Beneath the Alpha's Moon Chapter 266: I Waited

Eldur POV

She said, "Please leave alone."

It was quiet. Gentle. Like a whisper begging to be believed.

But it felt like a blade to the chest. A slow one, too. The kind that doesn’t kill—just carves out sothing important and leaves the rest of you behind to wonder why it still hurts.

I walked out.

Not because I wanted to but because she asked to.

The bell chid overhead, mockingly cheerful as I left the bookshop. I didn’t turn back. I didn’t beg. I didn’t stay.

Because I’d done that before.

With Mai.

I’d clung too hard. I’d held on like my life depended on it. And I nearly destroyed her for it.

I wouldn’t make the sa mistake with Nova.

But that didn’t an I wasn’t bleeding inside.

The night air bit into my skin, though I barely noticed. My hands were clenched at my sides. My magic buzzed just beneath the surface, wild and restless. It wanted to do sothing. Break sothing. Create a portal and vanish into the edge of the world. Or show up at her door and explain everything about who I was—what I was—until she understood.

But she didn’t even know that part of .

She didn’t know the silver in my eyes wasn’t just normal. That the quiet strength in my body ca from a supernatural bloodline. That my love wasn’t soft and normal—it was wildfire. It consud.

She didn’t know. And I was terrified of what would happen if she did.

I ended up on the roof of my apartnt building, sitting on the cold cent, knees pulled up to my chest like I was a child again. Like I was twelve again, hugging my mother tightly and silently crying because other kids didn’t want around them.

I didn’t cry.

I refused to cry

But my eyes burned anyway.

I was spiraling down a rabbit hole. I needed to clear my head—badly. Lucky for , I had the perfect people to vent to. So, I reached out to my only real friends... through the mind link.

Eldur: "Mai. You awake?"

Mai (sleepy): "Mmmph. It’s midnight, Eldur. You better be bleeding or dying."

Eldur: "I think I am."

She sat up. I could feel it through the link.

Mai: "...What happened?"

Eldur: "Nova asked to leave her alone."

Mai suddenly went silent, then two more voices joined the thread.

Liam: "Wait, what? She dumped you?"

Ollie: "Nova? Little sunshine girl Nova?"

Eldur: "She didn’t dump . We weren’t... anything. She just... didn’t want around anymore."

It was easier to say it like that. Like it didn’t hurt.

Mai: "What exactly did she say?"

I hesitated. Then repeated it. Word for word. Tone and all.

Liam: "Damn."

Ollie: "That’s brutal, man. What’d you do? Did you growl at her or like, teleport through her shower wall again?"

Eldur: "That was one ti, and I thought the water running was a threat spell and besides, she was in there."

Mai: "Okay, okay, focus. Eldur. I need you to listen to carefully. Don’t chase her."

My chest tightened. Don’t chase her. I already knew that but every part of wanted to go after her, to make her understand. To fix whatever this was.

But Mai’s voice was gentle. Sure. Alpha-like.

Mai: "I know what you’re feeling. Believe . I made Liam’s life hell before I figured my feelings out. But he waited. He let co to him. And when I did, I knew it was real."

Liam: "I had a breakdown everyti I saw her face, but yes. That’s what happened."

Ollie: "He cried every ti she called him an nas."

Liam: "NOT THE POINT, OLLIE."

Despite myself, I let out a weak, breathy laugh.

Nova would’ve liked this. She would’ve laughed at them too.

Mai: "Give her space, Eldur. Watch from the sidelines. Be her silent protector. If she’s ant to be in your life, she’ll find her way back. But you can’t force her to stay. You’ll only end up breaking both of you."

Her words sat heavy in my chest.

I didn’t respond for a long ti.

Then:

Eldur: "I wish I hadn’t brought her to my apartnt."

Liam: "Wait, you did what?"

Ollie: "Whaaat? When did this happen?"

Eldur: "I just... I wanted her to feel safe. And now I think that’s what scared her."

They all went silent again. Then Mai sighed.

Mai: "You didn’t do anything wrong. You just care deeply. That’s not a cri, Eldur. It’s growth. She’ll see it, one day."

Liam: "In the anti, co work with her."

Eldur: "What?"

Ollie: "He ans at that book place. Prologue Pages. Didn’t you say you both got hired?"

Eldur: "...Yeah."

