The sickened luna’s last chance

Chapter 265

Alexander

Something about Stella's story didn’t sit right with me.

| watched her disappear around the corner, moving more quickly than she should have on that injured leg. This

time, it wasn’t her sour attitude about the Luna Trial—an opportunity most women of her status would have

jumped at that hadperturbed.

She'd been awfully evasive when I'd asked about her old pack. She'd clearly been about to say the name, only to

stop herself and try to claim that it was part of her amnesia.

If that was true, then she had svery selective amnesia indeed.

I knew | couldn't let this rest, so | went straight to my office and pulled up the file on my computer with the pack

records from all the territories. | recalled Stella mentioning something about a house fire when | first asked how

she wound up as a rogue, so | began searching through the territorial records to see if there were any major fires

in recent history.

After searching for a little while, | found nothing devastating enough to take down an entire house and cause

such distress for someone like Stella. She'd said that her wolf took over and she’d woken up as a rogue, and the

only fires | could find were small and not terribly destructive.

The only big one | found was the Stormhollow estate fire.

My throat constricted as | quickly looked over the police photographs of the burnt estate. | hated thinking about

that day-about how Ella had gone there and gotten so upset that her labor cearly, killing her so | only

looked for a few moments before closing out the file.

That fire couldn't possibly be related to this, anyway. Stella had mentioned she'd woken up from her haze miles

and miles away from here, far away from Stormhollow. If her wolf had taken over during the traumatic event, she

couldn’t have run that far.

Still, none of it made sense. This strange woman with features and mannerisms far too much like my late wife

was tending to my son and clearly withholding important information. If it could have any impact on Lucien, then

| wanted to know who exactly | was dealing with. And maybe that would explain her apparent hatred of the idea

of joining the Luna Trial.

It was late, but | decided to see if Stella was up anyway. | went straight to Lucien’s nursery, figuring that if she

was still awake, she would probably be in there with him. She was almost always with him, tending to him like he

was her own child.

As | approached the nursery, | heard something that made my footsteps slow: singing.

Stella's soft hums emanating from behind the closed door forcedto stop in my tracks. My wolf immediately

went wild at the sound of that sweet voice, blocking out all other coherent thoughts.

She sounded... perfect. Like an angel.

Like a voice that | could never forget.

Chapter 265

+25 BONUS

The last tI'd heard a voice like that was when Ella was still alive and with child. She only did it when she

thought no one could hear her, but | had stumbled upon her singing softly to her pregnant belly on numerous

occasions.

And now... Now, not only did Stella's voice sound eerily like Ella’s, but she was also singing the ssong. An

uncommon lullaby that | hadn't heard anyone else sing but her.

Everything else slipped away as | heard that voice singing those familiar words. It was as if | could open the door

and Ella would be sitting there, alive and well, holding her son in our arms.

My fingers tightened around the doorknob. | wanted to fling the door open and find Ella and pull her into my

embrace and never let her go.

Spying be damned. Contracts be damned. | didn’t care anymore if she had been conspiring againstall this

time. Hell, | wouldn't care if she slipped a knife between my ribs during that embrace. As long as | got to hold her

one last time, | would be happy.

Afraid to shatter the moment, | opened the door silently, just enough to peer through the crack so I could get a

glimpse.

Of course it wasn't Ella. It was Stella who was sitting in the rocking chair I'd placed beside Lucien’s crib with my

son cradled against her chest. She was swaying gently, one hand supporting his tiny head while the other gently

patted his back.

But the way she held him... Goddess, it really was like watching a real mother with her child sometimes. There

was something so natural about the way she handled him, so tender and protective. And right now, Lucien

wasn't fussing at all-he never settled this easily for anyone, not even me.

But Stella was different. From the moment she’d first held him, it was like they formed the unbreakable bond of a

mother and son. It was why | had hired her on the spot without a moment of hesitation.

| knew Stella wasn't his real mother, of course. Logically, | knew that-Ella was gone and she wasn’t coming back

And yet, watching her now, seeing the way she touched him, hearing her sing the words Ella used to sing in the

voice Ella used to have with a face that looked so much like Ella's...

| almost went to her on instinct just then. | could have kissed her if | was naive enough to think it was truly Ella,

my Ella, in disguise.

But | stayed still. | pressed my hand to my chest, feeling no trace of the dying mate bond within-only a deep and

unending agony. Whatever strange posthumous tug | had felt a couple of times before was quiet and dormant

and wasn’t coming back.

| was just being foolish, and all of this was nothing more than a coincidence. Perhaps even a sick joke from the

universe.

For a few moments, though, | allowed myself to pretend that it wasn’t. | shut my eyes and just listened to the

gentle sounds of Stella's voice, even if only for a few precious seconds.

Just long enough to ease sof the pain in my chest...

2/4

Chapter 265

“Alpha?”

| jerked my head up, eyes snapping open to see Hunter standing a few paces down the dark corridor.

“What are you doing?” he asked quietly.

+25 BONUS

| blinked, suddenly unable to

) . q

remember why I'd cupstajisin

the firstglgey AS | 368d think of was

thatVoice. Those words. That face.

Those arms holding my son. The

content is on novelenglish.net! Read

the latest chapter there!

Careful not to disturb Stella and Lucien, | quietly shut the door and stepped away. “Nothing. Just checking on

Lucien.”

Hunter frowned. “Are you alright? You look exhausted.”

He was actually right. The exhaustion

was beginning to eat away at me,

which was probaly | wes

ipaginibg thiNgs. It had been weeks

now of little sleep, and with all the

Luna Trial business, | was burning

the candle at both ends. The content

is on novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

“You're right. | should get srest. Goodnight, Hunter,” | said, already walking toward my bedroom.

“Good night, Alpha.”

Once | was in my room, | closed my

door behindand leaned yori it,

my eyes falling shiivohde fro e. In

Q :

the Hished I could still hear Stella's

voice, soft and soothing as she sang

my son to sleep. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

And for just one moment longer, | let myself pretend it was Ella.

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