MARKED BY MY STEPBROTHER

Chapter Twenty five

Sophie’s POV

The second safe house was located deeper in the mountains. It was an old hunting lodge hidden behind thick pines and a rushing river. We arrived just before noon, exhausted and bloodied, but still alive.

Marcus and the others set up perimeter watches while I helped Damon inside. He was limping badly, silver burns still raw on his wrists and torso. Lucas had finally fallen into a deep sleep in my arms after the close escape.

“Lay him down first,” Damon said hoarsely, nodding toward a makeshift nursery corner the resistance had prepared.

I gently placed Lucas in the crib, brushing a finger over his soft cheek. He looked so peaceful, completely ignorant of the war raging around him. I just wanted to love him and protect him. Surely, that wasn't too much to ask.

When I turned around, Damon was watching us with so much intensity that made my heart skip a beat. He crossed the room slowly and pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my neck.

“I thought I’d lost you both,” he whispered, his voice breaking.

I held him just as tightly, feeling the mating bond flare warmly between us.

“We’re here. We’re together.”

He kissed me then, slow, deep, and full of everything we’d been through. Not the frantic, heat-driven need from before, but something deeper. Something that told me he was grateful and desperate and real, because he was standing right next to me.

We stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other in the quiet cabin while the others worked outside.

Damon’s POV

Sophie’s warmth grounded me. After days of silver poisoning and darkness, feeling her against me was the only thing that kept me from losing my mind.

I pulled back slightly to look at her. She was beautiful even now, tired, messy hair, wearing borrowed clothes, with faint golden glow still lingering in her eyes. My mate, my stepsister and the mother of my child. What a combination.

“We can’t stay here long,” I said, even though I didn't feel comfortable letting that out. “Victor will regroup and Seraphina won’t stop hunting Lucas.”

Sophie nodded, lines of worry drawing a map on her forehead. “Marcus said some of the elders want to crown you as the new Alpha. They’re tired of Victor’s tyranny.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “They want me to lead the same pack that tried to use you as a breeding tool? I’d rather burn it all down.”

She touched my face gently. “Maybe we don’t have to lead them. Maybe we can change things. Create something better for Lucas.”

I kissed her palm. “You’re too good for this world, Sophie.”

There was a knock on the door. Marcus entered, and the look on his face told me that there was something wrong.

“We have movement,” he said. “Victor’s loyalists are mobilizing. But there’s more, some Shadow Pack scouts have been spotted near the border. They smell weakness. If Victor falls, they might try to take the whole territory.”

I cursed. “One war wasn’t enough?”

Sophie straightened. “Then we hit first. We expose what Victor did. Show the pack the truth about Seraphina and the experiments on Luna blood.”

Marcus nodded. “We can arrange a meeting with the neutral elders tomorrow night. But it’ll be dangerous.”

I looked at Sophie, then at our sleeping son. “We do it. But on our terms. No more playing defense.”

Sophie’s POV

The rest of the day passed in events that were tied to planning and recovery.

Lena helped me tend to Damon’s wounds while I kept Lucas close. The silver burns were healing slower than normal, but the mating bond seemed to help, every time I touched him, the bond grew stronger.

Later that evening, after Lucas was fed and sleeping again, Damon pulled me into the small bedroom at the back of the lodge. He locked the door softly behind us.

“We need rest,” he said, but the look in his eyes told me rest wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

He undressed me slowly, kissing every bruise and mark on my skin. When we finally lay together under the blankets, it wasn’t the wild, knotting frenzy from before. It was slow and tender. He moved inside me with deep, rolling thrusts, our bodies pressed together as closely as possible.

“I love you,” he whispered against my lips as we moved together. “Not because of the bond and not because of fate. I love you, Sophie Vale.”

Tears fell down my cheeks as I came quietly in his arms. He followed soon after, holding me through the aftershocks, still buried deep inside me.

We fell asleep like that, held together, his hand over my stomach, the mating bond glowing warmly between us.

Damon’s POV

I woke to the sound of Lucas crying softly in the next room. Sophie stirred beside me, but I kissed her shoulder and whispered, “Sleep. I’ve got him.”

I slipped out of bed and went to our son. He went quiet the moment I picked him up, those tiny silver eyes staring up at me like he recognized who I was to him.

“Hey, little Alpha,” I said sotto voce, rocking him gently. “Your mom and I are going to give you a better world than the one we were born into. I promise.”

Sophie appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket, watching us with soft eyes.

“He already loves you,” she said quietly.

I walked over and pulled her into our little family circle. For a moment, in the quiet of the cabin, it felt like we could actually win this.

But peace never lasted long, and that was a truth that was never a lie.

Marcus burst through the front door the next second, breathing hard.

“They found us,” he said urgently. “Victor’s main force is twenty minutes out. And Seraphina, she’s with them. They’re coming for Lucas.”

I handed Lucas to Sophie, my wolf getting ready for blood.

“Then let them come,” I said. “We are going to end this tonight.”

This wasn't us running anymore. This was us getting ready to fight.