Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 269

Chapter 269

Ethan lay in bed, worried about his friends locked up in the cells of the mansion. The thought had been sitting heavily on his chest all night, refusing to leave him alone even after his body had given in to exhaustion. He hated knowing Keith, Elaine, Adam, Brian, and the others were somewhere beneath the same roof, locked away like criminals for refusing to bow to Cynthia and her nameless Alpha. They had done nothing but remain loyal. They had chosen the McClouds, chosen Whitewood, chosen honour, and Cynthia had punished them for it because she had no idea how to earn loyalty without using fear.

He did not understand why Cynthia would do such a thing, not fully. They posed no real threat to her in that state. They were unarmed, outnumbered, and trapped inside a mansion she had flooded with hostile warriors. But Ethan knew it was her way of making him break. She wanted him to feel helpless. She wanted Joseph angry. She wanted Levi isolated. She wanted Meadow frightened. Cynthia had never known how to hold power without turning it into a weapon against everyone close enough to bruise./

He turned his head slightly and looked at his wife, who lay peacefully beside him. Meadow’s face was soft in the dimness of the room, her hair spread against the pillow, her body still warm from where she had been wrapped around him. They had made love, and now they were both exhausted and ready to sleep. It had been two weeks of torture living with Cynthia in the mansion, two weeks of pretending, swallowing insults, watching, waiting, and holding back when every instinct screamed for war. But Ethan had made sure he did not lose time with his wife. He loved her at every opportunity and did not regret it.

If the house was going to be turned into a prison, then their room would remain theirs. Their bed would remain theirs. Their bond would remain untouched by Cynthia’s poison. Ethan had promised himself that. He had lost too many years to pain and paralysis. He had wasted too much time believing love had left with a woman who never understood him. Meadow had come into his life quietly, wounded and unwanted by people who should have protected her, and somehow she had become the brightest thing in his darkness. He would not let Cynthia take the softness he had found.

Ethan knew he was the only reason Meadow had not beaten the hell out of Cynthia. Meadow had returned to the room the night Cynthia tried to lock her up, angry and irritated in a way that had made her whole body feel like a weapon. She had been furious, not afraid. The silver cuffs had burned her wrists, and Victoria had been ready to fight beside her, but Meadow had allowed herself to be captured because Ethan had asked for patience. That alone had humbled him.

She told Ethan she could easily take Cynthia and her goons, and he believed her. He knew she could. Meadow was not the helpless mute Cynthia thought she was. She had strength tucked beneath silence, fury tucked beneath softness, and a wolf who was becoming more present by the day. But Ethan had pleaded with her to be calm. He did not want her drawing attention to herself. Cynthia was only a lackey, a noisy one, a desperate one, but still only a lackey. It would be a waste to reveal Meadow’s strength on someone who was not the real enemy.

Ethan knew they would soon have the advantage, but he wanted everything ready before they struck. Legs. Allies. Information. Donor. Escape route. Army. Every piece had to fall into place. Whitewood could not afford another reckless fight. Their enemies had numbers now, and their loyal people were locked away. The wrong move would not only hurt him. It would cost lives.

Cynthia had tried to reach him several times during the two weeks she had been there. Other than the conversation they had with Joseph present about releasing the people she locked up, he had remained silent because he did not want to banter with her. He knew she wanted to gloat. Cynthia loved the sound of her own power too much. She wanted him to react, wanted him to rage, wanted him to give her proof that she still had the power to hurt him.

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Chapter 269

He refused to give her that.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna