บททั้งหมดของ Her Daughter’s Mate: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Aria’s POVThe descent into the Omega Block didn’t feel like walking into another part of the estate…it felt like being lowered into something forgotten. Something the living weren’t meant to enter.The air grew colder with every step we took down the narrow staircase. No warm lights. No polished floors. Just raw stone, old iron, and the deep quiet of a place built for secrets, not people. I wrapped my arms around myself, partly for warmth, partly because my body still hadn’t processed everything that happened in the last hour.Lucian didn’t speak at all as he led me down. He moved fast but carefully, checking every bend, every shadow. His hand rested lightly against my lower back, protective, steady, but charged with the tension pulling through his entire body.When we finally reached the bottom, he unlocked the last heavy steel door. No electronic pads. No retinal scans. He used three manual keys and a rotating mechanism that looked older than both of us combined.Safe from hacking.

Aria’s POVAfter Lucian left, the room didn’t rush back into silence the way it had before.This time, the quiet crept in slowly. Like it was testing me. Like it wanted to see if I would notice.I stayed standing long after the door locked. My hand hovered in the air where his had been a second earlier, fingers slightly curled, like I could still feel the warmth if I concentrated hard enough. I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe properly. I just listened.Nothing.No scrape.No vibration.No whisper.That somehow made it worse.I sat down eventually, slow and careful, like sudden movement might set something off. My body felt fragile, stretched thin. Every nerve was awake. Every sound—my breath, the faint shift of fabric when I moved—felt too loud.I wrapped my arms around myself and stared at the opposite wall.Someone wants us rattled.Lucian’s words replayed in my head, sinking deeper with every repetition.I tried grounding myself the way Mara taught me when my thoughts spiraled—naming

Lucian’s POVLeaving Aria in the Omega Block felt wrong in a way I couldn’t reason away.The heavy steel door sealed behind me with a dull, final click, and the sound stayed lodged in my chest like a splinter. I stood there for half a second too long, palm still hovering near the lock, every instinct screaming to turn around and undo it.But I didn’t.Because the last message had already crossed a line I couldn’t afford to ignore.I know you’re alone.I can get to you.That wasn’t observation anymore.That was a challenge.Someone wasn’t just watching Aria… they were speaking to her. Reaching into the one place I’d buried her for safety and proving, without subtlety, that stone and steel didn’t mean a damn thing to them.It wasn’t just a threat.It was humiliation.I walked away before my wolf forced me to tear the corridor apart.The halls leading back to the Hub felt tighter than before, like the estate itself was holding its breath. Every scent registered sharper. Every echo sounde

Aria’s POVI didn’t hear the Assembly end.I felt it.Something in the air shifted, like the estate had exhaled after holding its breath for too long. The Omega Block hummed the same way it always did, but my wolf stirred uneasily, restless, pacing inside me like it was listening for a sound only it could hear.Something had gone wrong.Or right.Sometimes those felt the same.I was sitting on the cot when it hit me—that sudden hollow drop in my stomach, the kind you get when you miss a step you thought was there. My hand came up to my chest without permission, fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt like I could anchor myself to my own heartbeat.Lucian.Everything always circled back to him.The waiting was the worst part. Not knowing. The quiet stretched too thin, turning every second into something sharp. I tried to count my breaths. In, out. Slow. Steady. But my thoughts kept drifting back to the same thing.The shawl.I could see it so clearly. The soft gray one I’d grabbed

Night didn’t fall all at once.It crept in slowly, like it was unsure it was welcome.The Omega Block lights dimmed automatically, casting the walls in that dull amber glow meant to calm nerves. It never worked on me. It just made everything feel smaller. Closer. Like the walls were leaning in to listen.I sat on the edge of the cot, elbows on my knees, staring at the floor.I hadn’t moved in a while.My body felt tired in that deep, hollow way that sleep doesn’t fix. The kind that comes from holding yourself together for too long and realizing you don’t know how to set yourself down gently anymore.Damien was gone.That should’ve felt like relief.Instead, it felt like the quiet after something explodes. Your ears still ringing. Your instincts still braced for impact.My thoughts kept circling Lyra.Not Damien being dragged away. Not the Assembly. Not even Selene’s silence.Lyra.I’d spent years convincing myself that if I stayed small enough, quiet enough, careful enough, I could sh