The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 205

-Ava’s POV-

The moment the words left his lips, the room grew suffocatingly still. My mother stiffened beside me, her fingers

curling into the fabric of her dress. My father-bleeding, bound, helpless-managed to lift his head just enough to

meet my gaze. There was something there, something raw and desperate beneath the pain.

| couldn't move. My body had frozen, locked in place by the weight of everything. The truth. The lies. The sheer

cruelty of it

all.

Damien took his time, stepping away fromand pacing in front of us, his hands clasped behind his back like

this was nothing more than a business transaction. “You know, | did consider sparing you,” He mused, “You were

always the least insufferable of the bunch. But now, | see that was a mistake.”

I swallowed hard. “You think this ends with us?” | asked, forcing my voice to stay steady. “You think you'll get

away with this?”

Damien chuckled. “Oh, Little Dove, | don't think-1 know.” His voice was laced with amusement, but beneath it,

there was a quiet certainty that sent a chill down my spine.

“I don’t know how you managed to lead them all here, but the moment | realized you were coming, | had to

change my plans.” His smirk widened. “Initially, | was going to blow Grayson up alongside your father, but then |

thought why not make things more interesting?”

A sick feeling coiled in my stomach.

So that was the change of plans the man outside had been talking about.

Damien continued, his tone almost conversational. “I let it play out, let the joke of a rescue unfold just to watch it

pathetically fall through. | have no intention of killing the Alpha King tonight anymore.”

His gaze flickered between the three of us, sharp and assessing.

“But you three? You do die tonight.”

My mother tensed beside me. My father-still bound and blooded-said nothing, though I could see the effort it

took for him to stay upright.

Damien's lips curved into something cruel. “I'll be generous. You have twenty minutes. Use them wisely-say your

final words, make your peace.”

Then, as if he were discussing the weather, his eyes landed on me.

“You look just like her. It’s a disappointment you never saw it.”

| stiffened.

He had said those words before-at the ball.

Back then, | had thought he was talking about my mother.

But now. That means | had met her. | had met my

sister.

A sad smile touched his lips, but there was no warmth in it, “Hope you enjoyed finally flying while you could,” His

voice

15:00 Tue, Feb 11 BBW.

Chapter 205

dropped lower, almost taunting. “It's unfortunate that your wings will be cut so soon.”

Then he turned away, his final words hanging in the air like a death sentence, “Goodbye, Little Dove.”

62%

FD

My father’s agonized screams filled the small space suddenly, his body jerking violently against the restraints as

my mother and | rushed to his side and that must have been Damien's plan because he stepped out, slamming

the vault shut behind him. Panic clawed at my chest. This wasn’t just pain-it was something far worse.

“Hold him down!” my mother ordered, her voice sharp with urgency.

| dropped to my knees, gripping my father’s shoulders as he convulsed beneath me. My mother’s hands fumbled

at the gag tied around his mouth, yanking it off with desperate force.

“Luther! What did he do?” She demanded, her fingers ghosting over his face. “Tell us! How do we stop it?”

For a moment, all he could do was gasp, his body trembling violently. His breaths were ragged, shallow. | had

never seen my father-strong, unshakable Luther Pierce-like this.

“He” His voice broke off into a choked sound, his entire body seizing before he managed to force out the words,

“- poison...in the restraints. Silver-laced... and something else-something dark. It's inside me.”

Silver-laced. That alone would weaken him, but something more?

“What else?” My mother pressed, her hands shaking as she tried to untie the restraints, but the moment her

fingers brushed against them, she flinched, a hiss of pain escaping her lips.

| looked down at my father’s wrists. The bindings weren't just made of silver. They were soaked in something

thick and dark, an unnatural black sheen coating them.

Not just poison. Magic.

My stomach twisted,

Damien had planned this. Not just to hurt him-but to make sure we couldn’t save him.

“No-no, no, no,” | whispered, my hands gripping the ties, but the second my skin made contact, a searing pain

shot through my palms. | barely bit back a cry, yanking my hands away.

My father groaned, his head lolling back as his skin grew paler by the second.

“We need to get these off him,” | said, but my mother was already moving, standing abruptly and scanning the

room for anything-anything-that could help.

