The Luna He Broke To Keep

Chapter 10

Not Alone

Kaia didn’t drive far.

The road stretched out ahead of her, darkening as the trees thickened on either side, but the distance didn’t settle anything the way it should have. Her hands stayed steady on the wheel, her breathing even, but her focus had shifted completely. Every mirror check came a second quicker than it needed to, every turn of the road feeling like something she needed to read instead of follow.

They hadn’t moved on her.

That was the part that didn’t sit right.

If they were supposed to take her, they would have tried. Instead, they had waited. Watched. Argued about it like there were rules they couldn’t cross yet.

Which meant someone else was making the decisions.

Kaia eased her foot off the gas slightly as the trees began to thin again, the road opening up into another stretch of scattered buildings and dim lights. A small town, quieter than the last, with only a handful of cars lining the street and most of the storefronts already closed for the night. A flickering sign buzzed faintly over a gas station up ahead, the light spilling unevenly across the pavement.

She pulled in without thinking too hard about it.

The engine idled for a second before she shut it off, her fingers lingering on the wheel as she scanned the area. One car at the far pump. Empty otherwise. No movement in the windows. No one is watching.

Not that it meant much anymore.

She stepped out, the cooler air brushing against her skin as she closed the door behind her, the sound louder than it should have been in the quiet. The smell of fuel hung faintly in the air, mixing with damp asphalt and something metallic she couldn’t quite place. Her boots echoed lightly as she crossed toward the building, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

The bell above it gave a dull chime.

Inside, the place was mostly empty. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, too bright for the hour, casting everything in a washed-out glow that made the shelves look more stocked than they actually were. A man stood behind the counter, older, distracted, flipping through something on his phone without looking up right away.

Kaia moved past him without hesitation, heading down one of the aisles, her pace unhurried but deliberate. She didn’t reach for anything, didn’t linger on the shelves. Her attention stayed on the reflections in the glass of the cooler doors at the end of the row, watching the space behind her without drawing attention.

Nothing.

No one had followed her inside.

Her shoulders didn’t drop, but something in her chest shifted slightly, not relief—just recalculation.

She turned back toward the counter, picking up a bottle from a nearby shelf on the way so she wouldn’t look like she’d come in for nothing, and set it down in front of the man behind the register. He glanced up just long enough to ring it through, barely meeting her eyes before handing it back.

“Long night?” he asked, more out of habit than interest.

Kaia gave a small, noncommittal hum, already reaching for the door again. “Something like that.”

The bell chimed again as she stepped back outside, the air cooler now, quieter. She twisted the cap off the bottle, taking a quick drink more for the motion than anything else, her gaze sweeping the lot one more time before she moved toward her car.

Still nothing.

Which was wrong.

Her wolf shifted slightly beneath her skin, not restless, not panicked—just aware in a way that pressed against her senses instead of easing back. They weren’t gone. They were waiting.

Kaia slid back into the driver’s seat, closing the door and setting the bottle in the cup holder before starting the engine again. The headlights cut across the empty lot as she pulled out, the tires rolling over cracked pavement before catching the main road again.

This time, she didn’t go straight.

A mile down, she turned off again, slower, letting the car drift onto another side road before cutting the lights entirely. Darkness swallowed the space almost immediately, the only illumination coming from the faint glow of the dash and the distant bleed of town lights behind her.

She let the car roll to a stop.

Then she waited.

Minutes stretched, quiet and heavy, broken only by the ticking of the engine and the faint sound of wind through the trees. Kaia leaned back slightly in the seat, her eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, watching the empty road behind her without blinking.

At first, there was nothing.

Then—

Headlights.

Faint at first, just a flicker between the trees before they steadied, growing brighter as they moved down the road she had just taken.

Kaia didn’t move.

Didn’t start the engine. Didn’t shift.

She just watched.

The vehicle slowed slightly as it passed the turnoff she had taken, the headlights sweeping past without pausing before continuing down the road as it had somewhere else to be.

Too clean.

Too easy.

Kaia’s fingers tapped once against the steering wheel, her gaze narrowing slightly as the lights disappeared around the bend.

“They’re not stupid,” she murmured under her breath, the words barely more than a breath.

Which meant they weren’t going to make it obvious.

She waited another minute before starting the engine again, the low rumble breaking the silence as she pulled back onto the road, this time heading in the opposite direction.

If they were watching her—

Then she needed to stop reacting.

Her grip tightened slightly on the wheel, her posture settling into something more deliberate as the road stretched out ahead of her again.

Running had gotten her out.

It wasn’t going to keep her safe.

Not anymore.

If someone inside the pack wanted her—

They were going to have to work for it.

And Kaia wasn’t going to make it easy.