Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 124

Chapter 124

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If Meadow could feel Echo, then Echo was truly there. Not imagination. Not wishful thinking. There. Present enough to be sensed by another wolf. Ethan felt his heart turn over in his chest. For so long he had carried the silent fear that maybe his wolf was truly gone, that maybe the severing inside him was permanent in a way no one could fix. Hearing Meadow confirm Echo’s presence gave him hope again in a way that felt dangerous because it was so sweet.

Meadow watched that shift in him.

She thought about keeping the rest to herself.

Then changed her mind.

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He needed to know. She could see the strain the uncertainty put on him. The way he kept hoping and doubting in the same breath. So she inhaled slowly, steadied herself, and signed his name to get his attention properly.

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“Ethan.”

He looked at her eagerly at once.

“Echo wants to come out, but your mind and body are not ready for him.”

The words stunned him.

His eyes sharpened, all of him suddenly attentive.

“How do you know that?”

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Meadow sighed softly and explained as best she could.

“Nightshade felt it. She pleaded with him to surface and claim her, but he couldn’t. He is being hindered from coming out, almost as if there is a blockage somewhere. But she could sense his concern for you, as if taking over might harm you. That is why she suspects your body and mind are not ready for him.”

Ethan sat back with that, absorbing it,

The news was bittersweet exactly because it gave and took at the same time. Echo existed. Echo wanted out. Echo was trying. But there was something preventing it. A blockage. A barrier. Something in him was not ready. Ethan did not know whether to feel relieved, frustrated, hopeful, or angry, In the end he felt all of it at once.

Still, it was more than nothing.

Far more.

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Chapter 124

He nodded slowly.

“I will make it up to her tomorrow. We will try again tomorrow before the doctor arrives.”

Meadow beamed at him.

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That simple promise made her happier than it should have. She liked the thought of trying again. Of giving Nightshade more time with

him. More time with Echo. More time in the woods before the doctor came and the harder parts of this quiet break began.

Ethan wheeled his chair closer to her then, close enough that the mood in the room shifted all over again. He reached her and crashed his

lips against hers, sudden and hungry and almost rough with feeling. Meadow made a small startled breath against his mouth before

melting into him. He drank her in like he could not get enough. Her rose scent wrapped around him stronger and stronger the closer he

got, and it went straight to his head.

He wanted more.

Wanted her.

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Wanted the comfort of her mouth and body and warmth after the confusion of the day.

And beneath all of that something else finally settled inside him with undeniable clarity.

He had fallen in love with her.

Completely.

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Not in the slow uncertain way a man could still deny if pressed. Not in a way he could call affection or growing attachment and hide

behind softer words. No. Somewhere between being saved in the woods, hearing her speak of Echo, watching her smile at the promise of

tomorrow, and feeling her respond to him now with equal need, he knew. He was already gone.

Meadow kissed him back with equal hunger and then, almost impatiently, chose to climb onto him there on the chair. Ethan felt her

weight over his legs, and with it came another sharp jolt of awareness. The sensation had spread. It was no longer only that faint point

high on his thigh. It had moved lower, toward his knee. Still weak. Still strange. But there. Real enough to make his breath change for a

moment.

Meadow did not catch the reason for that change,

Or maybe she did and only chose not to interrupt it,

She went back to the bed, and Ethan transferred himself there after her so they could make love properly. What followed was not slow.

Not careful. Not after everything that had passed between them. Their bodies found each other with the familiarity that was already

beginning to build between them. Desire mixed with relief, with trust, with that raw closeness that came after truth had been spoken and

accepted. By the time they were done, Meadow was thoroughly spent. She laid her head on his chest and fell asleep there, wrapped in the

sound of his breathing and the steady beat beneath her cheek,

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Chapter 124

Ethan stayed awake longer.

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Not because he wanted to move away from her. He didn’t. But because hope had become too loud in him.

Carefully, while Meadow slept, he tried to wiggle his toes.

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The sensation he had in his leg gave him enough hope to try. Enough to believe maybe something had shifted more than he dared

imagine. He focused hard. Concentrated. Willed the message downward. For a second it felt possible. So possible that his chest tightened.

Nothing happened.

His toes remained still.

And the disappointment, though not crushing, sat there anyway. There was indeed something blocking him. He could feel that much now.

The strange part was that he had never felt this blockage before. Not clearly. Not as something almost tangible in his own mind. So why

now? Why could he sense it now when all these years it had only felt like emptiness and silence? Did the blockage have to do with his

condition? With the trauma? With the wolf? With something tied to all of it at once?

He had far too many questions and no answers.

Eventually, exhaustion took him too.

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12:02 Wed, Jun 17

Underwater: The Silent Luna