Page 18 of The Barren Luna

“He’s been... difficult. I think it’s a combination of the wolfsbane and keeping his wolf away from his mate. My source in the dungeon tells me he visits sometimes when the Luna is asleep or unconscious.”

“Why would she be unconscious?” My mate looked startled and I hated breaking her heart.

“Many reasons. The sullying of the mating bond, withdrawal from the drugs she used to take for the pain, and she got badly hurt by Hannah once. But at least the Alpha put a stop to that because it was hurting him too.”

She looked so sad after hearing that. I needed to give her some good news so I hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear:

“Liam and I sent an official complaint to Colorado. He posted it this morning when he was sent to the city on pack business.”

“What did you include?”

“Everything, starting with the council approving the concubine, the lax prescribing of dangerous drugs under the Alpha’s orders, fornicating outside of the sanctioned times with Liam named as a witness, the imprisonment of the Luna on the word of the concubine without any investigation, and of course, Dorothy’s murder,” I listed.

Lucy closed her eyes and exhaled into my chest.

“Do you think the new King will do something about it?”

“I hope so. I know the wheels of justice move slowly, and the wheels of paperwork even slower, but I don’t see any other avenue of action available to us at the moment.”

“You are a good male, Calum. I am happy and honored to be your mate.”

There must have been something in my eyes because I had to blink several times before I was able to respond to her.

“I love you, my little firefly.”

9 - Calum

On Christmas Eve, while I was cozy next to the fire with Lucy after putting the pups to bed, the Alpha mind-linked me that Hannah was in labor and requested my presence at the hospital.?

“Go,” my mate said with her head on my shoulder. “You know, as much as I hate him, this is a big event in his life. And he used to be your friend once, he was the one who blessed both our children. Ugh, the holidays just make me too soft,” she fake gagged and I gently scooped her up in my lap and nuzzled her ear.

“If you want to gag, why don’t you just say so,” I playfully thrust my hips under her, and she laughed her clear, melodic laughter that never failed to melt my heart.

“Oh, you’re awful,” she kept laughing. “Although I wouldn’t mind gagging a bit for Santa later tonight,” she winked at me and got up from my now-tented lap. “Now, shoo. Go.”

“Alpha,” I said in surprise. “I thought you would be in there with Hannah.”

“I was up until a minute ago, I just needed a break. My wolf is annoyed by her, and I don’t want to ingest the wolfsbane anymore,” he replied calmly, and I was stunned by how forthcoming he was all of a sudden.

“So, are you nervous?” I tried moving us to more familiar terrain. I knew all about dad stuff.

“I don’t know,” he looked lost. “I – this is not how I imagined this moment.”

It took everything in me not to do my best impression of my mate and ask him how the fuck he imagined it. Did he imagine being here with the Luna, maybe coaching Hannah through her contractions together, like a happy throuple? Or did he maybe still hope it would be him and Regina becoming parents like I’m sure they had dreamed of back when things were better for all of us?

“The most important thing is that all goes well and that at the end of the day, you have a healthy pup in your arms,” I replied diplomatically instead.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said somewhat sadly.

Soon, the doctor called us into the delivery room, which looked like a gruesome crime scene, where Hannah lay on a bed, pale and exhausted, with a small bundle in her arms. I stayed back as Henry walked towards them, his back tensing more with each step. Hannah straightened in the bed as much as she was able to, and for some reason, she looked terrified.

Henry roughly grabbed the pup from her hands and roared in his scariest Alpha voice:

“What the fuck is this?!”

All of us in the room froze in confusion.

“This is our pup, Henry, isn’t he beautiful?”

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