ARIA’s POV…“It’s fine. You’ll be fine. Our baby will be fine.” Were the only words I could process in my head from Raymond.How we’d gotten to the hospital from the garden, how I was suddenly getting wheeled into the delivery room— these I didn’t know.What I knew however, was that Raymond was here. He was by my side.“Alpha Raymond, you’re going to have to remain outside.” The doctor said when he realized Raymond wasn’t letting go of my hand.“I can’t. I have to be with her. I won’t bother you with your work. I just want to see her and be sure she’s fine. Please.”I’d never seen Raymond plead with anyone else. His voice was vulnerable, his concern, fear, and care, evident to even the blind.“Fine.” The doctor gave in when he realized Raymond wouldn’t let go of my hand.I was in pain, a lot of pain, but with Raymond’s hand gently caressing mine, I felt a little better.HOURS LATER..“Push!” The doctor urged, Raymond’s hand squeezing even tighter on mine.“You can do this, love. I know
ARIA’s POV…My world stopped.Everything I thought was finally coming into place had crumbled and I had lost it all. I felt as empty as I did the very day my parents let me know I meant nothing to them.“No one would ever accept someone like you as a child, or a mate. To be related to you is shameful enough. I’d suggest you hop on the first person to make a move on you.”Only they didn’t give me that chance. They’d sold me off.Alpha Raymond had been my life. I’d gotten hope to live after he came into my life and I’d thought everything would be fine. Only it wasn’t. He’d rejected me.Like everyone else.The only difference? Unlike everyone else who’d thrown me out of their lives, he’d come back. And he was genuine. He loved me, and I loved him too. I wanted to live. With him. With our child.I couldn’t die. I couldn’t lose our first fight together.“Aria, no!” I heard his voice from afar.Life was fading. I could feel it, but I couldn’t just die. There had to be something I could do.“
RAYMOND’s POV….“What? How?” I yelled, almost losing control and snapping at the doctor. “What the hell is going on, goddamnit?”“Alpha Raymond, please calm down.” Eric tried to calm me, but I couldn’t be calmed.I was losing it, going crazy. With every second that passed, it felt like I was losing her, and losing her meant I was losing myself. I couldn’t deal with it.“She was stabbed, I got here almost immediately, so what fucking poison could be spreading through her right now?” I still had my hands on the doctor and he tried to get away in a respectful manner.“The knife had poison on it. It was a planned murder attempt. She’s still alive right now because you’d brought her here in time.”I let go of him when I heard she was still alive. I knew she was still alive because I could still feel life in my wolf. He would never survive if he’d lost his mate.“And the poison? How are you going to get it out of her?” My voice had lowered now and I felt like a person with imposter syndrom
RAYMOND’s POV…One minute, I’d been celebrating my wisdom and victory. I’d been so proud of the fact that I’d outsmarted Beta Luke who’d tried to flee the pack.The next, Ashley had made her comment.Somewhere within that minute, someone had stabbed Aria, and within that same minute, I’d run over to her, on my knees, holding her unconscious bleeding body in my arms.“Get the damn doctor! An ambulance! Get help!” I screamed like a crazed lunatic, everything in me paralyzed.The guards had seized the attacker, but I could care less at this moment. Right now, I could only think about one thing, one person— Aria. My mate, the love of my life, the woman whose life was now in danger because of me.“Alpha Raymond!”No one mattered at that moment. All that mattered was Aria and saving her life.“Aria, it’s fine. You’re fine. Please.” I muttered, unsure of who I was.I carried her in my arms, rushing out of the mansion immediately. I didn’t know how the black car got here, but I got into it i
RAYMOND’s POV…I could hear the murmurs that followed my announcement and I wasn’t surprised. They’d witnessed everything. They’d been here when I got ‘married’ to Aria. They’d also been here when I took Ashley in and treated Aria like she meant nothing. Now, I’d brought that same woman back. I couldn’t judge them for their murmurs. If I was in their shoes, I’d do the same.“Ashley, Alpha James, Beta Luke.” I called their names with disgust. “You’ve all been screaming to be let go, but never once have you asked what you did wrong. I assume you already know.”The guards brought Luke forward, throwing him at Ashley and her father’s feet and I smirked in satisfaction at the look of utter shock on his face.“You thought your tracks were clean, didn’t you? You thought you could kill everyone off so nothing would be traced back to you and it would be fine, didn’t you?” I clicked my tongue. “Pathetic.”I honestly felt insulted at how easy it’d been to catch all three of them.“I have—I have
ARIA’s POV…“You still won’t tell me why you asked me to come with you?” This was another attempt at getting him to speak, but he didn’t.“You said it was because you didn’t like the idea of leaving me alone at the house, but we know that’s not true. So, tell me the truth. Why am I actually coming?”He took his hand off the steering wheel, gently placing it on mine and smiling reassuringly.“You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you though, right? You know that whatever I do, I do with your best interests at heart.”I nodded. I’d been running from it for so long, but it was the truth. Lately, I’d come to see that he’d actually changed and everything he did, he actually did for me.“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it.”It wasn’t, but I couldn’t say anymore.It had been so sudden, him asking me to return to his pack with him because he was worried something would happen. In the days that passed, he’d managed to calm me about the whole harasser situation and since there’d been