The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 245

-Ava’s POV-

People say

all is fair in love and war.

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But this wasn't fair.

This wasn't fair at all.

| stood frozen, staring between the ever-growing pool of blood pooling underneath my father on the ground and

Grayson- Grayson, who had just taken an arrow to the heart to save me.

He had crashed to the ground.

He wasn’t moving.

He wasn’t moving.

Crystal let out a soft, breathy laugh, as if she were admiring a piece of art rather than the destruction she had

caused. She tilted her head, her cold, calculating eyes scanning the scene before landing on me.

“This is way much better.”

Her lips curved into a final, cruel smile before she stepped backward, vanishing into the shadows as if she had

never been there at all.

Move, Ava. Move.

I couldn't.

| stood there, my breath shallow, my limbs frozen, my heart slamming violently against my ribs as if it were

trying to break free. My mind screamed atto do something-to move, to act, to help-but all | could do was

stare.

My father.

Or the man | loved.

My father, who lay motionless with a blade embedded in his chest, the hilt dark with blood. His breathing was

shallow-if he was breathing at all. The man who had raisedno matter how much | had hated it, still hated it,

who had shapedinto the person | was, who had always seemed so untouchable, was now unconscious, his

life slipping away before my eyes.

And Grayson.

Grayson, whose body lay twisted where he had fallen, his clothes soaked in crimson, his face pale. His strong,

unyielding hands that had always heldsteady, now slack at his sides. His heart-oh Goddess, his heart-an

arrow protruding from his chest, as if the universe itself had decided to rip him fromin the cruelest way

possible.

Move, Ava!

A choked sob tore through my throat as | stumbled forward, my legs weak beneath me.

| dropped to my knees beside my father first, my shaking hands hovering uselessly over the wound in his chest.

Blood. So much blood. The blade was still lodged there, dark and glistening, mocking me. My fingers trembled as

| pressed them against his throat, searching-praying-for a pulse.

There. Faint. Weak.

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Chapter 245

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Tears blurred my vision as | sucked in a ragged breath. “Dad?” My voice cracked, barely more than a whisper,

“Please, please wake up.

Nothing.

| let out a strangled cry, my hands clutching at him, as if holding him would somehow stop the life from slipping

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away.

Then-Grayson.

| turned sharply, crawling toward him, my fingers slipping in the blood-soaked ground. My stomach lurched. |

couldn't think. I couldnt breathe.

“Grayson!” My voice was hoarse, desperate.

He didn’t move.

| reached for him, my fingers gripping his torn, bloodied shirt, shaking him gently, then harder. “Grayson, wake

up! Please!*

Still nothing.

| let out a sob, pressing my trembling hands against his chest, just above the wound. His body was still warm, his

heartbeat faint beneath my palm. My breath hitched. He was still alive.

“Please don’t die,” | whispered, my voice broken. “Please, just hold on.”

Footsteps.

| barely heard them over the roaring in my ears.

Someone shouted.

| turned, barely registering the figures rushing toward us. My vision swam, my body numb, my mind unable to

process anything except the overwhelming terror sinking its claws into me.

Then | saw her.

My mother.

She froze.

For the first tin my life, my mother-the woman who had always been composed, always in control, always

detached- looked lost.

Her eyes darted between my father and Grayson, the color draining from her face. Then, without hesitation, she

ran to him.

| turned back to Grayson, gripping his face between my shaking hands. “Please stay with me,” | begged, my

tears falling onto his skin. “Please. You're not allowed to leave me. You hear me?”

Elaine dropped down beside me. “Ava-"

“Get help!” | snapped, my voice sharp, panicked.

She hesitated, looking at me, then at Grayson, before she turned and ran, her voice carrying through the air as

she shouted for anyone.

| rocked back on my heels, my fingers pressing against Grayson’s blood-soaked shirt. “Just hold on,” | murmured,

my voice barely audible. “Just hold on, please.”

| wasn’t sure how long | stayed there. Minutes? Hours?

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Chapter 245

Thad stopped.

The only thing that existed was Grayson’s shallow breathing and the pounding of my own heartbeat in my ears.

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| didn’t even realize | was muttering to myself until | felt Elaine’s hands on my shoulders, trying to pullback. |

shoved her away.

“No!” My voice was raw, “No, | need to stay-"

“Ava,” Elsine whispered, her own voice shaking. “They need to take him. Let them help.”

I blinked.

Men. They were here. Hands were on me, trying to move me. | fought them, my grip tightening on Grayson’s

shirt.

“No! | need-he needs-"

“Ava!” My mother’s voice cut through the haze.

I turned.

