All Chapters of The Moon Chose Me Twice: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

(Charlie)"Let’s go."The words hang in the smoke-filled air, a pact sealed in blood and desperation.I grip Kaleb’s hand. His palm is rough, calloused, and coated in drying mud, but it feels like the only solid thing in a world that has dissolved into chaos.I step over the debris on the floor, my eyes fixed on the door. My body is screaming in pain. My lower half feels like it’s been torn apart, and my head is still swimming from the blood pressure spike, but adrenaline is a powerful anesthetic.I am a mother. I will crawl over broken glass to get to my baby."We take the service stairs," Kaleb says, his voice a low growl near my ear. "The elevators are locked down."We take two steps toward the hallway before a sound cuts through the roar of the fire alarm.It’s a high, continuous, piercing shriek.I freeze. The sound isn't coming from the hallway. It’s coming from behind me.I spin around to see Elara arching off the hospital bed. Her body is convulsing, her limbs thrashing agains

(Charlie)The iron gates of the Bloodmoon estate loom out of the rain like the teeth of a giant beast.When I first arrived three years ago, I was a starry-eyed girl. When I left six months ago, I was a broken woman fleeing a rejection.Now, as the transport SUV rolls to a stop in the courtyard, I’m neither of those things."We need a gurney!" Valerius shouts, jumping out into the downpour. "Medical team to the transport! Now!"I watch as they unload Elara. She looks so small on the stretcher, her face pale beneath the oxygen mask, the rhythm of the portable ventilator the only sign she’s still with us."Take her to the East Wing," Valerius commands. "Secure the perimeter. No one enters that wing without my direct authorization."I step out of the car. My legs are trembling, my hospital gown is stiff with dried blood, and my womb feels like a hollow, aching cavern. But I stand straight.I look up at the massive stone house and it stares back, cold and imposing.I am not a guest, I tel

(Charlie)The world is white tile, steam, and the relentless, maddening pressure of Kaleb’s mouth.My knees give out after only a few minutes. If he wasn't holding my hips, anchoring me with hands that feel like iron bands, I would slide down the wall and dissolve into the drain.It’s too much. And it’s not enough.I am burning alive. The fire that started in the hospital room, fueled by terror and rage, has mutated into a white-hot need that is consuming me from the inside out.I tangle my fingers in his wet hair, gripping hard. I need more than this. I need more than worship. I need to feel the weight of him. I need to feel him fill the hollow spaces inside me until there is no room left for the fear."Kaleb," I gasp, tugging his head back. "Get up."He stops, his gray eyes blown wide and dark with lust. He looks up at me, water dripping from his lashes, looking like a devoted sinner at an altar."I’m not done," he growls, his voice vibrating against my thigh."I need you," I sob, t

(Charlie)The silence in the room is heavy, but it’s no longer oppressive. It’s the comfortable, sated silence of a storm that’s finally blown itself out.I lie tangled in the sheets, my body humming with a pleasant, bone-deep exhaustion. The sweat on my skin is cooling, but Kaleb’s heat radiates against my back, a furnace that keeps the chill at bay.I could sleep. I should sleep. My body has been through a lot today. A birth, a kidnapping, a battle, and a reclamation.But my mind won't shut down. It keeps replaying the last hour. The desperation. The violence of our need. We tore at each other like starving animals, trying to consume six months of separation in a single frenzy.We didn’t quite manage that, but we’ve made a decent start.I turn over and find that Kaleb is awake. He’s watching me, his head propped on his hand. The feral light is gone from his gray eyes, replaced by a tenderness that makes my breath catch.It’s been so long since I’ve seen that expression in his gaze.

(Charlie)The black ink on Elara’s skin seems to writhe under the harsh fluorescent lights of the medical wing.A rose. A blade. Thorns.I don't just see it. I feel it. I feel the scratch of charcoal on heavy paper. I smell the scent of lavender and old parchment that used to cling to my mother’s study like a second skin.“What are you drawing, Mama?”“Just a garden, little bird. A garden that grows in the dark.”I stumble back, hitting the doorframe with a thud that rattles my teeth. Bile rises in my throat, hot and acidic. "Charlie!"Kaleb is there instantly. His hands are on my shoulders, his heat trying to penetrate the sudden, freezing cold that has seized my bones. He smells of soap and comfort, but right now, I can’t stand it."Don't," I gasp, wrapping my arms around my waist as I try to keep myself from falling apart. "Don't touch me right now.""Charlie, talk to me," he pleads, stepping back but keeping his hands raised, hovering. "Ezra said it’s a Sleeper Mark. Do you recog