Chapter 92 Shattered Bonds
Luna’s POV
The silence after the chaos felt wrong and too still. Too quiet. Like the world itself was holding its breath, waiting to see what I would do next.
Ethan’s arms were still around me. But I didn’t feel safe. Not really and not anymore.
My chest rose and fell unevenly as I stared past him, into the darkness where Kai had disappeared. The forest seemed to have swallowed him whole, as he had never been there at all. But I knew better, that he was still out there.
And whatever had taken hold of him… it wasn’t done. “Luna.” Ethan’s voice was softer now, and careful.
I flinched. Not away from him, but not toward him either. That hesitation didn’t go unnoticed.
His grip loosened slightly. “Hey… It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Safe. The word twisted painfully in my chest. Because just minutes ago, I had believed that same thing…with someone else. I pulled back slowly, creating space between us.
Ethan’s hands dropped to his sides, but his eyes stayed locked on me, searching.
“You’re shaking,” he said quietly.
“I’m fine.”
I lied. My entire body felt like it was unraveling, and then I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold everything together, but it was useless. My thoughts were spinning too fast.
Kai’s voice and his eyes, with his hand around my throat. And then…
Run. I heard. That had been him. Hadn’t it?
I felt my chest tighten. “I need to go after him,” I said suddenly.
Ethan’s expression hardened instantly. “No.”
I blinked. “What?”
“You’re not going anywhere near him tonight.”
Anger flickered through the fear. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“He just tried to kill you,” Ethan snapped.
The words hit like a slap. “I know that!” I shot back, my voice breaking. “I was there!”
“Then act like it,” he said, stepping closer. “Stop making excuses for him.”
“I’m not making excuses!”
“Then what are you doing?” he demanded.
I opened my mouth and nothing came out. Because I didn’t have an answer.
Ethan exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “Luna… whatever that thing is…it’s not just influencing him. It’s learning. Adapting.”
“I know.”
“And you still want to run toward it?”
“It’s not it,” I whispered. “It’s him.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “You don’t know that anymore.”
The words landed hard. Because deep down… I did know.
Or at least… I feared it.
I looked away, with my gaze drifting back to the forest. It was dark, silent and it looked like it was waiting. “I felt him,” I said quietly.
Ethan didn’t respond.
“Even when that thing was in control… I could still feel him fighting,” I continued. “He told me to run.”
“And then tried to stop you,” Ethan countered immediately.
I flinched.
“Luna,” he said, softer now, “you can’t keep holding onto pieces of him and ignoring the rest.”
My throat tightened. Because that’s exactly what I was doing. Clinging to the parts of Kai that made me feel something real and ignoring the parts that terrified me.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.
The confession felt heavier than anything else, then Ethan stepped closer again, slower this time and careful. Like approaching something fragile.
“Then let me help you,” he said gently.
I looked at him. Really looked at him, and for the first time… I noticed something I hadn’t before. Not just determination and not just intensity. But patience. Like he had been waiting for this moment. For me to break and for me to need him.
That realization sent a faint chill down my spine. But I pushed it aside. Because right now… I did need something. Something steady and something certain.
And Ethan… felt like the only solid thing left. “What do we do?” I asked.
His expression softened slightly. “We figure out how to separate him from it.”
Hope flickered in my chest. “You can do that?”
“I can try.”
Try. That is not a promise and is not guaranteed. But it was something.
“And if you can’t?” I asked quietly.
Ethan hesitated just for a second. But I caught it.
“If I can’t…” he said slowly, “then we make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
My stomach dropped. “That means him too,” I whispered.
Ethan didn’t answer, because he didn’t have to. The silence said everything.
“No,” I said immediately, shaking my head. “No, I’m not letting you kill him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Luna…”
“No!” I stepped back, my pulse racing again. “There has to be another way.”
“There might be,” he said carefully. “But you need to be prepared for the possibility that there isn’t.”
Tears burned behind my eyes. Because I knew he was right and I hated it.
“I’m not giving up on him,” I said, my voice trembling but firm.
Ethan studied me for a long moment and then sighed. “I figured you’d say that.”
Something in his tone… shifted. Not frustration and not disappointment, but something else, it was something quieter.
“Okay,” he said finally. “Then we do this your way.”
Suspicion flickered. “Is that easy?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not easy. Just… necessary.”
I frowned slightly. But before I could question it, a low sound echoed through the forest, it was not a growl. Not quite human either, it was something in between. My entire body went rigid, then Ethan turned instantly, his posture sharpening.
“You hear that?” I whispered.
“Yes.”
The sound came again, but closer this time. My heart slammed against my ribs. “Kai…” I breathed.
Ethan stepped in front of me instinctively. “Stay back.” But I was already moving. “Luna…”
“I need to see him,” I said.
“Or it,” Ethan corrected.
I ignored that. Step by step, I moved toward the trees and the darkness seemed thicker now and heavier. Like it was alive, watching.
Then… Movement, we saw a figure step out from between the trees.
“Kai…” I whispered.
But something was wrong. Very wrong. He looked… calm. Too calm and his posture was relaxed, and his expression unreadable. And his eyes… They weren’t glowing. They weren’t dark. They were perfectly normal. Blue, clear, and human.
Relief flooded through me so fast it made me dizzy. “Kai,” I whispered, stepping closer. But behind me, Ethan didn’t move. Didn’t speak, he didn’t even breathe. And that should have been my first warning.
“I told you,” Kai said softly, his voice steady. “I would never hurt you.”
Tears filled my eyes. “I thought I lost you…”
“You didn’t,” he said, stepping closer. Everything in me wanted to run to him.
To believe him and to forget everything that just happened.
“I’m okay now,” he continued gently. “It’s gone.”
Gone. Just like that. That was too easy and too clean. Something in my chest twisted. But I ignored it. Because I wanted to believe him.
I took another step forward.
“Luna,” Ethan said quietly behind me.
It was like a warning. But I didn’t listen. I couldn’t. Not when Kai was right there. Not when he looked at me like that. “I’m sorry,” Kai said softly. “For everything.”
My heart broke all over again. “It wasn’t you,” I whispered.
A faint smile touched his lips. And for a moment… Everything felt okay.
Until….
“I know,” he said.
And something about the way he said it, was too smooth and too certain and too wrong, that made my blood run cold. Because suddenly… I realized something, that Kai had been fighting it before. He was struggling, breaking. But now, there was no struggle at all. No hesitation and no cracks.
It was just… control. Perf
ect control. And that terrified me more than anything.
Because it meant one thing, that the thing inside him was no longer hiding.
It had learned how to be him now.