COULD IT BE THAT.....?

AISHA

Damian wanted a child.

He had looked at that baby in his broad arms with a strange, deep softness in his eyes that I hadn't seen in months. And here I was, my mind completely twisted, still foolishly thinking of having a baby with Samson.

I paced back and forth across the rug in my bedroom, my mind spinning into a dark, chaotic storm.

If Samson is not the father of Mabel's baby, who then is?

Mabel had stood right in front of the entire High Council and declared that Samson was impotent. If Samson was shooting blanks, then who had bred her. But why was Mabel acting so confident? Why did she walk into my house this morning with her head held so high, laughing and chatting with Damian like they were old friends?

And then another terrifying, humiliating thought hit me like a physical blow to the stomach.

I have not ever gotten pregnant myself.

For years, Damian and I had made love without any protection, and nothing had happened. For three solid months, Samson had pounded my wet hole every single day, spilling his warm seed inside me again and again, and yet my womb remained completely cold and empty.

Could the fault be mine? Was I the broken one? Was I an infertile Omega who couldn't bear an heir for any Alpha?

The sheer weight of too many thoughts was threatening to crush my sanity. My head throbbed with a dull, heavy ache. I couldn't live in this agonizing uncertainty any longer. I needed a clear plan. I needed to regain control of my destiny before everything I had built crumbled into dust.

I stopped pacing and stared at my reflection in the mirror, my chest heaving, my eyes hardening with fierce determination.

First, I must get Damian to sleep with me again. I had to break through that wall of ice he had built around his heart, surrender my pride, and make him take me until my body was filled with his life.

Second, I must find out who fathered Mabel's child. I had to know what game Mabel and Samson were really playing.

And third, I must get pregnant by either of Damian or Samson.

Whoever gets me pregnant first—whoever proves his manhood by putting a child in my womb—that is the man I will choose. I will stand by him, face the whole world with him, and be completely loyal and faithful to him forever. I would lock my heart, bury my cheating past, and become a devoted mother and Luna to whichever Alpha gave me a legacy.

That night, the house went completely dark and silent.

I took a long, hot bath, scenting my skin with sweet jasmine oils. I dried myself slowly, leaving my skin soft and smooth, and slipped into a sheer, deep-red silk nightgown that clung softly to my hips and left very little to the imagination. I brushed my long dark hair until it fell in soft waves over my bare shoulders.

I took a deep, steadying breath, opened my bedroom door, and padded quietly down the carpeted hallway toward Damian's private study quarters.

My heart was hammering wildly against my ribs. I was ready to do whatever it took. I was ready to drop to my knees, beg him, kiss his feet, and use every seductive trick an Omega possessed to make him touch me tonight.

I reached his door. The heavy mahogany wood was pulled shut, but not fully latched—a narrow slit of golden light spilled out onto the dark floorboards.

I reached out my hand, my fingers hovering an inch over the brass handle, ready to push the door open.

Suddenly, a voice from inside stopped me dead in my tracks.

It was Damian. He was speaking on his private communication stone, his deep, resonant voice echoing softly against the tall bookshelves inside the room.

I froze. I drew my hand back, pressed my back flat against the cold wall beside the door frame, and held my breath, listening intently.

"Is the baby sleeping well?" Damian asked softly into the stone.

There was a brief pause as the person on the other end answered. I strained my ears, pressing closer to the crack in the door. I could hear the faint, muffled sound of a woman's voice speaking on the line.

"Good," Damian murmured, a low, gentle tone in his voice that made my blood run cold. "Make sure the nurse keeps him warm. The night air gets chilly near the eastern river."

Another pause. Then Damian spoke again, his tone turning serious, authoritative, yet strangely familiar.

"Don't worry about Aisha, Mabel. She doesn't suspect a thing. Everything is moving according to the plan we set three months ago."

My heart completely stopped beating.

The air vanished from my lungs. My knees buckled slightly, and I had to press both of my palms against the wooden wall to keep myself from collapsing onto the floor.

Mabel?

He was on the phone with Mabel. The woman who had murdered my brothers. The woman who had publicly humiliated Samson yesterday. The woman who had walked into my house this morning with a smug, victorious smile.

Damian’s voice floated through the crack in the door once more, sharp and clear in the quiet night.

"He has my chin, Mabel," Damian said, a low, quiet chuckle escaping his throat. "I carried him this morning just to be sure. When the High Council reconvenes next week, Samson won't have a single leg to stand on."

A violent, blinding shockwave ripped through my entire soul.

I covered my mouth with both hands to suppress the loud, horrified gasp that nearly tore from my throat. Tears of pure, unadulterated shock instantly welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision.

He has my chin...

The words repeated in my head over and over again, sounding like loud gunshots inside my brain.

Could Damian be the father of Mabel's child?!

My mind reeled, piecing together the terrifying puzzle in a fraction of a second. Three months ago, Damian had vanished from our home. He claimed he was hiding in the far eastern fortress... but Mabel had also been driving out to her private mansion near the eastern river!

Had Damian been sleeping with Mabel all this time? While Samson was in my bed using my body, had my own husband been sneaking into Mabel’s bed chamber, driving his dick into her, and planting his seed inside the Luna of Blue Wing?

Were Damian and Mabel secretly working together this whole time to destroy Samson and ruin me?!

I stood frozen in the dark hallway, shaking uncontrollably in my sheer silk gown, staring at the golden light leaking under Damian's door. The husband I was planning to seduce... the man I was ready to give my total loyalty to... might have fathered a child with my greatest enemy.