Chapter 2 - When Fate Chooses the Wrong Woman

My throat tightens until it hurts. “You… you got her pregnant?”

People are watching. Cameras flash. My shame spreads across the room like flames.

Damon steps closer, dropping his voice. “Aria. Listen to me”

“Don’t.”

My voice breaks. “Don’t you dare.”

Sera leans on Damon lightly. “He didn’t mean for it to happen. Fate can be cruel.”

Fate.

I look at her. “What does fate have to do with anything?”

Her lips curl. “Everything.”

She lifts her wrist.

A tiny mark glows theresoft, silver, unmistakable.

And on Damon’s wrist…

another glow answers it.

Two marks.

Two lives.

Bound.

I stumble back.

Damon reaches for me. “Aria”

“Don’t touch me.”

My chest aches. Tears burn behind my eyes but don’t fall. I won’t give them that.

“You’re fated mates,” I say.

Damon’s jaw clenches, but he doesn’t deny it.

Sera’s voice relaxes, almost pitying. “I didn’t choose this either.”

“Then why are you smiling?” I snap.

Her smile fades. “Because I finally understand why it felt wrong to stay away from him. You cannot fight fate, Aria. Not forever.”

My vision blurs for a moment. I blink hard.

I won’t fall apart here.

Not in front of her.

Not in front of him.

“I need air,” I breathe, turning away.

Damon follows. “Aria, wait.”

“Don’t follow me.”

“Please.”

“I said don’t.”

My voice cracks.

He stops. But his eyes follow me with something like guilt. Or sadness. Or both.

I move toward the side hallway, trying to breathe, trying to think, trying not to fall.

But then…

I hear something.

Sera’s words, soft but clear across the room.

“She needs to accept it, Damon. You belong to me.”

Belong.

A word that cuts open every part of me I tried to protect.

I turn back.

My voice is quiet but steady. “Damon.”

He turns. “Aria.”

I look between them. “How long?”

His silence tells me everything.

“You cheated on me,” I say. “And now you’re having a child with her.”

Sera interjects softly, “Our child.”

I ignore her. My eyes stay on Damon.

“Did you love her?”

His jaw flexes. His shoulders tense. He opens his mouth.

But he doesn’t answer.

He cannot answer.

And his quiet is the second deception.

My chest tightens. “I see.”

I take another step back.

Damon tries to move toward me again, but Sera catches his sleeve.

“Let her go,” she whispers. “She needs time.”

I want to scream. I want to break something. I want to drop.

But I stand there, frozen.

Sera lifts her chin. “You deserved honesty, Aria. Now you have it.”

A sour laugh slips me. “Honesty? You think this is honesty? You think you won by showing me that mark?”

“I didn’t win,” she says softly. “I was chosen.”

Her words hit me like a slap.

Damon’s voice drops. “Aria. We will talk. I promise you that. Not here. Not like this.”

My throat is tight. “You should have talked to me before you touched her.”

His eyes flash with pain. “It wasn’t planned.”

“Most betrayals aren’t.”

The music rises. My pulse races.

Then something strange draws my attention again.

Damon and Sera stand too close.

Their hands brush.

And the faint silver glow flashes again.

Only this time…

It sparks brighter.

Sharper.

Like something living.

The guests gasp quietly.

Sera goes stiff.

Damon swears under his breath.

I stare.

“What is that?” I whisper.

No one answers.

Because neither of them knows why the glow pulsed that brightly.

And that means something

something bigger than deception

is going.

A sound cuts through the hall.

A sharp crack.

Sera winces and holds her stomach.

Damon moves quickly. “Sera? What’s wrong?”

She doesn’t answer. Her face drains of color. “Something… something’s happening.”

The glow on her skin flares again

brighter, hotter

and Damon’s mark reacts.

Guests scream.

People back away.

Damon grabs Sera before she falls.

And I stand there, watching, heart racing, unable to move.

Because the glow

that impossible, throbbing light

is not supposed to look like that.

Not unless…

No.

No, that would mean

Sera gasps, holding Damon. “It’s starting.”

He lifts her easily, fear flashing in his eyes.

“Aria,” he says, voice broken. “Go home. Please. Now.”

“What’s happening?” I demand.

He hesitates.

Then he says the one thing that makes everything worse.

“She’s not just pregnant.”

The room spins.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

He looks at me with something like fear.

“It means the child is awakening early.”

“What kind of child awakens?”

He closes his eyes.

“One born to an Alpha…and to a bloodline that should not exist.”

Before I can speak, Sera yells.

Damon runs out with her in his arms.

The glow flickers wildly.

Everyone panics.

And I stand frozen, breath shaking, heart beating, mind spinning with questions.

But one thought pushes through all the chaos, sharp and cold and frightening.

Why did the mark glow when Damon touched her…

but also when he looked at me?

My world has ended.

And something new

something scary

has begun.

And I know, with a terrible feeling,

that this is only the beginning.

Why did Damon’s fated mark react not only to Sera… but to Aria as well?