The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

Chapter 114: Chapter 114 Filling her in of the happenings

_Rowena’s POV_

I woke up before my alarm.

That had been happening more often lately. My body had developed the habit of pulling itself out of sleep early, usually around five, as if it had decided that lying down any longer than necessary was a waste of time it could be using for something else.

I lay in the hotel room for a few minutes looking at the ceiling.

It was a good ceiling. Clean, white, the kind that gave you nothing to look at and therefore nothing to think about except whatever was already in your head.

What was in my head was yesterday.

The open ground. The ordinary sky. Standing there and feeling the reality of a place rather than the idea of it, which was different in a way I hadn’t been prepared for even though I had thought I was prepared.

I had leaned into Alaric.

I thought about that while looking at the ceiling. It had happened before I decided to do it. One moment I was standing in front of him and the next I was closer and his arms were around me and I was letting them be and I hadn’t pulled back for a minute or more.

I didn’t regret it.

That was the interesting thing. I had expected to regret it, or at least to feel the complicated version of not regretting it where you analyzed it from every angle until the thing itself disappeared under the weight of the analysis. But lying here in the quiet of the hotel room I just didn’t regret it. He had been there and I had needed a moment and he had given it without making it into anything and that was all it had been.

Or that was the version I was going with for now.

Kyra had opinions. She had been having opinions since yesterday afternoon and she was still having them this morning and I was choosing to note them and continue with my day.

My phone rang at seven thirty.

Kasper’s name flashed on the screen.

“Tell me something useful,” I said when I picked up.

“Moonreign Pack is having a difficult week,” he said. I could hear the specific quality of his voice that appeared when he was delivering information he found satisfying. “Trademark infringement suit on the club. Bank hold on the accounts. The operations manager has gone dark. Legal notices stacking up.” A pause. “Someone has been thorough.”

I sat up.

I thought about it.

“It’s not us,” I said.

“I know,” he said. “I checked. None of our people were near any of this.”

“Then someone else is interested in Moonreign,” I said.

“Appears so,” he laughed.

I sat with that for a moment. It was interesting. Not my business right now but interesting.

“Keep watching it,” I said. “Don’t touch it. I want to know how it develops before I decide whether to add to it or leave it alone.”

“Understood,” he said. “How are you?”

“Working,” I said. “I have two places to visit today. The road where the accident happened first, then Owen’s location.” I paused. “And I still need to find Drake. That one can’t wait much longer.”

“I have something on Drake actually,” he said. “Nothing confirmed yet but a direction. I’ll send it through when it solidifies.”

“Good,” I said. “Stay close to your phone.”

I hung up, got up and dressed. I sat at the small desk by the window and reviewed my notes until there was a knock at the door.

I already knew who it was before opening the door.

Alaric.

He was already dressed and unhurried and he had apparently also been up for a while because he had the awake quality of someone who had been moving through a morning rather than just starting one.

“Breakfast,” he said.

It wasn’t a question but it wasn’t a demand either. Just a statement that breakfast existed and was available and he was going to it.

I picked up my bag and went with him.

The hotel restaurant was quiet at this hour. We sat by the window and ordered simply and ate without filling the silence with unnecessary conversation, which I appreciated.

Halfway through the meal I told him the plan.

The road where the accident happened. Then the location where Owen had died across the city. Two stops, both of which I needed to see in person before I could be sure the reports were complete.

He listened.

Then he said, “I’ll come.”

I looked at him across the table.

He was cutting through his food and not looking at me. He was at ease. The ease of someone who had made a decision and wasn’t uncertain about it.

I set my fork down.

“Alaric,” I called out, leaving formalities again.

He looked up.

“Thank you,” I said. “For this whole thing. For coming with me, for dealing with my grandmother, for being here.” I paused. “You paused everything to do this and I don’t take that lightly.” freewebnoveℓ.com

He looked at me for a moment.

“You’re the Marchioness of Ashthorne,” he said. “Anything connected to what happened to your father is connected to this region and this region is my responsibility.”

I nodded.

I looked back at my food.

I told myself that was a complete and sufficient answer. That it made sense and was reasonable and I should receive it and move on.

But Kyra told me something different.

She told me I was hoping he had said something else. That somewhere underneath the nod and the practical acceptance I had wanted him to say he was here because of me specifically, not because of the region or the title or the responsibility.

I pushed the thought down and picked up my fork.

I was developing feelings I couldn’t name clearly and I was not going to name them at a breakfast table in a hotel restaurant with the man they were directed at sitting three feet away.

I focused on my food.

“Ready by nine?” he asked after while.

“Yes,” I said.

He nodded and went back to eating.

I looked at him for just a second longer than I needed to before I looked away.