The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 66

-Grayson'’s POV-

A number of rules by Isabella. | couldn't be my usual self, so that neant no ordering her around, no glaring, not

commanding. In other words, | had to suppress everything I'd trained myself to embody as an Icy King. Every

instinct to control, every sharp edge I'd cultivated over the years, all of it had to be locked away.

And it was taking everything into hold back.

Isabella had even givena list of “conversation starters.” The kind that wouldn't send someone fleeing in the

opposite direction. And unfortunately, I'd already managed to tick Ava off by the second one. | wondered what

would've happened if I'd actually gotten to “civil rights

| was pissed off and trying my best not to tell her to watch her tone because | deserved the anger. | reminded

myself why | was here. The mantra Isabella drilled intoechoed in my mind: | can be nice. | can not look like |

want to rip someone’s

that. head off. | can... avoid ripping anyone’s head off. People’s feelings are valid, and | can respect

It sounded ridiculous, but | repeated it to myself again. This was all my fault, after all, and | had no choice but to

take it. So | forced myself to focus. To breathe.

The plan was simple, or so | thought. I'd tell her | didn’t want the divorce. Then, hand her the note I'd

painstakingly written an apology because, for the life of me, | couldn't bring myself to say the words out loud. My

father’s influence still ran too deep in me: | could barely form the word sorry, let alone say it with conviction. But

Ava had left before | had the chance. One minute she was there, and the next, she was gone.

So | did the only thing I could. | followed her, putting myself in this ridiculous, humiliating situation. And now, of

all things, we'd just discovered that Rickon and Isabella were... mates.

Ava jumped up the next seconds with so much force that it had the two of them whipping their heads in our

direction. Her eyes darted between Rickon and Isabella, piercing through them with accusations.

“You found your mate and you didn’t tell me?” Her voice trembled, mixed with betrayal.

1 sighed, standing up and dusting myself off. Guess we weren't cavesdropping anymore. Subtlety was officially

out the window.

Isabella’s eyes widened as she took a tentative step toward Ava. Lilian, I-

“No.” Ava took a step back, shaking her head, pain flashing in her gaze. “I can’t believe you'd find out something

this important and not tell me.”

“Thank you, Ava, for stating just how important this is.” Rickon chimed in with the worst timing imaginable.

Both women turned and glared daggers at him, and for a split second, | almost pitied him. He really needed to

learn when to shut up.

“I was going to tell you, but-"

“But what?” Ava cut her off, voice rising with each word. “When did this even happen?”

“A week ago.” Isabella’s words cout in a rush, as if spilling them could somehow alleviate the tension. “I

swear, | was going to tell you... after | figured out how to end it.”

“End it?” Rickon’s tone sharpened, and he took a step forward, annoyance breaking through his otherwise calm

demeanor and the two of them glared again.

“You've had so much going on, Lilian,” Isabella explained, eyes pleading. “I didn't even mean for it to happen. |

was upset

09:29 Mon, Dec 16

Chapter 66

became

about getting fired, and | was drinking, and then he cin..”

Ava'’s brows furrowed deeper. “You got fired and didn’t tell me?

Rickon instinctively stepped back, as though sensing Ava’s ine might be physically painful.

This was going extremely well

Isabella looked down, almost sheepish. “It wasn’t my fault, okay? One of the men at work tried to get.. handsy,

so | punched him. And instead of doing something about it, they askedtopologize. So | punched the head of

HR too.” She buffed. “And got fired.”

Somewhere in between her admission, | found myself almost... impressed. There was something undeniably

satisfying about her defiance, though I'd never understand why people cared so much about each other's .

If I had a best friend

which I didn’t-1 wouldn't care if they got fired or found their mate or not and not tell me.

But apparently, that wasn’t the case here.

Ava'’s face was a mix of betrayal and disbelief. “I can’t believe you right now, Bels. We're supposed to be best

friends. Where have you even been going this past week when you said you were at work?”

“Ask her wiry she isn’t taking my calls either,” Rickon added.

Both women whirled on him, snapping in unison. “Can’t you see we're talking? If you interrupt us one more time,

I'll punch you.”

This tRickon and | took a step backwards.

Isabella folded her hand, “I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, | just didn’t want to add to your stress. | should have told

like I'm going to mate with him or anything, how did you even know?”

Grayson listened and told me.”

And she just had to draginto it.

Isabella turned her eyes onand glared, “I help you and in repayment you spy on me?”

you

It’s not

My patience was running razor-thin. | can be nice. | can not look like | want to rip someone’s head off. | can

accept people’s feelings. It wasn’t working. Not anymore. | was done with this charade..

“Everyone needs to go home.” | said, voice low, deadly. “You're causing a scene in the middle of the parking lot,

and people are starting to stare.” 1 shifted my gaze to Rickon. “You should give her space if she wants it. I'm

telling you this as your King.”

Rickon’s expression hardened, his eyes flickering with a glint of defiance. But he looked at Isabella, then nodded,

though reluctantly. “This conversation isn’t over. And for the record, there will be no rejections.

With that, he turned on his heel, got into his car, and drove off, tres screeching as he went.

1 turned back to Ava and Isabella, both of whom were now watching me, eyes burning with frustration. “Why are

the two of you still standing here?” | demanded, my voice cold as ice. “I said go home.”

The weight of my Alpha aura seeped into my words, an authority they couldn't ignore. Ava glared atone last

tbefore spinning on her heel and storming off.

Isabella called after her. “Where are you going? We ctogether.

Ava didn’t stop, her tone sharp and final. “I'm taking a cab and staying in a hotel tonight.”

09:29 Mon, Dec 16

Chapter 66

| watched as she disappeared, leaving just babella standing there, rooted to the spot, lost and defeated. She

looked back at me, her expression softer now and | saw her try to push down the tears then without another

word, she turned and started walking to her car.

-What are their names?”

Isabella stopped in her tracks, turning back to face me. “What?”

“The men who assaulted you and the one who asked you to apologize. Their names.”

She hesitated, then answered, “Leon Kingston and Nathan Raymond.”

involved

| nodded, turned, and got into my car and pulled out my phone. | liked to keep myself informed so the more | got

with Ava, the more | decided to learn about her and so | knew exactly where Isabella worked because they were

best friends. It was one of the smaller branches of a company that | knew the overall owner- Rodrick Powell.

He picked up on the first ring. “Mr. Blackwood, to what do | owe the pleasure?” He tried to sound casual, but |

heard the tension in his voice.

“There was an incident at one of your branches. A woman was sexually assaulted, and then fired when she

reported it.”

| conveniently left out the punching part because they deserved it.

He cleared his throat. “Well, you know.. sometimes these women like to stir up trouble where there isn’L”

“That woman is my y wife's best friend.”

There was a pause before he responded, voice faltering “I... I'm so sorry. | didn’t know. I'll look into it right away.”

“No. Here's what you're going to do: you'll fire Leon Kingston and Nathan Raymond, rehire her, personally go

down there to apologize, and triple her salary. Is that clear?”

| could almost hear him swallow his pride. “Yes, Mr. Blackwood

“You have until midnight tomorrow.”

With that, | ended the call and drove off.

So much for just an apology.