Alpha's Hidden Precious Luna-Chapter 184

Lily POV

Tears filled Kai’s eyes as he took several steps backward, his horrified gaze fixed on something below my face. His hand rose to point at my neck with a trembling finger.

"Did I do that?" he whispered, his voice breaking on the words.

I reached up instinctively to touch my throat, feeling the tender spots where his fingers had pressed. The skin was already sensitive to the touch, and I knew without looking that bruises were forming.

"It’s fine, baby," I said quickly, trying to keep my voice calm and reassuring despite the hoarseness. I took a step toward him, my heart breaking at the devastation written across his features. "It’s not that bad—"

But he moved backward again, shaking his head frantically. "No, don’t. Don’t come closer."

"Kai, please—"

"I hurt you again," he said, his voice rising with panic and self-loathing. "Oh my God, Lily. I’m so sorry." He covered his face with his palms, his shoulders shaking. "I’m so sorry."

"Listen to me," I said firmly, taking another step forward. "It’s not your fault. The curse—"

"Don’t!" he shouted, jerking away from me so violently that he nearly stumbled. "Don’t come any closer. I might hurt you again. I might do worse next time."

The fear in his eyes was like a physical blow. This was the man who had held me so tenderly just hours ago, who had whispered words of love against my skin, who had looked at me like I was his entire world. Now he was looking at me like I was in mortal danger just from being near him.

"There won’t be a next time," I insisted, my own voice getting louder with frustration and hurt. "We’ll figure this out. Your mother, Celeste—they’re working on breaking the curse—"

"And what if they can’t?" Kai demanded, his hands falling from his face to reveal eyes red with unshed tears. "What if this is permanent? What if the next time I lose control, I actually kill you?"

"You won’t," I said desperately. "You fought it off. You came back to me."

"Only because you used your abilities," he countered. "What if you hadn’t been able to reach me through the mindlink? What if I had been too far gone?"

I didn’t have an answer for that, and we both knew it. The silence stretched between us, filled with the weight of terrible possibilities.

"I can’t risk it," he said finally, his voice hollow. "I can’t risk hurting you again."

The rejection in his words, the finality of his tone, hit me like a slap. After everything we had shared, after the afternoon of reconnection and love, he was pushing me away again. And this time, it felt permanent.

Hurt and anger surged through me in equal measure. Without another word, I stalked over to where my blouse lay discarded and pulled it on with, angry movements. The fabric felt rough against my sensitive skin, but I ignored the discomfort.

"Fine," I said coldly, not looking at him as I gathered my other belongings. "If that’s how you want it."

I marched toward the car, my spine rigid with wounded pride and frustration. As I reached the passenger door, I called over my shoulder, "Can you at least drive me back to school? Or would that be too dangerous too?"

Kai flinched as if I’d struck him, but he nodded silently and began collecting the picnic supplies. We packed up in tense silence, the romantic atmosphere of our afternoon completely shattered.

The drive back to the university was excruciating. Kai kept his eyes fixed on the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. Every few seconds, I caught him staring down at his hands with an expression of horror, as if he couldn’t believe what they had done to me.

The silence was suffocating, filled with everything we weren’t saying. I wanted to reach out to him, to bridge the gap that was widening between us with every passing mile, but his earlier rejection still stung too much.

As we neared the university, I flipped down the visor mirror to check my appearance. What I saw made my stomach lurch. Dark purple bruises were already forming around my throat like a grotesque necklace, the finger marks clearly visible against my pale skin.

Without a word, I reached into my bag for my compact and foundation brush. Working quickly and efficiently, I began covering the worst of the bruising with makeup, layering the concealer until the marks were mostly hidden. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

I also had a silk scarf in my bag—a gift from Luna Helen that I rarely wore. Working carefully, I tied it around my neck in what I hoped looked like a fashion choice rather than an attempt to hide evidence of violence.

By the time Kai pulled into the university parking lot, I had managed to make myself look relatively normal, though my throat still ached with every swallow.

Kai turned in his seat to face me, his expression tortured. "Lily, I—I’m so sorry. I was foolish to come for you today. I never should have put you at risk like that."

His apology only made me angrier. "Really?" I snapped, my voice sharp with sarcasm. "Are you going to stand there and lie that you didn’t have a great afternoon before... before that happened?"

He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again, unable to deny the truth. We had been happy. We had been perfect together until the curse reared its ugly head.

"That’s what I thought," I said bitterly.

After a long moment, Kai spoke again, his voice slow and measured as if each word was being torn from him. "We shouldn’t see each other again. Until further notice."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Seriously?"

He nodded, not meeting my eyes. "It’s for the best."

"For the best?" I repeated, my voice rising with incredulity. "We had one bad moment, Kai. One episode that we got through together. And now you want to give up completely?"

"One bad moment?" His head snapped up, his eyes blazing with anguish. "I almost killed you, Lily! I had my hands around your throat, and I was squeezing. What if I had actually done it? You think I could live with myself knowing what I did?"

"But you didn’t," I insisted, tears starting to blur my vision. "You stopped. You fought the curse and you stopped."

"This time," he said grimly. "But what about next time? What if next time I’m not strong enough to fight it off? What if next time your abilities can’t reach me?"

A tear slipped down my cheek, and I angrily wiped it away. "So that’s it? You’re just going to give up on us? On everything we have?"

"I’m trying to keep you alive," he said quietly, his own voice thick with emotion. "Even if it kills me to do it."

The finality in his tone was like a door slamming shut. I grabbed my bag and books, my hands shaking with hurt and fury.

"You know what, Kai?" I said as I opened the car door. "Maybe you’re right. Maybe this is for the best. Because the man I fell in love with wouldn’t give up on us so easily."

I slammed the door behind me with enough force to make the entire car shake, not caring that other students in the parking lot were staring at the dramatic scene. My heart was breaking, but I refused to let him see me cry anymore.

As I walked away, I could feel his eyes on me, could sense the pain radiating from him through our mate bond. But he didn’t call after me, didn’t try to stop me. He just sat there and let me go, convinced that loving me meant staying away from me.

The irony wasn’t lost on me. After everything we had endured to be together—Lucas’s obsession, the kidnapping, the curse—it was Kai’s own fear that might be the thing that finally tore us apart.

As I climbed the steps to the university building, my throat aching with every breath, I wondered if this was how our story would end. Not with some dramatic external threat, but with the quiet destruction of two people who loved each other too much to risk causing harm.

Behind me, I heard the SUV’s engine start and the sound of tires on asphalt as Kai drove away. I didn’t turn around to watch him go. I couldn’t bear to see him leave me again.

But as I pushed through the doors of the building, heading toward the history lecturer’s office to face whatever consequences awaited me there, I made a silent vow. I wasn’t giving up on us, even if Kai had. The curse might be powerful, but our love was stronger. It had to be.

I just had to figure out how to prove it to him.