A SECRET BENEATH HER HEART

Three weeks later, Aria had learned that surviving was very different from living.

Ashbourne was a quiet town filled with narrow streets, small shops, and houses with faded paint. Nobody knew her name. Nobody cared that she had once been destined to become the Luna of one of the strongest werewolf packs in the country.

To everyone here, she was simply a young woman looking for work.

And that was exactly what she wanted.

She found a small room above a bakery owned by a middle-aged woman named Mrs. Evelyn Hart.

The room had a narrow bed, a tiny wardrobe, and a window overlooking the street.

It wasn't much.

But it was hers.

"You can pay me at the end of the month," Evelyn had told her when she first arrived. "Provided you help around the bakery when you can."

Aria had nearly cried at the kindness.

She had spent years believing that her future was secure because she had a mate.

Now she was discovering that kindness could come from complete strangers.

Every morning, she helped Evelyn prepare bread and pastries before opening hours. In the afternoons, she cleaned the shop and served customers.

It was exhausting work.

But exhaustion was better than remembering.

Unfortunately, her body had begun behaving strangely.

She felt sick almost every morning. Certain smells made her stomach turn, and she sometimes became so dizzy that she had to sit down.

At first, she blamed the stress.

Then she began counting the days.

Her fingers went cold.

"No," she whispered.

She counted again.

And again.

Her period was late.

Very late.

A terrible thought began forming in her mind, one she desperately wanted to reject.

It was impossible.

She and Kael had barely spoken privately during the weeks leading to the rejection. Their relationship had been distant and strained, and she had spent so much time trying to earn his affection that she could barely remember the few moments when he had treated her gently.

But there had been one night.

One night before everything fell apart.

A night when Kael had returned from a dangerous patrol, wounded and exhausted.

A night when he had looked at her differently.

For a few precious hours, he had allowed himself to be vulnerable. He had drawn her close, rested his forehead against hers, and whispered that he sometimes wished his life could be simpler.

She had believed him.

She had believed that perhaps the distance between them was finally disappearing.

By morning, he had withdrawn behind his familiar walls.

And weeks later, he had rejected her.

Aria sank onto the edge of her bed.

If her suspicions were correct, she was carrying Kael Blackwood's child.

The child of the man who had publicly declared that she meant nothing to him.

A sob escaped her throat.

"What am I supposed to do?" she whispered.

Her wolf stirred faintly.

This time, Aria felt it.

A soft warmth spread through her body, followed by an unfamiliar sense of protectiveness.

It wasn't directed toward Kael.

It was directed toward the tiny possibility growing inside her.

Aria pressed both hands against her abdomen.

"Is there really someone there?"

The question frightened her.

She had no money to raise a child. She had no family nearby, no pack to protect her, and no idea whether her unusual symptoms were even normal.

Yet beneath the fear, something else began to take root.

Hope.

Small and fragile, but real.

The following afternoon, Aria visited a small clinic on the other side of town.

She sat in the waiting room with her hands clasped tightly in her lap, listening to the steady ticking of a clock.

When the nurse finally called her name, Aria stood so quickly that the room seemed to tilt.

The examination felt endless.

Then the doctor returned with a gentle smile.

"Congratulations, Aria. You're pregnant."

For a moment, the words meant nothing.

She stared at the woman.

"I'm... what?"

"You're pregnant. Based on your dates, you're still in the early stages."

Aria's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

The doctor continued explaining the next steps, the importance of prenatal care, and the need to return for follow-up appointments.

Aria heard very little.

She was having a baby.

A tiny life was growing inside her.

And the father was Kael.

Her first instinct was to tell him.

For one foolish second, she imagined walking into the Blackwood mansion and watching his face change when she told him.

Perhaps he would be shocked.

Perhaps he would regret what he had done.

Perhaps he would hold her and apologize.

Then she remembered his eyes on the night of the rejection.

Cold.

Unmoved.

Certain.

I reject you.

Aria lowered her gaze.

She couldn't build her child's future around the hope that Kael might suddenly become a different man.

And she would never use a baby to force him to accept her.

"If he doesn't want me," she whispered, "he doesn't get to decide whether this child deserves to be loved."

The doctor glanced up.

"Did you say something?"

Aria quickly shook her head.

"No. Nothing."

She left the clinic with a small packet of vitamins and a mind full of impossible decisions.

That evening, she sat beside her window and watched the sunset spread across Ashbourne.

She placed a hand over her stomach.

"I don't know what kind of mother I'll be," she admitted softly. "I don't know how I'm going to manage everything."

Her voice trembled.

"But I promise you something."

She drew a slow breath.

"You will never have to beg someone to love you. You will never have to wonder whether you're worthy of being chosen."

Tears slipped down her cheeks.

"I don't know if your father will ever know you exist. But I know this much. I will love you enough for both of us."

A sudden pulse of warmth moved through her abdomen.

Aria froze.

The sensation was brief, almost like a heartbeat answering her touch.

Then a whisper brushed the edge of her consciousness.

Not a voice she could understand.

Not exactly.

More like an ancient presence recognizing something familiar.

Aria stared at her reflection in the dark window.

Her eyes seemed different.

For one fleeting moment, a pale silver ring surrounded each iris.

Then it vanished.

She stumbled backward.

"What is happening to me?"

No answer came.

Far away, in Blackwood territory, Alpha Kael awoke from a dream with a strangled gasp.

He had seen a woman standing beneath a silver moon.

Her face was hidden.

Her arms were wrapped protectively around something he couldn't see.

And when she turned away from him, a voice had whispered through the darkness.

You have already lost what you were never worthy of keeping.

Kael sat upright in bed.

His heart hammered against his ribs.

He rubbed a hand over his face and cursed under his breath.

It was only a dream.

It had to be.

Yet the scent of wildflowers lingered in the room.

And for the first time since the rejection, Kael wondered whether Aria was truly safe.