HEARTS OF DIVINE RUIN (The MoonGoddess and The AlphaKing)

Chapter 23:To Hold or to Shatter

Luna stared at the dagger, her heart racing as her mind reeled. She could feel the rawness of his guilt, his sorrow bleeding into the air between them. Part of her wanted to take it, to release all the rage and hurt in one swift motion, to end his torment the way he seemed to want her to.

But she couldn't.

Her throat tightened, and she forced herself to look away from him, from the pain in his eyes, from the pitiful sight of him kneeling before her. She couldn't bring herself to hate him. Not fully. Not after everything.

"You think this will fix it?" Her voice was hoarse, her anger now laced with a deep sadness. "You think giving me this dagger and asking for punishment will change anything? It won't, Alex. "

Luna remembered the hatred in his eyes that she saw when they first met - it had been undeniable, raw, and sharp as a blade. He hadn't hidden it—his disgust for her, his resentment. She'd felt the weight of his blame press down on her like a storm she could neither outrun nor shelter from. 

It had been so clear to her own self: she was at fault. She had failed him. As a goddess, she had failed all of them—her wolves, her people, every cry for help she had turned her back on. And now she stood here, powerless and human, haunted by the thought that her very abandonment might have led to this—to her own downfall, to this betrayal that cut deeper than any physical wound.

But now... now knowing that Alex, of all people, had been at the center of it all, had stood among those who betrayed her—it broke her in a way she hadn't been prepared for - It's just she was wrong and wronged together and the only person she had began to trust and care for was one of the reason she had ended like this. 

The pain was sharper than any blade, twisting inside her chest with every beat of her heart. She had guessed that she bore some responsibility for the darkness that had swallowed her life, but this... this was worse. To find out that the man she had trusted, the man who had fought beside her, had been a part of that night—it shattered her.

Her thoughts, once tangled and chaotic, began to piece together like broken glass being painfully rearranged. She had turned human of her own will—had chosen to shed her godhood, to step into the prophecy that had haunted her. But why? Why had she been forced into this? What had really happened that night? And why had Alex, of all people, kept it from her?

She needed answers. She needed him to speak, to say something, anything that would help her make sense of this unbearable truth. But his silence, his crushing silence, only deepened the cracks in her heart. She could feel the weight of his guilt, see it in every small gesture, in every unspoken apology that hung in the air between them like a thick fog.

"You hate me," she whispered, her voice raw, every word dripping with bitterness. The pain in her chest tightened as the truth fell from her lips. "And still, I forced you to stay with me."

Finally, his eyes met hers. For the first time, she saw something she hadn't been able to name before. Guilt. Deep, overwhelming regret. But there was more—a complexity she couldn't quite grasp, something unspoken that hovered just beneath the surface of his gaze.

 He crouched down in front of her, his hands trembling slightly as he took her bare, bloodied feet and carefully slipped them into his shoes. His touch was gentle, almost reverent, and for a moment, his actions spoke louder than any words could have.

He looked up at her, his voice low, exhausted, broken. "I did hate you," he admitted, his voice thick with vulnerability, each word weighing heavy in the air. "From the moment we met... I hated you for everything I thought you were, for what I believed you'd done to me, to all of us." He paused, his breath catching, his eyes shining with emotions he couldn't hold back any longer. "But now, standing here in front of you at this very moment -its anything but hate Luna."

The rawness of his confession hit her like a wave, crashing over the fragile walls she had built around her heart. Luna's chest tightened again, this time not from anger, but from something far more complicated, far more painful. She wanted to scream at him, to lash out, to cling to the fury that had been her shield. But the betrayal—while it still burned—no longer consumed her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't hate him. Not completely. Not after hearing the pain in his voice, seeing the torment in his eyes.

She took a step back, needing to put distance between them, her mind a battlefield of conflicting emotions. He had lied to her, betrayed her in ways she never thought possible. And yet, somewhere deep inside her, a part of her still searched for the truth in his eyes, still yearned for an explanation that could make all of this make sense.

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms as she forced herself to look away from him. "Whatever was between us," she whispered, her voice strained and breaking under the weight of her words, "it ends now. I don't want anything from you anymore."

For a moment, she thought he might say something, might try to reach out to her. His face twisted in a way that told her there were still words he was holding back, but he didn't speak. He stood there, the silence between them more suffocating than ever, before turning away. His retreating figure felt like a final blow to her already shattered heart.

Luna's heart sank, realizing that once parted ways from here she might never see him again . She might never truly understand why things had turned out this way - what exactly it was that forced her to find shelter in human shell. As she stood there, her body aching, her soul even more so, the weight of everything unsaid crushed her. She could feel the unresolved tension pulling at her, and for the first time, she wasn't sure if she could ever let it go.