Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 288

Eve

My stomach dropped.

Not from fear.

Not this fucking time.

But from the sick realization that I could not call Rhea.

Not now.

Not after I'd forced her to rest, to heal, to retreat deep into the marrow of my bones where the pain couldn't touch her anymore. I'd told her I needed to learn to survive without leaning on others—on her.

And this?

This was the price of that vow.

"You hear that heartbeat?" one of them whispered with a wet grin, his face too close to mine. "She's scared. I like them scared."

Another chuckled as he pried my jaw open, fingers thick and calloused. "Open wide, sweetheart. Don't fight it. There had been a rumour that some mutts have been sneaking through the border. We just gotta check.

I didn't scream.

I bit down.

Hard.

He howled, staggering back with blood pouring from his hand.

That was my moment.

I drove my elbow into the gut of the one behind me, twisting free from the grip that held my wrist. He snarled and went to grab me again, but I grabbed the trash can lid beside us and slammed it into his temple with a grunt. The clang reverberated down the alley.

The third one lunged.

I ducked, sidestepped, and jammed my knee into his thigh. He buckled just enough for me to grab a broken pipe on the ground and slam it across the side of his head. Blood sprayed across the bricks.

My ribs ached. My shoulder burned. I didn't stop.

They regrouped fast.

The first one I'd bitten charged me, growling, half-shifted now. Claws extended. Fangs peeking.

I hurled a chunk of concrete at his face—it cracked against his brow. He stumbled.

Another leapt at me. I caught him mid-air with a shove, using his momentum to throw him into the dumpster with a sickening crunch.

But I was tiring. Fast.

Adrenaline buzzed in my ears like static. My breaths came shallow.

The last one grabbed a metal pipe and swung—

It grazed my shoulder, knocking me sideways.

I hit the ground, pain blooming in my side.

He loomed above me. "Been trailing for a while now, who the fuck are you?"

I didn't answer.

I surged up, ramming my fist into his gut.

Then his throat.

Then his jaw.

I fought like I wasn't made of bone and skin and muscle.

I fought like I was fire and fury and every scar that hadn't healed right.

I kicked his knee backward, and it buckled with a crack. He howled and collapsed.

Then the first one grabbed me by the back of the jacket and slammed me into the wall.

My vision blurred.

I grabbed a shard of glass from the broken bottle near my boot and jammed it into his side. He shrieked, stumbling back, clutching the wound.

I ripped off my coat, lighter now, faster.

I pivoted on my heel and landed a brutal roundhouse to the side of the third one's face as he staggered toward me again, his claws raised. Blood flew from his mouth.

He dropped.

I stood there panting, sweat soaking through my shirt, body bruised and trembling but still standing.

They lay around me—groaning, unconscious, or too broken to try again.

And I hadn't shifted once.

My fingers bled. My lip was split. My ribs throbbed with each breath.

But I had done it.

Alone.

No Rhea.

No Hades.

No one.

I wiped the blood from my mouth with the back of my sleeve.

Then I spit on the ground beside them.

I didn't wait for them to rise.

I walked out of that alley without looking back.

My legs trembled, but my spine stayed straight.

I wouldn't bow.

I wouldn't break.

Even if healing was slow because I let Rhea recede, I just needed to be alive by the time she returned. She trusted me for a reason.

I limped out of the alley, each step sharp with pain.

My shirt clung to my back, sticky with sweat and blood. My breathing came in shudders now—less from exhaustion, more from the crashing aftermath of what I'd just done.

I didn't feel triumphant.

I felt… raw.

Like I'd peeled my skin back just to prove there was still something human beneath.