Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 25

Chapter 25

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They discussed a few more pack matters, land disputes, a delayed shipment, a rogue sighting near the northern border. Ethan made promises where needed, offered quick decisions where Joseph hesitated, and eventually agreed to return home in time for their departure to Ceenas. He prayed the meeting wouldn’t require too much public presence. Crowds suffocated him now. Eyes suffocated him. Pity

suffocated him.

When he finally ended the call, the room felt darker.

Upstairs, Meadow woke with a violent gasp.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, sweat slick across her skin. She sucked in air desperately, as if she’d been drowning. It took a moment for her to register the room, the cabin walls, the soft moonlight casting shadows over the furniture, the absence of any other

soul.

Just her.

And the nightmare clinging to her like smoke.

The brown wolf again.

The one with the snarling smile.

The one who whispered warnings into her dreams: Never speak.

The one whose claws wrapped around her throat and squeezed until the world blurred.

She rubbed her neck instinctively, feeling phantom fingers pressing into her skin.

Her breaths were shallow and uneven. The dream was fragmented and wild, every frame slipping through her mind like broken glass. She tried to steady herself, but her body trembled,

It was two in the morning.

She didn’t dare lie back down.

Back in the mansion, even though she slept at the very edge of the bed, Ethan’s presence, cold, silent, distant, had been oddly grounding. Having someone else breathing in the same room had kept the nightmares somewhat at bay. But here, in this strange cabin, surrounded by memories that weren’t hers, she felt alone in the most suffocating way.

The trauma of her wedding had yanked the nightmares from her childhood out of hiding. She prayed her mind would eventually settle, that she would adapt, endure, and find some semblance of peace.

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Chapter 25

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A chilly gust swept into the room, rustling the curtains. She shivered and rose quickly to close the window. The night air smelled like pine

and frost.

She didn’t love the cabin.

She didn’t hate it either.

She was simply… indifferent.

But she was grateful for one thing: Ethan had tried. He had bought her time. He had stood between her and Amber’s cruelty. He had

shielded her, however briefly.

She didn’t read more into it. She wasn’t foolish.

Nothing would ever happen between them.

She understood that now.

When morning came, she dragged herself out of bed and moved with purpose. She had assumed her role as Ethan’s caretaker with quiet dignity in the mansion. She wouldn’t relax now, not after he’d taken a risk for her. She would not appear ungrateful.

She showered quickly, dressed, and hurried down the stairs to prepare breakfast.

She froze halfway into the kitchen.

There was food already on the table.

And Ethan, already up, already dressed, was eating calmly, a newspaper spread open in front of him. Keith must have brought it the day

before.

Meadow blinked. He never waited for her.

She stepped closer cautiously.

Elaine walked out of the kitchen with a plate, smiling softly. “Good morning, Luna Meadow,” she said with a respectful bow.

Meadow stiffened. The title felt wrong. Heavy. False.

Ethan looked at her, reading the confusion on her face,

“Join me,” he said, voice deep and emotionless.

She nodded and sat quietly, folding her hands in her lap until Elaine served her.

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Chapter 25

Ethan lowered the newspaper.

“How was your night?” he asked flatly.

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Meadow smiled and nodded. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him that nightmares had strangled her sleep again. She didn’t want to seem

weak. She didn’t want to seem demanding.

“Good,” her expression said, even though it was a lie.

Ethan continued eating as he spoke. “My mother has agreed to hold off on her plans. We will be returning to the mansion this evening.”

Her heart plummeted.

Already?

She had barely found her footing here. She had barely adjusted to the quiet, the space, the temporary reprieve. The thought of going back, to Amber, to Levi, to that suffocating house, made her stomach twist.

But she masked it. She always masked it.

She nodded obediently, though the sadness in her eyes was impossible to hide.

“I have organised a phone for you to talk to your friend,” Ethan added. “And I will ensure she is allowed to visit you at the mansion. I would have left you here, but these woods share borders with an enemy pack, and Keith and Elaine are traveling this weekend. I cannot send guards either, not without drawing suspicion.”

Elaine, who had been quietly cleaning, paused mid-movement.

His tone was cold, but the meaning beneath it was not.

He did care. Even if he didn’t know how to express it without barbed wire wrapped around the words.

Meadow signed, Thank you, though her face didn’t brighten.

Ethan frowned internally. He had expected happiness, at least relief. But her expression didn’t change. It worried him.

“Your friend may also stay with you in the mansion while I am away. If you wish,” he added.

Meadow’s head snapped up, eyes wide.

Thank you, Alpha, she signed, offering a small, fragile smile.

But something in her gaze tugged at him. A flicker of fear.

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Was she afraid of him leaving?

:

He didn’t want to assume, but the thought landed heavily inside him.

“Do not be long, please,” she signed timidly.

The words were soft. Vulnerable.

Almost pleading.

Ethan held her gaze for a moment, then nodded once.

“I’ll try,” he said.

It was the closest thing to comfort he could offer

They finished breakfast in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, and Elaine quietly cleared the table around them, observing, in silence, the strange, fragile bond forming where no one expected one to grow.

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