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Chapter 4

Author: Linnea
On Saturday morning, I returned to the pack medical center for my final examination. The doctor checked my injuries and recovery before handing me a new report. “The external injuries have mostly healed, but you’ll need more time to recover from the anemia. For the next month, avoid intense training and forced shifts.”

I nodded. “Are my complete medical and accident records ready?”

The doctor studied me briefly, then passed me a document envelope. “Everything is inside. The report clearly states that the accident directly caused the pregnancy loss.”

I accepted the envelope. The accident had not been my fault. I had not lost the pup because I had been careless. But knowing that could not undo what had happened.

I went directly from the medical center to Julia’s office. She was waiting for me with two copies of the termination agreement and an application to withdraw my future-Luna registration. She slid one copy across the desk. “Everything follows the terms we discussed. Because you and Declan never completed the permanent mark, you do not need a forced bond-severing ritual. Once the public mate claim ends and the Council removes your Luna registration, neither of you will owe the other any mate obligations.”

I read every page. My pen paused over the line that read Pups jointly raised: None. There had been one. The pup had simply left before anyone else had the chance to expect it. I did not linger. I signed my name in the applicant’s space.

Julia collected one copy. “Would you like me to contact Mr. Hawthorne?”

“No.” I put the other agreement, the Luna-withdrawal application, and my medical records into an envelope. “I’ll send them myself.”

I had given Declan a chance to hear it from me. He had decided that nothing I might say could be urgent.

After leaving Julia’s office, I returned to the house. I added the mate ring from the drawer to the envelope and booked a same-day courier. When the courier took it, I gave only one instruction. “Please deliver this directly to him.”

That afternoon, at Ironwood Holdings, Sloane carried a cup of coffee into the Alpha’s office. “Thank you for taking me back to the medical center so late last night.” She set the cup on the desk and smiled. “The doctor said it was only swelling. I didn’t reinjure anything, so I made you come for nothing.” After a pause, she added lightly, “If Mara knew, she’d probably be upset again.”

Declan frowned but did not answer.

Sloane continued as though she had not noticed. “She has always seemed bothered by me. You already have the whole pack to manage, and then you have to deal with all of these emotions too.”

A knock interrupted her. Declan’s secretary entered with an envelope. “A same-day delivery for you, Mr. Hawthorne.”

Sloane glanced at the label and laughed. “Why would Mara send something all the way to headquarters? Is it that urgent?”

Declan’s expression cooled. He remembered Mara at the family dinner, her face so pale that it had seemed almost bloodless. “Don’t speak about her like that again.”

Sloane froze. “I was joking.”

His tone remained controlled. “She hasn’t been well. Stop using these things to provoke her. And from now on, handle personal matters yourself. If you genuinely need medical help, contact the pack doctor.”

Sloane pressed her lips together, her expression stiff. Declan did not look at her again. He accepted the envelope.

As he tore open the seal, a ring slipped out and struck the desk with a sharp metallic sound. His hand stopped. It was the mate ring he had placed on Mara’s finger at the pack altar three years ago. Since becoming his publicly acknowledged mate, she had almost never taken it off.

Declan pulled out the documents. The first page read: [Mate-Relationship Termination Agreement] Beneath it was the completed application withdrawing her future-Luna registration. His expression darkened.

Before he reached the final page, the medical records tucked underneath slid onto the desk. Declan looked down.

[Pregnancy: Eight weeks.]

[Traumatic pregnancy loss caused by traffic collision.]

[Emergency surgery commenced at 10:40 p.m.]

His breathing stopped. At 10:40 that night, he had been beside Sloane’s bed, adjusting the brace around her ankle.

With rigid fingers, Declan turned to the last page. His name appeared under Emergency Contact. Below it was the medical center’s communication record.

[Twenty-seven calls placed.]

[Twenty-six unanswered.]

[Twenty-seventh call lasted eighteen seconds and was terminated by the emergency contact.]
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  • Eighteen Seconds to Lose His Luna   Chapter 10

    Six months later, my studio launched its new collection.The first production run sold out. By the time my team and I finally sat down, it was ten at night. Dozens of messages waited on my phone—from clients, colleagues, business partners, and friends I had not spoken to in years. I answered them one by one.Declan’s name was the last. [Congratulations.]I replied: [Thank you.]His answer came almost immediately. [Of course.]I did not reopen the conversation.At noon the next day, Naomi returned with two coffees and placed one on my desk. She studied me for a moment. “You finally look healthy again.”I smiled. “Was I really that bad?”“When you first moved out, you were as pale as the sheets at the medical center.”Her gaze dropped to my hand. I followed it. The pale line left by the mate ring had disappeared without my noticing.Naomi took the pen from my fingers. “Come on. Lunch.”“I still have two designs to approve.”“Approve them this afternoon.” She raised an eyebrow. “You used

