The Alpha Signed Away His Pregnant Luna novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Under the Hearth

I stopped on the bottom step of the porch.

Behind me, Gideon said, very quietly, "What did she mean?"

"I don't know."

"Your grandmother. My beta. What did she do to Delaney's father?"

"I said I don't know."

He came to the gate and gripped the top rail with both hands.

His knuckles were white.

"Maeve, I need to understand this. She has been in my life for six years. If what she said is true..."

"Stop."

"I just..."

"Stop talking about her."

I turned around.

I had been holding it since the funeral.

I had carried it up the stairs of the pack house for six months, past his closed study door.

Now it came loose.

"You want to hear about my grandmother?"

"Yes."

"She died a little after midnight on a Tuesday. In that bed, in the room behind me."

He went very still.

"She woke up and said my name. Her hand was so cold. I told her I'd get help, and she said, don't leave."

"Maeve..."

"I called the healer, and the line was dead from the storm. I called the pack house, and Toby's phone was off. And I called you."

"I know. I..."

"You don't know. Let me say it." My voice shook. "I called you eleven times, Gideon. I sat on the floor with her hand in mine and I called, and every time it rang out. I called until the battery died."

His face crumpled.

"I left a message. I said please. I said it's Grandma, she's dying, please come. I said I'm scared."

"I didn't hear it. I..."

"I know you didn't hear it. Because it was after midnight, and an Alpha who doesn't rest can't lead."

I watched my own words land.

I watched him take every one of them, with nowhere to put them down.

"She was gone by the time the sun came up. I closed her eyes myself. I washed her face myself. And when I came home at noon, you were eating Delaney's soup."

"Maeve."

"You asked me if I was all right. I said I was. And you believed me."

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