She was kneeling beside my father, pressing her hands to his chest, her fingers slick with his blood. Her eyes

met mine, and for the first tin my life, | saw something | had never thought | would see from her.

Tears.

My mother was crying.

She was a doctor. | was a doctor. We should be able to do something.

But all | could do was cry.

| turned back to Grayson as they lifted him, as his blood dripped from their hands, as my own hands reached for

him but

couldn't hold on.

My vision blurred. My breath hitched and | barely registered the voices shouting over each other. | couldn't even

tell who they belonged to. Everything felt distant, muffled, like | was underwater.

Grayson'’s blood was on my hands, under my nails, staining the fabric of my clothes. My father’s blood too. It was

everywhere.

Someone shouted an order, and then they were lifting my father. His body sagged as they carried him away, his

head lolling to the side, the blade still buried in his chest. My mother just... stared.

She didn’t move. Didn't speak.

She knelt there, her hands still covered in his blood, her expression vacant. My mother-always composed,

always cold, always in control-looked utterly lost. Like she couldn't comprehend what was happening.

A hand grabbed my arm, yankingup so fast my knees buckled. | barely caught myself.

“We need to go.”

The voice was sharp, urgent, but I couldn't place it.

| turned, blinking through the haze, but I couldn't focus on the person holding me. Everything was too bright and

too dark at the stime, my vision tunneling in and out.

Gunshots rang in the distance. More shouting. But it was like | wasn’t even in the world anymore.

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08:38 Tue, 4 Mar

Chapter 245

“Ava,” The voice snapped again. “We have to leave, now.”

1 didn’t move.

I was still looking at my father, watching as the men carried him away. His body hung limp in their arms.

“Go with them,” My mother’s voice cut through the chaos.

| turned to her. She still hadn’t moved from where she knelt in the blood-soaked dirt. Her eyes flicked to mine,

hollow and unreadable, before shifting back to my father.

“Mom,” | choked out.

And as painful as it was, | realized that this was the first t| had called her Mom. The first t| had called

him Dad and | couldn’t remember how much pain they had both caused me. Her throat worked like she was

trying to swallow something thick and painful, “Go.”

And then the grip on my arm tightened, and | was being pulled away.

| tried to fight it at first, twisting against the hold, my body resisting even though my mind felt too detached to

process what was happening.

“Stop-wait-I need to-"

“Ava, we don’t have tfor this.”

The grip onwas unrelenting, draggingthrough the dirt, past bodies-smoving, snot.

My legs barely worked. | stumbled, nearly collapsing, but the person holdingdidn’t let go.

The gunfire sounded farther now, like it was happening in another world, another life. My ears rang with the

echoes of it.

| was being pushed toward a car, the door thrown open.

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I hesitated.

Grayson.

| didn’t know if he was alive. | didn’t know if my father was alive.

| turned, but before | could even process anything, | was shoved inside.

The door slammed shut.

The car lurched forward.

And | sat there, staring at my shaking hands, at the blood drying on my skin, at the way the world outside

blurred past the window-

Like | wasn’t even really there.

So | closed my eyes.

For just a moment, | closed my eyes.

And the next t| opened them, the world had shifted. The chaos, the blood, the gunfire-it was all gone. In its

place, there was quiet. A suffocating kind of quiet.

| was in a bed. The sheets felt too soft, too clean against my skin, like they didn’t belong to me. Like | didn’t

belong here.

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Chapter 245

| blinked, my vision hazy, my body feeling like it wasn’t mine anymore. My limbs were heavy, my head a dull,

throbbing ache. The air smelled sterile, laced with something faintly medicinal. A hospital? No. Somewhere else.

Somewhere safer.

Then, | saw her.

Isabella.

She was sitting beside me, her posture rigid, her hands curled into fists against her lap. But it was her face that

made my stomach drop. Tear-streaked. Eyes red and swollen, her lips pressed into a thin, trembling line as if she

had been holding back a storm of emotion for hours.

I didn’t need to ask.

| already knew.

We had been given so many chances. We had fought, clawed, bled our way out of death’s grasp more times than

1 could

count,

But this time... This time, it had taken something from us.

Isabella sucked in a sharp breath, her shoulders shaking. Her lips parted, and when she finally spoke, her voice

was barely more than a whisper.

“I'm so sorry, Lilian.”

Something insidecracked, splintering deep within my chest. Before | could even process it, the tears were

falling-hot, unrelenting, impossible to stop. My body curled in on itself, my breath hitching as a sob tore from my

throat.

Isabella reached for me. Her arms wrapped around me, strong, unshaking makingcry even harder because |

knew it in my heart...

Grayson was gone,

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