I was running barefoot, my nightgown catching on brambles, the earth cold beneath my feet.

Something was chasing me. I couldn’t see it, but it was fast, huge, and nothing I had ever seen before.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, gasping for air.

But when I stumbled into a clearing, now gagging for air, I could feel myself choking at the sight.

It wasn’t a monster waiting for me.

It was him.

Kade stood at the center of the clearing, shirtless, his skin gleaming under the moonlight, his black hair a tousled mess.

Power radiated from him, thick and heavy in the air.

His eyes locked onto mine — and he didn’t move. He just waited, like he was trying to divert attention.

And somehow, in that moment, I knew:

He hadn’t been the one chasing me — he had been waiting for me to find him.

I took one hesitant step forward, heart slamming against my ribs.

Another step, and yet another step.

Until I was close enough to see the scars across his chest — old wounds, stories I would never hear.

Close enough to feel the heat pouring off his body, to see the sharp line of his jaw clench as he fought some invisible war inside himself.

I reached out, trembling fingers brushing his chest — and suddenly I woke up gasping.

I sat up abruptly, clutching the blanket to my chest, heart racing so fast I thought it might burst.

The room was still dark.

The clock on my desk glowed: 3:17 AM.

Ava was wide awake inside me, silent but burning with some emotion I couldn’t name.

I cursed under my breath and swung my legs over the side of the bed.

I needed air.

I needed to shake this off.

Wrapping the blanket tighter around me, I padded barefoot across the room and cracked open the window.

Cool night air spilled in, smelling of dust and rain.

I closed my eyes, letting it wash over me.

What the hell was happening to me?

I was losing it.

First the humiliation at the ball.

Then Kade.

Now stupid dreams.

I didn’t need this.

I didn’t need him.

Everything was happening so fast. I needed time to halt for my sake so I could cry, move on, and truly heal.

I admitted something dangerous to myself:

I didn’t fear Kade.

I didn’t hate him.

I wanted to know him.

And I needed to know why he was tormenting me.

And that terrified me more than anything else.