CHAPTER 2
1139 Words
“Desire remembers what the mind tries to forget.”
Rowan
The walls of the Alpha’s private medical quarters were too quiet. Too white. I hated them.
Mira hovered over the child, my child.
She didn’t look up when I entered. Her hands moved fast, steady, glowing faintly as she pressed another rune stone into the girl’s chest.
Lyra. That was her name.
She was small. Too small, pale, and too still. Her breath came in short, weak spurts. Magic pulsed around her like a bad signal, crackling, unstable, out of control.
I smelled it before I saw her.
Wild jasmine, honey, and blood.
Her scent.
Even after ten years, it hasn't changed.
Aria.
I turned to the far side of the room where she stood near the window, arms crossed, jaw tight. She wouldn’t look at me.
"You shouldn’t be here," she said without turning.
"She's my daughter," I responded.
Did I just say that? I questioned myself as soon as the words fell out.
I hadn't accepted her yet, but my wolf was already protecting her.
She finally faced me. "You don’t get to claim her now."
My wolf growled. It was loud and constant, like claws dragging down my spine. “Mine, mine, mine.”
I ignored it. Or tried to.
"Mira said the magic keeping her alive is unstable. "What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means if it breaks completely, she dies."
Her voice cracked. "I should’ve never brought her here."
"Then why did you?" I stepped closer.
Aria’s eyes flicked to Lyra. "Because only Mira can save her. And because I had no choice."
My fists clenched. "You had ten years."
"And you had a mate," she snapped.
"That was politics," I responded. "You left of your own will, Aria." My chest tightened. The room shrank.
"You think I wanted to?"
"I think you didn’t stop it."
We stood there, heat radiating off us like a furnace. Her scent was stronger now.
My body ached. My wolf howled.
She turned back to the window. "Don’t come near her."
"She's mine, Aria. I feel it in every breath. You can lie to everyone else, but you can't lie to the bond."
She didn’t answer. Just kept looking out, hands trembling slightly.
I couldn't take it anymore. I left the room, stormed down the hall, and slammed the door to the guest chamber she’d been given.
She wasn’t there.
Of course not. She was still watching Lyra like a hawk, like I might snatch her away.
I paced, biting the inside of my cheek. My blood was boiling. My chest hurt. The mark she gave me years ago was glowing faint again. I never let it fade. I never removed it.
And now she was back. With a child.
With my child.
It was late when I found her in the guest chamber. She was finally alone. Sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling off her muddy boots. Her shirt was soaked. She hadn’t changed. She looked like hell.
Still, she was beautiful.
I didn’t knock.
She looked up, startled. "Get out."
"Not happening."
I closed the door behind me. She stood up quickly, eyes narrowing.
"You don't get to storm in here."
"Then talk to me."
"I said everything I needed to."
"Bullshit," I snapped. "You left without a word, without telling me you were pregnant."
Her lips curled. "You were set to mark Selene the next day. What was I supposed to do, Rowan? Stay and watch you become Alpha beside someone else? Raise your bastard in secret?"
"You could’ve told me."
"And risk my life? Her life?"
I stepped closer. "You think I would’ve let anything happen to you?"
"You couldn’t stop it. Not then. Not with the council. Not with your father. You weren’t ready."
My hands shook. "You don’t get to decide that."
"I did what I had to."
"No, you ran."
We were nose to nose now. Her breath hit my skin. I wanted to grab her, shake her, hold her.
She pushed against my chest. "Back off."
I didn’t move.
"Say you didn’t want it that night," I said lowly. "Say I didn’t ruin you."
Her eyes burned. Her mouth twitched.
"You didn’t ruin me," she whispered. "You marked me and walked away."
The heat hit us both then.
I saw it in her eyes, the way her pupils widened, the way she staggered back against the wall.
Her skin flushed. Sweat beaded on her brow. She gasped.
"No," she muttered. "Not now." Not this."
Second-chance bonds were unstable. I’d heard the stories. Once severed, if reignited... the heat was brutal. Consuming.
I pressed my hands to the wall on either side of her head. "You’re burning."
"Stay away," she growled.
"You need me."
Her fingers grabbed my shirt like she hated herself for it. "I don’t."
I leaned in. "Lie to yourself, but not to me."
Her mouth found mine before either of us knew what was happening.
Heat exploded between us.
She clawed at my shoulders. I grabbed her waist. Our bodies crashed. I pushed her back against the wall, holding her hips still as she moved against me, desperate, aching, furious.
Her shirt was ripped open. Mine followed. Her hands were in my hair, my neck, my back.
She gasped, biting down on my bottom lip. I groaned.
"You still taste like thunder just like before," she whispered.
"And you still lie like it’s easy," I growled.
She jerked back, eyes wide, face flushed. Her hands fisted at her sides.
"Stop. I can’t do this."
I didn’t move.
She was panting. So was I.
"You said you loved me once," I said.
"I did."
"Say it again."
She hesitated. "Don’t do this."
I leaned close. My lips brushed hers.
"If I take you again, Aria... I won’t let you leave."
Her breath hitched.
I saw the truth in her eyes. The fear. They want. The fire.
I stepped back. Barely. My body screamed to finish it.
But I didn’t. Not yet.
I turned toward the door.
"Lyra asked for me," I said. "That means something."
"She doesn’t know what it means."
"But you do."
I left the room without another word. The wall between us had cracked.
And I was going to tear it down.
---
Outside, the night air hit like ice. My head was spinning. My body ached. My wolf paced beneath my skin.
“She’s ours,” he said. “Both of them.”
I didn’t argue.
I lit a cigarette, took one long drag, then tossed it.
The door behind me creaked open.
It was Mira.
"We have a problem," she said, her voice tight.
I turned.
"What kind of problem?"
Her eyes flicked back toward the hallway.
"Lyra’s power. It’s waking up again. And this time... It’s not stopping."
- Writer
