Second Chance for the Barren Luna (Talia and Jason) novel Chapter 446

Nolan’s POV

I left the hospital before I said something I’d regret.

I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving. I slipped out the side door, past the gardens, and as soon as I was clear of the buildings, I started running.

‘She lied to us,’ my wolf snarled. ‘For two weeks, she looked right at us every morning and lied.’

‘I know,' I said. I thought about how many times she looked conflicted in the past two weeks. I knew something was wrong, but I never questioned it. She played me like a fool.

‘We slept next to her every night for two weeks, thinking Leslie could save her because she let us believe it.’

‘Yeah. I know. You don’t have to keep telling me. I was right there with you.’

At the edge of the trees, I shifted and let my wolf take control. I couldn’t handle being human another minute. Being human meant thinking, and thinking meant remembering that hospital room.

He ran full speed, not caring about branches scratching us or the thick brush in our path. Even the stream’s steep bank didn’t slow him down. He just kept running until my chest burned, my legs trembled, and finally, when we were both spent, he stopped.

I shifted back to myself, kneeling by the water, breathing hard. Then all my thoughts rushed back, and I groaned in frustration.

‘You can’t have me in control forever. You will have to face this,’ my wolf said, and I ignored him.

Blood was running down my right arm. There was a long scratch from my elbow to my wrist, and a few smaller ones above it. I didn’t even remember when it happened.

I rinsed my arm in the freezing stream. The shock of the cold distracted me for about a minute.

I sat on the bank, arm dripping, waiting to calm down. But I didn’t.

‘You’re allowed to be mad,’ my wolf said, quieter now. ‘I’m angry too. She should’ve told us the first night!’

‘Then stop what you’re doing,' I muttered.

‘What am I doing?’

‘You’re going to start pushing me to go back,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to. Not yet.’

‘I haven’t pushed you anywhere yet,’ my wolf said. Then he paused. ‘But think about this: if it were the other way around. If they told you you’d die, but the pups would live, what would you have done?’

I didn’t answer.

‘You’d have kept it from her as long as you could, and you’d lie to yourself that it was to protect her.’

‘That’s different,' I shot back.

‘It’s not different at all,’ He sighed. ‘She’s their mother, Nolan. You’re asking her to give up her pups so she can live without them."

‘She won’t live with them either.’

‘She knows the costs, and she knew you’d take away her choice once you found out,’ my wolf explained. She’d already made up her mind. She couldn’t stand fighting with you about it every day for three months. That’s not how she wanted her last moments with us.’

I sat there a long time and just watched the water flow by. I felt numb and exhausted. I never thought about how this was affecting Talia. All I could think about was how I wanted to save her. I was being selfish and giving her too much pressure.

‘You’re quiet,’ my wolf said after a while.

‘I’m thinking about how she looked when she woke up,’ I answered. ‘She couldn’t even lift her arms after the effects of one night. What am I supposed to do? Just sit with her for three more months and watch her get worse?’

‘I don’t know,’ my wolf said softly.

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