Chapter 3.

ARIA'S POV.

The word echoes through the hall while my mind goes into shock. How can I have twins when the scan confirmed only one child???

Lily, on the other hand, freezes as she whispers, "What?"

Dana looks up at her, terrified, as she confirms, "She's carrying twins."

For a heartbeat, Lily looks as stunned as I feel. Then her expression twists with pure, livid rage. Her sweet mask finally cracks.

"TWINS?!" she shrieks. "No! There has to be a mistake! The Goddess can't give her another chance to have an Alpha's child! The pack doctors confirmed she was only having one... I was there!"

"But there is," Dana says firmly.

Despite everything, a small smile touches my lips because the goddess gave me a second chance to become a mother even though Lily is hellbent to end my bloodline.

"Dana..." I breathe, gripping her hand. "I need to push again."

"Okay. Just like before," she says quickly. "Push when you feel the urge."

But before the next contraction can come, something inside Lily's eyes snap. She storms toward me, her face twisted with fury I have never seen before, and before anyone can stop her, she drives her foot into my stomach.

Pain explodes through me.

I scream, curling around my belly as another crushing wave of pain tears through my body... Then I wait for the contraction to continue, but it suddenly stops. The warmth between my legs turns cold, and a terrible silence settles inside me.

"No..." I whisper, pressing both hands against my stomach. "My babies..."

Lily stares down at me, breathing heavily, then smiles.

"Now there won't be any more bastards to compete for Damon's bloodline."

My heart immediately breaks into a million pieces. I can't believe she killed my baby in full view of the pack mates.

I reach for my stomach, sobbing as I feel the emptiness where the baby was still fighting to live moments ago. "Oh, Goddess why me..."

Lily scoffs, "Don't involve the goddess in your mess," she says, turning away like she didn't commit murder, "Now, shall we continue with the punishment?"

A guard swiftly comes and drags my body to be whipped. I don't fight him because my body is too weak to fight him. Besides, I have nothing else left to fight for.... My vision blurs, and the voices around me begin to fade.

Then —

BOOM

The massive banquet doors slam open so hard the walls shake. A gust of wind tears through the hall and an Alpha aura floods the room, so dominant and enraged, every wolf drops to their knees without thinking. Even Lily stumbles back, her hand flying to her throat.

"How dare you lay your filthy hands on my mate?!" A male voice roars with authority.

Mate? Is that Damon?

Did he come to save me? After everything?

I try to lift my head to him, but I can't. I'm too weak, and through the blur of tears, I only see a huge silhouette in the doorway.

Or am I imagining it? Is this what dying feels like — wishing so hard for the man who condemned me that my mind conjures him at the end?

Before I can get a clear picture of the person, the pain in my body fades into a dull numbness, I can barely feel my fingers anymore and the voices around me have grown quiet, as if everyone is moving farther away, while darkness creeps into the corners of my vision.

Oh goddess, please don't let me die like this…

I try to take one more breath but it burns my throat. I know I'm slipping away, and all I can think is that I don't want to die.

But death takes me anyway and for a few emotionless seconds, I feel nothing until a familiar voice breaks through, cracking my chest wide open.

'Aria? Wake up. It's our eighteenth birthday. Today we get to find out who our fated mate is.'

I bolt upright, gasping, hands flying to my stomach.

"Where are they? Where are my babies?!" I claw at myself, frantic but notice that my stomach is flat.

'They are not here. You're groping your eighteen-year-old body. We have been reborn.' My wolf's voice, Sasha fills my head.

"Sasha?" My breath catches. "You went dormant three years ago. How are you —"

'That was our past life, Aria. The Goddess gave us a second chance. Look around.'

I do and notice that I'm in my old bedroom in my father's house, laying on my bed.

Sasha is right. I am reborn…

Suddenly, my hands start shaking so hard at that revelation, I have to press them to my chest to make them stop.

For a second, I don't feel relieved. I feel the phantom weight of my babies and remember their deaths.

A sob rips out of me before I can stop it. "My babies... Sasha, my babies died. They didn't even get a chance at life."

Sasha whimpers. 'I felt them too, Aria. I felt them leave us.'

I curl into myself, hugging my flat stomach. "They were innocent. They did nothing wrong."

And then another memory slams into me harder than the grief.

The Alpha aura…

"Did you see him?" I grab my head, my heart suddenly pounding for a different reason. "At the end, Sasha. That Alpha pressure that made everyone kneel — was that Damon? Did he come for us?"

'I don't know,' she admits. 'I was still dormant but felt the Alpha pressure.'

That is the worst answer she could give me.

Because if Damon came bursting through those doors at the very last second, roaring for everyone to stop — then he saw me dying on that floor, in a puddle of my own blood and my pups' blood. But he was too late.

And if it wasn't him... then I'm even more pathetic than I thought. That means while I was bleeding out, my brain was still so in love with the man who ordered my punishment that it invented him saving me. It gave me a hero who never showed up.

I don't know which version makes me hate him more. Or hate myself more.

'Aria,' Sasha growls low, and I can feel her anger rising to match mine. 'Even if he did come, he sent Lily to punish us for a crime we didn't commit. He gave her our Luna ring and that gave her the power to kill us.'

“You are right,”

I clench my jaw until it hurts and wipe my tears with the back of my hand. My grief hardens into something cold.

“Then we make sure it never happens again. The Goddess gave us a second chance at life for a reason,” I whisper. “We make sure Damon Cross is never our mate, so my father can’t hand him the title. And we make damn sure we never, ever die at Lily’s hands again.”

My fingers curl into fists.

“I’m not letting that jealous bitch destroy my bloodline a second time.”

'Now you're thinking like an Alpha's daughter,' Sasha purrs, and I can feel her finally waking up fully inside me. 'But father will still have to retire eventually, Aria. You'll need a mate. If not Damon, then who becomes Alpha?'

"Anyone but him." I look at my young unscarred hands and make a vow to the two tiny souls I lost. "But let's not think that far. First, we make sure tonight our mate bond never happens."

Suddenly —

"ARIA! If you're done daydreaming about your precious mate, get down here!" My father's voice booms from downstairs.

"Dad's alive!" I don't think but run barefoot to him, in my old nightgown, practically falling down the stairs and slamming into the kitchen doorway.

I find him at the stove making coffee exactly the way he did before he died.

"Wow," he turns, startled.

And I throw myself at him. I hug him so hard he stumbles back.

"Daddy," I sob into his chest, breathing him in. "Daddy, I missed you. I missed you so much."

He freezes, then awkwardly pats my back. "Okay, drama queen. What happened? I haven't gotten this many hugs from you since you were seven and you wanted a new pony."

I laugh through snot and tears. "I just missed you. I love you so much."

His expression softens and holds me at arm's length, frowning at my tears.

"Aria... did you have a nightmare?"

I wipe my face. "Something like that. I just love you."

He sighs, smiling. "Okay. I love you too, kid. Now go get ready. We're going dress shopping for the mate ball tonight. You wanted the perfect dress just to impress Damon, remember?"

Damon. The name hits like another lash. And before I can answer, the kitchen door swings open.

"Morning, Daddy," Lily says, in her workout clothes, arms crossed, looking me up and down with that same fake-sweet smile she wore while my sons died. "Morning, sweet sister. Big day, huh? Turning 18 and finally meeting your fated mate?"

Something cold snaps inside my chest.

"I'm not your sweet sister," I snarl. "Stay the fuck away from me."