The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0593

The next morning was the final of our time on the island, so I made sure to set a personal alarm to wake me up just before dawn. When it finally went off, I grumbled a minute, before remembering my plan and forcing myself out of bed.

I turned toward Elva and shook her gently, rousing her.

"Mommy?" she asked, peeking open one eye.

"Would you like to watch the sunrise, honey?"

That woke her up right away. "Yeah!"

I shushed her gently. "Let's not wake Nicholas," I said.

"I'm already awake," he said from his air mattress on the ground.

I had tried to tell him late last night, after we had very diligently cleaned up after ourselves and finally came upstairs to sleep, that he didn't have to guard us now, with Ronan in jail and Bridget under supervision.

But Nicholas would not be talked out of it.

And now, thusly, he had been woken up before dawn.

I rolled over on the bed to peer down at him with an apologetic glance. "Sorry," I said.

He rubbed his eye with his forefinger. He huffed a small exhale as he shook his head. "I wouldn't want to have missed this," he said. "I'm glad I was here."

We all rolled out of bed. Since it was so early, we didn't bother changing out of our pajamas as we descended the staircase and made our way out onto the deck. We had to come around the house to face east.

Already the sky was lighting up in warm oranges, the sun near the horizon.

To my surprise, Veronica was already there, reading the book she had borrowed from the merfolk. She had a tiny book light clipped onto the top of the book. I marveled for a minute at how it could do so without bending the pages.

said when I asked her. I had no idea if she was

see a line of blinding white stretch out across the entire horizon.

watch, the brightness of the sun cresting above the waves, as the light painted the sky with a rainbow of

stand between them. I placed my hand on Elva's shoulder. Nicholas

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

close to my ear. "Not

Smooth talker.

him a soft smile. He returned it just

look at the sunrise any longer, not wanting to damage our eyes. By now, some of the others

her. We'd thought of dismantling it,

to her. "Let's

told Elva, to encourage her. She hadn't shown

she said, "Okay." She took Julian's hand and they went closer

called me closer. Nicholas seemed torn about whether to follow Elva or me, but he decided me rather quickly

Veronica didn't seem

could see that she had made extreme progress on the book since the

curse," Veronica said. I wanted to celebrate. That should have been good news, but her dire expression kept

asked. "Do we

she said.

I liked the unique

keep it from you." He inhaled deeply. "The curse itself is tied

force?" I asked. "What are talking about? Like

the end. Or quality of life. And the more life force that is needed the more painful it would be for...

you need a donor?" Nicholas asked. Already I could sense he was about to volunteer. Well, he could get in line. Elva was my daughter. If anyone had to sacrifice anything to save her and give her a better life,

only be

curse, but not the means," Veronica confirmed. "She will need a donor.

once, before Nicholas had a

"I'll do it. I'm an Alpha. It's the least I can do for my