LOGINCiara’s povHearing Dax, my father knew he had lost and since he could not shout at Dax the way he shouted at me. He knew better. The rage remained in his eyes, trapped behind the caution he was forced to show the Alpha King, so he turned back to the person he believed he could still control.Me.“You have become unfilial,” he spat. “A daughter who humiliates her father and turns a wife against her husband has no respect for the people who raised her. You stand there wearing another family’s power and believe it gives you permission to dishonour your own blood.”The words hurt.Not because I believed them, but because part of me had always feared becoming exactly what he accused me of being. A bad daughter. An ungrateful child. Someone who failed the family because she wanted too much freedom.I inhaled slowly and stared at his bloodshot eyes,“If caring about my mother’s life makes me unfilial, then so be it.”His eyes widened slightly.“I will not apologise for refusing to put her i
Ciara’s POVMy father took a step towards me then another.The anger in his face was familiar enough to drag me backwards through years I thought I had escaped. My body remembered the sound of his shoes against the marble floors of the Dagon estate, the way an entire room would become quiet when his temper rose and how I had learned to lower my eyes before he reached me. Back then, I would have bowed my head before he even spoke, apologised without knowing what I had done and accepted whatever decision he made because disagreeing only stretched the punishment.This time, I did not move.My heart was beating so violently that I could feel it in my throat, but I kept my shoulders straight and met his eyes. Fear still lived inside me. I could not pretend otherwise. It crawled beneath my skin, telling me to soften my voice, step aside and allow him to take control before things became worse.I ignored it.“I mean no disrespect, Father,” I said, keeping my voice calmer than I felt. “But M
Ciara’s pov.Dax held me closer, patting my back lightly and more tears fell“It’s all right, little moon,” he murmured, one hand settling against the back of my head. “Daddy's here, I'm sorry I left you all alone.”“I don’t know what happened,” I whispered against him. “She was speaking and then those things appeared around her neck. We couldn’t touch them, Dax. She couldn’t breathe.”“I know.”“They said she was already sick. How could she be that sick without anyone treating her?”“We will find out.”His calm voice did not dismiss my fear. It held it, giving me room to fall apart without feeling ashamed.I clutched the front of his shirt. “What if she doesn’t wake up?”“She will, love, she definitely will.” he planted a kiss on my head and I sobbed more “You don’t know that.”“No,” he said quietly. “But I know she is receiving the best care available, and I know you need to breathe before you frighten the pup.”I tried to breathe, but another sob rose instead. Dax held me closer,
Ciara’s POVI had lost count of how many times I had walked from one end of the private hospital corridor to the other.The polished floor reflected the harsh white lights above me, and the smell of disinfectant sat heavily in the air, making my already unsettled stomach turn. Each time I reached the doors leading to the operating theatre, I slowed down, hoping someone would come out with news, but the red light remained on and the hallway stayed painfully quiet.My mother was still inside.Only a few hours ago, she had been kneeling before me, crying into my dress and calling me Cici as though the years between us had disappeared. Then those red threads had appeared around her throat and tightened until she could no longer breathe.The memory refused to leave me.Her face turning red, fingers clawing uselessly at her neck and the silent terror in her eyes as blood formed beneath the glowing strings.I had panicked so badly that I barely remembered what happened after screaming for he
Ciara’s pov.The tune came slowly at first, pulled from a memory I had not touched in years. It was an old Italian lullaby she used to sing whenever I woke from nightmares as a child. I could not remember every word, so I hummed the parts I knew, running my hand gently over her back the same way she used to do for me.My mother went still and her grip tightened painfully around my waist but I ignored the pain and continued humming.The room seemed to soften around us. Ella quietly moved farther away, giving us privacy, while I held the woman who had once sung the same melody beside my bed.For a few minutes, I was no longer a pregnant woman sitting inside a dangerous estate. I was a child again, and she was still the mother I believed could protect me from anything.Her sobs slowly weakened and her breathing steadied, though she did not release me. When the last note faded from my throat, silence settled between us and I blinked back the tears that were taking form in my eyes “You re
Ciara’s POVI stared at my mother, unable to move.Cici.She had not called me that in years.There was a time when the name followed me everywhere. She used it when I stole sugar from the kitchen, when I hid beneath her dresses during family gatherings and whenever I ran into her room with scraped knees after playing too roughly with Valerio. Back then, she would shake her head and call me her troublesome little Cici while cleaning the dirt from my skin.Then Valerio died or at least, we were made to believe he had.After that, everything changed. The laughter disappeared from our home, my father became colder and my mother slowly stopped looking at me like I was her child. Cici died with my brother, replaced by Ciara, spoken with distance and painful formality.Yet now she was on her knees, holding my legs and crying that forgotten name into my dress.“My Cici… Dio mio(My God), my little Cici.”Her voice broke, and something in my chest twisted painfully.I looked at Ella, silently







