Chapter 91 What He Already Knew
Luna’s POV
“Kai…!”
The name tears out of me, sharp and desperate, but it’s too late, because he’s already moving fast. Too fast. The thing inside him doesn’t hesitate this time. Kai lunges and Ethan reacts instantly, shoving me behind him as a force slams into the space between them. The air ripples, like something invisible just snapped, and Kai is thrown sideways, skidding across the ground before catching himself mid-fall.
He doesn’t look human anymore. Not fully. His chest rises and falls too fast and his eyes….those eyes, they burn with something dark and unstable, something that isn’t just anger, it is awake. “Stay back!” Ethan snaps.
But I’m not even looking at him. I’m looking at Kai. Because for a second… just a second… I see him. “Luna…” he breathes.
It’s him. It’s actually him. My heart stutters. “Kai…fight it,” I whisper, stepping forward before I can stop myself.
“Don’t,” Ethan warns sharply, grabbing my arm.
I yank free. “He’s still in there!”
“That’s not him right now!” Ethan warned.
“I don’t care!” The words rip out of me, raw and reckless. Because I don’t.
I don’t care how dangerous he is and I don’t care what he just did. That’s still Kai. And I’m not walking away from him. I take another step forward. “Kai… look at me.” Then his head tilts slowly. I saw that unnatural, wrong movement. But his eyes flicker again. They flicker blue for half a second.
Hope explodes in my chest. “You don’t want this,” I say, softer now. “You said you’d protect me. Remember?”
Silence followed and then…A smile, but it was not his. It was cold and knowing.
“Protect you?” that layered voice echoes through him.
My blood runs cold.
“You misunderstand,” it continues. “He was never protecting you.”
My breath catches. “No…”
Ethan steps in front of me again, tension coiled in his body. “Don’t listen to it.”
But I can’t look away. Because Kai’s eyes are locked on mine, and whatever is inside him… It’s looking through him.
“At every moment,” the thing says softly, “he was keeping you close.”
My chest tightens. “Why?” I whisper.
The smile widens. “Because you were already open.”
The words hit harder than they should. I felt confusion, fear, and something worse. “No,” I shake my head. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” it murmurs.
And then…It steps closer. Ethan tenses, as his energy sparks at his fingertips. “Take one more step…”
Kai stops. Not because of Ethan, but because of me, then his gaze sharpens and flickers again. “Run…” he chokes out.
My heart shatters. Because I hear it. The real him, he was trapped and tried fighting.
“See?” I whisper, tears burning my eyes. “He’s still there.”
Ethan exhales sharply. “Luna, you’re not thinking clearly.”
“I am!” I snap. “You just don’t want me to see it!”
His jaw tightens..“That thing is using him.”
“And you’re using this,” I fire back.
Silence slams between us and for a second…Something shifts in Ethan’s expression. It was small, but wrong. “You think I wanted this?” he says quietly.
Something about his tone makes my stomach twist. “You think I wanted to be right?”
I hesitate. And that hesitation…It’s all he needs. Ethan steps closer slowly and carefully. Like he’s approaching something fragile. “Look at me,” he says softly. I do. Because I don’t know what else to do. Everything feels like it’s collapsing.
“Kai isn’t safe,” he continues. “Not for you.”
“I know that,” I whisper.
“Then come with me.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“I can help you,” he says. “I’ve always been trying to help you.”
Something in his voice pulls at me. It was familiar, comforting, and safe.
And right now… I want that. God, I want that. Because everything else feels like it’s breaking apart.
Then I take a step toward him and behind me….A low, broken sound escapes Kai. But I don’t turn. I can’t. Because if I do, I might not walk away.
And I need to. Ethan’s hand lifts slowly, brushing against my cheek gently and carefully. Nothing like the violence from before. “You’re okay,” he murmurs.
My eyes flutter and my guard slips. Just a little too much. Then his thumb traces lightly against my skin. And for a second… Everything goes quiet.
No fear and no chaos. It was just warmth and calm. His face moves closer and slowly enough for me to stop it. But I don’t. Because I’m tired, because I need something to hold onto, and because I don’t know what’s real anymore. My breath seizes, then his lips hover just inches from mine…
And then…
“Luna.” Not from Ethan, but from Kai. But not broken this time. It was clear, sharp, and wrong. I freeze. Ethan doesn’t move, he does not pull away and he does not even look surprised.
That’s when I feel it. That same presence and that same cold awareness.
But this time… It’s not just in Kai.
My stomach drops. Then slowly… I pull back. Ethan’s eyes meet mine.
And then….I see it. Not warmth and not comfort, it was something else.
Something hidden and something that has been watching me this entire time.
“You feel it now,” he says quietly.
My heart stops. “No…” And my voice barely comes out.
No. No no no.
“You weren’t supposed to,” he adds too calm, too controlled, and too… familiar.
My chest tightens painfully. “You…” I whisper. “You knew.”
Ethan doesn’t deny it. “I warned you,” he says.
“That’s not the same thing!” I snap, panic rising fast now. “You knew this would happen!”
Silence stretched and then a small smile. And that’s when everything breaks.
“I needed it to happen,” he says.
The words hit harder than anything tonight. “What…?” My voice cracks.
Behind him, Kai lets out a low, and furious growl. But I can’t look at him.
I can’t look away from Ethan. “Why?” I whisper.
Ethan’s gaze softens slightly and is almost regretful. But not enough.
“Because he was the only one strong enough to survive it.”
I held my breath.
“To hold it,” he continues. “To carry it… until you were ready.”
Cold spreads through my chest. “What are you talking about?”
His hand lifts again. But this time…I step back fast as fear slams into me fully now.
“You weren’t the target, Luna,” he says quietly. “You were the goal.”
The world tilts, because nothing makes sense. Nothing feels real.
Behind him…Kai’s voice cuts through, raw and furious. “Don’t listen to him!”
But it’s too late. Because Ethan’s eyes are still locked on mine and now…
I see everything differently.
“You opened the door,” he says softly.
I felt my heart racing.
“And now,” his voice drops, with something darker slipping through…
“We finally know what you are.”
My breath stops. Because this time…The voice doesn’t just come
from him.
It echoes. Like something else is speaking with him, and suddenly…
I don’t know which one of them I should be more afraid of.