Chapter 2.

ARIA'S POV

For a few seconds, I can only stare at Lily because I can't believe Damon doesn't want our baby alive. The thought cuts deeper than anything else she has said, and suddenly, all I can feel is rage.

"How could he do this?" I whisper, my eyes burning with tears as I look at her. "This is his child too."

Lily's smile widens into that soft, sisterly smile she always showed me.

"Like hell I care, Aria," she says lightly and turns away from me. "Guards, I'm done talking to this murderer. Give her the first lash."

"What, wait!" I scream, but the soldiers force me down onto my knees. One grabs my shoulders while another raises the venom-soaked whip. I wrap both arms around my stomach, my entire body shaking.

"Please, Lily..." My voice breaks. "Don't hurt my baby. I'm innocent."

Lily doesn't even look back. She's admiring my Luna ring flashing on her finger as she walks in a slow, lazy circle around me.

"Then confess," she says, her voice suddenly sickeningly sweet, and loud enough for the whole hall to hear. "Confess, big sister. And I might be merciful."

She might be merciful to me when I'm Luna?!

I start shaking so hard my teeth clatter. I can't believe Damon sent my stepsister to punish me for a crime I didn't commit.

"I didn't do it," I cry now. "Please, Lily, please. I didn't do it. You of all people should know that I would never hurt my father."

Lily pouts, mock-sad. "So you won't confess?"

"I CAN'T! I didn't do it!"

"If you say so," she gives the guard behind me a little nod, and the first lash lands on my back.

I don't scream. I weep, because the whip is soaked in wolf venom and without my wolf awake to protect me, it feels like my skin is being peeled off with fire. The smell of my own burning flesh fills my nose.

And then a warm gush between my legs pours down my thighs onto the marble floor.

I know instantly my water broke, and Dana screams from where she fell.

"STOP THIS! PLEASE! Can't you see? You have induced her labor prematurely! Look at her!"

Lily looks down at the puddle spreading beneath me and scoffs.

"Well," she says, tilting her head and smiling again. "She has to confess before she is let go. She can't just kill my father and get away with it, can she? That wouldn't be fair to all of us."

"That's a joke!" I sob, trying to crawl away from her and protect my belly. "Why would I kill my father? I love my father!"

"Second lash," Lily says calmly, and almost cheerfully.

The guard raises his arm again. The second lash hits me, and this time I can't hold the whimper in because hot, thick blood pours out from between my legs and everyone gasps.

"Please!" I scream weakly. "You're going to kill my innocent baby for nothing! I did not kill my father!"

"I don't believe you." Lily raises her hand again, signaling the guard.

"You don't believe me?!" I finally break, looking up at her. "Lily, I'm your sister, yet you are sentencing me to punishment for a crime I didn't commit. Why?!"

She crouches down, grabs my jaw, and hisses, "Because you took the man I've always wanted, and you were never my sister. You were just the girl whose father pitied us."

Took her man?

The words steal my breath for a moment because as far as I know, the Moon Goddess fated Damon to me on my eighteenth birthday. I didn't steal him from her…

My mind reels as the truth sinks in. I can't believe she's doing all of this because of jealousy.

"Now, continue with the punishment," Lily says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"No — please!" Dana drops to her knees, scrambling forward despite the guards blocking her. "Please! If truly the Alpha did not order her death, then she should be spared! His order was not that she should be killed. You said it yourself — she must confess. How can she confess if she bleeds out on this floor? Allow us to help her. Let us help her deliver this baby, then you can continue with her punishment!"

The hall goes silent. All the pack mates are staring at Lily now.

Lily hesitates as her jaw works. l know she hates being challenged in front of everyone, but she hates looking like a tyrant even more — especially when Damon isn't here to back her.

She flicks her hand, annoyed.

"Fine," she snaps. "Make it quick. My patience will not wait for you to finish cooing over a bastard child. Help her get it out, then I will continue."

Dana and two other ladies don't wait to be told twice. They rush toward me and position me into the delivery position.

"She's bleeding too much! We need to get the baby out now or we lose them both!" Dana shouts.

But I collapse onto my back because the pain in my stomach is no longer pain. It's my body tearing itself apart.

"Dana, I feel the urge to push."

"Okay, you can do so on the next contraction," Dana cries, her hands covered in my blood, and when the next contraction comes, I push with everything I have left.

Moments later, a tiny, slippery body slides out of me, silent.

Dana's face crumples.

"I'm sorry, Aria," she whispers, picking him up with trembling hands. "He is gone."

"No..." I sob, reaching for him, while my whole body convulse. "Please... Save him!"

Dana doesn't answer. She just shakes her head, tears streaming down her face.

And from above me, Lily laughs a short, delighted, disgusted laugh.

Everyone looks at her.

"Don't look at me like I'm the villain," she says loudly, clasping her hands together like she's a saint. She looks down at my dead son in Dana's arms and smiles. "Think of this moment as good riddance. Honestly, one less bastard to pollute the Alpha's bloodline. Look at it, Aria. It didn't even want to live. Even your own pup knew you were a murderer and refused to breathe for you. What a shame — you killed Dad, and now you've killed your bastard too. How fitting."

I choke on a scream. "Don't say that — Dana, please give him to me —"

"What? You want to hold a dead bastard?" Lily steps closer, nudging her shoe near the blood. "Guard, get it and throw it into a fire. We don't bury a murderer's bastards on pack land."

Lily's order rips through me harder than the death of my son, and before I can even process her words, another contraction tears through my body. I gasp, not realizing what is going on.

"Dana, what's happening to me?"

"There's another pup!" one of the women suddenly shouts. "She's carrying twins!"

"Twins?!"