Semua Bab The Alpha’s Betrayed Mate: Bab 121 - Bab 128

Aria's POVI wanted to keep the pregnancy private, at least for a little while longer.The morning after Elder Mira's confirmation, I woke to find Damon already awake, propped up on one elbow, watching me with an intensity that made my skin warm. His dark hair was tousled from sleep, his sharp eyes soft in the early light filtering through our window."How long are you going to stare at me?" I asked, unable to hide my smile."Forever, if you'll let me." His hand moved to my stomach, resting there with a gentleness that contrasted with his powerful frame. "You're carrying our child, Aria. Our child. Do you have any idea what that means to me?""I think I have some idea." I covered his hand with mine. "But Damon, I don't want to announce it yet. Can we keep it between us for a few more weeks?"His expression shifted, concern creasing his brow. "Why? The pack will be overjoyed.""I know. But I just want this to be ours for a little while. Before it becomes about the pack, about politics,

Hope's POVTwins.I placed my hand gently on my mother's growing belly, feeling the faint flutter of life beneath my palm. Two lives. Two souls that would be my siblings, my responsibility, my family."I promise to guide you," I whispered, knowing they couldn't hear me yet but needing to say it anyway. "To teach you everything I know. To protect you the way Mom and Dad protected me."Aria smiled from where she sat in the garden, the afternoon sun catching the highlights in her dark hair. She looked radiant, glowing with that inner light that came from carrying new life. "You're going to be an amazing big sister, Hope.""I hope so." I sat down beside her on the stone bench. "It's a big responsibility.""So is carrying two souls within yourself," Damon said, approaching us with rolled parchment under his arm. His tall frame cast a shadow that provided welcome shade from the heat. "But you've handled that with grace and strength."I felt the shadow-self stir within me, no longer separate

Damon's POVI couldn't stop staring at them. My hands, scarred from battles and stained with the blood of enemies, trembled as I cradled the tiny forms against my chest. The boy lay in the crook of my right arm, his golden eyes watching me with an awareness no newborn should possess. The girl rested against my left side, her silver gaze equally piercing, equally strange.They were so small. So fragile. Yet the power radiating from them made my wolf pace restlessly beneath my skin."Damon," Aria whispered from the bed, her voice weak but filled with warmth. "You're shaking."I was. I didn't realize it until she said it. My entire body trembled with emotions I couldn't name. Fear. Wonder. Love so fierce it burned through my chest like wildfire."I've torn apart rogues with my bare hands," I said, my voice rough. "I've led armies. I've killed men twice my size without flinching. But this..." I looked down at them again. "This terrifies me."Aria smiled, exhaustion painting shadows under

The full moon hung heavy in the night sky, casting silver light across the clearing where wolves from both packs had gathered. It had been twenty years since that stormy night when Lexa and Kaelen first entered the world, and tonight we celebrated something even more precious.I stood beside Damon at the edge of the gathering, his hand warm in mine, watching as Lexa moved through the crowd with her mate, a strong wolf from the northern territories named Ashton. His dark hair and gentle eyes complemented her silver gaze perfectly, and the way he looked at her reminded me so much of how Damon had once looked at me, still looked at me, with awe and devotion."She's happy," Damon murmured, his thumb stroking the back of my hand."She is," I agreed, my voice thick with emotion. "I never thought I'd see this day. Our daughter, mated and blessed by the Moon Goddess herself."Kaelen approached us, his golden eyes bright with joy. At twenty, he'd grown into a formidable warrior, his broad shou