"No…"
The word slipped out before I could stop it.
It didn't feel real.
It couldn't be real.
"You're joking," I said, forcing a laugh that sounded nothing like me.
"Ethan, stop."
But he didn't laugh...
Didn't even smile...
Instead, he let go of my arm like I had burned him.
"I'm not joking, Aria."
The noise around us faded, replaced by a ringing in my ears.
People were staring now.
Whispering.....
Watching....
Waiting....
"Why?" My voice trembled. "You said...you promised..."
"I know what I said!!!"
His tone was cold…..
Flat...
Unfamiliar…..
"But things have changed!!!"
Changed?
How?
When?
"You're weak," he said quietly, but not quietly enough. "You just awakened your wolf. You have no control, no strength...nothing….."
Each word felt like a slap.
"I can learn..."
"I need a Luna who is already strong."
The words cut deeper than anything else...
A Luna...?
Not me...
Never me...
"And you decided that just now?" I asked,
my chest…..tightening painfully.
He hesitated...
And that hesitation told me everything…
"No," a new voice cut in smoothly.
My stomach dropped.
Selene.
She stepped forward, her hand sliding confidently into Ethan's.
Like she belonged there.
Like she always had.
"We decided this a long time ago," she said, her lips curving into a satisfied smile.
The ground beneath me felt like it was collapsing....