MasukBAILEY’S POVThe door slammed shut behind Hades as the echo rang through the room, I dropped to my knees on the cold floor with my hands covering my face. The tears were already spilling free. My shoulders shook as the sobs tore out of me and I wrapped my arms around my stomach. His words replayed in my head over and over again.I rocked forward until my forehead pressed against the floorboards, my crying grew louder, my body trembled and the guilt pressed heavier with every breath.“Hades, I’m sorry…” I whispered to no one in particular. “I’m sorry… I should have told you.”The tears soaked the wood beneath me as I hugged myself tighter. I whispered his name over and over as if the sound alone could call him back and each time it left my lips the emptiness answered louder.My chest felt cracked open as the pain there burned hotter than any wound I had ever known. My eyes burned, my throat felt raw as the sobs continued without pause.Exhaustion dragged at my limbs until I could no lo
HADES’ POV“Your Majesty, it seems as though the Luna had lied to you. Her friend, Rhea, said they never made plans to meet and that she hadn’t seen her in weeks.”Those words from Ryan still echoed in my head. I had sent him to contact Rhea to be sure that Bailey was safe, but now it seems like my wife had lied to me.The call came through as I stood in the study with the reports still spread across the desk and Cassian’s latest findings waiting for my attention.“Your Majesty, the Luna didn’t go to see anyone named Rhea,” the voice on the other end stayed low and precise as it delivered every detail of her movements after she left the fortress with the escort I had ordered.“She stopped in the market district and asked the escort for privacy. Then when she got the chance she slipped thriugh a rear exit while the guards and maid waited the restroom. She walked alone to a quiet side street where Hudson, Zane, and Beckett stood waiting for her. She might have lied to you, Your Majesty.
BAILEY’S POVI woke beside Hades with his arm heavy across my waist, the morning light filtering through the heavy curtains as his breathing stayed deep and even against my shoulder. The secret sat between us like a wall I could no longer pretend was invisible yet I refused to ask again because every previous question had met the same closed expression and the same careful silence. “You’ve been trying to protect that long-aged secret of yours haven’t you.” Ryan’s words still rang in my memory.The most disturbing feeling was Hades’ reaction when Ryan said that. It was similar to the reaction he gave to Cassian last night. I decided that if he would not give me the truth then I would find the pieces myself.My thoughts turned to Blood Moon, to Darius, Debra and the triplets who had been children when I first arrived terrified and silent in their home. They might not hold the full story yet they had stood there the day Darius brought me through the door, they had heard whatever expla
HADES’ POV Cassian opened his mouth with the words already forming as Bailey stood beside me still catching her breath from the glow that had lit both the fabric and her stomach. I cut my eyes toward him hard and sharp. “Not another word.” He closed his mouth at once. Bailey looked between us with confusion, tightening her features. “What do you mean?” She asked. Cassian stared at me. I staggered sideways before she could press further and caught myself against the wall with one hand as my head pulsed. My wolf snarled under the residual force still clinging to that scrap of cloth. The stress and the proximity to whatever residue Ryan had left behind hit harder than I expected and my knees threatened to buckle while Daisy’s earlier reaction still echoed through the bond. “Hades?” Bailey rushed forward and caught my arm with both hands as her voice rose with worry. “What is wrong?” I forced my face to tighten. “I don’t know. It just feels like my head is pounding.” I lied
BAILEY’S POVI lay awake in the bed with the sheets twisted around my legs as the cool air from the unit brushed across my skin and the fortress settled into its usual night quiet. The knock at the door still echoed in my head with the way Hades straightened and stepped outside without a single word of explanation while his voice dropped into that hard command tone he reserved for real threats.I pressed my palm against my stomach as the baby rolled once and a steady calm settled through me in its place.Daisy stirred the moment I closed my eyes and reached for her. She was awake and alert with her attention locked on something beyond the walls while a second pulse beat under her presence that I had never felt before.“Something is coming,” she whispered inside my mind as her ears pricked forward. “Not Hades, not the child. Outside.”A low howl rose from beyond the fortress walls with a note that belonged to no pack I knew and Daisy surged so hard my breath caught in my throat.I swun
HADES’ POVI followed Bailey into the bedroom and closed the door behind us with a soft click. For a few seconds neither of us spoke. She stood near the bed with her arms crossed and her shoulders still tight from the confrontation downstairs. The irritation sat clear on her face.She turned toward me. “What is he talking about?” She asked in all certainty.I knew this moment was coming. I did not lie outright. “Ryan has spent years trying to destroy what belongs to me. You should never allow his words to become more important than the man standing in front of you.”“That’s not an answer, Hades,” she said, clearly not buying what I had to say.The way she said it showed she was no longer the frightened girl who accepted whatever powerful people told her. She was my wife now and she expected honesty.Fury rose inside me. Not because she had defended me. That only made me love her more. I was furious because Ryan had almost forced me into a corner. One more sentence from him and she mig







