MasukDamon POVThree days of hard travel.Three days of barely sleeping, barely eating, pushing through territories I used to command without a second thought and now had to skirt like a ghost. The irony wasn't lost on me, the Alpha who once walked wherever he pleased now crawling through back trails and abandoned routes because his own name would raise questions he didn't have time to answer.I didn't care.Every hour I wasted was an hour Aria spent lying in that bed, unconscious, with a curse slowly sucking her dry. Every delay was a risk I wasn't willing to take.So I ran. And I didn't stop.***The coordinates Dr. Whitfield gave me led somewhere I'd never heard of, not that anyone had. When I'd asked Marcus to cross-reference the location, he'd come back empty. No pack claims. No trade routes. No records of any kind. Just a blank stretch on every map he checked, like the place had been deliberately erased from memory."That's not possible," Marcus had said."Apparently it is," I'd repl
Aria POV"So you kept it," I said. "For twenty-seven years."Dad nodded slowly. "We kept it."Mom wiped her eyes again. "We were terrified, Aria. She told us people were looking for her—for *you*. Mom reached for something beneath her collar. A thin chain I'd never noticed before.She pulled it out slowly, and hanging from the end of it was a small pendant—silver, crescent-shaped, with markings I couldn't quite make out in the dim light."She left this," Mom whispered. "She said to give it to you when you were ready. When you started asking questions we couldn't answer."If we'd given you that necklace any sooner, if we'd let anything about your true bloodline slip before you were strong enough to protect yourself…" She shook her head. "We couldn't risk it.""So you just… locked it away and hoped the day would never come.""We locked it away and prayed," Dad said quietly. "There's a difference."I looked down at the necklace in my palm. The crescent moon pendant caught the faint ligh
Aria POVI heard the words.Each one, individually, made sense. But together, they refused to form anything my brain could hold."Not your…" I repeated, like saying it slower might make it mean something different. "Not your biological daughter."Mom's grip on my hand tightened. Tears spilled freely down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry we didn't tell you sooner"I pulled my hand away.The reflex was immediate. She reached for me again and I leaned back, pressing myself against the headboard like the distance could somehow undo what she'd just said."You lied to me," I whispered. "My whole life. You both looked me in the eye every single day and let me believe""We protected you," Dad said firmly. "There's a difference.""Is there?" My voice cracked. "Because right now it feels exactly the same."Mom flinched like I'd slapped her.I stared at the two people I'd trusted more than anyone in the world, and for the first time in my life, they were strangers. The woman who'd hel
Aria POVElla didn't move.She just sat there, staring at me like I'd asked her to walk into fire, which—knowing my luck lately—was probably coming next."Did you hear me?" I said. "Call my mother.""I heard you." Ella shifted in her seat, picking at the edge of her sleeve in that way she did when she was stalling. "It's just… are you sure you want to do that right now? You've been unconscious for three days, Aria. Maybe we should—""I've been unconscious for three days because something inside me has been feeding on my life force since before I knew it existed," I said flatly. "I don't have the luxury of timing. Call her."Ella looked at Dr. Whitfield. He gave a small nod.She pulled out her phone and stepped out of the room.***It took less than twenty minutes.That should've been my first warning. My mother didn't do anything in twenty minutes—not when it involved travel, not when it involved family emergencies, and definitely not when it involved me. She was the kind of woman who
Aria POV“Where is Damon?”The question slipped out of my mouth before I even realized I’d said it.Ella blinked, like I’d thrown something at her instead of just spoken. For a heartbeat, something complicated flashed across her face—then it was gone, replaced by a careful, neutral expression.“He went out for pack business,” she said. “You know how he is. Functions. Duties. Whatever excuse Alphas use these days to avoid sleeping.”Pack business.Of course.Even now, when I’m lying here half-dead, he still manages to find somewhere else to be.I pushed that thought down before it could fester into something ugly and distracting. There were more important things to focus on than Damon’s mysterious schedule.I wet my lips, my voice rough. “Am I dying?”Ella’s head jerked up. “What?”“What happened to me this time?” I asked, more steadily. “I’ve been taking my medication exactly the way you shoved it down my throat. I follow the alarms. I eat. I rest. I do everything I’m supposed to. So
Aria POVThe first thing I noticed was the light.It stabbed at my eyes the second my lids cracked open, hot and sharp, and I had to blink several times before anything came into focus. The ceiling above me swam, then steadied. My head felt heavy, like it had been stuffed with cotton.Then the scent hit me.Not antiseptic. Not the familiar mix of baby powder and clean linen from my room.Incense. Thick, herbal, and completely unfamiliar. It curled in the air, warm and strange, prickling something deep in my chest I couldn’t quite name.I turned my head slowly.A figure sat near the corner of the room, back straight, one hand passing a small clay burner in steady circles. Smoke rose from it in thin streams, weaving through the air like it knew exactly where it wanted to go.I tried to sit up.Pain flared across my muscles, sharp enough to drag a soft gasp from my throat. The room tilted. I grabbed for the nearest thing, the sheet, the railing, anything—to stop myself from falling back.







