บททั้งหมดของ No Longer Your Luna: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

Chapter Eleven— Six Months

Damien's Pov "Did you just call me Lena?" Victoria's voice cut through the dark. I stopped moving. "What?" I said. "You called me Lena," she said again. She sat up in bed and turned on the lamp. "While you were inside me, you said her name." I didn't deny it. What was the point? "I was thinking about something else," I said. "You were thinking about her," Victoria said. She wrapped the sheet around herself. "For six months, Damien, six months and you haven't been able to perform without thinking about a kitchen girl." I sat on the edge of the bed. The truth was worse than what Victoria was saying. The truth was that I had performed, my body had done what it was supposed to do. But my mind had been somewhere else. My entire being had been somewhere else. "We need to talk about the child," Victoria said. "That was the agreement with your father. We marry, I become Luna, and we produce an heir within the first year." "I know the agreement." "Do you?" she s

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Chapter Twelve— Six Months

Lena's Pov"Hi Lena, it's Susan. I'm calling about next month. Can you fit me in twice instead of once?"I was sitting on Maya's couch. The same couch I had been sleeping on for six months. Phone to my ear, writing down the appointment in my notebook."Yeah, I can do that," I said. "Tuesday and Friday like before?""Perfect," Susan said. "Thank you so much. You're the only one who actually listens when I say what I need."I smiled even though she couldn't see it. "I'll see you Tuesday."After I hung up I stayed on the couch for a moment.Susan was my first client. four months ago she almost didn't let me in her house because she thought I would steal from her. I had knocked on her door with a handwritten flyer.Now she was asking for twice the work.I had started posting pictures of my work on social media three months ago.Before and after photos, clean kitchen counters, spotless bathrooms and organized living rooms.I had created an Instagram account with the username "PortlandClean

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Chapter Thirteen— The Constant Ache

Damien's PovThe conference room was filled with representatives from five different packs.Maps spread across the table, territory agreements. business proposals and new alliances being formed.My father sat at the head of the table like a king.And he was smiling."The northern expansion is secure," he said, pointing to the marked territories. "With the Hale alliance, we have access to resources we never had before. The Chen pack has agreed to trade agreements. The Rodriguez territory is now open for our businesses."The other Alphas nodded.Everything my father had worked toward was coming to fruition.Everything I had destroyed Lena for was actually working.The meeting lasted three hours.By the end, Blackridge Pack had cemented itself as one of the most powerful in the region. New trade routes. New alliances. New money flowing in.My father was elated.After everyone left, he pulled me aside."You did well today," he said. "The pack is stronger than it's ever been. In six months

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Chapter Fourteen— The App

Lena's Pov My shoulders ached. Not the good kind of ache that came from work. The kind of ache that came from tension. From holding everything in. From not letting your body do what it wanted to do. I had been cleaning houses for over ten months, waking up at five in the morning, scrubbing toilets and wiping down counters and making other people's homes look better than mine ever would.I had moved out of Maya's two weeks ago. One hundred and fifty dollars a month for a place with a door that locked and a window that faced the street. No moaning through walls at two in the morning. No strangers. Just me.Just my loneliness. I sat on my bed at nine PM on a Friday night and realized something that made me uncomfortable. I was horny. Not just a passing thought. An actual, physical need that had built up over months of ignoring it. My body wanted something my mind had decided to refuse. Touch. Closeness. Someone looking at me like I mattered. I opened my phone and stared at the dat

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Chapter Fifteen — The Heir

Damien's Pov"We need to try," Victoria said.It wasn't a request. It was a statement of fact.We were in our bedroom. She was already undressed. Already prepared. This was scheduled like a business meeting. Tuesday night. Nine PM. Optimal fertility window according to the app she had been tracking."I know," I said."Pack law requires an heir within the first year," she continued. "We're at tenmonths. If we don't have a pregnancy announcement soon, the council will start asking questions."Pack law. Of course. Every Alpha had to produce an heir within twelve months of taking the position. It was an ancient rule designed to prove stability. To prove bloodline. To prove the Alpha was capable of securing the pack's future.I had become Alpha months ago.I had two more months to get Victoria pregnant or face scrutiny from the entire council.My father had mentioned it twice this week. Casually. Like he was just making conversation. But I knew what he meant. The clock was ticking. The pac

