Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 284

Chapter 284

She would often stay up at night weeping and hoping things had happened differently. Some nights, she imagined going back to the

first day Cynthia started whispering into her ears and walking away instead. Some nights, she imagined telling Joseph the truth

before everything became too ugly. Some nights, she imagined accepting that he did not love her enough and saving herself from

the humiliation of trying to hold him with lies.

She did not blame Joseph for breaking up with her.

She regretted everything she did.

All she had to do was stop hanging out with Cynthia, and she had been stubborn about it. Cynthia had made things feel exciting. Dangerous. Powerful. She had made Ashley believe that softness was weakness and that getting what she wanted mattered more than how she got it. Had Ashley known Joseph’s love was forced, she would have acted differently. She wept because she did not

know what to do with herself now that all the lies had fallen away.

Her father was mean, and her mother was too afraid to stand up to him, so she was alone. Ashley could not even reach out to her classmates to find warriors willing to help the McClouds. She was a wreck. She wanted to help, but shame kept pressing her down. Who would listen to her? Who would trust her? She had been Cynthia’s shadow for too long. She had lied about pregnancy. She had embarrassed herself and hurt Joseph. The thought of calling anyone and asking them to join her in helping the McClouds felt

almost ridiculous.

“We should try to redeem ourselves,” Claire, her wolf, told her while Ashley lay awake in sadness.

Ashley stared into the darkness.

“I doubt Joseph will take us back,” Ashley told Claire.

“You shouldn’t have lied about the baby,” Claire said.

Ashley closed her eyes because the truth hurt, even coming from her wolf.

“Yes, I shouldn’t have. He would have dumped us, and we wouldn’t have been feeling this way. I should have let him go when I sensed his heart wasn’t in it, but I pushed and ended up hurting myself,” Ashley said.

They were both silent after that.

There were some truths that did not need another word. Joseph had not fully been hers, and she had known it. She had felt it in the way he tried, the way he treated her with duty more than hunger, the way his eyes softened but never burned the way she wanted them to. She had kept pushing because giving up meant admitting she had lost before the world saw her win.

After a few minutes of calm, Claire finally devised an idea.

“Why don’t we do something nice for a change? Let’s show Joseph and Rex that we love them and are sorry,” Claire said.

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Chapter 284

Ashley frowned slightly, wondering where her wolf was headed.

“What do you mean?” Ashley asked.

“You have always made the decisions and come up with all the ideas, I am taking over this time,” Claire said.

Ashley did not argue because she was blank and clueless on how to move forward. Her ideas had brought them here. Maybe it was

time to listen to someone else, even if that someone else was her own wolf.

“The only thing that would get us in Joseph’s good books and give us another chance with him is if we help solve their current

predicament,” Claire said.

Ashley remained silent.

“We know Cynthia is at the mansion, so she is the least of our problems. Let us find Sebastien and work on him to get their master. Then we will give the information to Joseph and use that opportunity to pour our heart out,” Claire said.

Ashley sat up a little, confused and uneasy at the same time.

“We no longer care about being Luna or living in the mansion. A small house on a farm and raising children together is a dream we can share with him. I know you love him that much, which was why we ignored our mate’s scent on the afternoon of the battle at the mansion. It was hard, but we ignored the scent knowing it might be one of those treacherous warriors that came,” Claire said.

Ashley did not want to think about the woody scent she had picked while fighting Cynthia. It was still there in her memory, sharp and confusing. It was not that she had ignored it exactly. Someone had cheated and stabbed her before she could even acknowledge what she sensed. Pain had swallowed the moment. Blood had come. Chaos had taken over. But if Claire wanted to believe they

ignored it, so be it.

“Let us make that sacrifice worth it and fight for what we want. Joseph deserves a strong and honest woman by his side. Let us give

him that,” Claire said.

Ashley swallowed.

“To do this, we must do things with Sebastien to get him to tell us or lead us to his master. Joseph won’t take us back reeking of

someone else, Claire,” Ashley told her wolf.

“Then call him and tell him your plan. Let him know you are doing this for him because, honestly, we have nothing to gain, and if things go wrong, we can die in the process,” Claire told Ashley.

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14:43 Tue, Jul

Underwater: The Silent Luna