Chapter 32 Aftershock Waltz
Luna’s POV
The gym didn’t go back to normal after the frame hit the floor..
People always tried as if they laughed loud enough, if they clapped hard enough, if they called it “a prank,” it would become one.
But I was still on the ground, Kai’s arms locked around me, and my lungs refused to work right.
The metal frame lay twisted like a dead animal, glitter and broken bulbs scattered across the floor.
My hands were shaking, not from fear.
But from the realization that someone had aimed that at me.
On purpose.
Kai’s breath hit my hair, hot and furious.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
I blinked hard, forcing my eyes up.
His face was inches from mine…wild, pale, and controlled only by the thin thread of his willpower.
“Are you bleeding?” he demanded.
I swallowed. “No.”
His gaze dragged over me anyway, checking my arms, my shoulders, and my throat like he didn’t trust my words.
His hands were firm on my body, protective… possessive.
Almost shaking.
“Say it again,” he said, voice rough.
“I’m not bleeding.”
His eyes flicked shut for half a second, like that was the only way he could keep from losing it.
Then he pulled me up so fast my heels scraped the floor.
I stumbled into his chest.
He didn’t loosen his grip, he tightened it.
Around us, teachers were yelling. Students were crying. Someone screamed that the principal was calling the police.
A chaperone rushed forward, with his face pale. “Everyone back! Back from the dance floor!”
The crowd surged away, murmuring, panicking, and buzzing with adrenaline.
But my eyes found Ethan automatically.
Because I couldn’t stop.
Ethan stood near the wall. Calm and unmoved.
His hands were in his pockets like he was watching a movie.
Then his gaze met mine.
And for one second—one single second—his mouth lifted.
Not a full smile, a private one. Like he was proud.
Kai shifted the moment he sensed where my attention went.
His body moved in front of me again.
Blocking Ethan and blocking the world.
“Stop looking at him,” Kai murmured, voice low enough that no one else could hear.
I swallowed hard. “Kai, he…”
“He didn’t do anything,” Kai cut in, but the way he said it sounded like a lie he was forcing down his own throat. “Not where anyone can see.”
That made my stomach twist.
Because it meant Kai saw it too.
The way Ethan never left fingerprints.
Only outcomes.
A teacher grabbed the mic near the DJ booth. Her voice trembled as it echoed through the gym.
“Everyone, please stay calm. We are going to take a short break while maintenance checks the ceiling. Please remain in the gym. Do not go outside.”
A short break.
Like someone had spilled a punch, as nobody had almost died.
Kai’s grip slid down to my wrist, and his fingers closed like a cuff.
“Come with me,” he said.
“Where?”
His gaze swept the room. “Somewhere I can breathe.”
He started pulling me toward the side exit…
And that’s when the second sabotage hit.
It was not metal, not lights…it was something worse.
A whisper.
It started near the bleachers, a ripple of voices that grew fast, fed by fear and excitement.
“That’s her.”
“I told you it would happen.”
“It always happens around her.”
“She’s cursed.”
My steps faltered.
Kai felt it immediately.
He turned his head, eyes flashing. The crowd wasn’t screaming anymore.
They were staring at me and at us.
Like I was the spark and they were waiting for the fire.
A girl I barely knew stepped back as I passed, clutching her mask to her chest as it could protect her.
A boy muttered, “Freak,” under his breath.
Another voice—louder—said, “Maybe she did it!”
My throat tightened.
I didn’t even understand how it had flipped so fast.
I was the one who almost got crushed.
But now…
Now I was the suspect.
Kai stopped so abruptly that I bumped into his back.
He turned slowly, facing the crowd like a predator turning toward prey.
His voice was quiet and deadly.
“Say it again,” he said.
Silence snapped tight, nobody answered.
But the fear didn’t disappear.
It only sharpened.
Because they weren’t scared of the sabotage anymore.
They were scared of him.
And that made them even more eager to blame me.
The principal pushed through the crowd, face red and furious.
“Blackthorne!” he barked. “Wolfbane! Office. Now.”
Kai didn’t move.
His hand tightened on mine.
I felt his anger flare, hot and thick.
“Now,” the principal repeated.
My heart pounded. “Kai… please.”
His gaze flicked to me.
And for a second, the rage in him softened.
Just enough he exhaled hard.
“Fine,” he said.
But the word sounded like a threat.
The hallway outside the gym was colder and quieter.
Too quiet.
The gym doors shut behind us, muffling the music that had restarted, because of course it had.
Because the world refused to stop spinning just because I’d almost died.
Kai walked beside me, too close, and too tense.
The principal marched ahead, muttering into his phone about liability and “kids these days.”
I tried to focus on my breathing but my power wasn’t calm.
It wasn't asleep.
It moved under my skin like a storm looking for a place to strike.
And then…
My phone buzzed once and twice.
Three times.
I pulled it out with shaking fingers.
A notification with an unknown Sender.
I froze.
Kai’s eyes dropped instantly.