Mai: "Then show up. Be polite. Be kind. Don’t hover. Just exist in her world. Be the constant she’s afraid of losing."

Liam: "Plus, you’ll get paid, which ans you can finally stop stealing my protein bars."

Eldur: "I only stole the blueberry ones. And besides, you know I don’t need money, I have magic and my parents."

Ollie: "Then why do you keep stealing them? Those are the best ones! Monster."

The next morning, I stood outside Prologue Pages in a navy sweater Nova once said made look "dangerously smart" and a na tag I wore like a shield.

I hadn’t slept. I didn’t need to. Not when pain had a way of keeping alert.

She walked in five minutes later, holding her coffee like it was her lifeline.

Her eyes t mine. She froze.

I smiled. Gently. Politely. Not the kind of smile that says I’m chasing you, but the kind that says I’m still here. And I’m okay. Even if I’m not.

She blinked.

And then—

"Hi," she said. Voice tight, wary.

"Hi," I echoed, then glanced down at the stack of books I was holding before walking away. I didn’t hover but I would wait.

Because Mai was right.

Sotis love doesn’t scream or chase.

Sotis it just waits around you.

And sotis... that’s enough.

**********

Nova told to leave her alone.

So I did, even though it shattered my heart into a million piece, I did.

And watching her unravel because of it was... satisfying.

I kept showing up to work at Prologue Pages, clocking in like I always did. Still moved through the shelves with purpose, still did what needed doing. But I stopped lingering near her. Stopped looking at her the way I used to. No more hovering. No more soft pauses when she walked into the room. I gave her exactly what she asked for.

Space.

And the silence that ca with it? It was almost poetic.

I began to notice that Nova started glancing over her shoulder more. At first, I thought it was coincidence. But it wasn’t. She was looking for . Her eyes would dart toward mine, expecting sothing—acknowledgnt, familiarity, maybe even warmth.

And even though it nearly tore out my heart, I gave her none of it.

And to my greatest surprise, it drove her mad.

I could feel it.

But then everything intensified when Amara arrived.

The first ti she stepped through the bookstore doors, the air changed. Not in the usual way—not the way Nova does, with her electric presence that pulls all my focus—but in this soft, floral way. Sweet like she’d walked out of so garden in a fairytale.

I hated it.

Nova didn’t like her either. That much was obvious.

She pretended to be busy, hiding behind dusty poetry collections, but her eyes were sharp. Watching. Listening.

Amara greeted her grandfather—Mr. Hawthorne—with a sunshine smile and lodic voice. She was everything people typically admired: beautiful, confident, gracious. She moved like she belonged in every room she entered.

I didn’t care for her. At all.

But I noticed Nova did.

Which is why I decided to keep Amara close.

Every day, Amara would co back. Helping out, organizing books, chatting with custors like she’d worked here her whole life. She talked to too—asked questions, made jokes, nudged my arm when she thought sothing was clever.

I let her.

Because every ti she did, Nova noticed.

At school, it only got better.

Amara joined our class, walking in like the plot twist no one saw coming. Lara’s jaw dropped. Nova? She practically combusted. I saw the mont her gaze locked on Amara sitting beside , laughing over sothing in my textbook.

And when I smirked—just slightly, not even at Amara—Nova’s whole body stiffened.

People whispered. Assud.

"They look good together."

"Bet they’re dating already."

Nova’s grip on her pencil tightened like she was imagining stabbing with it.

It made my chest buzz.

She still liked .

Even if she wouldn’t say it.

Even if she ran from it.

She felt sothing. And that sothing made her want to tear Amara’s perfect curls out strand by strand.

One afternoon in the store, Amara dropped a book. We both bent down at the sa ti. Our hands brushed. She laughed softly. I didn’t pull away.

But I wasn’t thinking about Amara.

I was thinking about the girl hiding behind the romance section, pretending she wasn’t watching.

Nova.

She always watched.

She hated every second of it.

Lara called her out, of course. That girl has zero chill and even less patience for denial. I caught a few of their conversations from afar—Nova insisting she didn’t care, Lara laughing like she knew better.

And she did.

Because Nova had never looked at anyone the way she looked at when she thought I wasn’t paying attention.

So I waited.

I waited for the mont she would crack under the weight of it.

And one rainy night, she cracked.