The sickened luna’s last chance

Chapter 61

Alexander

Something was wrong with Ella.

And I wasn’t just talking about the hospital visit. No, something was seriously, deeply wrong. Something far more than exhaustion or a bug.

I’d noticed it throughout the evening, not just when she nearly collapsed into me, but all night. She looked drawn and pale, her hands shook, and she thought I didn’t notice, but I saw the way she always reached out to hold onto the wall or a table or something, anything, to keep herself upright.

I blamed myself.

It had only been two days since she’d been discharged from the hospital, and here I was dragging her to a charity auction because it was good for my campaign and because I needed to show off that damn fake mating mark.

What kind of husband did that make me?

The contractual kind, I reminded myself. But even so, I could have been more considerate. I should have let her rest. I didn’t have to love Ella, but I definitely needed to make sure she didn’t die on my watch.

“Alexander?” Liam’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. We were standing in the parlor, and I’d been staring at the fireplace for the past five minutes. “Are you alright?”

“Sorry. I’m fine. Just tired,” I said. “What did you want to discuss?”

“The in–pack evaluation is wrapping up. I’ll probably be moving back to my own place within the week.”

I nodded. It made sense–Liam had been staying with us for over a month now, observing pack dynamics and my leadership style as part of the official assessment process. I was a little relieved that he was leaving.

“I wanted to thank you,” Liam continued. “For your hospitality. I know having me here hasn’t exactly been convenient, especially with everything else going on.”

I blinked, surprised.

“It… wasn’t a problem.”

Liam’s mouth twitched as if he didn’t believe me, but he nodded. “Well, I hope the evaluation goes well for you,” he said. “You’re a good Alpha, Alexander. Your pack is lucky to have you.”

The compliment caught me off guard. We’d been circling each other like rivals for weeks, and yet he was

being kind. Thanking me for my “hospitality“. Complimenting my leadership. Hoping that I would make it through the evaluation phase of the campaign.

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Chapter 61

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I having such

a pleasure

Liam was the one who looked surprised. His face broke into a smile, and for a moment,

him: a kind young Alpha

a drink sometime,”

“Perhaps.”

of the leather chairs. The house was quiet except

about Liam leaving,” Gabriel said, appearing in the

my drink. “He’s

it’ll be good to have our privacy back. And Ella can move back to her own

although I couldn’t say why. Of course

she’d started sleeping in mine was because having Liam in

maintain the illusion that we were a

And yet…

said, taking a sip

be the loving couple. You’ll

her in your space.”

if she were… What? A

didn’t see a spy or the daughter of the people who had had my parents killed, but instead a woman who had been roped into this life just as much as

was very

tried to figure out why the thought of Ella moving back to her room made my chest

rooms for five years before Liam arrived. I was

listening to her breathing, or watching the way the moonlight

Fuck.

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པ་་་ ་་་་་་་

Chapter 61

forward to the weight of her beside me in bed, the way she always slept curled on her side

dreamed?

space where she should have been. I’d told myself it was just habit, just my body adjusting to the

opposite end of the mansion in her old room…

That was what I told myself, at

biology than to accept that it could be

trying to push the thoughts away. Ella probably wanted her own space back anyway. The arrangement had been for show and nothing more. She’d never indicated that she enjoyed

already asleep. But when I glanced at the bed, it was empty, the covers still perfectly made

bathroom door cracked open, light spilling out

knocked. No answer.

pushed the door

stopped dead when

as death against the cold marble tiles. For a second, I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. She looked so small lying

My wolf howled, my