The sickened luna’s last chance

Chapter 217

Ella

+15 BONUS

Sunlight warmed the ground outside, making hot mist rise into the morning air. For the first few moments of

waking, | let my eyes remain closed, just listening to the gentle sounds of cicadas droning in the distance and

birds chirping in the treetops around us.

The treetops.

My eyes snapped open as | remembered where | was-not in bed with the curtains closed, but in an old

treehouse, laying on the wooden floor. Not laying miles away from Alexander on a mattress that was too large,

but rather tangled up in his arms with my head resting on his chest and the sound of his heartbeat beneath my

ear.

And last night...

We'd made love again. Right here on this dusty floor with thunder crashing outside and rain beating against the

roof. It had been different from the other times-slower, more tender. Like we finally had all the tin the world

instead of stolen moments and brief trysts that had to cand go before logic

returned.

Careful not to wake him just yet for fear of shattering the moment, | shifted slightly to look at Alexander's

sleeping face. His red hair was still damp from the rain, and there was a peaceful expression written across his

visage that | rarely saw when he was awake.

He looked so completely and utterly perfect.

It hit me, then, that my ankle didn’t hurt anymore, which was weird considering how much pain I'd been in last

night. | flexed it experimentally and felt no twinges at all. The mate bond must have kicked in during our

intimacy, feeding off the energy of the full moon and accelerating the healing process.

Finally, Alexander stirred beside me, his eyes fluttering open. When he sawwatching him, | was surprised to

see a slow smile spread across his face rather than any indication that he thought last night was a mistake.

“Sleep well?” He stretched, bones audibly cracking from a night spent on the hard wooden floor. He had it worse

than | did; no comfortable chest to lie on. No warm arm to prop himself on. And he hadn't complained at all.

“Yes,” | admitted. “Oh, and my ankle feels better.”

“Really?” Alexander sat up and inspected my ankle. Indeed, there wasn’t even so much as a bruise marring the

skin. It was as if the injury had never even happened. “We should probably head back to the house. Have the

healers look at it just to be safe.”

| nodded and let Alexander pullto my feet. We gathered the rest of our things and began making our

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Chapter 217

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way back to the house, not hand in hand but instead shoulders bumping as we walked quietly alongside one

another.

As we approached the mansion a little while later, | found myself stealing glances at Alexander. Last night had

changed something between us, shifted us into territory we'd never explored before. And if my feelings weren't

already intense before, they certainly were now.

I was falling in love with my husband. Hell, maybe | already had fallen in love with him.

The thought should have terrified me, but instead it just made my chest feel warm and full. For the first tin

five years, | could actually picture a future where we were happy together. Where we raised our child in a house

filled with laughter and love.

But would Alexander feel the sway?

As we went inside and went our separate ways to shower and change, | made a decision. | would tell Alexander |

loved him, but not yet. I'd wait until the baby gender reveal. That seemed like the perfect t-when we found

out whether we were having a son or daughter, when we took another step toward

becoming a real family.

Even if he didn’t reciprocate my feelings, | couldn't keep them in any longer.

Over the next few weeks, Alexander was busier than ever, dealing with territorial disputes and trade

negotiations, while | spent my tpreparing for the baby. We hardly saw each other, and we certainly never

talked about that night spent in the treehouse.

But there were moments-brief glances, the sensation of our knees bumping under a table and the way he didn’t

pull away, his hand resting on my lower back-that madethink that Alexander's feelings might be deepening

too. | tried not to instill myself with false hopes, but it becmore difficult by the day.

Finally, the day of the ultrasound arrived. I'd been looking forward to this appointment for weeks, eager to find

out whether we were having a boy or girl. Alexander had promised to cwith me, but that morning he got

called into an emergency meeting with the Alpha Council that he couldn’t miss.

| told him to go ahead. | would wait to find out the gender for myself until we were together.

Lilith cwithinstead, and the ultrasound appointment itself was routine. Dr. Evelyn spread the cold gel on

my belly and moved the wand around, pointing out various body parts on the grainy black-and -white screen.

Everything looked normal-ten fingers, ten toes, a strong heartbeat.

“And here,” Dr. Evelyn said, angling the wand slightly, “we can see the gender. | know you want to wait, so I'll

make sure you don’t see it.”

She turned the screen away and smiled, then wrote something on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope,

which she handed to Lilith.

“One gender reveal cake, coming up,” | said, beaming at Lilith as Evelyn left us so | could clean myself up.

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“You sure you don’t mind doing this?”

“Are you kidding? I love baking.” Lilith clutched the envelope to her chest. “This is going to be so wonderful. A

little one running around...”

There was something in the way she said it that remindedof her comment at the coronation. About how this

was her grandchild. At the time, I'd assumed it was just a figure of speech, but now...

“Lilith,” | said carefully, “you said something at the coronation. About how this baby was your grandchild. What

did you mean by that?”

Lilith froze.

“I... it was just an expression, sweetheart. You know how much I care about you and Alexander.”

But | could see it in her eyes now. Lilith wasn’t my biological mother, but she might as well have been. And it hit