Moon Goddess, Name Him

chapter 3

POV Cassidy

My car gleams in the Muray driveway like it never kissed a ditch—perfect paint, flawless bumper, interior detailed to showroom perfection.

"This is impossible," I say, running my hand along the pristine surface. "How did you fix the car so quickly?"

"Moon Hollow mechanics work miracles," Theo says, his grin infectious. "Called in a few favors."

"Theo, this must have cost—"

"Don't." He steps closer, voice gentle but absolute. "Let me do this."

His sincerity cuts through my protests like warm knife through butter.

"Thank you."

Stella bursts through the front door before we reach the porch, flour-dusted apron and radiant smile announcing domestic triumph. "Perfect timing! How was your first day, sweetheart?"

"Interesting," I say, climbing the steps beside Theo. "Your principal runs a tight operation."

"Harriet's been keeping those children in line for twenty years." Stella ushers us into the hallway where roast beef and fresh bread perfume the air. "She's got a gift for bringing out their... potential."

"Cassidy's staying for dinner," Theo announces.

"Wonderful! The more the better." Stella practically glows. "I made enough to feed half the county."

Her joy radiates through the house like sunlight, and warmth spreads through my chest. Then footsteps echo from the living room, measured and deliberate.

A figure emerges from the shadows.

He's taller than Theo, broader through the shoulders, with dark hair and eyes like winter storms. The moment our gazes collide, electricity shoots through my veins—not Theo's warm safety, but something infinitely more dangerous. Exhilarating terror, like standing at a cliff's edge before the sharp plunge of a roller coaster.

My breath catches audibly. This stranger strips away defenses I didn't know I had, makes my pulse hammer with terrifying excitement. Where Theo feels like a quiet harbor, this man promises beautiful destruction.

Theo's hand locks around mine instantly, warm anchor against the sudden vertigo. But his touch amplifies the chaos instead of calming it. Both men affect me with impossible intensity, my body responding to signals my mind can't decode.

A sound rumbles from Theo's throat—low, primal, unmistakably aggressive.

"Hi, brother." Xander's voice is casual, almost pleasant, but his eyes hold dangerous amusement.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The words explode from Theo, his face flushing red with anger.

"Theo, such language in front of guests." His voice drops to honeyed poison as his gaze finds mine. "Especially such a charming woman."

He moves with liquid predatory grace.

"Don't look at her," Theo snarls, stepping between us.

"Xander Muray," he says to me. "Theo's older brother."

"You don't get to introduce yourself, traitor" Theo seethes. "Not after what you did!"

Xander's expression doesn't shift, but tension explodes through the room like a detonated bomb. Stella gasps. Elias appears in the kitchen doorway.

"Did what, exactly? Tessa chose me." Xander's voice turns mocking. "Will you ever get over it?"

"Shut up." Theo growls, his eyes darting toward me, jaw clenched with barely controlled rage.

The single word detonates between them. Stella's face crumples. Elias steps forward, authority crackling around him like electricity.

"Enough! Both of you stop this immediately."

"He started it first," Theo demands. "I don't want to pretend he didn't rip this family apart. Pretend Tessa didn't choose him over everything we'd built together."

Xander's stone statue stands still, his face remains carved from granite. Damn, he's handsome. But he's as handsome as he is a complete asshole.

"Boys, please—" Stella's voice cracks. "Not in front of Cassidy."

"Let her know," Theo snaps. "It's no secret to anyone."

The emotional storm battering the room steals my breath. I've known Theo for exactly one day, and I'm watching him tear apart over a woman who left him for his brother.

The raw pain in his voice, the way his hands shake with rage—it's too familiar, too close to my own fresh wounds.

Derek's cruel text flashes through my mind: You fucking selfish bitch. This is the end.

I understand Theo's agony because I experienced it two days ago. The betrayal, the shock of someone you love choosing someone else.

But God help me, looking at Xander now—those storm-gray eyes, that carved jawline, the dangerous magnetism rolling off him in waves—I can't entirely blame Tessa.

These two brothers are like day and night. Theo's golden warmth versus Xander's dark intensity. How do you choose between sunshine and lightning? Between safety and danger? The woman must have been torn apart trying to decide.

A terrible thought creeps in: maybe I should be grateful Tessa chose Xander. If she'd stayed with Theo, he never would have been so open with me, so ready to let a stranger into his life. I'd probably still be alone in my cottage, drowning in my father's lies.

"I guess I should leave," I announce, pulling my hand free from Theo's death grip.

"Cassidy—"

He reaches for me desperately, his golden-retriever energy turning frantic.

"I'm sorry... I'm at the wrong time." I back toward the door, my chest tight with anxiety. This isn't my family, isn't my fight, isn't my place to witness their most vulnerable moments. I'm an outsider who stumbled into their private hell, and staying feels like voyeurism.

The air in the room has become toxic with years of buried resentment. Every accusation between the brothers makes my skin crawl, reminds me too much of my own fresh wounds.

"Please don't go," Stella pleads, but I'm already moving.

I can't save this family from themselves any more than I could save my relationship with Derek. Some battles aren't mine to fight.

I push through the screen door, gulping evening air that doesn't carry the suffocating weight of heartbreak and family warfare. My pristine car sits in the driveway like salvation.