Luna Who Broke the Line Chapter 08
A year later. New semester at Silver Coast University.
I was at the registration desk, a student volunteer
guiding freshmen through check–in.
A familiar figure stepped in front of me.
Gideon Whitmore. Suitcase in hand. Eyes red–rimmed.
“Freya. I came here for you.”
His voice cracked. His face was full of something that
looked like joy. Like he’d been waiting for this moment forever.
I glanced at the admission letter in his hand.
“Computer Science dorms are north. Follow this path to the red brick building. Turn left.”
I turned to the next freshman and pointed them toward their check–in.
Gideon stood frozen.
He’d kept the whole reapplication process secret for a
full year. Just to surprise me.
A year of grinding through exams. Essays.
Recommendation letters. He’d sworn he’d stand
beside me again. When the Silver Coast admission
letter arrived, he’d cried.
He’d imagined this reunion a hundred times. Me
yelling. Hitting him. Cursing him.
He never imagined this. Calm. Blank. Like he was a stranger.
He couldn’t take it. He caught my shoulder. Made me face him.
“Freya. Look at me. It’s me. Gideon. The one who
promised to stay with you forever. Remember?”
“We said we’d go to college together. Work in the same city. Never be apart. Did you forget all of that?”
The words tumbled out fast and messy. He fumbled in
his pocket and pulled out the pearl bracelet.
“Freya. I bought this for you last year. Let me put it on you. Please.”
I glanced down. I’d wanted it once.
But it came too late.
Once, the sound of Gideon’s voice made my wolf lean in. Now she just lay there. Cold. Eyes closed.
I pulled my hand back.
“Sorry. I don’t take gifts from strangers.”
The color drained from his face.
“Stranger?”
I met his eyes. Steady.
“The moment you chose Talia, we were over. The good you gave me back then was real. The betrayal after was
real too. I don’t deny the past. But I won’t let the past
cost me my present.”
I turned and walked away.
Behind me, his sobs broke. Raw. Shattered.
I didn’t look back.
After that, my life at Silver Coast was good. Not legendary. Not dramatic. Just good. Normal. Solid.
I had my classes. My friends. My scholarship. My part–time job. A desk that was mine. A closet. Sunlight through the window when I woke up.
Sometimes I thought about Blackthorn Pack. The stuffed bear I’d let go. The nights on the balcony with
wind leaking through the cracks. That altered adoption.
record. The way Gideon said, “she’s the one who needs taking care of.”
But those memories couldn’t drag me back anymore.
Talia didn’t do well at Blackthorn Community College.
Without our parents and Callum hovering around her every second, without Gideon cleaning up her messes,
her fragility and tears stopped working.
I heard she burned through friendships with lies.
Eventually, even the Graysons grew tired.
My parents and Callum came back a few more times.
Once with clothes. Once with money. Once with the old
stuffed bear they’d rescued from the storage room where Talia had tossed it.
I didn’t take any of it.
They stood at the campus gates, watching my face
grow calmer each time. They finally understood. I wasn’t punishing them.
I simply didn’t need them anymore.
As for Gideon, he didn’t push again. I saw him once,
from a distance, outside the library. He stood under a
tree, gripping that velvet box. He watched me for a long time.
Then he turned and walked away.
In that moment, I felt no pain. No hate. Just the wind
through the trees at Silver Coast. Clean. Salt–tinged.
My wolf lifted her head. Quiet. She finally understood.
Family wasn’t a chain. A promised mate wasn’t a cage. Love you have to beg for isn’t love. Family you have to
shrink yourself for isn’t home.
I’d given away everything I had once. Toys. Grades. My
room. The light. Even my future.
Now I was taking it all back. One piece at a time.
I wasn’t the little girl in Grayson estate anymore. Terrified of being sent away.
I wasn’t the Freya waiting for Gideon to turn around.
I was Freya Grayson of the Silver Coast honors program.
The one who walked out of Blackthorn Pack territory on her own two feet.
The one who finally learned to love herself.
Outside the window, southern sunlight fell across my notes.
I bent my head and kept writing.
My life was just beginning.