All Chapters of Too Late To Claim Me: Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

AriaThe atmosphere in the council chamber was different today.Maybe it was the light of the morning sun as it streams through the tall windows, casting gold across the worn stone floor. Or the way the elders looked at me now, not with suspicion, neither disdain like the first time I was here, but with something that almost resembled respect.Or maybe it was because for the first time in my life, I wasn't here to beg.I was here to offer them a future.I stood at the head of the long oak table, hands resting on the polished surface, heart steady in my chest. I'd dressed carefully this morning. Tailored navy suit. Hair swept back and my posture unwavering.I was not the Aria Hart, the disgraced daughter. I was not the unwanted bastard. I was not the rejected mate. I was Aria Hart, the Aurora Vance.And I was here to claim what was mine."Thank you for meeting with me." My voice was clear. Commanding. "I know this is unusual. I know many of you still question my presence here. My inte

AriaThe door slammed against the wall with a force that rattled the paintings hanging in the corridor outside. Selene stood there, chest heaving, dark hair wild around her face like a storm cloud ready to break. Her eyes... those cold, calculating eyes that had haunted my childhood, were blazing with something I had never seen before.Desperation.Raw, unfiltered, cornered-animal desperation."I know what you're going to say," she spat, her voice cracking like thin ice. "And I won't let you."My heart, already pounding from the words I had been about to speak, stuttered in my chest. The secret I had carried here... the life growing inside me, the impossible truth that would change everything, suddenly felt like a stone lodged in my throat."Selene." Remus's voice was sharp, a warning wrapped in steel. He had moved from behind his desk, his body angled between us like a shield. "What are you doing here?""What am I doing here?" She laughed. It was a broken sound, jagged edges sawing

Vivian Isn't this interesting. I said as I watched the color drain from Aria's face. Watched her hands tremble as she tried to smooth down her rumpled clothing, tried to piece herself back into something resembling dignity. But it was too late. I had seen everything. The flushed cheeks. The swollen lips. The way Alpha Remus stood behind her, his shirt half-untucked, his hair a disaster, his eyes still hazy with the aftermath of whatever had just happened between them. My lips curved into a smil

AriaThe world outside my window kept moving.I watched it through the glass as servants hurry across the courtyard with baskets of laundry, guards changing shifts with practiced gallant, trees swaying in a breeze I couldn't feel against my skin. Everything was exactly as it had been before. The sun rose. The birds sang. Life continued.But inside me, everything had stopped.I lay in the healer's bed, my body a hollow shell, my mind a vast, empty wasteland where thoughts dissolved before they could fully form. I couldn't cry anymore. I had cried until there were no tears left, until my eyes were swollen shut and my throat was raw from screaming into Marcus's shoulder. Now there was only silence. Only the weight of grief pressing down on my chest, making it hard to breathe, hard to think, hard to remember why I should keep drawing air into my lungs at all.I lost the baby.The words circled in my mind like vultures, picking at the bones of my sanity. Over and over and over again.I los

AriaI watched the photograph sat between us like a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding.I couldn't look away from it. Those silver eyes... my eyes.... stared back at me from a stranger's face. Dark hair. Sharp jaw. Lips curved in an expression I couldn't decipher.My brother.Alive.The monster who had tried to kill my son."Aria." Remus's voice came from somewhere far away. "Say something. Please."I opened my mouth, but the words lodged in my throat like stones. What could I possibly say? The foundation of everything I believed had just crumbled beneath my feet."I found it in the safe house." Remus kept talking, his tone careful, measured. "The one Vivian was allegedly using. There were documents. Plans. Letters."He paused, and I felt his hand hover near my shoulder, uncertain whether to touch me."All signed by him.""Who?" The word scraped past my lips."The Shadow." Another pause. "Your brother, Aria. Clara's son."The name hit me like a blade between the ribs.Clara's son. The i