Page 27 of Moon Kissed

Paxton: I don’t hate you, Volana. I don’t know you.

I carefully considered my reply.

Me: Most people would say you already know all you need to know to hate me.

Paxton: Those people don’t know why you killed Castor.

I went very still—reading that once, twice, twelve times.

Me: And you do?

Thescritch-scratch-scritch-scratchsounded up a storm behind me. Paxton was writing a whole novel in reply, and I held my breath—waiting for every word.

Paxton: I know you went your whole life without hurting a single soul. More than that, the people who knew you from before say you were the nicest, sweetest person they ever met. Kind to omegas, alphas, and everyone in between.

I accepted a long time ago that something must’ve happened between you and Castor. Something horrible. Something that you still can’t talk about.

Of course you snapped when Luame named the person who hurt you as your soulmate. If someone did something like that to me, and then suddenly all my rage and pain became lust and wanting for a monster. I couldn’t stand that either.

I’d snap too.

I hesitated. It wasn’t hard to read between those lines. Paxton couldn’t conceive of me attacking an innocent man unprovoked, so he decided Castor wasn’t innocent, and I wasveryprovoked.

A shocking pang of conscience struck my heart. I did have a reason for what I did—a good fucking one—but it wasnotthat. It wasn’t right to let people believe Castor was a rapist or the like, even if they came to that conclusion on their own. Castor did do something, but it wasn’t that.

I put pencil to paper.

Me: You need to know that Castor

A hand snatched the note from my grip. “Hey!”

“Hey yourself,” Nyx said, grinning. “You two look to be having quite the intense conversation. Didn’t even notice me staring at you for the last minute.”

“Give it back!”

I lunged and he snapped back, whipping the paper high above my head, and looking pretty proud of his six-foot-tall self while doing it.

“What’s going on over there?” Hall demanded.

We had the attention of everyone in the room now—all of my fates included. Edric, Badr, Orion, and Paxton jumped to their feet, narrowing on us.

“What were you two talking about?” The smile Nyx gave Paxton would’ve been charming, if I didn’t know a predator when I saw one. “Something we should all know, Pax?”

Paxton stiffened. “Nyx, it’s not a big deal. We were just talking.”

“Talking about what?” Badr hissed. “What the fuck do you have to say to her that can’t be summed up by fuck off and die?”

“Give it back!” I shouted, lunging again.

Nyx bent back and I splayed across his chest—scrabbling and climbing the mountain of a man like a baby koala. Nyx snapped his arm around my back and held me fast.

“No, thanks. I think we’d all rather know what the most famous omega in a century has to say to the mostinfamouspsychopath ever born.”

“Second-most infamous!” I jumped and flailed against him, straining for the note. “Your hairy-ass, buck-tooth mama still has me beat out!”

Nyx laughed out loud, not fazed in the least. Our audience was hooting and clamoring for him to read the letter out loud. All except for Hall who busied himself sorting papers on his desk.

He wasn’t coming to my rescue.

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