Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The only option Ethan had was to handle his mother directly, calmly, strategically, and in a way that left her with no roomto act on her madness. He knew Amber. Confrontation only fuelled her. But if he appealed to her ego, her grief, her obsession with legacy…

maybe she would back down long enough for him to protect Meadow.

He turned to Meadow as the van rumbled along the road back to the estate.

“I will handle it,” he told her, voice low and steady, a promise. “Focus on yourself. Try to relax. Once we get back, I’ll send for your

friend. She will be in the mansion before I leave.”

Hope flickered in Meadow’s chest. She thanked him quickly, signing softly, and he nodded once, an acknowledgement that he

expected her to trust him.

But the moment she saw the mansion rising from the trees like a stone giant, Meadow’s heart dropped into her stomach.

Too soon.

Too fast.

She wished, prayed even, that the journey would stretch longer, that Ethan would change his mind, that something would delay their return. But fate was cruel. They arrived earlier than she hoped.

Ethan exited first, wheeling himself down the van ramp with controlled strength. Meadow hesitated. She stepped out last, and even though the weather was mild, a sudden cold breeze swept across her arms, raising goosebumps and making every hair on her nape

stand painfully upright.

Her wolf whimpered.

The mansion was Ethan’s home.

But to Meadow?

It was her prison.

She followed him quietly, steps soft, shoulders hunched as they made their way into the entry hall and toward their private wing. She kept her head down, every part of her shrinking into itself to avoid being seen.

But then,

Quick footsteps. Sharp. Angry. Drumming against the polished floor.,

Ethan’s jaw tightened.

Meadow froze.

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Chapter 28

“Ethan! Ethan!”

The voice she dreaded, the one that had stolen her freedom, her peace, her sense of safety, ripped through the hallway like a whip.

Luna Amber.

Fire-eyed. Storm-faced. Rage radiating off her like heat.

Meadow’s breath hitched. Her hands trembled so violently she had to clasp them together. She bowed immediately, hoping

submission would soften the blow.

Amber didn’t even grace her with a glance.

Her fury was aimed solely at Ethan.

“How dare you defy me like that?” Amber spat, stopping in front of her son like a queen before a disobedient knight. “She is not

your property to take anywhere you please!”

Meadow flinched.

Not your property.

The words sliced through her chest.

“You weren’t even at the wedding,” Amber continued, voice sharp as crushed glass. “You wouldn’t have shown up at all if I hadn’t forced it. I do not like your moves. You may not want children, you may not care about continuing your bloodline, but I do. Do not

cross me again.”

Meadow felt her soul shrink.

Property.

Object.

Womb.

Machine.

Humiliation pooled like acid in her throat. She bowed her head lower, battling the rage shaking inside her. Her wolf howled silently

at the injustice, the degradation.

I am not an object… I am not an object…

She wanted to scream, but she had no voice. Her parents had betrayed her into this fate. Had tied her into a contract that reduced

her life to this, obedience, humiliation, and fear.

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Chapter 28

Growing old alone would have been paradise compared to this.

Amber continued scolding her son, unaware, or uncaring, that Meadow was breaking right behind her.

Ethan saw it.

He felt it.

And anger tore through him like lightning.

Amber’s words were vile. Cruel. Unacceptable.

There was nothing wrong with Meadow. Nothing to justify this treatment. Meadow deserved gentleness, care, freedom. Not this

prison sentence.

Ethan may have been damaged. But Meadow was innocent.

“Watch your tone, Mother,” he snapped, powerfully, command laced in every syllable.

Amber froze.

“You seem to have forgotten your place,” Ethan continued, voice deadly calm. “I am still the Alpha of this pack.”

The air crackled with dominance.

Amber swallowed.

And Meadow, standing behind him, trembling, felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Protected.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna