Lahat ng Kabanata ng Becoming the Queen Luna : Kabanata 81 - Kabanata 90

Chapter 81CHRISTINAThe soil was cool and damp between my fingers as I pressed another seedling into theground.It had been almost a week since Esmeralda had collapsed, and since I'd been allowed tomove freely around the pack grounds without Maxwell hovering over me like a shadow, and Iput the freedom into good use, it was better than being stuck with Maxwell.The freedom was strange, limited, yes, but still more than I'd had since he took me.I'd gotten to know some of the pack members during that time, wolves who smiled at me inthe mornings, who didn't seem to know or care that I wasn't here by choice.Nora was kneeling beside me now, her hands working quickly as she planted a row of whiteflowers along the garden's edge while Larissa was on my other side, humming softly toherself as she worked.They were kind and patient, they'd taught me which flowers needed more water and whichones preferred shade, and they never asked questions I didn't want to answer."That's the last on

Chapter 83Christina pov"Go to sleep."Esmeralda said it the way you would say breathe to someone who had forgotten how to, she was gentle and firm at the same time, leaving no room for argument.I blinked at her, through the small high window in her room I could see the sky had turned that pale grey-blue that comes just before proper morning. We had talked the whole night through without either of us noticing."It's already morning," I said."Which is exactly why you need to sleep." She stood up from her chair, slower than she had sat down, and moved toward the door. "You'll be going back to your mate soon. You need rest before that.""I can't go back to Maxwell's…""You won't." She said it simply, like it was already decided. "You'll sleep here, in my room, and I will handle how you get home." She looked at me over her shoulder. "You are not going back to Maxwell, not tonight, not ever again."Something loosened in my chest at that."Thank you," I said, and I meant it in more

CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE CHRISTINA "You need to bathe and eat before you see anyone," Marcel said. "You need to bathe too," I told him. "You stink." He looked at me for a second like he was going to argue and then he laughed, this real, unguarded laugh that I hadn't heard in so long it made my chest hurt in the best way. "Fine," he said. "Then we'll bathe together." Before I could say a single word he scooped me up off the bed and I let out a surprised sound that was somewhere between a shriek and a laugh as he carried me down the hallway toward our room. The words settled over me like something warm. It was our room and I wasn't stucked with Maxwell. Marcel set me down on the edge of the tub and started running the water, testing the temperature with his hand before adjusting it, doing it carefully the way he did most things when it came to me. When he turned back, he helped me take off my clothes slowly, like he had all the time in the world, like there was nothing else

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVENCHRISTINAI woke up unable to breathe.Not because anything was wrong, but because Marcel had wrapped himself around me so completely in his sleep that I was essentially pinned. His arm was a dead weight across my waist, his chest solid and warm against my back, one of his legs thrown over both of mine like he'd been determined, even unconscious, to keep me exactly where I was.I lay there for a moment just existing in it.Then carefully, slowly, I started to peel myself free.It took longer than it should have cause every time I moved one part of me out from under him, he shifted and tightened somewhere else. By the time I finally managed to create enough space to roll onto my back, I was slightly out of breath.And then last night came flooding back.All of it.The heat of it, the sounds, the way he'd looked at me, the way he'd said my name like it was the only word he knew.I made a strangled noise and kicked the duvet and yanked it back up to my chin, starin

CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINECHRISTINAMy father was already standing when I pushed the door open.He crossed the room in three steps and I walked straight into him, my face against his shoulder, his arms coming around me without hesitation.We stood like that for a moment."How are you coping?" he asked against my hair."I'm okay," I said. "I really am."He pulled back and looked at me with that thorough, searching expression that made me feel he could see straight through whatever I was pretending.Apparently satisfied with what he found, he nodded once."Good," he said. "That's good."We sat down together, him in the chair closest to the window, me on the small settee facing him.For a moment neither of us said anything.The quiet sat between us differently than it usually did, not uncomfortable exactly, but loaded, like we were both standing at the edge of something and waiting for the other to take the first step."Her name was Titiana," my father said quietly.He stopped and exhaled slow