The Luna You Betrayed Is No Longer Yours

_Rowena’s POV_

I hadn’t planned it, honestly. When Kasper had told me about Brielle Logan, I hadn’t believed it, so when Alaric asked me to come over, I knew he was pushing at something.

I had walked into that room with every intention of being reasonable and composed no matter what happened and I maintained it until that woman almost made it slip.

The moment Alaric started talking, something in me had decided that words were not what the moment needed, and I had closed the distance before the more sensible part of my brain could weigh in on the decision.

His mouth was warm and still for exactly one second, I think that second was where he was processing what was happening, and then he eventually kissed me back.

I had one hand against his chest, carefully to the right of his injured arm, feeling his heartbeat under my palm.

His hand came up to my face and the kiss that I had started as something simple became something else entirely.

I heard the door open and closed instantly and assumed it was Kasper coming back in for something he had forgotten.

I almost smiled against Alaric’s mouth imagining Kasper running down the hallway feeling traumatized by the sight of his cousin making out.

Alaric’s hand had moved from my face to my waist unhurriedly, and I was aware of every point of contact. I shifted slightly closer and his breath changed against my lips.

I felt his hand at my waist tighten just slightly as I took his other hand and guided it gently to rest against my chest, over my heartbeat, which was doing things I was not going to acknowledge out loud.

He froze instantly, although it wasn’t in a bad way. He was just shocked by how I’d just taken his hand and placed it there.

But Alaric took the initiative next, not stopping just over my heartbeat. His hand lowered to my right breast and he slowly cupped it in his hand.

The door opened just then, stopping whatever we were planning to do.

A nurse came in with a clipboard and a professional expression that lasted approximately one second before it became a different expression entirely. She stopped walking, staring at us with a shy smile.

Alaric and I separated but we didn’t do it unhurriedly. We were two adults who were not going to be embarrassed about this, it was a normal thing. Right?

Although I could feel the warmth In my face which I was trying hard to ignore.

The nurse checked his vitals, made a note on her clipboard, checked the wound dressing as Brielle had apparently instructed before she left, and excused herself from the room.

The door clicked shut behind her.

Then I realized I was actually seated on Alaric’s lap the whole time..

Alaric broke the silence first and asked, “Why did you do that?”

I considered the question. “I felt like it,” I said instead.

He looked at me for a moment. “That’s your answer?” He asked.

“That’s my answer,” I nodded. But he didn’t look away from me, so I just added. “Also I don’t like her.”

He was quiet for a beat. “Brielle.”

“Yes.”

“You met her twenty minutes ago,” he pointed out.

“I’m aware,” I replied.

“Why don’t you like he?” he said in a careful tone and I could also tell he was possibly trying not to smile.

I looked at him and blurted out. “She touched your arm.”

“She’s a doctor,” he said. “She was treating my arm.”

“She touched it like she had done it before,” I sighed. “Which apparently she has. Frequently. For years.” I paused. “And she introduced herself as your ex-girlfriend with a great deal of satisfaction.”

Alaric laughed, It came out fully, warm and genuine, the kind of laugh that changed his whole face into something I hadn’t seen from him ever before. It was a beautiful thing to watch but I was not going to tell him that.

“She was not my girlfriend,” he said, when he could speak again. “We were never—” He shook his head slightly, still with the remnants of the laugh around his eyes. “It wasn’t love. I know that now more clearly than I did then. I was lonely and she was there and we were in each other’s company. I told myself it was something when it wasn’t.” He looked at me steadily. “When I met you I understood the difference.”

I looked at him, feeling warm.

“You’re the only woman I want,” he said simply and without weaving the matter. “That is not a complicated statement. It doesn’t need qualifying.”

I smiled thinly as he proceeded to tell me the rest of it briefly. How Brielle had left when he asked her not to, how he had felt the absence of something after she went and then realized the absence was not specific to her.

How Phillip had been unmoved through all of it and then had seen me and been immediately irritatingly certain about what that meant.

I was listening and about to say something when the door opened again. Why was no one knocking?!

Brielle came in with her preparation equipment, she set everything on the side table and looked at me.

“I’ll need you to step out,” she said directly. “The treatment requires a calm environment. And not crowded.”

“I’ll stay,” I said stubbornly.

She looked at me for a moment, then she put down what she was holding, folded her arms, and smiled. “Then I suppose we’re just going to look at each other until one of us changes their mind.”

My dislike for her had grown considerably in the past thirty seconds.

“Rowena.” Alaric’s voice was quiet beside me.

I turned to look at him.

“Go to the door,” he said with gentleness. “You can see through the glass. You’ll be right there.”

I held his gaze for a moment, really not wanting to do it, but that would seem so pathetic of me to challenge Brielle. I was never like this, never that type of woman.

So without another word, I nodded and stood up straight. I walked to the door and paused a bit, turning to look at Brielle.

Brielle’s smile shifted into something that I could only describe as victorious.

I stood at the glass panel in the door and looked through it into the room.

Brielle turned toward Alaric and tilted her head slightly and said, in a slightly loud voice she knew perfectly well that I heard, “Could you take the shirt off and lie down for me.”

She was looking directly at me through the glass when she said it.

Alaric had worn a shirt after I walked in fully earlier, and once again, she was makin him take it off.

Before I could stop myself, I did something I never expected. I glared daggers at her.