Page 137 of King Luna

To my surprise, Steven doesn’t reply right away. When he does, he’s quieter than ever. “I don't know. I just don't understand why you hate me so much, I guess.”

With this, Noah doesn’t allow me to continue to see his expression. He buries my head into his chest like he’s protecting me from the pain. His heartbeat pounds into my ear.I love you. I’ve got you.

I love you too, Noah.

You don't have to deal with this a second more.

“Anyway, I, uh...” Steven sniffs. “I’m sorry. For how badly I hurt you.”

My eyes widen in shock.

But a fuse snaps in Noah, freezing me in place as he opens his palm.

Before he even asks aloud, I place my phone in Noah’s hand. My eyes trail up his arm—the whole length bulging with veins as his blood pressure skyrockets. Finally, I meet his eyes. Luckily, he’s not looking at me. If he was, my wolf would cower on instinct; cold-blooded hatred seeps from Noah’s golden stare.

Gripping the phone close, Noah cuts through the silence, his voice deepening into a growl. “It’s too late for apologies, you pathetic fuck.”

Chapter 29

Noah’s voice cuts through the air like he’s clawing through meat, leaving my wolf to shiver—enraptured by his every miniscule movement.

“The trauma you forced onto Aliya will follow her for the rest of her life, no matter what she can do to heal.”

Steven scoffs. “Trauma? What—”

“Shut the fuck up. I’m going to find you and show you how I really feel.”

“So you’re threatening me now?”

Noah laughs, but its icy, piercing tone sends a shiver down my whole body.

“Threatening you? Like how you threatened Aliya, you mean?” As Noah hugs me tighter, all I can do is stare. “How is this different from you bombarding her on a new account despite her repeatedly blocking you? How is this worse than breaking into her fucking house and putting your hands on her? Aren’t you asking me to give you a real reason to stop?”

Steven is silent.

“Either way, there’s nothing I can physically do to you that will hurt you as badly as you’ve hurt her.” Noah closes his eyes, gripping his head. “Unless I rip your balls off—since you seem to care about them so much.”

Despite my anxiety, I’m tempted to laugh.

But Steven does first. His laugh is so disingenuous that my mouth sours, nausea burning my throat.

“So this is all about the supposed ‘break-in?’ She probably didn’t tell you what actually happened. She wanted me to—”

Noah takes the phone off speaker, raising it to his ear with his eyebrows knit and jaw clenched.

Fuck. Even if Noah protected me from hearing it, I know exactly what Steven is saying.

Steven doesn't agree that breaking in and raping me was non-consensual because we were in the middle of a breakup. While we dated, he convinced me he owned me. His twisted viewpoint on that day distorted my thinking for years. He had beaten my mental health down so much that I blamed myself for something I never asked for. Jenny and Amy had to drag me out of his distortions before I gave up on life.

Someone's finally getting to witness how Steven really treated me. And I trust Noah to be the one who understands me.

My forehead warps; Steven is also why I understand Noah too, after what Jack did to him.

Steven’s voice prattles on into Noah’s ear, but Noah cuts him off with a low hum.

“Are you done?”

Steven replies, but Noah cuts him off again with a barking laugh.

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