The former Luna went pale, her lips pressing into a tight line as she immediately fell silent, clearly rattled.
Claire, though visibly shaken herself, tried to maintain her facade. She reached out and gently rubbed the former Luna's back in a show of concern, but her trembling hands and ice-cold palms betrayed her fear. Even she couldn't mask the tension coursing through the room.
The former Luna couldn't even register Claire's touch—her mind was frozen, her heart hammering wildly in her chest as she stared at her son, realizing just how close she had come to crossing a dangerous line.
She had never seen her son so fiercely protective of anyone—so instinctively defensive, as if Addison were his fated mate. It unsettled her. And that unsettling feeling quickly festered into resentment.
