Beranda / Werewolf / After I Died, I Became The Alpha's Greatest Regret / Bab 51 - Bab 60

Semua Bab After I Died, I Became The Alpha's Greatest Regret: Bab 51 - Bab 60

100 Bab

51

Chapter 51CELESTE'S POV"Fine‚" I said. "For the child. Not for you.""I know.""Do you? Because I need you to really hear me right now‚ Darius. This is about a kid who needs someone. That's it.""That's it‚" he repeated."Good. Then we understand each other."He closed his eyes. I watched a tear slide down his temple into the hospital pillow and I turned around before I could feel anything about it.---Rylan drove us the next morning.Darius sat in the front. I sat in the back with my hands pressed flat against my legs because they wouldn't stop trembling. I kept curling them into fists and flattening them out again‚ over and over‚ like that would somehow make this feel normal.It didn't.Nothing about this was normal.I was going to see my daughter."You alright back there?" Rylan asked‚ glancing at me in the mirror."Fine.""You sure? You look—""Rylan. I'm fine."He dropped it.The pack house came through the trees and my stomach dropped straight to my feet. Same stone walls. Sa

Baca selengkapnya

52

Chapter 52Celeste's POVShe fell asleep on me within twenty minutes. Just completely passed out against my chest with one hand fisted in my hair‚ like she was holding on even in her sleep.I sat on the couch and held her and tried to keep my breathing steady. The living room looked the same. Same rug‚ same window overlooking the garden. Same couch where I used to sit with her on Sunday mornings.Darius lowered himself into the armchair across from me. He moved slowly. Painkillers wearing off‚ bandaged hand starting to bleed through again. He stared at Aurora for a long time without saying anything.Then he looked at me."I want you to stay‚" he said."I know. We covered this.""Not just temporarily." He leaned forward‚ elbows on his knees. "I want you to be her mother. Publicly. Officially. A contract Luna."I looked at him."The pack needs stability‚" he said. "Aurora needs a mother. I'll pay you whatever you want. Whatever number is in your head right now‚ double it. I don't care."

Baca selengkapnya

53

Chapter 51Darius POVAny other room would have been the smart choice.The guest suite on the east wing. The one by the library. The one at the end of the hall that nobody ever used. Any of those rooms would have been clean and neutral and free of the kind of history...But my wolf had already decided."Luna's quarters‚ Darius. She goes to the Luna's quarters. That is where our mate belongs and that is where she will stay."So I gave her Celeste's room.It wasn't really Celeste's room anymore‚ though. I had the entire thing gutted about six months after she passed away. New walls‚ new flooring‚ new furniture‚ new paint. I ripped out every single thing she had ever touched‚ because I could not walk past that door without hearing her voice through the wall."This way‚" I said‚ leading her down the second floor hallway. Aurora was still asleep on the couch downstairs. The nanny had tried to take her from Sienna's arms when she dozed off‚ and Aurora had grabbed tighter even in her sleep‚

Baca selengkapnya

54

Chapter 54Celeste's POVI woke up to small fingers poking my face."Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy."I opened one eye. Aurora was standing beside the bed with her face about three inches from mine‚ her dark hair sticking up in six different directions‚ still wearing her pajamas from last night. The ones with little stars on them."Mommy. Are you awake?""I am now.""Good. I want pancakes."I blinked at her. The clock on the nightstand said 6:14 in the morning. I had barely slept. I spent most of the night lying in this bed staring at that spot on the wall by the window‚ trying not to think about the last time I slept in this room and completely failing."Pancakes?" I said‚ rubbing my eyes."Yes. For breakfast. Downstairs. You and me and Daddy." She grabbed my hand and started pulling. She was surprisingly strong for someone who weighed about thirty pounds. "Come on. Come on come on come on.""Okay‚ okay. Give me a minute to—""No Mommy. Pancakes now."She dragged me out of bed and down t

Baca selengkapnya

55

Chapter 55 CELESTE'S POV "Every kid likes pancakes‚" I said‚ turning back to the stove. "Everyone knows that." "And the bunny shape?” "Like I said. It's easy to make." “No‚ I can't.” “You're a man. Obviously you can't do things like this.” “What about her nanny? A man also?” He asked‚ raising an eyebrow. I didn't answer and he just nodded. I turned back to the stove and made two more pancakes and tried to keep my breathing steady. That was a mistake. The bunnies were a mistake. I had been here for less than twelve hours and I was already slipping‚ already letting Celeste's muscle memory override Sienna's carefully constructed cover. I needed to be more careful. I needed to think before I moved‚ before I spoke‚ before I let my hands do things that my brain hadn't approved. But it was hard to be careful around Aurora. It was hard to be someone else when my daughter was sitting three feet away from me‚ eating pancakes and swinging her legs and smiling for the first tim

