My tortured Luna

Chapter 7

Valens POV

The council meeting had lasted almost four hours.

Four hours spent discussing borders, trade agreements and a dispute between two northern packs that should have been capable of solving their own problems. By the time I stepped into the grand foyer, a dull headache had already settled behind my eyes.

“My King?” One of the council members continued talking beside me, holding out another folder.

“There is one last matter requiring your signature.”I barely heard him.

Her scent reached me first.

Wildflowers.

Rain.

Home.

Cain surged forward so violently he nearly tore free.

Mate.

My head lifted. She stood at the far end of the foyer beside Jayden, her hands clasped nervously in front of her while she looked around as though every corridor might hide another threat. Even from this distance, I recognized the way her eyes moved. Not wandering. Searching, calculating, surviving. A slow breath escaped my lungs. She’d left her suite. Yesterday she hadn’t wanted to leave a single room.

Today… She’d made it all the way downstairs. Small. But progress.

Go to her.

No.

She needs us.

She needs peace.

My eyes remained fixed on her for another heartbeat. Jayden said something that I couldn’t hear, earning the smallest twitch at the corner of her mouth. Not quite a smile. Almost. Something unpleasant settled briefly beneath my ribs. She wasn’t afraid of him. The thought disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. Of course she wasn’t. Jayden wasn’t her mate. He wasn’t the Alpha she’d thrown herself out of a fifth-floor window to escape. Cain disagreed.

She should smile at us.

She isn’t ready.

Make her ready.

No.

“My King?” The councilman tried again. I lowered the phone from my ear without taking my eyes off her.

“I’ll call you back.” The man beside me stopped walking as I handed him the folder.

“Reschedule the remaining meetings.” He frowned.

“Your Majesty?”

“I have paperwork.” It was a lie. He bowed anyway.

“As you wish.” I watched Sage for one final second. Then I turned around. Walking away from her required far more discipline than walking towards an army ever had.

⸻

The silence inside my office was almost welcome. I closed the door behind me before crossing to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the palace grounds. From here I could just make out the gardens below, though Sage hadn’t reached them yet. I walked to my desk. Cain paced restlessly beneath my skin.

Coward.

I’m protecting her.

You’re protecting yourself.

The accusation lingered longer than I cared to admit. A knock sounded against the door.

“Come in.” Jayden stepped inside, quietly closing the door behind him.

“She’s in the gardens.” I nodded once.

“Good.” He studied me for a moment.

“She actually left her suite.”

“I know.”

“I thought you’d want to hear it.”

“I did.” Jayden remained where he was, arms folded across his chest.

“She’s not doing well.”

“I know.” I reached for the first document on my desk, reading the same sentence three times without understanding a single word.

“Then stop staying away from her.” A low growl escaped before I could stop it. The sound vibrated through the room. Jayden didn’t even blink.

“That isn’t helping.” My grip tightened around the pen until it splintered between my fingers.

“She jumped from a fifth-floor window because I walked into a hospital room.” I dropped the broken pieces onto the desk.

“Every instinct she has tells her I’m another Alpha coming to claim her.”

“And?”

“And I’m not proving her right.” Jayden sighed.

“You’re proving something.” I finally looked up.

“I’m giving her space.”

“You’re giving her silence.”

“I’m giving her control.”

“You’re giving her loneliness.” The growl that escaped this time came from somewhere much deeper. Cain. Jayden simply waited.

“I won’t become another Alpha who decides what’s best for her.” My voice remained calm despite the wolf clawing beneath it.

“If seeing me terrifies her, then she won’t have to see me.” Jayden rubbed a hand across his jaw.

“I hope you’re right.”

“So do I.”

"Because from where I'm standing..." He hesitated for the first time since entering my office. I slowly lifted my eyes.

"...I think she's lonelier today than she was yesterday." Something snapped. Not inside me. Inside Cain. The growl tore through my chest before I had a chance to stop it. My fist slammed into the edge of the desk with enough force to shake the entire office.

A deafening crack echoed through the room. Solid oak split beneath my hand as if it had been nothing more than rotten timber. The polished surface buckled, legs twisting under the impact before the entire desk collapsed in on itself. Papers scattered through the air while splinters skidded across the marble floor. Silence followed. I stared down at the wreckage, my breathing steady despite the destruction around me. Jayden didn't move. He didn't even flinch. Instead, he looked from the ruined desk back to me before letting out a slow breath.

"I'll have another one made."

"I'm getting tired of replacing them."

"You don't have to." I looked at him.

"You could stop breaking them." A humourless smile tugged briefly at the corner of my mouth.

"I've been trying for years." Jayden nodded once.

"I know." He crouched down, picking up one of the broken pieces of oak. His thumb brushed over the splintered wood before he placed it back on the floor.

