Beneath the Alpha's Moon
Chapter 266: I Waited

Chapter 266: I Waited

Eldur POV

She said, "Please leave me 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 something 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 me to.

The bell chimed 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 same mistake with Nova.

But that didn’t mean 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 something. Break something. 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 me.

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

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

I ended up on the roof of my apartment building, sitting on the cold cement, 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 me 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 me, 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 me 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 me. We weren’t... anything. She just... didn’t want me 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 time, 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 me carefully. Don’t chase her."

My chest tightened. Don’t chase her. I already knew that but every part of me 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 me. I made Liam’s life hell before I figured my feelings out. But he waited. He let me come to him. And when I did, I knew it was real."

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

Ollie: "He cried every time she called him mean names."

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 meant 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 time.

Then:

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

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 crime, Eldur. It’s growth. She’ll see it, one day."

Liam: "In the meantime, come work with her."

Eldur: "What?"

Ollie: "He means 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 means 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 me look "dangerously smart" and a name tag I wore like a shield.

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

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

Her eyes met 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.

Sometimes love doesn’t scream or chase.

Sometimes it just waits around you.

And sometimes... that’s enough.

**********

Nova told me 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 came 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 me. Her eyes would dart toward mine, expecting something—acknowledgment, 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 time 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 some 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 melodic 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 come back. Helping out, organizing books, chatting with customers like she’d worked here her whole life. She talked to me too—asked questions, made jokes, nudged my arm when she thought something was clever.

I let her.

Because every time 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 moment her gaze locked on Amara sitting beside me, laughing over something in my textbook.

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

People whispered. Assumed.

"They look good together."

"Bet they’re dating already."

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

It made my chest buzz.

She still liked me.

Even if she wouldn’t say it.

Even if she ran from it.

She felt something. And that something 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 same time. 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 me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention.

So I waited.

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

And one rainy night, she cracked.