บททั้งหมดของ Her Daughter’s Mate: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 47

Aria’s POVThe moment I stepped out of the Omega Block, the estate felt different. Not colder… not quieter… but tense, like it was holding its breath, waiting for the next storm. My hands clutched the fabric of my dress a little too tightly, though there was nothing to hold on to. Nothing except the weight of everything that had just happened… and Lucian.He was already ahead, moving through the corridors with that silent command that made everyone step aside, sometimes without knowing why. The way he walked… it’s not just Alpha posture. He moved with an aura that bends space and time around him. With each step he took, I felt it in my chest… tight, anxious, protective.“Aria,” he said without looking back. That one word was enough to pull me forward, faster than my own feet wanted to move.I caught up, my heart thumping. “Lucian… what now?”He paused at the corner, leaning against the wall, jaw tight, golden eyes scanning every hallway, every shadow. “Now…” he started, voice low, da

Aria’s POVThe silence in my room felt staged.Everything looked calm on the surface. Curtains drawn. Fire dying low. Clock ticking steadily on the mantle like nothing in the world had shifted. But my chest felt tight, like I’d been holding my breath for hours without realizing it.I sat on the edge of the bed with my hands resting over my stomach. I kept catching myself doing that. Not consciously. Just instinct. Protective. Like if I stayed still enough, quiet enough, the secret inside me would remain invisible.Damien was gone.Banished. Stripped. Removed from the Vale like a rot cut cleanly from bone.I should have felt relief. I tried to tell myself I did. But the air felt thinner instead. Sharper. Like the real danger had simply stepped back to get a better angle.A knock sounded at the door.I flinched.“Aria.”Lucian.Before I even opened it, I felt him. The pressure of his presence bled through the wood, raw and unsettled. This wasn’t the calm Alpha who’d commanded the Assemb

Lucian’s POVMara Hale didn’t move past the threshold.That alone told me everything I needed to know.Most people stepped into the Vale estate like trespassers trying to prove they belonged. Mara stood as though the house itself was on trial, and she was here to observe, not plead.“Mrs. Hale,” I said evenly. “You weren’t announced.”She inclined her head, polite but unapologetic. “I didn’t expect to be.”Her gaze flicked briefly to Elias, then back to me. Sharp. Measuring. She was taking inventory… of guards, of exits, of the tension in the air.Of me.“I requested passage at the outer gate,” she continued. “They allowed me through.”I glanced at Elias. His jaw tightened.That would be dealt with later.“Walk with me,” I said.She did, falling into step without hesitation, her pace calm, unhurried. No awe. No discomfort. As though she’d walked halls like these before… not this one specifically, but halls built on power and silence.“You came a long way,” I said.“Yes.”No embellishm