A Month

Chapter Four

Leah’s POV

One month.

It had been a whole month since Damien returned to Moon Crest, and I still had no idea how to behave around him.

How was I supposed to act normally when the man who had shared a bed with me was my husband's twin brother?

I sat on the edge of my bed, staring blankly at the floor.

So, he is Adrian's brother.

I pressed both hands against my face.

I slept with my husband's brother.

Oh, Moon Goddess! How could this happen to me?

Of all the men in the world, why did it have to be him?

I had gone to that bar because I wanted to forget Adrian. I wanted to drink until I couldn't remember how badly my husband had hurt me.

Instead, I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

And now, Damien was living in the same house as me!

I groaned and fell backward onto the bed.

For the past month, I had tried my best to avoid him. Whenever I heard his wheelchair approaching, I found a reason to leave. Whenever we met in the hallway, I greeted him politely and hurried away before he could say anything.

Thankfully, he hadn't tried to expose what happened between us.

But that didn't mean I was comfortable.

How could I be?

Every time I remembered that night, my face burned with embarrassment.

I turned onto my side and grabbed a pillow, pressing it against my face.

"Why me?" I whispered.

A few minutes later, I sat up with a sigh.

My throat was dry, and I needed water.

I glanced at the door before getting to my feet.

I had barely stepped outside when I heard the sound of a wheelchair moving down the hallway.

I stopped.

No.

Please, not him.

I looked up.

Damien was coming toward me.

He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair was slightly messy, and his golden eyes were fixed on me.

Even after a month, I still found those eyes unsettling.

They reminded me of the night I had made the worst decision of my life.

I quickly looked away and pretended to be interested in the wall beside me.

"Hello, Luna."

I closed my eyes briefly.

Of course, he had to speak.

I forced a smile and turned toward him.

"Hello, Damien."

He stopped his wheelchair in front of me.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Good."

Silence followed.

I could feel his eyes on me, and it made me uncomfortable.

I glanced toward the staircase to make sure nobody was nearby before stepping closer to him.

"Listen," I whispered.

One of his eyebrows rose.

"What is it?"

I leaned closer and lowered my voice even more.

"Please, let's pretend we don't know each other."

His expression remained unchanged.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me." I swallowed. "I don't know you, and you don't know me. Whatever happened that night should stay between us. Nobody needs to know about it."

He stared at me for a moment.

Then the corner of his mouth lifted.

"You know that's not possible, don't you?"

My heart skipped.

"Why not?"

"We literally spent a night together, Leah."

"Shhh!"

I quickly pressed a finger against my lips.

"Keep your voice down!"

He looked around the empty hallway before turning back to me.

"Why? Afraid someone might hear us?"

"Of course, I am!" I hissed. "Do you want the whole pack to know that I slept with my husband's brother?"

"Technically, you're still his wife."

I glared at him.

"That doesn't make it better!"

"No, I suppose it doesn't."

He looked far too amused for someone who had helped create this mess.

I wanted to shake him.

"Please, Damien. I'm serious. I don't want any trouble. I have enough problems already, and I don't need this one added to them."

His smile slowly disappeared.

For a moment, he simply studied my face.

Then he said, "Fine."

I blinked.

"Fine?"

"We'll pretend we don't know each other."

Relief washed over me.

"Thank you."

"But I have one question."

My relief disappeared.

"What question?"

He leaned back in his wheelchair.

"Do you regret that night?"

I stared at him.

What kind of question was that?

"Of course, I regret it!"

His jaw tightened slightly, but the expression disappeared so quickly that I wasn't sure I had seen it.

"Is that so?"

"Yes!" I answered without hesitation. "It was a mistake. I was drunk, I was hurt, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I never intended for anything like that to happen."

He looked away.

For some reason, his silence made me feel worse.

But before I could say anything else, a strange feeling rose in my stomach.

I frowned.

Something was wrong.

I pressed a hand against my abdomen.

Not now.

Please, not now.

The feeling grew stronger, and suddenly, the hallway seemed to spin around me.

I reached for the wall to steady myself.

"Are you all right?" Damien asked.

"I'm fine."

I tried to take a step, but another wave of nausea hit me.

I covered my mouth.

Oh, no.

I turned and hurried toward the bathroom.

"Leah!"

