All Chapters of The Luna’s Trial: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Tamara’s POV I stared at the sun’s blazing glow, the heat pressing against my skin until it burned. Part of me wondered if Serene had felt it the same way before she died. Maybe I was punishing myself by standing here, because deep down I believed her death was my fault. Looking at Kat twisted something inside me. They loved each other, and I had taken the only person she could open up to. If Serene’s last vision was of me, if her final word was my name, then wasn’t I the cause? I stood by the window, fingers resting lightly against the frame. I didn’t grip it. I just let them sit there. Outside, the trees were still. Too still. Even the wind felt like it had stepped back. Behind me, Jenna moved first. “Okay,” she said, dragging the word out like she was testing its weight. “We’re not doing the silent, brooding thing all day. I refuse.” I didn’t turn. My voice was flat. “I’m not brooding.” Kat scoffed from across the room. “You’ve been standing there for twenty minutes.”

Jenna’s POV The drive back felt longer than it should have, not because of traffic but because my brain wouldn’t shut off. I replayed everything, my mom, Tamara, Percy. I had just found out he reacted to the bond too, and it looked worse with how he struggled back in the hall. I tapped the steering wheel lightly, exhaling. “This is getting out of hand,” I muttered. The town came into view slowly. Familiar roads. Familiar noise. People walking like nothing unusual existed. I parked outside the café and sat there for a moment. Kat was still at the cabin. I hadn’t expected her to follow me back; grief had settled in her, and maybe she needed solitude. Tamara had chosen to stay with her and return tomorrow. I grabbed my keys and stepped out. “Alright,” I said under my breath. “Back to reality.” The bell chimed as I pushed the door open. “Finally,” Abby called from behind the counter. “Thought you ghosted us.” “Tempting,” I replied, slipping behind the counter. The smell

Tamara’s POV The kitchen carried the rich smell of soup mixed with the faint citrus of the tea Jenna had insisted on brewing. Persia had left an hour ago. I sat at the table, my fingers tracing the worn grooves in the wood, trying to remember how home used to feel. I never thought I would come back here. Jenna moved around the counter, her movements unusually subdued. Normally she was a whirlwind, clinking spoons, humming, teasing but tonight she was quiet. She set a mug in front of me, her pink-manicured nails clicking against the ceramic. “I’m sorry, Mara,” she said softly. She didn’t look at me, her eyes stayed fixed on the steam curling upward. I blinked, startled. “For what? You’ve been the only thing keeping me sane.” “For not believing you sooner,” she whispered, finally meeting my gaze. Her expression was raw, stripped of her usual spark, replaced by aching guilt. “The bite, when Percy did what he did… it was too much. I let you stay trapped in that exile because I wa

Tanara’s POVI sat pressed against the door, Jenna’s oversized cardigan draped over me like a flimsy shield against the man across from me. Elijah Ashborne, he looked like a king in a charcoal suit, his expression as smooth and cold as the silver flask in his hand.“You’re staring, Tamara,” he said, his voice low, steady velvet.“I’m trying to figure out which version of you is real,” I snapped. “The one who apologized for my mother’s death, or the one kidnapping me in a car lined with silver.”Elijah tilted his head, a faint, humorless smile tugging at his lips. “It’s not kidnapping when you agreed to the deal. As for your mother… I heard of her passing through the network. Brutal. Unnecessary.”“How did you even know her?”“My father had many secrets,” Elijah said, his gaze shifting to the neon lights bleeding across Vyne City’s streets. “When I was a boy, I saw a woman in a heavy cloak slip into his study at night. A wolf in the heart of the Hunter’s den. I thought she was a spy.

Tamara’s POV I pulled back just enough to breathe, my heart a frantic bird against my ribs. Percy’s thumb traced my lower lip, his gaze heavy and clouded with a hunger that made my knees weak."I thought I’d never taste you," he whispered, his forehead dropping to rest against mine. "I thought you’d let the Ashborne scent bury us.""I should have," I breathed, though my hands were still tangled in the fine wool of his jacket. "You made it very clear that I was a liability. Why do you care now?"Percy’s grip tightened on my waist, pulling me flush against him until I could feel the erratic thrum of his pulse. "Because I’m a fool, Tamara. And because every time I closed my eyes in that empty house, the bond screamed that you were drowning. I couldn't let you go."I didn't answer with words. I couldn't. I reached up, my fingers sliding into the hair at the nape of his neck, and pulled him back down. This time, the kiss was softer, a quiet, desperate pleaThe kiss still burned on my lips