Baca selengkapnya

56

Chapter 56CELESTE'S POVThey were hanging in a neat row on a rack against the far wall. The blue dress I wore to my first pack ceremony. The green sweater that was too big for me but I loved anyway because it was soft and warm and Darius had given it to me before everything went wrong. The white nightgown I was wearing the first time they took my blood.They were all here. Cleaned‚ pressed‚ hanging in a row like they were waiting for someone to come back and wear them.On the shelf below the rack‚ folded with painful care‚ were Aurora's baby blankets. The yellow one with the ducks. The soft gray one that she couldn't sleep without. The tiny knitted one that the pack healer made for her when she was born‚ with her name stitched across the corner in white thread.I picked up the gray blanket and held it to my face and breathed in‚ but it didn't smell like Aurora anymore. It smelled like storage and cedar and absence.Below the blankets‚ stacked in a box‚ were medical files. I didn't op

Baca selengkapnya

57

Chapter 57Darius POVI heard the door open at the end of the hallway. The door that I always kept locked.I ended my phone call mid-sentence and walked toward the sound. The door was cracked open about two inches. I could hear uneven breathing on the other side. The kind of breathing someone does when they're trying very hard to be silent.I pushed the door open.Sienna was on the floor with something pressed against her chest. She looked up and her face changed so fast it was almost impressive. Red eyes‚ wet cheeks‚ raw expression‚ all of it gone in less than a second‚ replaced with the flat calm of someone who had absolutely not just been crying on the floor of a storage room.She wiped her face with one hand and set the painting down beside her. Casually. Like it meant nothing.Celeste's painting. The one buried at the very bottom of a sealed box‚ behind medical files and baby blankets and everything else."You keep a shrine to your dead wife‚" she said. "That's healthy.""How did

Baca selengkapnya

58

Chapter 58Darius POVRylan went quiet again. I could hear him thinking. Rylan was the most logical person I knew‚ and I could practically hear the gears turning as he tried to find the rational explanation."There's no needle scars‚" he said finally. "I checked when she was getting out of the car yesterday. Her arms are clean. Celeste had extraction scars on both arms.""Scars can be removed.""She has a mole on her left collarbone. Celeste didn't.""Moles can be added.""Her entire personality is different‚ Darius. Celeste was quiet and gentle and afraid of her own shadow by the end. This woman told you to your face that she doesn't want your money and she'll leave whenever she wants. That's not Celeste.""Maybe that's exactly who Celeste would have become if she'd had three years away from the person who was destroying her."That landed hard. I could feel it land through the phone."Darius—""What else did you find?"He sighed. Long and heavy and full of the exhaustion of a man who

Baca selengkapnya

59

Chapter 59CELESTE'S POVMy first official act as the contract Luna of the Pack was walking into a room full of people who wanted me gone. I could already feel it.Darius had told me about the council meeting that morning over coffee while Aurora ate her cereal and chatted to the nanny about her rock collection. He said it casually‚ like he was mentioning the weather‚ but I caught the way his eyes stayed on my face a beat too long when he said the words."The elders want to meet you. Standard introduction for a new Luna. It's just a formality.""Just a formality‚" I repeated."They'll ask some questions. You answer them. It'll be over in thirty minutes.""And how many of them already hate me?"He paused with his coffee halfway to his mouth. "I wouldn't say hate.""What would you say?""I'd say they're protective of the pack and suspicious of outsiders and still angry about what happened to the last Luna. So they might be a little... direct.""Direct. Great. That's a wonderful word for

Baca selengkapnya

60

Chapter 60CELESTE'S POVA few council members exchanged glances. This was a test. Marcus was throwing me the most complicated problem they had and waiting for me to drown.I opened the folder. Maps‚ correspondence‚ legal filings‚ survey records. Pages and pages of documents that would take most people days to sort through.But I didn't need days. I already knew this dispute inside and out.During my confinement‚ the only thing I was consistently allowed was the pack library. They gave me books and records because reading kept me quiet‚ and quiet was what everyone wanted. So I read everything. Every territorial agreement‚ every treaty‚ every border negotiation going back a hundred years. I read them because they were there and because knowledge felt like the only power I had left.I turned to the third page‚ ran my finger down the map‚ found the tributary. Then I closed the folder."The tributary isn't in dispute‚" I said.Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Eight months of negotiation says ot

Baca selengkapnya

Sebelumnya

...

...

Selanjutnya

Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi

DMCA.com Protection Status