NOVEL WEB Chapter 68: Chapter 66 : Her choice
"My people," he said bitterly, his voice quiet but sharp as a blade. "You mean my people, don't you? Not yours."
Luna's breath hitched, and she flinched as though his words had struck her. The look in his eyes—the way realization bloomed, his memories rising to clash against the present—left her defenseless.
In the past, she had always called them her people. The wolves she had guided, nurtured, and protected as their Moon Goddess. Now, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"I..." She faltered, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not a goddess anymore, Alex. Nor am I human. Even i don't know what i am "
His brow furrowed, his posture rigid with a mixture of confusion and frustration. He took a step forward, hesitating as if caught between anger and concern.
Luna's faint smile was broken, a fragile thing that barely concealed the cracks beneath. "I am banished from the god realm. I broke the laws of nature and neglected my duties as your god. My actions and choices brought calamity to you all. To everyone." Her voice was calm but carried the weight of a thousand regrets. "So, I've been punished. Deemed unfit."
"So... you—" Alex's words faltered, the question too heavy to finish.
"I just exist for now."
The words hit him like a blow, and for a moment, Alex felt as though the ground beneath him had shifted. His chest tightened, an ache settling deep within him that he couldn't explain.
Luna's eyes grew distant, her mind retreating into memories she didn't want to relive but couldn't escape. "After the fight with Quintus and Dorothy... when the battle ended, and my human body turned to ash, I thought it was over. But I was wrong."
Her voice wavered, and Alex noticed her fingers trembling ever so slightly.
"When I opened my eyes again, I was back there. The desert of forgotten gods."
Alex's confusion deepened, but he remained silent, his gaze fixed on her.
"It's a place where the banished go," Luna explained, her tone almost hollow. "Time moves slowly and painfully there. What feels like an hour or a day in the mortal world stretches into years, even centuries. Gods don't need food or water, but there... an unknown hunger and thirst begin to gnaw at you. And there's nothing. No end. Just a vast, empty land where the sun never sets, and the night never falls. Only a few ever make it out."
Alex's throat tightened as he watched her, the weight of her words settling over him like a suffocating blanket.
"I was there for decades, Alex," she continued, her voice quieter now, as though the admission cost her. "I stopped counting at some point. The torment... it was endless. But I didn't give up. I couldn't. I needed to see if you were okay. To see if Lucifer had kept his promise."
Her eyes finally met his, and for a moment, Alex thought he saw something break in her—a fleeting vulnerability that made his chest ache.
"When it finally ended, I was given a choice," Luna said. "The path of forgiveness. A chance to walk the sacred road back to divinity. If I completed it, I could return to being the Moon Goddess. Everything would go back to normal. But there was one condition—I could never again involve myself in the lives of mortals or wolves. I could never return to this world."
"Yet here i am" she said softly.
She paused, her gaze dropping again. It was the path laid out by the supreme god himself—a path of absolution and distance.
Yet, she had turned her back on it.
For her , Even the mighty ruler of all , The Heaven god was no match for Alex .
Alex felt his breath catch, his heart hammering in his chest.
Luna gaze distant now as she recalled when she finally found him in his pack, everything felt foreign. Her people didn't remember her, not their former goddess. Alex shouldn't have remembered her either; the spell should have ensured that. His eyes, at first, didn't show recognition, only indifference.
It was the weight of her choices and she didnt regret choosing him.
Her lips curved into a faint, bitter smile. "For me , you are never the wrong choice but for you i might be. Maybe you'd be better off if I left. Without me, you could live a normal life. But with me..." Her voice trailed off, and for the first time, Alex saw tears glistening in her eyes. "Even I don't know what kind of life that would be."
The silence between them grew heavier, suffocating.
Finally, Alex spoke, his voice low and measured, though it trembled with conflicting emotions. "Luna, I'm not the man who loved you once. I'm just... a blank canvas now—devoid of all those colors you once painted on me." His eyes searched hers, pain flickering in their depths. "What I feel right now isn't love. It's sympathy, sadness, guilt. I look at you, and I know I should feel something more, but I don't. And I can't force myself to."
