The Lunar Queen (Lyric and Mason) novel Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Mason POV

Everything is so messed up right now.

I can’t even see Lyric.

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And it’s not just that I can’t see her-it’s the way she looked at me the last time I did. Like I was something she needed to run from

instead of the person she used to reach for without thinking.

The look on her face when she saw me on Friday was heartbreaking.

That fear-real, raw, not for show-keeps replaying in my head no matter how hard I try to shut it out.

How do I get her to talk to me?

“I know I can’t come see you, but please, can we talk?” I link her before I leave my room this morning.

It’s Sunday, and all the packs are leaving, including the fucking king.

Including the one person she doesn’t flinch away from.

She didn’t block me out, so I know she heard it.

“I’m not ready to talk to you yet, Mason. I know this isn’t really your fault, but you are the cause of all of this. I loved you when 1

was a pup because you saw me and not her, but when you used her against me all those years ago, I was heartbroken because she

was the reason I told you I didn’t want to be your friend anymore. Now, to find out you are my mate, and then all of this. I need

time and space. Being around you isn’t safe for me right now. I am not angry with you, but I need to protect myself,” she links, now

shutting me out.

The second that link cuts off, it’s like something physically snaps inside my chest-sharp, sudden, leaving nothing but empty space

where her voice just was.

Kane howls his sorrow in my mind.

I lost her.

No-worse. She’s still here… and I still lost her.

Summer took years from us.

And I let her.

I let her stand between us without ever asking why Lyric suddenly stopped wanting me around. I let myself believe the version of

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Chapter 36

things Summer gave me because it was easier than admitting I had hurt the one girl who had always mattered.

Summer will suffer in the most unimaginable way possible.

I will make sure she never experiences another happy moment in her life.

“We will make her pay for us lusing our mate,” Kane growls in my head.

“Yes, but not yet. We have to try to fix things with Lyric, even if we just link her. I can’t lose her,” I say low.

Even if all I get is silence back. Even if she never lets me close again. I’ll take anything over this distance.

“We won’t,” he snarls.

I try to calm myself down, but nothing works.

hest won’t loosen. My hands won’t stop clenching. Even breathing feels off-too shallow, too tight, like something is sitting

ht under my ribs.

down to the Beta floor and walk into her room.

and in the middle of the room and just inhale her scent.

The delicious warm apple pie smell wraps around me like a warm blanket.

Mate.

It hits harder in here. Stronger. Undisturbed. Like the space still belongs to her in a way nothing else does.

I can’t lose her.

I close my eyes and just breathe her in.

For a second, it almost trick

at me like she

d into thinking she’s here-like if I open my eyes, she’ll be sitting on her bed, rolling her eyes

I snag it and wrap it around my wrist.

mall. Something stupid. But it’s hers, and right now that feels like the only thing I’m allowed to have.

Then, as I’m walking out, I see it dangling on her nightstand by her bed.

I walk to the nightstand slowly, scared to mess anything up.

Like touching the wrong thing might somehow erase the last pieces of her that still feel close.

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The Lunar Queen