  • Eighteen Seconds to Lose His Luna   Chapter 9

    Once the agreement was submitted to the Pack Council, a thirty-day confirmation period began. Declan did not come to see me during that month.Occasionally, he sent a message asking about my recovery. If I did not answer, he stopped instead of continuing to press. The respect I had once wanted most from him appeared only after I chose to leave.Rain fell on the day of the final confirmation. Declan and I sat across a long table in the Council’s mate registry and signed the last document. An official pressed the Council seal onto the page.[Public mate claim officially terminated.] [Mara Quinn’s future-Luna registration withdrawn with immediate effect.]Three years earlier, I had completed our mate registration in the same room.The same people. The same place. This time, neither of us smiled.I put the termination document into my bag. I felt neither the relief nor the grief I had imagined. It felt more like completing a task that had been delayed far too long.Outside the Council buil

  • Eighteen Seconds to Lose His Luna   Chapter 8

    After that day, Declan did not come into the studio again.He still sent messages every day. In the morning, he reminded me to eat breakfast. At noon, he asked how I was recovering. At night, he checked whether I had reached home safely. I sometimes saw them, but I rarely answered.It was not revenge. We simply had nothing left to say to each other.Once, he sent three messages in succession, followed by a fourth. [Reply when you see this.]I looked at those words and remembered how often I had sent the same request. Back then, he had never understood why waiting could hurt. Understanding now changed nothing.A week later, I went to Ironwood Holdings to collect design records from an earlier collaboration with my studio.The elevator doors had barely opened on the twenty-sixth floor when I heard an argument. Sloane stood outside the Alpha’s executive office, her eyes red. “You’re transferring me out of the Alpha’s office because Mara wants to end your mate relationship?”Declan’s voice

  • Eighteen Seconds to Lose His Luna   Chapter 7

    I moved into a small apartment near my studio.It had only one bedroom and a living room too narrow for a long dining table. The curtains were plain ivory. But the lease, the entry permissions, and every object inside belonged to me alone.I placed my cup in the cabinet and organized my work materials in the study. That first night, I slept uninterrupted until morning. No one needed me to leave a light on. I did not have to guess when someone might come home. No message deserved hours of my attention.The next morning, I returned to the studio. The familiar scent of wood, fabric, and finishing materials greeted me when I opened the door.After becoming Declan’s publicly acknowledged mate, I had devoted most of my energy to the duties of a future Luna. I kept only a few design projects and several long-standing clients.My business partner, Naomi, stared when she saw me. “You finally decided to come back?”I placed a proposal on her desk. “I’ll lead the new collection.”Naomi opened it.

  • Eighteen Seconds to Lose His Luna   Chapter 6

    Declan looked as though someone had struck him squarely in the chest. For a long time, he said nothing. The medical report crumpled slowly in his grip.“Why didn’t you tell me?”I was placing the last studio file into my suitcase. My hand paused. “I did.”Declan stared. “When?”“I called you twenty-seven times from the medical center. When you finally answered, I said the doctor had just told me something.” I faced him. “You didn’t let me finish.”The words I had begun that night seemed to return to him at last. Declan, I’m at the medical center. The doctor just told me...The remaining color vanished from his face. “I didn’t know.”“No. You didn’t.” I nodded once. “Because you never believed my affairs were important enough to hear to the end.”I did not describe every useless emotion. I gave him only the facts. “The truck hit the car hard enough to trap me in the back seat. Rescue workers pulled me out. I entered the emergency department alone. I signed the surgical consent forms alo

  • Eighteen Seconds to Lose His Luna   Chapter 5

    Declan’s eyes continued down the page. The applicant’s signature on the mate-relationship termination agreement was clear. Mara Quinn.Sloane saw it too. “Mara isn’t truly ending the mate relationship over what happened these past few days, is she?”Declan’s face turned cold. “Get out.”Sloane faltered. “Declan, I only—”“Get out.”When the office door closed, Declan looked at the documents again. The unfinished sentence from the previous night echoed in his head. Our mate relationship... Mara had intended to tell him in person. He had decided that she could not possibly have anything urgent to say and left with his car keys.He opened the medical report. The time of the crash, the emergency admission, the surgery, and the twenty-seven attempted calls were all documented. She had not used the pup to threaten him. She had invented nothing. She had simply told the truth, and he had accused her of joking in front of his entire family.Declan snatched up the papers and hurried from the off

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