All Chapters of Against All Odds: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

* Cerberus *I held him, Archer, in my arms, and the world held its breath. Everything stilled. Not silence, but reverence. The kind of stillness that follows after storms, when the air is thick with change and the trees lean forward to listen.His silver eyes didn't blink. They watched me, not like an infant gazing at a father, but like a soul ancient enough to remember when the stars were born. My pulse quickened. Not in fear. In knowing.Zeina leaned her head back against the stones, the last of her strength fading into the sacred soil, but her power, our power, had already taken root. Her lips parted, her voice barely a whisper, "He knows you."My vision blurred, not from blood, not from exhaustion, but from something I hadn't allowed myself in years. Tears.Not of grief. But of reverence. Of awe.Archer's fingers tightened around mine, and the runes on the walls flared gold. I felt the mountain recognize him, not just as heir, but as its heart reborn. The old magic, the deep wild

* Zeina *I woke again just before dawn. The silence was different now, still, yes, but not empty. It was the kind of stillness that came with breath held between heartbeats. The mountain breathed with us. Around us. For us.Archer stirred lightly against my chest, and I ran a fingertip along the curve of his cheek. His warmth grounded me more than sleep ever could. Outside, the faintest silver blush of morning light touched the stone walls. Dawn creeping in, cautious, as if afraid to disturb the miracle that had taken root here.Cerberus hadn't moved from his spot. His eyes were softer now, rimmed with a tiredness no victory could erase. But when I looked at him, really looked, I saw something there that hadn't existed before.Hope. Not the naive kind. Not the kind that waits for fate to act. But the kind that builds fate. With teeth. And blood. And unshakable will."He's perfect," Cerberus murmured, barely above a whisper. "But he's also... more. You feel it too, don't you?"I nodde

* Zeina *The dreams were tangled threads of gold and fire. Of voices whispering from the mouth of the earth and the stars bleeding names I didn't recognize. I floated somewhere between pain and peace, in a sleep so deep it bordered on memory. But slowly just like dawn pouring through a crack in the dark, I rose.The ache was everywhere. A deep, marrow-deep exhaustion that made each breath feel earned. But even through it, I felt him.Archer. My son.His presence was like a steady hum in the back of my skull, warm and anchoring. I could feel when he was near. Could feel him feel me. The cord between us still thrummed with shared power, raw, unrefined, and yet... ancient. More ancient than anything I'd ever carried within me before.I stirred with a groan, my fingers curling over the woolen blanket that covered my stomach, still sore from the birth. The scent of pine smoke and milk filled the air. And beneath it, him. His scent. Wild magic and warm blood. A child born under the veil, b

* Zeina *The warmth of the furs tangled around me, but it was the weight of Archer against my chest that truly anchored me. Not the lingering pain still stitched through my muscles, not the magic that crawled sluggishly back into my bones like a reluctant tide, but him, our son. Small, soft, impossibly powerful. The child the stars whispered of. The one they feared enough to send messengers before his umbilical cord had cooled.My arms trembled as I held him tighter. Not out of weakness alone, though I was still so weak I could feel the earth swaying, but out of something older. Primal. Protective. I had drawn him out of blood and pain and defiance, had screamed his name into the wind before he ever had one. And now... now he breathed against my skin like he'd always been here, as though the mountain itself had made room for him long before I ever did.Each breath I drew was stolen from some forgotten wellspring buried in my bloodline. The kind of strength only summoned in two sacred

* Zeina *The wind whispered through the open chamber windows, brushing against my skin like a forgotten kiss. It didn't chill me. Not anymore. I welcomed it, invited the wildness back into my bones. But still, when I reached inward, toward the place where my wolf used to live, I felt... nothing.Not rage. Not silence. Just absence.The first time I realized I couldn't shift after the birth, I didn't speak of it. Not to Donna. Not even to Cerberus. My body, though healing, was foreign to me. The muscles remembered power, the instincts remembered command, but the bond to the beast within me remained quiet. Dormant. Sleeping like a moonless sky. But I did not mourn it.I watched Archer sleep with his cheek against my bare shoulder, his small breaths warming my skin. And in that stillness, I realized something profound.This was enough.I gave up the feral edge of the wolf to bring him into the world. I bled under the stars for him, screamed into the dirt while the moon turned red and th