"I also know this isn't about the desk."

"No."

"It's about the fact that you can't fix her." Those words landed harder than any blow ever could. I looked away.

"No." My voice had become quieter.

"I can't." Jayden was silent for a long moment.

"But you can help her."

"I am."

"I hope so." He didn't argue anymore. He simply turned and walked towards the door.

"I'll keep looking." I nodded.

"Any news?"

"No." My jaw tightened.

"When you find him..." I could feel Cain stirring again.

"I know."

"No." I looked him straight in the eyes.

"I don't want him arrested." Jayden waited.

"I don't want him executed." Another heartbeat passed.

"I want him breathing." Jayden gave a single nod.

"I thought you might."

"I want him to look me in the eyes..." My fingers slowly curled into fists again.

"...and tell me why two children were worth less than the money in his pocket." My voice dropped to almost a whisper.

"And if he can't..." Cain smiled inside me.

"...I'll make him wish Jack had bought him instead." Jayden didn't answer. He simply nodded.

I walked to the windows. My eyes drifted back to the gardens below, searching for a glimpse of silver hair between the hedges. I found her almost immediately. She moved slowly. Too slowly. Every few steps she stopped to look around before continuing, her body tensing each time laughter drifted across the gardens from the training grounds. When two young wolves ran past chasing each other, she instinctively stepped aside and lowered her head, waiting for them to pass before moving again.

My chest tightened. She still expected the world to hurt her. The office door opened without a knock.

"I heard something expensive die." Valeria walked inside, stopping the moment she saw the remains of my desk. She looked at the splintered oak before turning to me with a sigh and gave Jayden a look. "Again?"

"Again." Jayden stated with a hint of a smile.

"It was an accident." I said. She looked at the fist-sized dent in the stone wall behind the desk.

"I'm sure it was." She stepped over the broken wood as though it happened every week—which, admittedly, it almost did—and joined me by the window.

"So..." She followed my gaze into the gardens until she found Sage.

"That's her."

"Yes." Valeria watched quietly for a long moment.

"She's beautiful." I didn't answer.

"She looks terrified."

"I know." She studied Sage another few seconds before looking sideways at me.

"And you're standing up here."

"I am."

"Watching her."

"Yes."

"And you've convinced yourself that's helping."

"It is." She snorted.

"You've always been a terrible liar." I finally looked at her.

"I'm not lying."

"No." Her smile disappeared.

"You're just trying very hard to believe yourself." I turned back towards the window.

"She jumped from the fifth floor because I entered her hospital room."

"I know."

"If I walk up to her now, she'll think I'm cornering her again."

"Maybe."

"I won't do that to her." Valeria rested her shoulder against the window frame.

"So... what's your plan?" I was quiet for a moment.

"You."

She frowned and looked at Jayden again.

"Me?"

"I need you close to her." Valeria blinked.

"I don't mean today." I looked back towards the gardens where Sage had crouched beside a flowerbed, studying one of the pale blossoms as though she'd never seen one before.

"I need someone she'll trust."

"You think that'll be me?"

"I think it'll never be me if she doesn't first learn that this place is safe." Valeria's expression softened.

"You've thought this through."

"I've had all night." She folded her arms.

"What exactly do you want from me?"

"Nothing she doesn't give willingly." She waited.

"Talk to her." Another pause.

"Walk with her." She nodded once.

"Eat with her." Another nod.

"When she wants to be alone..." I swallowed.

"...leave." Valeria's eyes never left mine.

"And if she wants to tell me how much she hates you?"

"Listen."

"And if she's angry?"

"Let her be."

"And if she cries?" My jaw tightened.

"Don't tell her she's strong." Valeria frowned slightly.

"No?" I shook my head.

"She's spent seven years surviving because everyone expected her to be strong." The room fell quiet.

"I want one place..." My voice had become almost unrecognisable, quieter than I intended.

"...where she doesn't have to survive." Valeria stared at me for several long seconds before the corner of her mouth lifted.

"You know..." I looked at her.

"For someone who's supposedly terrible with feelings..." She smiled.

"...you're doing surprisingly well."

"I disagree."

"Oh, I know." She laughed softly.

"You're still impossible." Despite myself... The corner of my mouth twitched.

"There he is." She grinned triumphantly.

"I was beginning to think my brother had died."

"He has."

"No." She nudged my shoulder.

"He's just mated." I sighed.

"Go."

"I'm going." She reached the door before stopping with her hand on the handle.

"What do I tell her if she asks why I'm suddenly following her around?" I thought about it for a second.

"The truth." Valeria raised an eyebrow.

"I asked you to make sure she isn't alone." She smiled.

"See?" She pulled the door open.

"You really are terrible at lying." The door closed quietly behind her. I took one last look at my mate. I really hoped I was doing the right thing with her. Sage.