The Alpha King's Contracted Luna (Ava and Grayson)

-Ava's POV-

I don't know who screamed first.

No, I didn't see who screamed because the instant the shot exploded in the air and Rickon's body hit the ground, everything

slowed.

The moment stretched, suspended in time, the sound of the gunshot still ringing in my ears. The smell of gunpowder mixed with something metallic-blood. My breath caught, and my heart slammed against my ribs.

Then, just as fast as everything had slowed, it all snapped back into motion.

A scream-Isabella's-cut through the chaos, raw and guttural. She tore herself from Grayson's side and ran to Rickon, falling to her knees in the pool of blood already seeping from his leg. My stomach clenched when I saw the wound. The bullet had torn clean through, and crimson was spilling fast.

Rickon groaned, his face contorting in pain. Isabella reached for him instinctively, but he jerked back with a sharp snarl, his teeth bared in pain and anger.

"What is your problem?!" She yelled at him, her voice breaking.

Rickon didn't answer, just gritted his teeth and held his bleeding leg, his fingers slick with his own blood.noveldrama

The rest of us just stood there. Frozen.

I don't know about the others, but my mind struggled to catch up with what had just happened. It was like my brain had short-circuited, unable to process the violence that had just unfolded in front of me. My gaze drifted, looking for something -anything-to anchor me..

Then, for some reason, I found myself staring at my mother.

She wasn't looking at Rickon. She wasn't looking at Damien. She was staring at the woman behind the glass. The woman. The High Priestess. Her mother. My grandmother.

The revelation still sat heavy in my stomach, like a weight pressing down on my lungs. I should have been shocked. Maybe I was, but deep down, after everything else my mother had hidden from me, I couldn't even find the energy to be surprised. She had kept the existence of my twin sister a secret. Why would this be any different?

But now wasn't the time for that.

And with that thought, came the realization that picking her just so I could yell at her for yet another secret, was definitely the wrong thing to do at this point.

Damien's voice cut through the moment, smooth, amused, lethal, "That was a warning shot."

He smiled, tilting his head slightly, his gaze flicking between us like a predator watching his prey squirm, "Next time a body drops, it will be permanent."

Isabella was crying now, her hands trembling as she hovered over Rickon, unsure of what to do. Rickon's breathing was shallow, his face pale from the blood loss, and he refused to look at her.

The air had shifted.

The weight of our situation sank in.

Elaine, who had been lounging sat up straighter. Maria had lost that air of boredom, her gaze now sharp and calculating.

And Grayson?

Grayson hadn't moved.

He was staring at Damien.

Unflinching. Silent.

The tension between them was razor-thin, as if the wrong move would send everything into an irreversible spiral.

Damien gave a small laugh, "Well, with one player eliminated," he mused, his gaze flicking to Rickon like he was nothing more than a broken pawn, "and one utterly useless..."

His attention drifted lazily to my father, who was still unconscious from Maria's spell, "I guess that leaves us with three teams left."

The amusement in his voice was sickening.

"Now, let's lay down the rules, shall we?"

He bed his hands behind his back, pacing slowly in front of us like a king surveying his subjects, his expression one of amusement, like this was all some twisted game for his own entertainment.

"This hittle game of ours is about survival," He said smoothly. "About loyalty. About strength." His grin widened, teeth flashing like a wolf baring its fangs, "I want to see what you're really willing to do to survive." to see what you're real willing to do to survive.

His words dripped with cruelty, each syllable

placed to unsettle us, to make sure we understood just how much control he had. He paused, letting his gaze sweep over each of us, as if measuring our worth, watching for the first sign of cracks. He wanted fear. He wanted desperation. "There will be three trials. Three rounds. And only

one

team will win."

My stomach twisted, my pulse a slow, heavy thud in

y ears.

"What kind of trials?" Elaine asked, her voice steady but sharp, the tension coiled

in her frame barely concealed.

Damien smirked, the kind of smirk that made my skin crawl, "Oh, don't worry," he drawled. "You'll find out soon enough."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

No one moved. No one spoke.

And then, with a lazy wave of his hand, he said, "Go on. Stand with your partner."

For a moment, no one moved. The air was so thick with unease that even breathing felt dangerous. Then, slowly, people started moving, reluctant but without a choice.

Except Isabella.

She was still kneeling beside Rickon, her hands shaking as they hovered over his wound, tears streaking down her face as she stared at the blood spreading beneath him. Rickon kept his face turned away, his jaw tight, his fingers pressed so hard

gone against the injury that his knuckles had white.

I didn't know what had happened between them, but it was clear that whatever it was, it had shattered something between them. I didn't know it was this bad. She didn't say that it was this bad.

But I didn't have time to think about that because that was the moment I snapped out of it.

Something in me clicked. Rickon was bleeding out, and I was just standing there just staring like an idiot when I could help

08:49 Sun, 2 Mar M

him.

Instinct took over, and I moved.

Ignoring Damien, ignoring whatever sick game he was playing, I rushed toward Rickon, shoving aside my own hesitation because I didn't care about Damien's rules. I didn't care about anything except stopping the bleeding before it was too late.

Instantly, the sound of another gunshot tore through.

Loud. Deafening.

The bullet didn't hit anyone, but it didn't need to.

It froze the entire room.

My body locked up for half a second, the sharp, violent sound ricocheting through

my skull, forcing the air from my lungs. My hands clenched, my heart slamming against my ribs as I slowly turned my gaze back to Damien.

He was smiling.

Like this was all just fun. Like we were nothing more than entertainment.

A fire lit in my chest, burning hot and violent, "You have won, so stop."

He tilted his head slightly, his amusement only growing. "Oh?"

"Just stop." My voice was stronger now, my hands curling into fists at my sides, "You want me? Fine. Let them go."

His smile deepened, mocking, "Oh, Little Dove," He purred, voice dripping with false sympathy, "It's not that simple." "I'll do whatever you want." I hated the words, hated saying them, hated the way my throat tightened around them, but I forced them out anyway. "Just let them go."

It was almost deafening, the quiet that followed, then a voice, low and lethal, cut through the room, "No."

I turned sharply, my breath catching.

Grayson.

He hadn't spoken this whole time, but now, standing rigid with tension, his gaze locked onto Damien, he looked like a man who had never been afraid.

His voice was calm-too calm. The kind of calm that made the air shift, that made

the room feel colder.

"She's not making deals with you," He said, voice edged with steel.

I opened my mouth to argue, but Grayson shook his head once.

A command. A warning. Don't.

So I kept quiet, turning instead and moving toward Rickon, kneeling beside him as

I tried to figure out how to stop the bleeding.

Grayson took a step forward, his voice carrying through the room with a deadly

quiet that made my skin prickle.

"No one is playing your stupid game," He said. "You're not getting Ava. And most importantly-" His eyes burned, his stance unwavering, "-you seem to have forgotten why my name meant something. Means something."

Like a spark lit up at his words, the air shifted again but this time it was in our

favor.

Something cracked.

For a second, Damien hesitated, just the slightest flicker of something behind his

mask of amusement.

Then the walls shattered.

Not cracked. Not splintered.

They exploded.