The Lunar Queen (Lyric and Mason) novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I hold her hand gently.

“What happened to your finger?” I ask.

She pauses and says softly,

“I fell off the swings.”

I kneel down to her.

}

“I’m sorry you hurt yourself. How about we get some ice cream, and afterward I’ll get you something nice to make you feel better

I say, wiping her tears.

“Okay, Mason,” she replies with a smile, dimples on full display, her green eyes sparkling.

And I believed her. I didn’t question it. I didn’t look closer. I didn’t see what was right in front of me.

End Flashback

“She said she fell off the swings,” I say softly.

“Yes, alpha, that’s what she told me at first too,” she responds.

“Weeks later, with a thin bruise around her neck-probably from a necklace-I told her if she wanted me to keep her secrets and

help her, she had to tell me the truth. Regarding her finger, she said Summer broke it after the alpha made a promise to her in front

of the pack about her birthday, and she was jealous. The second time, Summer strangled her with a necklace the alpha bought her;

it snapped before anything serious happened, but it left a nasty mark that never fully went away,” she explains.

Kane is roaring loudly in my head.

“She will pay for hurting our mate. I will torture her slowly until she begs for death,” he growls.

And for once, I don’t tell him to stop.

I press my claws into the chair, trying to stay calm.

“Continue, doctor,” I grit out.

“After that, I didn’t see her for a while. But on her ninth birthday, she came in, holding her side. When I pulled up her shirt, her ribs were badly bruised. She said Summer was mad that you bought her a horse for her birthday and kept kicking her until she was

satisfied. Her ribs weren’t broken, but she was badly hurt. Again, I didn’t see her for some time, until her twelfth birthday, when she came in with a burn mark on her lower back that she said she got because Summer was jealous that you spent the whole day with Lyric and Winter, ignoring her,” she recounts quietly.

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Chapter 15

Every single time… it traces back to me noticing her. Every time.

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“After her twelfth birthday, she told me she didn’t want to be friends anymore. Since I was so in love with her, I was more hurt and

confused than anything. As a stupid teenager, I said a lot of hurtful things, and we didn’t speak again,” I say, overwhelmed with

regret and guilt.

I pushed her away… and she was already going through all of that alone.

“Yeah, well, after that, it stopped. I didn’t see Lyric again until two months ago, when she came in with a broken arm. Looking back.

that isn’t surprising. Every injury Lyric admitted Summer caused seemed connected to one thing-your attention. Once that

disappeared, so did the attacks,” she says.

Hunter looks at me.

“What happened between you and Lyric two months ago?” he asks.

“What do you mean?” I respond.

“Well, alpha, it seems like every time you show Lyric any kind of attention, she ends up hurt in some way,” Hunter says

sarcastically.

That hits harder than anything else said in this room.

I think back to two months ago.

“You told Lucas that Lyric had pretty eyes and you forgot how much you loved them after she helped us with something for the

Delta,” Kane says.

“I gave Lyric a compliment while talking to Lucas. Summer must have heard about it.” I say, annoyed.

“The stabbing was because of Monday. You were not subtle,” Micah says.

“Mason,” Winter links me crying,

“what’s wrong, rabbit?” I link back.

“Lyric is missing,” she cries through the link.

My blood runs cold because if Lyric is missing now, after everything I just found out, then whatever Summer has been doing to her

all these years did not stop. It only got worse.

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The Lunar Queen