All Chapters of The Luna's Final Year: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Rain hammered Ravenport when I stepped out of the law office.Adrian called again."What did you take from the vault?" His voice carried the familiar edge of mockery. "Was it enough?"I stood beneath the awning and watched dirty rainwater race down the courthouse steps. "Why are you calling?"A beat of silence passed before he gave a low, humorless laugh."Since you took something from the Blackwoods, come back and clear your things out of the master bedroom. Vivian is staying there tonight."Pain pricked behind my ribs.I had already decided to leave him, but my body still remembered how to break at the sound of his voice."Fine," I said.My obedience didn't satisfy him. It made his breathing turn sharp."Good, Elena. I guess money really can buy your temper. Your conscience, too."There was more than contempt in his tone. There was anger that sounded almost like abandonment.He had probably expected me to demand whether Vivian would really sleep in our room. Maybe he wanted me to tel

The treatment continued until dawn.Every time I passed out, they threw ice water over me and turned the current higher. The restraints cut my skin. Blood ran from my wrists to the floor. I bit through my lower lip, but nothing could stop my body from convulsing.At sunrise, they dumped me back in Ethan's room.My arms no longer worked properly. It took almost half an hour to cross a corridor that should have taken less than a minute. Every step tugged at the wounds across my knees, shoulders, and back.My brother's monitors beeped in a steady rhythm.I pressed my cheek into his palm the way I had when we were children and whispered, "I'm getting you out of here, Ethan. Soon. I swear."His fingers moved faintly against my skin.It may have been nothing more than a reflex.I accepted it as an answer.His equipment had been restored and his vital signs had stabilized. I had no strength left even to lift my hand, yet relief loosened something inside me because he was still alive.My phone

The first punch drove every breath from my lungs.I called Adrian's name without thinking.Our mindlink wasn't open, so I couldn't send words through the bond, but extreme pain traveled between true mates whether they wanted it to or not. I knew he could feel me.For the first half hour, I believed he would come.I imagined the door exploding inward and Adrian storming through it the way he once had whenever I was threatened. I clung to that picture as fists and boots struck every place my clothes could hide.Just as I was about to lose consciousness, something faint fluttered deep in my abdomen.My wolf reacted before I did.She curled around that tiny spark of life, shielding it with her body.My eyes snapped open.I might be pregnant.Six weeks earlier, Adrian had come home drunk after a Pack Council dinner. He found me in the dark kitchen, pulled me against him, and buried his face in my neck as though the last seven years had never happened."I still love you, Lena," he'd whispered

Everything that happened after I went into the water came to me much later, pieced together from security footage, recordings, and investigation files Julian eventually gave me.Adrian had no idea anything had gone wrong. The border breach kept him away until after sunrise.Before leaving, he had ordered Nolan to repeat the pregnancy test and limit the donation to a safe amount. Nolan later sent a message: [Donation complete. Elena is stable and resting.]Adrian believed him because believing his order had been obeyed was easier than admitting he should have stayed.When he returned, Nolan claimed I had asked to recover in private and refused visitors. Adrian didn't walk the extra corridor to verify it.Vivian's condition worsened again, doctors crowded into her room, and he stayed where he was.It became another choice he would replay after there was no one left to apologize to.He stayed in Vivian's private room for a week. Once she stabilized, she asked, "After Elena almost killed m

Before the gala ended, Adrian finally began to panic.He ordered Caleb to verify the Council's call. The answer came back quickly: the termination was legal, final, and filed after I surrendered every claim to Blackwood wealth.On the security footage, Adrian stood motionless as if someone had struck him.Then he snatched Caleb's car keys and drove to the estate without even taking his coat.He searched every room.My clothes were gone from the master suite. The guest bathroom no longer held my shampoo. In the study refrigerator, the energy drinks I used to arrange for him by date ended exactly one week earlier.A note remained on the kitchen board reminding the cook to reduce his caffeine after midnight.Even while preparing to leave, I had remembered to take care of him.That broke him more effectively than any accusation could have.In the bedside drawer, he found my expired Luna access card. Beside it sat a clear bag filled with empty birth-control packages.A note lay underneath.