“What is that?”
I swallowed. “I don’t know.”
The screen lit up with a single message.
YOU LOOKED PRETTY WHEN YOU FELL.
I shook and my thumb hovered, useless.
Then another message came in.
YOU SHOULD’VE DIED QUIETLY.
My breath left my lungs.
Kai’s hand snapped out, taking my phone so fast it felt like he’d ripped it from my soul.
He stared at the screen.
And something in him… shifted.
Not anger and not jealousy, but it was something darker and something ancient.
A growl vibrated low in his chest, so deep it didn’t sound human.
The principal turned, frowning. “What is it now?”
Kai didn’t answer.
He didn’t even blink.
His eyes lifted slowly from the phone to the end of the hallway.
To the security camera above the office door, to the corners of shadow where the fluorescent lights didn’t quite reach.
Like he was seeing the building differently and like he was hunting.
“Kai…” I whispered.
He handed the phone back to me, but his fingers stayed wrapped around my wrist.
Tight and possessive.
Shaking.
“This isn’t a prank,” he said, his voice dangerously calm. “This is a message.”
The principal scoffed. “Kids send nasty texts all the time…”
Kai stepped closer to him…not threatening with words.
But threatening with presence.
“I don’t think you understand,” Kai said quietly. “Someone is trying to kill her.”
The principal opened his mouth…then his office door opened.
And Ethan stepped out. Like he’d been waiting and like he’d timed it.
He wore that same calm expression, his suit jacket neat, his hair perfect.
He looked concerned. He looked innocent. He looked like the kind of boy adults trusted.
“Mr. Halden,” Ethan said politely, nodding at the principal. “I heard there was an accident. Is Luna okay?”
Kai’s grip on me tightened so hard it hurt.
Ethan’s gaze flicked to my face, softening.
He took a step toward me.
Slow and careful.
Like he was approaching a frightened animal.
“I’m glad you’re not hurt,” he said gently. “That could’ve been… horrible.”
His voice was warm. His eyes were warm.
His whole performance was warm.
But I couldn’t forget that message.
I couldn’t forget that private smile and I couldn’t forget the way he’d watched the frame fall like it was entertainment.
Kai’s voice came out like a blade.
“Don’t come closer.”
Ethan paused. Just for a second.
And in that second, his expression slipped. Not enough for the principal to see.
But enough for me.
A flash of irritation. Or annoyance.
Like Kai had ruined a scene.
Then Ethan smiled again, wider this time.
“Of course,” he said smoothly. “I just wanted to make sure Luna was safe.”
My phone buzzed again and my hands went numb.
I looked down.
Another message.
HE CAN’T PROTECT YOU FROM ME.
My throat closed.
Kai saw my face change.
He didn’t ask. He snatched the phone again and read it.
And this time…
He laughed.
A low, broken sound that didn’t match his face at all.
Ethan’s gaze sharpened.
The principal looked between us, confused. “What is going on?”
Kai stepped forward.
Right into Ethan’s space.
Ethan didn’t flinch, he didn’t step back.
Like he knew Kai wouldn’t touch him. Like he was daring him.
Kai’s voice dropped to a whisper.
But it carried.
“You’re going to slip,” Kai said. “And when you do…”
Ethan’s smile stayed polite, but his eyes turned cold.
“Slip?” he echoed softly. “Kai, you’re upset. You’re scared. That’s understandable.”
Then Ethan looked past Kai—straight at me.
And his voice softened again.
“Luna,” he said, like he was the only one who could calm me, “you can trust me.”
My stomach turned violently.
Because in that moment, I realized something that made my blood run colder than any threat.
Ethan didn’t want me dead tonight. Not yet.
He wanted me isolated first. He wanted me to doubt. And he wanted everyone to watch me unravel.
Kai’s hand tightened around my wrist again.
And I felt my power surge, responding to the threat like a living thing.
The security camera above the office door blinked red.
Then shut off completely.
The principal’s face was drained of color.
“What the hell….”
Kai’s eyes snapped to me.
“Luna,” he said sharply. “Control it.”
“I’m not…” I started, terrified.
But I wasn’t controlling anything.
The shadows at the end of the hall stretched.
Longer and thicker.
Like something was crawling out of them. Ethan’s gaze flicked toward the darkness.
And for the first time all night…
He looked satisfied, not worried, and not surprised.
But satisfied.
Like this was exactly what he wanted.
Then the school intercom crackled overhead. A voice came through, distorted and wrong.
Not the principal and not a teacher.
A whisper that filled the hallway like smoke.
“She’s awake.”
My blood froze.
Kai pulled me behind him instantly, body tensing like he was about to shift right there in the hallway.
Ethan didn’t move. He only smiled.
And the whisper came again, clearer this time, crawling into my skull.
“Run, Luna.”
Because the trap wasn’t the falling metal.
It wasn’t the lights, it wasn’t even the messages…it was the fact that something inside the school had been waiting for me to break…
And I just realized I could.