Luna stilled, the weight of his words settling over her like a heavy blanket. She understood what he was trying to say, the ache in his voice cutting deeper than any blade. Slowly, she nodded, her heart splintering into fragments even as she tried to keep her composure.
"I understand," she said quietly, her voice calm but hollow. She rose from the bed, her movements deliberate, as though each step cost her. "And I'm sorry, Alex. For any inconvenience I've caused by being here. I shouldn't have—"
But before she could finish, Alex interrupted, his voice trembling.
"But if you don't mind this version of me..." His words halted her in her tracks. "I want to feel it. What that Alex felt once—with you."
Luna turned back to him, her eyes wide with confusion as a tear escaped from her left eye.
"I could feel it," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Feel you. But... I don't know what's real and what's not anymore. I need to—" His voice broke, and he swallowed thickly, his gaze locking onto hers with a desperation that sent shivers down her spine. "I need to try. I have fallen for your once , twice won't be a problem . I need you to stay. I want to know what it's like... to live those memories again. To feel everything with you, even if it's all new to me now."
Luna's lips parted, but no words came. Her heart raced as she searched his face, caught between disbelief and longing.
"Alex—" she began cautiously, her voice soft but tinged with hesitation.
Before she could finish, he moved.
In one fluid motion, Alex leaned forward, his body shifting to hover over her as she fell back onto the bed. Luna gasped, her breath catching in her throat as his hands planted firmly on either side of her, his face mere inches from hers.
"Alex..." she whispered, her voice shaky, her pulse pounding in her ears.
His expression was unreadable, a mix of confusion, longing, and something far deeper. His breathing was heavy, and his proximity was overwhelming, sending heat coursing through her.
"I just need to know," he murmured, his voice raw and vulnerable. His eyes bore into hers, searching, pleading. "What's real... and what isn't. I need to feel it. What he—what I felt."
Luna's breath hitched, her mind spinning. She didn't know what to say, didn't know what he needed from her. The intensity of his gaze held her captive, the storm of emotions in his eyes mirroring the turmoil in her own heart.
"Alex..." she whispered again, her voice softer this time, almost uncertain.
" Can I ?" he asked almost softly that Luna couldn't hear him.
But before she could say another word, his resolve snapped.
His lips crashed onto hers.
Luna's gasp was swallowed by the force of his kiss—urgent, almost frantic—as though he were trying to anchor himself to reality. The weight of him pressed into her, his hands gripping the sides of her face with a gentleness that contradicted the storm in his movements.
His mouth moved against hers, devouring her as if this kiss held all the answers he was desperate for.
The warmth of him seeped into her, igniting something low in her stomach. When she finally exhaled, it wasn't a protest. Instead, her hands moved instinctively—sliding up his chest, fingers fisting into the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer.
Alex groaned softly against her lips, a sound that sent shivers racing through her body. His weight shifted as he deepened the kiss, tilting her chin up, his thumb brushing the curve of her jaw. The touch was soft, reverent, in sharp contrast to the unrestrained hunger in his mouth.
Her lips parted beneath his, letting him in. Heat coursed through her veins as his tongue tangled with hers, exploring her, claiming her in ways that left her light-headed.
His hands moved—slowly at first, but with a growing confidence. One slid down from her face, tracing the curve of her neck, lingering at the pulse pounding wildly there. His fingers pressed lightly, feeling her racing heartbeat, before continuing their path. Down over her collarbone and then through her chest over the thin fabric she was wearing . Down further still.
Luna gasped softly when his hand splayed over her waist, warm through the thin fabric of her shirt. Alex pulled back just enough to look at her, his dark eyes glazed with something raw and unfiltered—something that made her chest tighten.
"I will stop, If you want me to stop " he murmured, his voice thick and broken.