Chasing His Kickass Luna Back

Chapter 0217

Abby

“Need some company?”

Karl’s eyes slide over to the bottle in my hand, and a slight smirk tugs at the corners of his lips. He

scooches aside and nods for me to join him. “Sure.”

I join him as he leans against the wall. Our shoulders brush as we stand beside one another, a familiar

yet bittersweetly nostalgic current of electricity running up my spine. I tilt the bottle up to my lips and

take a swig, then hand it to him. He does the same. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“So…” he starts, but then hesitates, the words hanging heavily in the air.

“What’s up?”

“We have a lot to talk about,” he says, peering down into the bottle as he swirls the wine around.

“Like what happened the other night?” The words escape before I can rein them in. A hot flush of

embarrassment immediately rises into my cheeks; the alcohol tonight has made my lips looser than

usual, and I hate to admit it, but I’ve been thinking about our kiss in the pantry a lot tonight.

A beat of silence passes between us.

“You mean the kiss,” he says softly, looking up at me, his eyes intense and unreadable. “Abby, I—”

“I want to apologize,” I interrupt. “I shouldn’t have—”

“Stop,” he says. “Don’t apologize. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have done that. It

was insensitive and selfish.”

My eyes widen slightly at Karl’s words. I didn’t expect him to apologize like that. Apologizing isn’t

exactly something that the old Karl ever liked to do.

I find myself turning toward him, taking the bottle from his hands. I take a big swig, then hand it back.

Our fingers brush and our eyes meet.

“Karl, I…”

He shakes his head as though reading my mind. “Let’s not talk about it tonight, okay? Right now, you

should be focusing on tomorrow. On your cook-off.”

I blink, looking away to hide my confusion. “Okay,’ I say, though I can’t deny the ache in my chest, the

yearning to press my lips to his again. Maybe it’s the wine talking, or the flowers, or the way his eyes

looked when he was in the audience. But I know I have to ignore it, because Karl is right. “Tomorrow.

Got it.”

The tension between us eases a little, but the unsaid words still hover over our heads, watching,

waiting.

Karl takes another deep swig of the wine, as if fortifying himself for something, then takes a deep

breath. “Can I tell you something?”

I nod, turning my head to look at him. The brick wall feels cool against my back. It’s grounding in a

weird way. “Shoot.”

Karl sighs. “So, my brother may wake up soon,” he says quietly. “From his coma.”

My eyebrows raise. As far as I know, Karl’s brother has been in a coma for a long time. Years, actually.

Karl took over as Alpha in his wake. “Is that a good thing?” I ask.

He shrugs, swirling the wine around in the bottle again. “Technically, yes,” he says. “But also…”

“Also…??” I push gently, my mind racing through the implications.

“He might challenge me for Alpha. Might want to take back what was his. The pack might follow him,

too. I love my pack, Abby. I don’t want to lose them.”

His vulnerability strikes a chord in me. “I didn’t realize things were so complicated for you. You carry all

this weight on your shoulders, yet you never let it show.”

He chuckles. “It’s part of being an Alpha. Showing weakness is not an option.”

“But isn’t it exhausting? Always having to be the strong one?”

He looks at me then, really looks at me, and for a second I see a glimmer of something raw, something

vulnerable. “More than you can imagine,” he admits.

I reach out, my hand hovering in the air between us, before pulling back. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because...I trust you. Because you should know why I really might have to leave soon. I’ve been

shirking my duties for too long. I need to go back and take care of my pack.”

“That’s a big responsibility,” I murmur. “But I know you can do it. You always have.”

Karl is silent for a few moments before taking another swig of the wine. He holds it out for me, but I

shake my head, and he shrugs and takes another.