Chapter 170

Ava

I woke to the soft clacking of keyboard keys, the sound pulling me from a deep and restful sleep.

Blinking away the bleariness, I found Chris sitting up in bed beside me, his laptop balanced on his knees as he typed away. The soft morning light was barely even filtering through the lace curtains, indicating that it was early—far too early for work.

“Morning, workaholic,” I mumbled, my voice still thick and gravelly with sleep.

Chris only looked up from his computer for a second to plant a kiss on my temple. “Morning. Sorry if I woke you.”

I pushed myself up one one elbow and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “What time is it? And what are you working on so early?”

“Just after six,” he replied, his eyes flicking momentarily over to my bare shoulders before returning to the laptop screen. “And just some business stuff. You know how it is.”

I nodded, though I didn’t really know. Chris’s human businesses were still somewhat of a mystery to me. “Anything interesting?” I asked, sitting up fully and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.

I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eyes as I made my way over to the bathroom. “Just tying up some loose ends. We’ll have to head back to Moonstone today, but I’ll need to return to the human world soon in a couple of weeks to manage a few things.”

That caught my attention. Poking my head out of the bathroom, I said, “So soon?”

Chris sighed, closing his laptop and setting it aside. “I know, I know. But it shouldn’t take too long. I’ve actually... Well, I’ve made some changes lately to make things easier to manage.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Changes? What kind of changes?”

He hesitated for a moment before answering. “I, uh… I sold a couple of my human businesses.”

My jaw dropped, causing me to step fully out of the bathroom once again with my hands on my hips. “You what?” I blurted out. “When did this happen?”

“Recently,” Chris admitted, looking a bit sheepish as he ran a hand through his tousled hair. “I didn’t want to worry you with the details, but it was just finalized this morning. That’s why I was up so early.”

I felt a flicker of annoyance at his words. This was a big deal, and I was his Luna. I would have expected him to keep me in the loop about things like this. “Worry me? Chris, I’m your Luna. We’re supposed to be partners, remember? Why wouldn’t you tell me about something this big?”

Chris ran a hand through his hair again, a gesture I was learning to recognize lately as one of discomfort. He rose, wandering over to the open veranda door overlooking the garden. “I just... I didn’t want to add to your stress,” he admitted. “You’ve been dealing with so much already with the pack and the blight…”

“And you think I can’t handle it?” I interrupted, my voice a little bit sharper than I intended.

Chris glanced over his shoulder at me, and his eyes widened. “No, that’s not it at all. I just wanted to see you relaxed and happy, that’s all.”

I held up a hand to stop him. “Chris, I appreciate that you’re trying to protect me,” I said, crossing the room to meet him, “but I’m not some fragile flower. I’m your Luna, your partner. Your equal. We’re supposed to face these things together. You can’t make yourself more stressed for the sake of making me less stressed.”

He nodded, looking a bit like a scolded child. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Ava. I should have been more open with you.”

I softened a bit at his apology and leaned forward, planting a kiss on his jawline. “It’s okay. Just... no more secrets, alright? Even if you think it might worry me. I want to know what’s going on in your life, in all aspects of it.”

Chris nodded again, then suddenly took a step back. “In that case,” he murmured, dropping to one knee in front of me and reaching for my hands. My heart leapt into my throat, the familiar scene from the vineyard last night flashing through my mind.

“Chris, what are you—”

He grabbed both of my hands in his, his green eyes wide and pleading. “Ava, can you ever forgive me for my foolishness?” he begged.

I let out a bark of laughter. “You’re such a jackass!” I exclaimed, yanking one hand away and swatting at him with it. “Stop doing that!”

Chris laughed, ducking away from my playful smacks. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. Your face is priceless every time.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “You’re impossible, you know that?”

He grinned, rising to his feet and snaking his arms around my waist so he could pull me flush against the hard planes of his shirtless body. “But you love me anyway.”

…

The helicopter ride back to Moonstone was filled with excited chatter about what we might find when we returned—hopefully good news, I mused. I imagined that the blight had likely improved a bit since we had left, and that maybe there was even some news about Olivia’s whereabouts.

But as we approached the territory, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of dread coiling in my lower belly. I felt my wolf uncharacteristically bristle inside of me…

Something was off. I couldn’t place my finger on it just yet, but I could sense it. From this height, everything looked normal, but I knew appearances could be deceiving.

We landed on the outskirts of the pack lands, where Leonard was waiting for us with a car. His expression was unreadable as we approached.

“Welcome back,” he greeted as we approached. “How was your trip?”

“It was great, Leonard,” Chris replied, clapping him on the shoulder. “How have things been here? Has there been any improvement with the blight?”

Leonard’s face tightened almost imperceptibly. When we had left, he had been nothing but smiles due to his new relationship with Ophelia—but now, he appeared perturbed, something that made that sense of dread tighten even further around my gut.

“Perhaps we should discuss this at the Packhouse,” he said.

I felt a chill run down my spine at his words. Chris and I exchanged a worried glance before climbing into the car.

The drive to the Packhouse was tense, with Leonard deflecting our questions with vague responses. As we pulled up to the building, I noticed something… odd about the gardens. Men and women in hazmat suits milled about the perimeter of the Packhouse, the head scientist standing at the forefront with a clipboard in hand and a concerned expression on his face.

“No,” Chris murmured, leaning forward in his seat. “It can’t be…”

Leonard remained silent, his jaw so tight it could cut diamonds. As soon as he parked, we hurried out of the car and approached the gardens. My heart sank as we got closer, the reality of what we were seeing becoming all too clear.

The blight had spread. Thick, glossy black fungus had begun to eat away at the Packhouse gardens. It was everywhere, creeping up stalks and leaves, coating flowers and stems in its sickly darkness.

Chris’s face had gone pale, his earlier excitement completely evaporated. “How…” he whispered, his voice barely more than a whisper.

I took a halting step forward, only to be cut off by a man in a hazmat suit holding his arm out in front of me.

“Apologies, Luna,” he said, his voice muffled by the thick mask. “Entry is forbidden at this time.”

I felt like I would be sick; and all it took was one last look at the sickly black fungus covering our once-beautiful Packhouse gardens for me to actually be sick. Turning, I immediately retched into a nearby bush, the cloying scent of the fungus overwhelming me.

The blight hadn’t improved after all.

In fact, it had only worsened.