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Chapter Sixteen— The Heir

Damien's PovThe territory patrol took three hours.I walked through the northern border with Klein and two Sentinels. We checked the markers every half mile. Made sure the scent posts were fresh. Made sure no other packs were testing us. Made sure Blackridge was still secure.Klein walked beside me without talking much. He didn't ask about Lena anymore. Didn't mention the bond. Just existed in the quiet way he had learned to exist around me."Everything looks good," he said finally. "Chen pack hasn't moved their markers. Rodriguez is still keeping distance.""Good," I said.We headed back as the sun started to set. By the time I reached the pack house, it was dark. I was covered in mud. My clothes smelled like earth and sweat and the forest.I wanted to shower. Wanted to eat something. Victoria was waiting in the foyer."You're back," she said."Territory check," I said. "Everything's secure."She didn't respond. Just smiled and held her hand out.A pregnancy test. Small. Plastic. T

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Chapter Seventeen— The Expansion

Lena's Pov My hands weren't raw anymore. They were calloused. Thick skin built up from a year and a half of scrubbing and cleaning and working. My hands had become tools. Weapons. Proof of what I had survived. I sat in a coffee shop in downtown Portland and looked at the woman across from me. Her name was Xosa. Twenty-four years old. Red hair pulled back in a messy bun. Dark circles under her eyes that told me she had been working multiple jobs. She had responded to my ad for "Cleaning Team Member — Part Time to Full Time." "The pay is two hundred a week to start," I said. "You work with me on jobs, learn the systems. After three months, if you're good, we negotiate raises based on performance." Xosa's eyes widened. "Two hundred a week?" she asked. "For how many hours?" "Fifteen to twenty hours depending on the jobs. Usually split between afternoons and weekends." She was quiet for a long moment. I could see her doing the math in her head. Calculating what that m

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Chapter Eighteen— The Burden

Damien's PovVictoria was six months pregnant and completely insufferable.The weight gain made her uncomfortable. The constant nausea made her irritable. The swelling in her feet made her angry at the world.And she took it all out on me."You don't care about this baby," she said one morning at breakfast. She was wearing one of my shirts because nothing else fit her anymore. Her belly was massive. Her breasts had grown two cup sizes.Even pregnant, even at her worst, Victoria was still objectively beautiful.I still felt nothing for her."That's not true," I said. "I care.""No you don't," she snapped. She threw her toast down on the plate. "A real Alpha would be involved in every decision. Would be excited. Would be planning the future with his wife instead of looking at her like she's a burden."I wasn't looking at her like she was a burden.I was looking at her like she was a stranger I was obligated to care for.Which was worse."My mother says I should be more concerned," Victo

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Chapter Nineteen— The Opportunity

Lena's PovThe house was a money pit.The contractor I hired for the initial assessment gave me a list of problems that made my stomach turn. The roof needed replacing, eight thousand dollars. The foundation had serious cracks, ten thousand dollars to fix properly. The electrical system was a fire hazard — five thousand minimum. The plumbing was shot, another three thousand.The estimate came to forty-two thousand dollars.I had forty thousand in savings and the house had cost forty thousand.I was broke.I sat in my studio apartment and looked at the numbers and felt panic rising in my chest.This was a mistake. This was a stupid, reckless mistake that was going to bankrupt me.Then Xosa called."Hey, so I know a guy," she said. "My cousin. He does electrical work. He said he could do your house for way cheaper than the contractor quote. Like half the price.""Really?" I asked."Yeah. He owes me a favor anyway. He said if I bring him the job he'll do it for three thousand instead of

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Chapter Twenty— The Birth

Damien's Pov Victoria went into labor at three in the morning.She woke me up screaming. Actually screaming. Like the pain was the worst thing she had ever experienced in her carefully controlled life.I didn't move immediately.For a moment I just lay there listening to her suffer and felt nothing. No urgency. No concern. Just the knowledge that this was happening and I had to respond because that's what a husband does."Call the medic," she gasped between screams.I called Dr. C. She arrived within fifteen minutes with her equipment and her calm demeanor."We need to get her to the facility," Dr. C said. "This is moving fast."Victoria was rushed to the pack medical facility on pack grounds. Better than any hospital. More private. More controlled. Dr. C had delivered dozens of pups over the years. She knew what she was doing.The labor lasted eighteen hours.Eighteen hours of screaming. Eighteen hours of watching her body betray her in ways I hadn't known were possible. Eighteen ho

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