جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

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."

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

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

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

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