Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Alpha’s Barren Luna: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 5

The kitchen smelled of rosemary and butter.I stirred a sauce that hadn't needed it in ten minutes, because my hands needed something to do while I waited.Through the window, the training grounds sat empty, swept clean for the warriors' return. I kept glancing at the door, half-convinced it would open early if I wanted it badly enough.I'd worn the green dress because he loved it—told me once it matched my eyes exactly. On the counter sat a small box, wrapped twice because my hands had shaken the first time. Inside it: two pink lines.Four weeks. Five years of the pack elders counting my failures on their fingers, and that morning my body had finally opened the door they'd all decided was locked for good.I hadn't told anyone. I wanted his face to be the first thing I saw when he knew.A horn sounded beyond the walls, and my whole chest lifted. He was home. My Kade.I didn't remember deciding to run. One moment I was setting down the spoon, the next I was through the door and down th

I made it as far as the bed before my legs gave out, and I sat there with the ruined curtains still in my lap like I hadn't decided yet whether they were worth saving.The door opened without a knock. Of course it did. This house had stopped believing I deserved any respect the moment Talia's belly started rounding."You need to stop this." Kade's voice reached me, flat and impatient, like my grief was an inconvenience he was waiting out."I come home from war," he said, "and instead of a wife glad to see me, I get accusations. Tears. A scene in front of the whole pack, and now this—sulking over a room."I looked at him and tried to find the man who once pressed his mouth to my temple and swore, in front of the whole pack, that he would never let me be small in this house. I couldn't find him. Maybe he was never fully here to begin with. Maybe I only ever loved the promise of him.Something in my chest went very still and very quiet."A room." My voice didn't even sound like mine. "Yo

Kades povThe Beta had been talking for the better part of an hour, and somehow he still hadn't said anything.That wasn't true. He'd said plenty. He'd said his daughter deserved better than a side room. He'd said the pack was watching. He'd said that an Alpha who kept a barren Luna while the mother of his heir lived like a guest was an Alpha inviting questions."I need what your daughter is carrying," I said, when he finally paused for breath. "That is all I need from her. I'll keep her fed, housed, and guarded for as long as she carries it, because the pup is mine. After that, she is whatever her usefulness makes her."The Beta's jaw worked. "My daughter is not a—""There is one Luna in this house," I said. "It is not Talia, and it will never be Talia. Don't mistake what I'm doing for something it isn't."I'd chosen Elira for a reason. A girl with no family, no wolf, and no one to run to. A Luna who owed me everything and could never take any of it from me. A Luna who never fought m