LOGINCiara’s POV
The room went deathly quiet. My heart hammered so hard I thought it would crack my ribs. Dax pulled me against his chest in one smooth, possessive motion. His arms locked around me hard, unyielding, and protective and for the first time in my life I felt… safe. Truly safe. His scent wrapped around me, it was like dark pine, smoke, and raw power and my body melted into him without permission. I wanted to bury my face in his shirt, cling to him, and never leave this cage of heat and strength. But he was still my father-in-law. The infamous Dax Blackthorne. The monster who ruled with blood and fangs. I stayed still barely breathing, afraid this fragile peace might break. Stupid Jasper couldn’t keep his dog mouth shut for long. “Father…” His voice cracked, anger bleeding through the fear. “That can’t be your child. She’s lying. She has to be.” Dax’s arms tightened around me, enough to make me gasp softly. I felt the low rumble in his chest before he spoke. “Were you the one who fucked her, Jasper Blackthorne?” The question came calm, deadly calm. An insane aura surged from him suffocating the room. Jasper flinched hard. “No… no, Father. But give me a few hours. I’ll find the truth, I’ll...” “Enough.” One word and it was quiet and final. The room flinched as if slapped. Dax didn’t raise his voice. Power rolled off him in waves, and even the doctors backed up a step. Jasper’s mother went white, lips trembling but silent. Dax looked down at me, eyes softening for one heartbeat and then he turned cold again as he addressed the room. “She carries my pup. My blood. My child.” His voice dropped lower, and lethal “Anyone who speaks against it again dies tonight. Anyone who touches her dies slower. Anyone who even thinks of harming what’s mine… will beg for death before I’m done.” Jasper’s face twisted with shock, rage, and humiliation. He opened his mouth, closed it. Opened again. Nothing came out. My mother stared at me like I’d grown horns. My father’s jaw was so tight I swore I heard bone crack. The rest of the room looked like they’d witnessed Satan stroll in wearing Armani and claim his favorite toy. Deep down, way deep where the good girl didn’t dare look, I was enjoying the fuck out of it. Let them choke on their shock. Let them see how the “timid princess” made the biggest monster in the world growl possessive over her womb. Dax’s arms stayed locked around me safely. My traitorous pussy clenched just from the heat of him, nipples scraping the thin gown like they were begging for his mouth. God, what kind of slutty body did I have? This man was my father-in-law, the devil who probably ate hearts for breakfast, and here I was getting wet like a bitch in heat because he held me. Pathetic! Horny! Ruined! Jasper finally scraped words together, voice shaking, “Father… she’s my wife. The marriage stands. The alliance...” “The alliance,” Dax said softly, “ends when I say it ends.” I flinched against his chest. He looked down at me, eyes softening for one heartbeat, only one then sighed, low and rough. “You must be worn out, huh, little moon?” Little moon. The pet name hit me hard and caressed me at the same time. Cute. Weird. Possessive. My stupid heart stuttered while my mind screamed... What the fuck is wrong with you, Ciara? He’s calling you pet names while your husband stands there seething and your family wants to disown you. You’re dripping for a man who probably knots women in his sleep and buries the bodies before breakfast. I blinked rapidly, throat tight, and managed a tiny nod. Dax’s thumb brushed my cheek gently and almost tender, wiping away a tear I didn’t realize was there. Then he raised his voice just enough for the room to hear. “Everyone is tired. This ends for today.” He looked at my mother, tone leaving no room for argument. “Take your daughter back to rest. The Blackthorne family will return tomorrow to settle this properly.” My mother stepped forward hesitantly, hand outstretched. I felt Dax’s arms loosen, and panic spiked hard in my chest. No. Don’t let go. Don’t leave me with them. They’ll slap me again. They’ll drag me to some back-alley clinic and carve your child out while I scream. He must have felt the tremor because he caught my hand before I could be pulled away. His fingers wrapped around mine, he was big, and warm “Don’t be scared, little moon,” he murmured, so low only I could hear. “I will come tomorrow. I will settle everything. I won’t ruin your life… or your wedding.” I wanted to scream at him... Don’t go. Don’t leave me here. Stay. Protect me. Claim me. Fuck me right here on this hospital bed so they all know who I belong to now. But the timid girl they raised swallowed every wild word, and I just nodded, small and obedient but breaking inside. My mother took my other arm. I let her lead me toward the door, legs shaky, and heart screaming. As we reached the threshold, Dax’s voice sliced through the silence directed at my father. “Dagon.” My father froze mid-step. Dax’s tone dropped darker. “Nothing happens to Ciara. Nothing happens to my pup. Or I will burn your entire bloodline to ash and piss on the graves. Capisci?(Do you understand?)” My father’s shoulders stiffened and he nodded, probably lost his voice. Ha! Who'll have thought the man who only sees me as currency was this scared. I looked back, I couldn’t help it. Dax stood in the center of the room like a dark god, eyes locked on me. Jasper was beside him, seething, fists clenched, and face red with humiliated rage but he didn’t dare speak, not in front of the real mafia alpha. I sighed, quietly broke and let my mother pull me through the door. The hallway swallowed us. My family closed ranks around me and whispers started immediately, Italian curses, hissed accusations, promises of “discipline later.” I kept my head down, tears silent now. But inside? My mind was a screaming, filthy riot. You limp-dick motherfucker, Jasper. Standing there shaking like a scared puppy while your daddy claimed what’s in my womb. Bet your tiny cock never made anyone clench like that. Bet you couldn’t knot a bitch if your life depended on it. Damn you for wanting to harm me, two faced limp-dick. And you, Dax Blackthorne… calling me little moon like I’m yours to pet and ruin. Fuck you for making me want it. Fuck you for making me feel safe. Fuck you for breeding me when you were supposed to be sterile. I’m carrying a monster’s child. And God help me… part of me wants to keep