Plus Size Luna Obsession

Chapter11

Aurora's POV

When I opened my eyes again, the room was dark. The harsh afternoon sunlight was gone, replaced by the soft, golden glow of the bedside lamp.

The heavy pain in my chest had turned into a dull, rhythmic ache. I shifted slowly against the pillows, testing my limbs. My muscles still felt like lead, but the burning fever had finally broken. My skin felt cool, normal.

I turned my head and saw I wasn't alone.

Smith sat in the armchair beside the desk, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He had his jacket off, his shirtsleeves rolled up to reveal his thick, scarred forearms. He wasn't sleeping; he was staring blankly at the wall, lost in dark thoughts.

On the other side of the room, sitting quietly on the wooden floor with his back against the wall, was Rio. His dark eyes caught mine the moment I moved.

"You're awake," Rio said softly, his voice cutting through the quiet room.

Smith snapped out of his trance instantly. He pushed himself up from the chair, crossing the small space in two long strides until he was kneeling beside the bed. His large hand gently cupped the side of my face, his thumb brushing my cheekbone.

"How do you feel?" Smith asked, his voice thick with unexpressed worry.

"Like I got hit by a freight train," I croaked out, my throat dry. "And then backed over again."

Rio was already on his feet, pouring a glass of water from the pitcher on the dresser. He handed it to Smith, who helped me prop myself up against the pillows and held the glass to my lips. I drank greedily, the cool water soothing my raw throat.

"Better?" Smith asked, taking the empty glass away.

"Much better. Thank you." I looked between the two of them, noticing the dark circles under their eyes. "How long was I out?"

"About twelve hours," Rio answered, leaning his hip against the corner of the dresser. "Marcus called twice. The Ashwood perimeter is secure, and Zara sent word that Maya slept through the entire night without a single issue."

Hearing that my baby was safe made the heavy weight on my chest lift just a little bit more. I let out a long breath I felt like I'd been holding for days.

"Good," I whispered. "That's good."

"We can't keep hiding like this, Aurora," Smith said, his grey eyes turning serious as he rested his forearms on the edge of the mattress. "Mother Grey and Victoria are escalating. Planting daggers at your border, sending venom-laced rogues…they are trying to draw us out. If we stay on the defensive, they will eventually find a way to reach Maya."

"I know that," I replied, narrowing my eyes. "I don't plan on sitting here waiting for them to knock on the front door. We need to strike first."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Rio asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "We don't know where Mother Grey is hiding, and the rogue we caught in the cell bit his own tongue off an hour ago to avoid talking."

"What?" I sat up straight, ignoring the twinge of pain in my shoulder. "He killed himself?"

"He choked on his own blood before the guards could stop him," Smith said grimly. "Complete fanaticism. They are loyal to Mother Grey's bloodline, not just money."

I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Then we find someone who isn't a fanatic. We find the person who supplies the synthetic venom to the rogues."

Smith stared at me for a long moment, a slow, appreciative smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You never stop strategizing, do you, wildcat?"

"If I stopped strategizing, I would have been dead years ago," I retorted, though I couldn't help the small smirk that touched my own lips.

Before either of them could reply, a heavy, suffocating silence settled over the room, interrupted only by the low hum of the penthouse ventilation system. I hated sitting still. I hated feeling like a patient trapped behind white walls while invisible enemies plotted against my child.

"We need to look at the logistics network," I said, swinging my legs over the side of the bed again, ignoring the way Rio instinctively tensed up to catch me if I fell. This time, my feet stayed firmly on the floor. The dizziness was gone, replaced by a cold, sharp clarity. "Synthetic venom isn't brewed in a backyard cave. It requires specialized chemical compounds, high-grade filtration labs, and secure transport channels across pack borders. Even Mother Grey can't magic that out of thin air."

Rio’s expression shifted, the security chief in him waking up immediately. "You think there's a manufacturing hub within continental boundaries?"

"I know there is," I said, standing up fully. My muscles protested, aching from the poison, but I forced myself to hold my ground. "Look at the attack patterns from Detroit to Indianapolis. The timing of the distribution lines matches pharmaceutical-grade transit schedules. Someone inside the high council is signing off on the import permits."

Smith stood up beside me, towering over the room. His presence was a solid, grounding wall of heat. "Dane was handling council logistics before we uncovered his betrayal. It's entirely possible he left a backdoor open in the supply registry."

"Then we open that backdoor ourselves," I said, reaching for my combat jacket draped over the chair.

Before I could zip it up, a low, ominous vibration rippled through the floorboards beneath our boots. It wasn't an earthquake. It was the sound of the penthouse's heavy security grid shifting gears…a massive digital override.

The overhead lights flickered once, twice, and then died completely.

The room plunged into absolute darkness, save for the faint, eerie red glow of the emergency backup strips along the baseboards.

Rio was moving before the last bulb even died. His hand was already gripping the hilt of his silver blade, his body melting into the shadows near the doorway with terrifying speed. "Intruders," he whispered, his voice like grinding stone. "Multiple signatures on the lower service lift."

Smith stepped in front of me, his chest broad and unyielding, his grey eyes scanning the dark hallway. "They bypassed the biometric sensors. That's not rogue magic. That's an administrative override code."

The heavy double doors of the penthouse burst open with a deafening crash, splintering the reinforced frame.

Marcus Grey stumbled backward into the room, his jacket torn at the shoulder, his chest heaving as he fought to breathe. His hazel eyes were wide with a terror I had never seen in him before.

"Marcus!" I yelled, drawing my sidearm in a single fluid motion. "What the hell happened at the gates?"

Marcus slammed the broken door shut behind him, locking the manual deadbolt with shaking hands. "It's not an external attack, Aurora," he panted, wiping blood from his forehead. "The central council... they just dispatched an emergency lockdown directive across the entire sector. They've classified the Ashwood Pack and this residence as a hostile zone."

Smith's face went completely blank, the terrifying mask of the Supreme Alpha settling over his features. "On whose authority?"

"Mother Grey's," Marcus gasped out. "She invoked an ancient continental statute. She claims you are harboring an unregistered, illegitimate heir to the throne, and she has authorized a full military clearance to take the child by force."

The air in the room turned ice cold.

My grip on my weapon tightened so hard my knuckles turned white. My wolf didn't just scratch at the surface this time…she exploded forward, a roaring, feral force of pure maternal fury that overtook every ounce of pain in my body.

"They want my daughter?" I whispered, my voice dropping into a venomous snarl that echoed off the dark walls. "Let them bloody well try."

Outside the reinforced windows, the sound of chopper blades began to roar through the Chicago night, cutting through the rain like a swarm of angry hornets.