The Moon Never Chose Me Chapter 09

The Moon Never Chose Me Chapter 09

After I hung up, I spent the whole night calculating every cent I’d ever cost this family.

Most of my clothes were Maeve’s hand-me-downs.

Half my textbooks came from school aid.

After sixteen, food and allowance came from my own part-time job at the training gym.

The final number was laughably small.

I unblocked the family group chat and dropped the spreadsheet in.

My mother replied fast.

“Layla, why are you suddenly counting every penny with us?”

My father chimed in:

“That can’t be right. It’s way too low.”

I typed back, calm and steady.

“I learned this from you. My whole life, you calculated how to split everything evenly between Caelan and Maeve. You never calculated a share for me. And the number is accurate. You know better than anyone how little I actually got in that house.”

“I won’t donate my kidney to Caelan. But I’ll pay this back after graduation. Every dollar.’

My mother sent a voice message.

Her voice was so raw I could barely make out the words.

“After you pay it back… are you really never coming home?”

I didn’t answer.

I just blocked them all again.

Some people don’t deserve an explanation.

At Silvermoon Medical Center, my mother stared at that spreadsheet, then collapsed into my father’s arms, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

“What did we do? Layla is our daughter. Our own flesh and blood. How did we make her feel like she had to pay us back just for existing?”

My father sat there in silence.

In just a few days, his hair had gone gray. His back, once so straight, was hunched now.

He thought about everything-every moment, every choice. Then he raised his hand and started slapping

himself across the face. Over and over.

My mother tried to stop him. She didn’t have the strength.

Truth was, she’d already given up on taking my kidney the moment she learned I’d transferred.

She went back to the hospital. Got tested herself

And she matched Caelan.

The healer reviewed her results and still felt the need to warn her.

“At your age, recovery will be much slower than for a younger donor. You could always wait for another

match.”

My mother just shook her head.

“No. This is mine to carry.”

She’d raised a son who took everyone’s sacrifice for granted.

Now she had to face the cost herself.

After the surgery, Moonhart Estate changed. Completely

My parents stopped spoiling Caelan and Maeve blind.

Every time the twins fought over who got more attention, my father cut off their allowance and pack

resources on the spot.

Maeve didn’t learn a thing. She just got angrier.

She ran off with a rogue-a wolf exiled from the pack-out of pure spite.

Declan was left behind, suffering the distance from his fated mate.

Word was, he fixed the emerald necklace.

Sometimes he’d sit alone by the Greypine River, staring at the cracked stone, lost in thought.

No one knew if he was thinking about Maeve… or the girl he’d once been kind to, the one who’d walked away

alone.

Caelan wasn’t doing much better.

The transplant worked, but his body never bounced back.

He lost his Youth Warrior status. Couldn’t train anymore.

My father made him do chores–the same small, boring tasks he’d always looked down on.

For the first time, he understood that clean clothes, polished boots, and hot meals didn’t appear out of thin

air.

One night at dinner, my mother set an extra plate at the table. Like she always did.

Caelan frowned.

“Maeve ran off with that rogue. Why are you still keeping her spot?”

He reached for the plate.

My mother shoved him back-hard-and wrapped her arms around it like it was precious.

“This isn’t for Maeve! This is Layla’s spot. No one touches it!”

My father stood in the doorway, watching the chaos, and let out a long, tired sigh.

His back was more bent than ever.

I didn’t know any of this.

I didn’t want to.

Right now, I was standing in Frostmoon City’s first snowfall with my combat team.

We’d just finished training. Someone suggested hot chocolate at Moon Bridge Plaza.

A friend draped her scarf over my shoulders. Another laughed and asked if I’d come home with her pack for

winter break.

For the first time in my life, my wolf stretched deep inside me and let out a low, peaceful hum.

Snowflakes landed on my uniform, melting into tiny beads of water.

I looked up at the sky, bright with falling snow.

And something in my chest felt light.

Because I knew.

Winter always ends.

And my spring was waiting right ahead.