Lahat ng Kabanata ng Luna To Alpha Ace: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

LILY The first thing I notice is the smell—antiseptic and floor cleaner, the distinctive cocktail that means hospital. The second thing is the pain. It starts in my abdomen and radiates outward like broken glass, sharp and unforgiving. The third thing is that my baby is gone. I know before I open my eyes, before anyone tells me. I know because the feeling is different. The constant awareness of another life inside me, the gentle fluttering that had become as familiar as my heartbeat—it's all gone. "She's waking up." A woman's voice, gentle but professional. I force my eyes open and immediately regret it as fluorescent lights stab into my skull. "Easy now. You've been through quite an ordeal." A nurse with kind eyes and graying hair leans over me. Her name tag reads "Alessa Mike, RN." "My baby," I croak, my throat raw. Her face softens with the kind of compassion that comes from delivering terrible news too many times. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. You had a placenta

The hospital cafeteria coffee tasted bad, but I forced myself to drink it anyway. I needed the caffeine. Needed something to keep me sharp while I figured out how to spin this disaster. Three days. Three days of sitting in uncomfortable hospital chairs, fielding questions from doctors and nurses, maintaining the grieving husband act. Three days of watching Lily drift in and out of consciousness, her face pale as death. Three days of knowing I'd fucked up beyond repair. I stared at my reflection in the black coffee, remembering the sound my fist had made connecting with her stomach. The way she'd doubled over. The blood that had started pooling beneath her on our kitchen floor. I hadn't meant for it to go that far. But she'd been so goddamn stubborn, so determined to leave me. After everything I'd done for her, everything I'd sacrificed to give her the child she'd wanted so desperately, and she was going to walk away? No. I couldn't let that happen. The irony wasn't los

I sat in my truck outside James's house for three hours, watching the windows, waiting for something anything that might give me a clue about where Lily had gone. The bastard had gone to bed around midnight, turning off the lights like he didn't have a care in the world. Like his wife wasn't missing somewhere in the city, possibly hurt, definitely scared. Like he hadn't caused her to lose their baby. The thought made my wolf pace restlessly under my skin. I'd felt it happen—the moment the life inside her had flickered out. I'd been in a pack meeting, discussing territory boundaries, when the bond had suddenly gone cold, empty. I'd known, even then, that something terrible had happened. But I'd stayed and finished the meeting. Handled the pack business. While my mate was bleeding out on a hospital floor. The guilt was eating me alive. If I'd come back sooner, if I'd ignored the pack politics and trusted my instincts, I could have prevented this. I could have

The fluorescent lights of the train station buzzed overhead like angry insects. I clutched the envelope Alessa had pressed into my hands, my fingers trembling as I counted the bills inside. Three hundred dollars. Enough to get me anywhere I wanted to go. *Anywhere but home.* Alessa had whispered in the hospital corridor, her dark eyes scanning for anyone who might overhear. "My sister Maria will meet you in Phoenix City. She has brown hair, drives a blue Honda. She'll take care of you." But now, sitting on the hard plastic chair with departure announcements echoing around me, I couldn't make my legs move toward Platform 3. What if James questioned Alessa? What if he forced her to tell him where she'd sent me? The thought of putting someone else in danger because of my choices made my stomach twist with something deeper than physical pain. I pressed my hand to my abdomen, to the place where life had been growing just hours ago. The cramping had mostly stopped, but the empti

*Find her. Find her now.* Lucas paced in my mind, his been silent for a while angry with me for losing our mate. His anxiety was bleeding into mine as I packed the last of my supplies into the truck. The wolf had been restless for days, ever since we'd discovered Lily was gone from the hospital. *She's hurt. She's alone. We should have been there.* "I know," I muttered, throwing my duffel bag into the passenger seat. "We're going to find her." *Should have never left. Should have stayed. Should have—* "Enough." My voice cracked with the weight of my guilt. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't feel every second I wasn't there?" The wolf went quiet, but I could feel his anguish mixing with mine. We'd failed our mate when she needed us most. While I was dealing with rogue pack members, she was fighting for her life and losing our pup. The drive to Phoenix stretched endlessly before me. Every mile marker felt like a countdown to either salvation or devastation.