I barely heard him calling my name.

I pushed the bathroom door open, rushed toward the toilet, and fell to my knees just in time to vomit.

My stomach twisted painfully.

I held onto the edge of the toilet, trying to catch my breath.

What was happening to me?

I hadn't eaten anything unusual. In fact, I had barely eaten that morning.

Could it be the food?

I swallowed hard, but another wave of nausea rose in my throat.

I vomited again.

"Leah?"

I froze when I heard Damien's voice behind me.

I turned my head.

He was at the bathroom entrance, his wheelchair positioned beside the wall.

My eyes widened.

"What are you doing here?"

"You ran out of there looking like you were about to collapse. What did you expect me to do?"

"I'm fine. You can go."

He ignored me.

His eyes moved from my pale face to the hand I had pressed against my stomach.

Then he went unusually quiet.

A few seconds passed before he spoke.

"Leah, you can't be pregnant, can you?"

My heart stopped.

For a moment, I couldn't even breathe.

Pregnant?

The word echoed in my head.

"No!" I answered immediately.

He didn't look convinced.

I quickly pushed myself to my feet, flushed the toilet, and rinsed my mouth. Then I turned toward him, shaking my head.

"No, that's impossible."

"Why is it impossible?"

"Because..." I stopped.

Because what?

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

My mind suddenly went back to that night.

The drinks.

The strange room.

Damien.

I gripped the edge of the sink.

Oh, Moon Goddess.

What if?

My eyes widened as I stared at my reflection in the mirror.

What if I was pregnant?

I had been married to Adrian for years, but our relationship had been falling apart long before Penelope started demanding his attention. For months, he had barely touched me.

I couldn't even remember the last time we had shared a bed as husband and wife.

But Damien and I...

I squeezed my eyes shut.

No.

No, no, no!

It couldn't be true.

I slowly opened my eyes and stared at my pale reflection.

There was a possibility.

A terrible, frightening possibility that I had been too afraid to consider.

What if the one night I had spent trying to forget my husband had left me carrying another man's child?

And not just any man's child.

My husband's brother's child.

My knees suddenly felt weak.

"Leah?"

Damien's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I turned toward him.

He was watching me carefully now, and the amusement had completely disappeared from his face.

"Look at me," he said. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

I shook my head too quickly.

"No."

"Then why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?"

"Because you keep asking ridiculous questions!"

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Ridiculous?"

"Yes!"

I grabbed a towel and wiped my mouth, desperately trying to calm myself.

"I am not pregnant, Damien. So please, don't say that again."

He studied me for a long moment.

Then his gaze dropped to my stomach once more.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

The word came out louder than I intended.

I immediately lowered my voice and glanced at the bathroom door.

"Please, just leave me alone."

He said nothing.

I turned away from him, pretending to wash my hands even though they were already clean.

But my thoughts were racing.

I needed to get a pregnancy test.

I needed to know the truth before my imagination drove me crazy.

And if the result was positive...

I couldn't even finish that thought.

How would I explain it?

How would I look Adrian in the eyes?

How would I face the pack?

Most importantly, what would Damien do if he discovered that I was carrying his child?

I glanced at him through the mirror.

He was still watching me.

For the first time since he returned to Moon Crest, I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

And that frightened me more than anything.

"Leah," he said quietly.

I turned around.

"What?"

"If you are pregnant, hiding it won't make it disappear."

My throat tightened.

"I said I'm not pregnant."

He held my gaze for several seconds before finally turning his wheelchair toward the door.

"All right, Luna."

He paused at the entrance.

"But if you start vomiting again, don't pretend nothing is wrong."

Then he left.

I remained in the bathroom, staring at the doorway long after he was gone.

My hand slowly moved to my stomach.

"Please," I whispered, my eyes filling with tears. "Please don't let this be happening to me."

I wanted to believe it was nothing.

Maybe I was simply exhausted. Maybe I hadn't eaten enough. Maybe my body was reacting to all the stress I had been under.

There were so many possible explanations.

But there was only one way to be certain.

I needed to take a pregnancy test.

And I needed to do it before anyone noticed anything strange.

Especially Adrian.

Because if I was carrying Damien's child, my already broken marriage would become a nightmare I could never escape.

And somewhere deep inside me, I was terrified that my life was about to change forever.