Alpha’s Rue: His Shunned Luna (Athena Enchanted) novel Chapter 541

Chapter 541

AELIANA

I’m awakened by the soft cry on my new alarm clock. I can always hear Alanna crying even when she isn’t so when I hear her the first time. I am still, waiting for confirmation that it is her, and not my imagination.

When she cries a second time, Kingston stirs and so do I. “No,” I push him down. “I’ve got her,” I tell him.

He is alert to the sound of her cry. It’s almost as if he can sense her awake, I swear Alanna will just sneeze and he’ll already be in her nursery by the time I hear it.

Most nights, he is the first to wake up. He has been with her nearly every night since we brought her from the hospital and while it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, I feel a little shitty about it. Alanna cries a lot when I’m with her so he often steps in and takes her because he can’t stand to hear her cry.

I make my way across her nursery, just two doors down from our room. The lights are on but very dim, and my baby is crying in her crib. I pick her up carefully and try to shush her. “It’s okay, darling.” I tell her, “Mommy’s here, hmm. What is it?” I ask myself, placing her on the changing table. Her diaper is a little wet, but it’s not full, so I still change her. “I know, baby. I hate cold wipes myself.”

“Alanna,” I groan, trying to shush her again.

I take her to the rocking chair and try to breastfeed her, thinking she’s hungry, but she won’t latch on. If she’s hungry, she latches onto anything she can, the shirt, my finger, she tries to eat. I squeeze my boob into her mouth, hoping it’ll make her stop crying if she tastes the milk, but it doesn’t work. Alanna keeps crying, wailing so loud that any and all sleepiness that I had

left in me fades.

I’ll never understand how someone so small can make such loud noises. I try the milk in the bottle, supposing she might prefer the bottle at night because that’s how she’s fed most nights, but no, her tiny body goes rigid with protest and her cries get louder, and louder.

I quickly rise from the chair and start walking around, trying to shush her repeatedly. “Please stop crying, darling,” I whisper. “Alanna, baby, please, you’re making mommy sad,” I whisper, desperately rocking her, patting her in hopes of her going silent.

She does not stop.

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