Semua Bab His Dying Luna Became His Greatest Enemy : Bab 61 - Bab 70

Aria POVElla didn't move.She just sat there, staring at me like I'd asked her to walk into fire, which—knowing my luck lately—was probably coming next."Did you hear me?" I said. "Call my mother.""I heard you." Ella shifted in her seat, picking at the edge of her sleeve in that way she did when she was stalling. "It's just… are you sure you want to do that right now? You've been unconscious for three days, Aria. Maybe we should—""I've been unconscious for three days because something inside me has been feeding on my life force since before I knew it existed," I said flatly. "I don't have the luxury of timing. Call her."Ella looked at Dr. Whitfield. He gave a small nod.She pulled out her phone and stepped out of the room.***It took less than twenty minutes.That should've been my first warning. My mother didn't do anything in twenty minutes—not when it involved travel, not when it involved family emergencies, and definitely not when it involved me. She was the kind of woman who

Aria POV"So you kept it," I said. "For twenty-seven years."Dad nodded slowly. "We kept it."Mom wiped her eyes again. "We were terrified, Aria. She told us people were looking for her—for *you*. Mom reached for something beneath her collar. A thin chain I'd never noticed before.She pulled it out slowly, and hanging from the end of it was a small pendant—silver, crescent-shaped, with markings I couldn't quite make out in the dim light."She left this," Mom whispered. "She said to give it to you when you were ready. When you started asking questions we couldn't answer."If we'd given you that necklace any sooner, if we'd let anything about your true bloodline slip before you were strong enough to protect yourself…" She shook her head. "We couldn't risk it.""So you just… locked it away and hoped the day would never come.""We locked it away and prayed," Dad said quietly. "There's a difference."I looked down at the necklace in my palm. The crescent moon pendant caught the faint ligh

DAMON POVI woke up in pieces.First the pain sharp, everywhere, shooting across my ribs and down my spine and into places I couldn't even name. Then the cold, damp and rough against my skin, seeping through my torn jacket. Then the awareness that I was lying on something hard and uneven at the bottom of a ravine I had no memory of surviving.I didn't move right away. I just lay there, breathing, counting the places that hurt and deciding which ones were urgent and which ones were just loud. Left shoulder—agony, probably dislocated. Ribs—three, maybe four cracked. Right leg, throbbing but functional. HeadI reached up carefully, fingers probing my scalp. They came away wet. Sticky. Not gushing, but bleeding. I'd hit something on the way down.Great. A head wound in an ancient forest with no healer for a hundred miles. Outstanding work, Reed.I let out a low, broken laugh that turned into a cough that turned into a groan. Every breath felt like swallowing glass.But I was alive.That w

ARIA POV"Under attack?"The words barely registered before James was already moving, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the bed like I weighed nothing. The room tilted violently and my legs buckled the second my feet hit the floor, and if he hadn't been holding me up, I would've crumpled straight back down."The twins," I gasped. "Where are the twins?""Downstairs," Ella said, already at the door. "I'll get them""Go!" I shoved at James's chest. "Help her. I'll be right behind you."He hesitated, his grip on my arm tightening. "You can barely stand, Aria.""Then carry me if you have to, but *go*."He went.I grabbed the bedpost and hauled myself upright, every muscle screaming, my vision swimming at the edges. The curse might have been draining me for years, but three days unconscious had done its own damage. My body felt like it belonged to someone else heavy, slow, unreliable.I didn't care.I staggered toward the door, one hand on the wall, and made it halfway down the hallway bef

ARIA POV"Step aside," the Elder said.The words weren't loud. They didn't need to be. They carried the crushing weight of an Alpha command, amplified by decades of Council authority. It pressed down on the air, demanding absolute submission.I felt Damon's body lock up.His muscles seized. The command slammed into him with a force that should have driven him to his knees. He had no title to shield him. By every law, he should have been forced aside.But he didn't move.His boots stayed planted in the dirt. His shoulders shook with the effort of resisting, breath coming in harsh, ragged bursts.The Elder's smile flickered. "I said, step aside."The command hit harder this time. Damon staggered half a step backward. I gasped, feeling the echo of it through our mate bond—a bond that was still fragile, still healing, but burning bright in this single, desperate moment.And that bond was the only thing keeping him upright. The Elder's command told his wolf to submit. But the fragment tol