“We can’t just rip them off,” She muttered, thinking out loud. “Silver weakens, but this... This is something else.

Damien wouldn't have left him here unless he was sure he wouldn't get out of it alive.”

My father let out a harsh breath, blinking sluggishly. “It’s... spreading. He said... if the restraints stay on too

long... it will reach my heart.”

No. | refused to let that happen.

“What counteracts it?” | asked, forcing my voice to stay steady. “What did Damien use? What stops it?”

He exhaled shakily, his head tilting toward me, eyes hazy with pain. “Nightshade....

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Chapter 205

My mother stiffened, “Nightshade?”

0000, 62%*

“Combined with wolfsbane,” he rasped. “It-neutralizes it. Slows the spread. But-" Another sharp breath. “-it has

to be done carefully. Too much and-"

1 didn’t need him to finish the sentence. Too much would kill him.

“We need to find some,” | said, standing quickly.

“Where?” My mother’s voice wavered. “We are trapped in here. And we don’t have the time. Nightshade is

extremely rare.”

My heart pounded as | tore my gaze from my father’s weakening form and glanced at the vault door. | wasn’t

going to let him die. Not like this. Not when | knew-despite everything—I still couldn’t bring myself to forgive him

for all he had done.

And none of us were going to die in here.

There was no way in hell | was going to die with my parents. Of all people. Isabella? | might have considered it

and she would have thought it was poetic. Grayson? Maybe if | wasn’t so mad | would have thought it would

have been epic. Till death do us part.

| pushed all thoughts from my head, turning sharply, scanning the walls, the floor-anything that could help. |

didn’t know what | was looking for, but standing still wasn’t an option. The air in the vault was growing heavier,

my father’s breathing more ragged, the weight of my mother’s worried stare pressing into my back.

| could feel her watching me, her body tense with uncertainty.

“What are you doing?” She asked warily as | took a step back, eyes locking onto the thick metal of the vault

door.

Ignoring her, | reached inward-toward my wolf.

‘Shift. I need you.”

| braced myself, expecting the familiar heat of my bones breaking, stretching, reshaping-but instead, | felt

nothing.

| gritted my teeth, ‘Con. This isn’t the tfor your bullshit, | said shift.”

No answer but she was there. | wanted to snap at her but deep down, | knew. She wasn’t strong enough. Not to

break through this.

A sharp inhale from my mother madesnap my head toward her. She didn’t need to ask. She already knew

like she could read my thoughts.

“Ava, you can’t break down the vault.”

Frustration burned throughlike wildfire. | turned on her, my hands balling into fists. “Then what the hell do

you expectto do?”

My voice rang through the small space, the words echoing back atwith a force that wasn’t my own.

A force that made my father’s eyes widen.

| sucked in a sharp breath, my entire body stiffening. The room Ited for a second, the air charged with something

unseen- something familiar.

My mother’s head snapped up. She stared at me, her expression hifting from fear to realization. Like she'd finally

figured it

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Chapter 205

out,

“You have power in you, Ava,” She whispered, “You can get us out of here.”

Power.

The word twisted inside me, sending a cold shiver down my spine. | shook my head. “I-I don’t even know what it

is.” My voice was unsteady. “I don’t control it. | don’t even know when or how it happens. I—"

“Yes, you do.”

Her certainty caughtoff guard. She stepped forward, gripping my shoulders. “You don’t think it's there

because it doesn’t cat your will. But it is there.”

| swallowed hard, my pulse hammering.

“The ball,” She continued, The house, when you were having a panic attack. Just now. And it is struggling to

surface.”

| could barely breathe. She was right. It had been there, lurking beneath my skin, rising when | was pushed past

my breaking point.

And now, | was at that point again.

| clenched my jaw. Focus. | needed to focus.

| shut my eyes, blocking out my father’s labored breathing, my mother’s anxious presence, the suffocating

weight of the vault.

I reached for it. Whatever it was.

The power that had been fighting to surface. The force that had echoed in my voice, in my presence. The thing

insidethat wasn’t just my wolf-was never just my wolf.

And for the first time, | didn’t push it away.

| pulled it in and...

AD

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