it. Part of me wants him to come back tomorrow and finish what he started that night. I’m so fucked. So beautifully, darkly, and irrevocably fucked. (Hello, and thank you for reading this far. I hope you’ll be patient and follow Ciara’s journey with me. This story is not incest, and I’m truly glad to have you here. Expect twists, fun, and a beautiful, erotic journey as we discover it together. Please leave your reviews and share your thoughts, plssss... this newbie author is always open to feedback. Thank you.)Inara’s POVBy the time Asher and I reached the lower level, I was half leaning on him and half pretending I was not.The drugs were still crawling through my body, making my legs heavy and my head feel like somebody had packed it with wet sand, but fear kept dragging me forward. I had stopped caring how much blood I had lost or whether my vision blurred every few steps. Ciara was somewhere down here. That was enough.Then I saw Dax.He was standing in front of a sealed wall at the end of the corridor, punching it hard enough to shake dust loose from the ceiling. His knuckles were split open, blood running down his fingers, but the wall did not move but he hit it again anyway.And again.Men were spread through the lower passage pulling panels apart, checking old markings, shouting over one another while Marcus barked orders from behind them. Somebody was trying to cut through the stone. Somebody else was tracing the current embedded in it.None of that mattered, I looked behind Dax b
Dax’s POVI left Ayla on the floor because there was nothing else worth saying to her while Ciara was somewhere beneath us. I had already forced my sister into submission, already heard enough excuses about the realm, the war and what she thought Ciara might become. None of it mattered the moment fear tore through the bond again, sharp enough to make my entire body lock for half a second.Then I heard her scream my name.“Dax!”The sound came from somewhere below and hit the bond at the same time. My wolf exploded so violently that claws pushed through before I even started running.“Mate.”“I know.”I tore through the lower corridor while the emergency lights flickered on and off above me, following the bond instead of the signs carved into the walls. Every few seconds, Ciara’s fear struck again, but weaker each time, and that scared me more than the screaming had. Fear meant she was conscious. Fading meant somebody was doing something to her.“Ciara!” I roared her name into the pass
Ciara’s POVThe lights died halfway down the corridor.One second, I was being moved between four guards with my wrists still restrained and a portable suppression frame humming somewhere behind me, and the next, everything went black. Somebody cursed. Another guard shouted for emergency power, then the suppression field around me flickered so violently that pain shot through my arms and purple current burst beneath my skin before I could stop it.I gasped and stumbled.The guard beside me grabbed my elbow. “Keep moving.”“Get your fucking hands off me.”He ignored me and pulled harder, but the darkness had changed something inside the corridor. The pressure that had been crushing my current for hours weakened in short bursts, and each time it did, something inside me pushed back harder. Purple light flickered over my fingers and climbed beneath my skin like it had been waiting for one mistake.Then shouting came from somewhere above.It wasn't the guards but the sound of fighting.So
(Thank you all for the comments, votes and support, I'll keep my promise and give a five chapter updates before this week runs out, THANKS Y'ALL, IT FEELS GOOD TO KNOW YOU’RE ALL STILL HERE. HEARTS)Dax’s POVThe lower medical level smelled like suppressant, blood and old Blackthorne magic, and every step I took made my wolf more violent.Ciara was close.I could feel enough through the bond now to know that much, though whatever Ayla had built around this place kept smothering the connection before I could reach her properly. Fear still leaked through sometimes, sharp enough to make my chest tighten, and beneath it was the pup, faint but alive. That alone kept me moving instead of tearing the entire compound apart blindly.I reached the final corridor before the Blood-Eclipse section and found Ayla waiting for me.I knew she'd confront meShe stood between me and the old security doors with blood on one sleeve and exhaustion carved into her face, but there was nothing uncertain about
Asher's pov.Taking in a deep breath, I crouched beside the chair and reached for the remaining cuff, but the second my fingers touched the metal, my wolf snarled at the restraint so violently that claws pushed through. “Move your hand,” I told her, already gripping the damaged lock.Inara looked down at the cuff, then slowly back at me with the deeply offended expression of somebody whose brain was moving three seconds behind everything else. “My hand is attached to me.”“Very observant.”“I’m drugged, not stupid,” she slurred, which would have sounded more convincing if she had not nearly missed my face while trying to glare at me.“Debatable.”A low chuckle escaped me, and she tried laughing too, but the sound came out weak and uneven. That killed my amusement immediately. I tore the first cuff apart, then the second, before moving to the restraint across her chest. The old Blackthorne seals fought harder there, but half the system had already been damaged by whatever she had done
Asher’s POVThe moment we crossed the outer ward, my wolf stopped pretending he was under control.The scent hit me all at once, stronger than it had been inside the abandoned vehicle. Blood, suppressant, old Blackthorne metal, burnt containment seals and beneath everything else, that strange orange current my wolf had been obsessing over since we found the first trace of Inara. Only now it carried something else with it.I could literally feel the pain and fear that comes with itMy wolf slammed against me so hard I nearly stumbled.“Find her.” his voice filled my being “I’m trying.”“Now!”I had heard him furious before and I've heard him bloodthirsty, territorial and stupid enough to want fights that would leave both of us half-dead, but I had never heard fear in him.That scared me more than I wanted to admit.Dax was already moving deeper into the compound with Marcus and the others when I stopped near a branching corridor. Ciara’s scent pulled one way, faint beneath layers of s







