Chapter 6 - Blood For Blood
1098 Words
The hospital hallway smelled like disinfectant and fear.
Damian stood outside Luna’s mom’s room with 6 of his best guards. His suit jacket was gone. White dress shirt rolled to the elbows. Knuckles bruised and split.
He’d just come from the warehouse district.
Luna sat inside the room, holding her mom’s hand. Her mom was asleep. Pale. Tubes everywhere.
Through the door, Luna heard Damian’s voice. Low. Deadly.
“Report.”
“Alpha,” his Beta Marcus said. “We found them. The three men who got past hospital security. They’re talking.”
“And?”
“They were paid by Victoria Hayes. 50 million naira. To make it look like an accident.”
Luna’s hand tightened around her mom’s. Her chest felt like it was caving in.
Victoria.
Damian didn’t say anything for 10 seconds. Then: “Get her. Now.”
“Alpha, she’s at the pack house. With her father.”
“I don’t care if she’s with the Pope. Bring her to me.”
The guards moved.
---
Twenty minutes later, Luna was still in the room when the door opened.
Damian walked in. His face was stone. But his eyes... his eyes were furious.
“Come with me,” he said to Luna.
“I’m not leaving my mom.”
“You don’t have to. Marcus will stay.” He looked at the Beta. “Don’t leave her side.”
Marcus nodded.
Damian held out his hand to Luna. She took it.
His hand was warm. Calloused. It didn’t shake, even though everything else about him looked like it wanted to.
They walked in silence to his office.
Victoria was already there. Dragged in by two guards. Her dress was torn. Hair a mess. But she was still smiling.
“Damian,” she said when she saw him. “You’re bleeding.”
Damian closed the door. Locked it.
“You had a woman in a hospital bed attacked,” he said. No yelling. Worse. “A human. Who has done nothing to you.”
Victoria laughed. “She’s not nothing. She’s ruining you. She’s ruining the pack. I was saving you, Damian.”
“You were saving yourself,” Damian corrected. He walked to his desk and sat. “You couldn’t stand that he chose her.”
He pointed at Luna.
Victoria’s smile dropped. “Don’t you say his name like that. You were mine. For 5 years. We were supposed to—”
“We were supposed to be an alliance,” Damian cut her off. “Not love. You know that.”
“Bullshit. You loved me.”
“I respected you,” Damian said. “Until today.”
He stood. Walked around the desk. Stopped in front of Victoria.
“What did you tell them to do?” he asked quietly.
Victoria lifted her chin. “I told them to scare her. That’s all. I didn’t know they’d—”
“Liar.”
The word cracked like a whip.
Luna flinched.
Damian turned to look at her. His expression softened instantly. “You okay?”
Luna nodded. She wasn’t. But she would be.
Damian turned back to Victoria. The softness was gone.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “You’re banished. Effective immediately. From the North Pack. From this city. From my life.”
Victoria’s face crumbled. “You can’t— my father—”
“Your father already agreed,” Damian said. “To save his own position. You’re on your own, Victoria.”
“You’ll regret this,” she hissed. “The pack will never accept a human Luna. They’ll tear her apart.”
Damian stepped closer. “Try it. And see what happens to you.”
The guards dragged Victoria out. She was screaming by the end.
When the door closed, silence.
Luna let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
Damian turned to her. He looked tired. Old.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have stopped her months ago.”
“It’s not your fault,” Luna said.
“It is.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I let her think she still had a place here. I let her get close to you.”
He walked to the window. Stared out at the city.
Luna watched him. The ruthless Alpha. The man who just destroyed someone’s life with 3 sentences.
And the man who had held her hand all the way here.
“Damian,” she said.
He turned.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For protecting her. For protecting me.”
Damian’s jaw tightened. “It’s my job.”
“No,” Luna said. “It’s more than that. And we both know it.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
He crossed the room in 3 steps and pulled her into a hug.
Not a kiss. Not romantic.
Just... holding her. Like she might break. Like he was afraid if he let go, something worse would happen.
Luna hugged him back.
She could feel his heart pounding against hers.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Damian said into her hair. “After the baby. After the contract. I don’t want you to go.”
Luna closed her eyes. “Then don’t let me.”
He pulled back and cupped her face. His thumb brushed her cheek.
“The contract says 9 months,” he said. “But I’m asking you to stay longer. Because I want to.”
Luna nodded. “Okay.”
It was the first time she said yes without being afraid.
---
Later that night, Luna couldn’t sleep.
She went to the window in the panic room.
The door opened. Damian.
“Can’t sleep either?” he asked.
“No.”
He came and stood beside her. They didn’t touch.
“The doctor said my mom might wake up tomorrow,” Luna said.
“That’s good.”
“Yeah.”
More silence.
Then Damian said, “Luna. About what I said earlier. About staying. I meant it.”
“I know.”
“I’m not good at this,” he admitted. “Being... soft. Caring. But with you it’s different.”
Luna looked up at him. “You’re good at it with me.”
Damian smiled. A real smile. Small, but real.
“Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll be right outside the door.”
“Damian?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for choosing me.”
He nodded once, then left.
Luna lay down. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t feel alone.
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