Luna Who Stopped Giving In Chapter 08

Luna Who Stopped Giving In Chapter 08

Caleb stayed in Boston for three days.

He waited outside my dorm every morning, lingered near my lecture halls, and camped out by the

library doors.

He tried bringing me breakfast. I dumped it in the trash without breaking stride.

He tried sitting next to me in a lecture. I called campus security and had him escorted out.

All that future Alpha pride of his crumbled against someone who simply didn’t care anymore.

On the fourth day, he finally gave up and went back to Blackthorn with nothing to show for it.

I heard later that things fell apart at the Alpha estate pretty fast.

Without their live-in maid and punching bag, the whole household unraveled.

Lily pulled her usual fainting act on the first day of orientation, expecting someone to rush her to

the campus healer and handle her excuses.

She lay in the medical wing for an entire afternoon. Nobody came.

The advisor marked her absent.

Mom tossed her dirty clothes in the bathroom and yelled for me to wash them, just out of habit.

Three shouts at the empty house before she remembered I was gone.

When Marcus’s computer crashed, his first instinct was to toss it my way.

He opened the storage closet door, saw the empty mattress, and smashed his mouse against the

desk.

They finally figured it out. The person they’d treated like she was invisible had been the only thing

holding that house together.

Pull her out, and the whole thing came apart at the seams.

On the third day of fall break.

I was organizing data for my professor in the lab when my phone rang.

An unfamiliar Blackthorn number.

I almost let it ring. Something made me pick up anyway.

“Amelia!”

Mom’s voice hit me before I could say hello, shrill and panicked.

“Your grandmother’s dying. Get on a plane and come home right now!”

Everything in my head went white.

The test tube slipped out of my hand and shattered on the floor.

“What did you say?”

My whole body went cold.

“Elaine collapsed in the Pack square. Brain hemorrhage. They’re treating her at the pack hospital

right now.”

Mom’s voice was tight, furious.

“If you have a shred of decency left, you’ll get on the next flight.”

She hung up.

I couldn’t remember asking for leave. Couldn’t remember getting to the airport.

The whole flight, all I could see was Grandma’s face.

She’d pressed six months of savings into my hands and told me:

“Amelia, once you get to Boston, don’t look back.”

If something happened to her, I’d never forgive myself.

By the time I landed in Blackthorn, it was the middle of the night.

Rain was coming down in sheets.

I couldn’t get an Uber. I ran the whole way and burst through the hospital doors soaking wet.

“Elaine. She was brought in with a brain hemorrhage. Where is she?”

My voice cracked. I was gripping the edge of the healers’ station.

The pack healer checked the records.

“Elaine? She’s up on the third floor, general recovery wing.”

“It’s not a hemorrhage. Just a minor concussion. She’s already awake.”

I froze.

The relief hit me so hard it almost knocked me sideways. Then came something else.

Minor concussion.

Not dying.

I braced myself against the wall and climbed to the third floor.

The ward door was cracked open.

Through the gap, I saw Mom sitting by the bed, peeling an apple.

Dad stood by the window, his arms crossed tight, his Alpha aura suffocating the small room.

Caleb and Marcus were there too.

“Mom, you really think this is gonna work?”

Marcus lowered his voice.

“You think Amelia’s really gonna fall for this?”

Mom scoffed.

“She’s been attached to Elaine her whole life. She’ll come.”

“And once she’s here, she’s not leaving again.”

“I’ve already had the Pack Council reach out to Royal Warrior to see if we can freeze her funding.

She’s gotten too big for her own good.”

Dad let out a heavy breath.

“Caleb, when she gets here, I need you to work on her.”

“She’s always listened to you. Get her to stay and tutor Lily, and we’ll figure out the rest.”

Caleb kept his head down. I couldn’t read his face.

But his answer came out quiet and quick.

“I know, Alpha Theodore.”

I stood outside the door. Rainwater ran from my hair down the back of my neck.

Piercingly cold.

They’d used Grandma’s life as bait. To drag me back. To control me.

I didn’t go in.

I pulled out my phone and called the emergency transfer line at Royal Warrior’s partner hospital.

Professor Blake had helped me set up a family emergency medical fund weeks ago.

The scholarship covered emergency medical aid. The hospital was willing to take Grandma for

follow-up care.

I had more options than they ever imagined.

Then I turned and walked toward the head healer’s office.