Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 71

Chapter 71 Contamination

Baron’s POV

I stood before the sequencer, the air smelling of high–grade disinfectant.

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In my hand, the DNA comparison report felt heavier than I’d expected… I had waited for this; I hadn’t planned on going against Natalie’s wishes but just needed to have a backup plan.

I looked down at the data, and my eyes narrowed.

“What the hell?” I stared at the report in absolute shock.

Natalie and Sean.

Mother and son.

Biologically, the match should have been nearly identical, a flawless genetic match.

But the report in my hand was a chaotic mess of anomalies, there was no match.

How could that be?

My brow furrowed deeply, the skin tight across my forehead.

It didn’t make sense.

Every instinct I possessed, every drop of my Alpha blood, screamed that Sean belonged to her. I had been there… I knew the origin of his life better than anyone on this planet.

Unless… Sean wasn’t Natalie’s biological child.

The thought flickered in my mind for a fraction of a second before I crushed it.

No… I knew better than anyone–Sean was my son, and he was Natalie’s.

I had ensured it.

1 had lived for the day they would stand together. So why was the science lying to me?

A cold, dark realization began to settle in my gut… Science doesn’t lie, but people do.

And samples? Samples can be contaminated.

I crushed the report in my hand, the paper shrieking as it turned into a jagged ball of useless trash. I

walked out of the lab in a rush.

Alpha Baron, did the results come in?”

I had barely stepped five pages into the corridor before I ran into Finn.

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Chapter 71 Contamination

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He was standing there, his face etched with that familiar concern that usually served him well, but right now, it felt like an insult.

Raze growled in my head.

My gaze darkened instantly; the irritation that had been bubbling in my chest since surged into a full-

blown anger.

“Nothing going on in the pack today?” I barked, my voice low with Raze creeping in. “You’ve got so much. time on your hands that you’ve decided to wander around the medical wing?”

I moved to brush past him, my shoulder nearly clipping his, but Finn didn’t take the hint as he stepped into my path, his expression stubborn.

“Baron, I know you don’t want to hear this, but as your brother, I have to say-”

“If you know I don’t want to hear it, then shut your mouth,” I cut him off, the words coming out as a lethal rasp. I didn’t even let him finish the sentence. I leaned in, my shadow swallowing him whole. “Don’t go ruining what’s left of this leadership by trying to manage my focus, Finn. You are just a beta… know your place.”

“Baron, you’re not seeing the risks-”

“Finn,” I said, my voice dropping to a register that made the air in the hallway feel thin. “You’ve been with me for years… you know exactly what I’m like. You know that if someone touches what’s mine, you know better than anyone what I’ll do to them. So don’t test me… not today.”

I shot him a sharp, warning look and walked off. I didn’t need to look back to know he was stunned.

I could feel his eyes on my back, but I didn’t

care.

I ignored everyone else and headed straight to Sean’s room. My mind was a whirlwind of questions, but my primary focus was my son.

When I entered, the room was dim and quiet.

Sean had perked up slightly after taking the supplements Shauna had given him earlier, though the poor kid was still clearly exhausted from the emotional toll of seeing Natalie in that state. He had dozed off, his small body curled into a ball.

The moment my footsteps hit the floor, he jolted awake. His eyes snapped open, searching mine with at look that caused my heart to ache.

“Daddy? Are the results in?”

It w

was all he

shoulders had been thinking about… he was so young, yet he carried the weight of her survival on his

Seeing how much pain Mommy was in, I knew Sean would have given anything to take her place.

He was

my son through and through–loyal to a fault and willing to suffer for those he loved.

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Chapter 71 Contamination

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I felt a sharp pang of sympathy looking at him. I sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled him into my lap.

But as I shifted him. the light from the hallway caught his arm.

I froze.

There were faint, bluish marks on his skin, like a strange bruising that didn’t belong there.

“What’s going on with your arm?” I asked, my voice tightening.

Sean looked down at his arm, still half–asleep and blinking.

Then, he suddenly sat up in alarm, his eyes wide with fear.

“My arm’s turning blue? Daddy, what is this?”

I didn’t answer immediately… I grabbed his arm, rubbing my thumb over the mark.

It wasn’t a bruise, it was a residue–a fine, crystalline dust that had bonded to his skin.

My mind flashed back to the lab, to the fragmented DNA report.

Contamination.

My stomach dropped, so this wasn’t an accident.

This was why the results were off.

Someone had introduced a foreign agent to his system, something designed to mess with the test results or perhaps something worse.

I ran a quick handheld diagnostic scan from the kit on the bedside table, and the readings confirmed it.

A chemical residue.

“Think carefully, Sean,” I said, my voice dropping into a whisper. “From the time you visited the sterile room to the moment you came to see me who did y you come into contact with? Who touched you? Who

was in this room?”

A flash of sharpness crossed Sean’s eyes.

He was a bright kid, and he knew when I was being serious.

He frowned, thinking hard.

“Not really anyone… Ms. Shauna brought me to the room. She said I looked pale and needed to lie down. I was feeling a bit tired, so I lay down for a nap.”

I didn’t say a word as I

reached over and ripped back the heavy silk blanket with a violent tug.

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Chapter 71 Contamination

My gaze turned grim.

Settled into the fibers of the bedsheets, almost invisible to the naked eye, was a thin, shimmering layer of blue powder.

It was concentrated right where Sean’s head and arms had been resting.

Shauna?

Was it really her?

The woman I had trusted with the health of my entire Pack for a decade? But why?

Why would she do this? To keep me away from Natalie?

The betrayal tasted bitter in the back of my throat.

Let’s find and kill her… she must have poisoned Natalie… where is she?

Raze rambled on and on about how he would kill her.

“Go take a shower,” I said, patting Sean on the head. I kept my voice calm for his sake, but inside, I was already imagining how I would tear the truth out of whoever had touched my son. “Scrub every inch of your skin; I’ll take care of this.”

Sean nodded quickly and headed to the bathroom.

I wasted no time as I mindlinked her: “Shauna, you’re needed in Sean’s room right.”

“Alright, Alpha,” her response came instantly into my head.

I wanted her here, in the room where she had planted her poison.