The Sickened Luna's Last Chance - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Ella
Yesterday’s kiss may have momentarily distracted the press from the contract scandal, but that didn’t mean I wanted to spend more time with Alexander than absolutely necessary.
Especially not after last night.
But Alexander was right; the press would be watching us like hawks over the coming days, and we had to at least make an attempt to look like the happy, loving couple we had pretended to be yesterday.
“Ready?” Alexander asked as I made my way down the stairs. I had changed into a pair of jeans, boots, and a light sweater to combat the spring chill outside.
I nodded and grabbed my bag off the foyer table before following him out the door.
The moment we stepped outside, camera flashes erupted from the bushes lining the road outside the large fence surrounding the property. Paparazzi. Of course. They’d been camping out since the press conference yesterday.
Alexander’s arm immediately slid around my waist, pulling me against his side. I pasted on a smile, leaning into him as we made our way toward the car.
Alexander opened the door for me. More camera flashes. More fake smiles. By the time he slid into the driver’s seat beside me, my cheeks were already aching.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked as we pulled away from the mansion, the paparazzi scrambling into their own vehicles to follow us.
“Border patrol,” Alexander replied, his eyes fixed on the road. “I do it every week. Check the perimeter, make sure there aren’t any weaknesses in our defenses, look for signs of rogues.”
Of course. Alpha duties. The kind of thing he’d never invited me to in five years of marriage. But then again, I supposed I had never asked; I had always focused on my Luna duties, which didn’t often involve going out into the wilderness.
When I was younger, I was always outside. When I wasn’t following around the Stormhollow warriors and training, I was usually in a tree somewhere, or perhaps swimming in the creek out behind my old house.
But a “good” Luna, or at least the type of Luna my father and stepmother wanted me to be, was typically expected to stay home; manage the household, tend to the children (not that we had any), and perform clerical work like managing expenses.
So I stopped climbing trees and swimming in creeks, just like I stopped training.
Because that was what was expected of me.
After that, we drove in silence for a while. I stared out the window, watching as the mansion grounds gave way to dense forest.
This early in the morning, there was still a light mist hanging over the landscape. I rolled down the window and leaned my head slightly out, inhaling the cool air. The way the wind blew through my hair soothed me.
When I leaned back in my seat, I caught a glimpse of Alexander looking at me. But when I turned to return the stare, his gaze was fixed firmly on the road ahead again.
Finally, we parked along the side of the road at the edge of Ashclaw territory, right where it met Moonshine territory. The paparazzi parked a little ways down the street and in the bushes as if we wouldn’t notice them, their cameras already out and ready by the time they got out of their cars.
Like a perfect gentleman, Alexander came around to open my door again, offering his hand to help me out. I took it, forcing another smile as we made a show of intertwining our fingers.
Just to drive the point home, I swung our hands a little as we walked. I could feel Alexander’s hand tense around mine, but he didn’t resist it.
“Here’s the trailhead,” he said, guiding me toward a narrow path leading into the forest. “It’s going to be a bit of a hike.”
We walked for what felt like hours—up switchbacks, over streams, even climbing over fallen trees and small boulders at points, all the while stopping occasionally for Alexander to check for broken branches, patches of disturbed earth, a scent only he could detect with his wolf still intact. All of the things that might hint at a possible rogue infiltration.
“Why do this yourself?” I asked as we carefully picked our way across a rock field where the trees had thinned out. It was a little steep, but the rocks were large and sturdy and flat across, allowing us to steadily work our way through without trouble. “We’ve got plenty of warriors for this.”
“The warriors do patrol the borders,” Alexander explained.
He held his hand out to help me up onto a small ledge, and I took it, trying not to think about how warm his palm was. Far below us, the paparazzi were struggling to keep up. Some of them had given up entirely.
“But I like being hands-on. Plus, I like it out here. It’s nice. Peaceful,” he finished.
I had to admit that it was really nice here—the scent of earth that was damp from the morning dew, the sound of the breeze rustling through the leaves, the dense forest on one side and the steep dropoff into a wide gorge on the other. A river wound through the valley below, glittering in the light of the midday sun.
If I ignored the incessant sounds of camera shutters clicking in the distance, I would have found it peaceful, too.
Suddenly, Alexander leaned forward, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he peered into the ravine below. He furrowed his brow for a moment, and then his eyes lit up like I’d never seen before.
“Look,” he said, pointing. “Down there.”
I turned and followed his finger with my gaze, down into the gorge beneath us. It took a moment to spot what he was looking at without my wolf’s enhanced vision, but when I did, my breath caught.
A mother black bear was sitting in the midst of a field of wildflowers far below while her two cubs were rolling around in the grass beside her, playing.
For a moment, as I watched the cubs play, I found myself too choked up to speak. It wasn’t just that it was beautiful, which of course it was.
It was the fact that, during all my time as Ashclaw’s Luna, I had never visited the rugged border separating our pack and Moonshine’s. Not once. I had been too caught up trying to be the perfect, doting Luna at home.
I had missed so much beauty. And to think that I might die soon and never get a chance to explore the territory that had been my home for five years.
To think, too, that I had never seen my husband’s face light up like that.
Never.
“Are you alright?”
The sound of Alexander’s voice snapped me out of my reverie. I suddenly felt wetness on my cheek and realized that a lone tear had slipped free. Face heating, I quickly wiped it away. “Yeah. The wind is just making my eyes tear up.”
“Right…” Alexander didn’t look convinced, but didn’t press the matter. “Well, we should get moving.”
As if on cue, my stomach growled. “Actually, can we stop for lunch?” I asked. “I didn’t get a chance to have breakfast this morning.”
Alexander nodded and reached into the small backpack he’d brought. I expected a sandwich or something, but he pulled out a granola bar and tossed it to me. “Here.”
I stared down at the tiny snack in my palm. It was certainly nutrient dense, but didn’t look very appetizing after skipping breakfast and spending the better part of the morning walking in the woods.
“That’s it…?” I looked up at him incredulously. “This is lunch?”
Alexander shrugged. “That’s all I eat most days until dinner.”
“A granola bar?” I chuckled. “No wonder you’re always in such a bad mood.”
His brow furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, I know for a fact that you skip breakfast every day. So if this is all you eat for lunch, I’m concerned. You’re an Alpha, not a rabbit.” I waved the bar at him. “This isn’t enough. We need actual food.”
“So what do you recommend?”
“Let’s go out for lunch. We’ll head back to town.”
“But we still have a lot to do.”
My stomach growled again. “Please?” I asked. I glanced over to the paparazzi, who were partially crouching behind a nearby boulder as if we couldn’t see them. I dropped my voice. “It will make certain people happy, too.”
Alexander followed my gaze to the photographers, his jaw working as he considered my words. I half expected him to shut down my idea right away. We were in the middle of the patrol and still had a ways to go.
But surprisingly, he said, “Alright. We’ll go to town for lunch.”