Chapter 12
1279 Words
Chapter Twelve – Loose Lips
Antonio’s P.O.V.
My sister had kept a pregnancy hidden for six months. Icouldn’t even hide stolen cookies when I was eight.Life was unfair like that.
I stood outside the Alpha House with Navi, Navito, Enzo, and Mateo waiting for me to say something useful.
Unfortunately, I had nothing.
Navi crossed her arms. “You’re supposed to lead.”
“I know.”
“So lead.”
“I’m thinking.”
Navito smirked. “That’s new.”
I pointed at him. “Keep talking and I’m promoting Navi twice.”
Navi smiled. “Smartest decision you’ve made all day.”
Enzo cleared his throat. “The maids were near the kitchens when we heard them.”
Mateo nodded. “They weren’t whispering either.”
That made my humor disappear.
“Then we start there.”
⸻
The kitchen went silent the second we walked in.
That was never good.
Pack kitchens were supposed to be loud. Pots clanging. People laughing. Someone yelling about bread.
Instead, every maid suddenly found something fascinating to scrub.
I smiled.
No one smiled back.
“Tough room,” I muttered.
Navi stepped forward. “We need to know where the rumor started.”
One of the older maids looked up slowly. “What rumor?”
Navito leaned against the doorway. “The one everyone stopped talking about when we walked in.”
Silence.
I sighed. “Look, I’m not here to punish anybody.”
Navi looked at me.
I corrected myself.
“I’m not here to punish anybody yet.”
That got a few nervous glances.
The oldest maid finally wiped her hands on her apron.
“It was Harlan.”
My stomach dropped.
“The West Wing guard?”
She nodded. “He said he heard shouting outside Miss Aaliyah’s room.”
“What exactly did he say?”
The woman hesitated.
I stepped closer.
“What. Did. He. Say?”
Her voice lowered.
“He said someone screamed she was pregnant.”
My jaw tightened.
“And?”
The maid looked down.
“He said… pregnant to the hybrid.”
The room went cold.
I heard Navi inhale sharply beside me.
Enzo cursed under his breath.
Mateo looked toward the door like the rumor itself might come running through it.
I nodded once.
“Who else heard him say that?”
The maid swallowed.
“Too many.”
⸻
We found Harlan in the courtcourtyard.
He looked nervous before we even said his name.
Good.
He should’ve been.
“Harlan,” I said.
He straightened. “Future Alpha.”
“You heard something outside Aaliyah’s room.”
His face paled.
“I—”
“You repeated it.”
His mouth closed.
Navi stepped beside me. “Did you see Anna?”
“No.”
“Did you speak to Anna?”
“No.”
“Did anyone confirm what you heard?”
“No.”
“But you told people anyway.”
He lowered his head.
“I thought the pack deserved to know.”
Something in me changed.
Not snapped.
Changed.
Because those were dangerous words.
People used them when they wanted their gossip to sound noble.
“You thought wrong.”
His eyes lifted.
“I was trying to protect DeL Sol.”
I stared at him.
“You put DeL Sol in danger.”
He had no answer.
I looked at Navito.
“Bring him.”
⸻
By the time we returned, the family had moved from Aaliyah’s room into the Alpha war room.
Books covered every table.
Old journals.
Council records.
Legal texts.
Prophecy fragments.
The air was heavy with fear and ink.
Mom looked up first.
Then she saw Harlan.
Everything in the room changed.
She didn’t yell.
She didn’t move fast.
She simply stood.
And every person in that room remembered exactly who she was.
Alpha Christa Marie Rivera.
La Diabla.
Harlan dropped to one knee before anyone told him to.
“My Alpha.”
Mom walked toward him slowly.
“How many?”
He looked confused. “My Alpha?”
“How many people did you tell?”
His throat bobbed.
“I… I don’t know.”
Wrong answer.
Carlos closed his eyes.
Aaliyah whispered, “Christa…”
Mom didn’t look at her.
“You don’t know.”
Harlan shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” Mom said softly. “You’re caught.”
The room went silent.
“You stood outside a private room. You heard one piece of one conversation. Then you carried it through my house like fire.”
“I thought—”
“You didn’t think.”
Her voice was still calm.
That was the worst part.
“You endangered my daughter. You endangered my family. You endangered an unborn child. Three days before the Council of Alphas arrives.”
Harlan trembled.
“I never meant to hurt anyone.”
Mom stepped closer.
“Intentions don’t bury bodies.”
No one breathed.
I wanted to speak.
But when I looked at my mother, I knew.
This wasn’t a lesson anymore.
This was judgment.
Mom turned to Carlos.
He stared at her for a long moment.
Whatever passed between them didn’t need words.
Then he looked away.
Harlan began to cry.
“My Alpha, please—”
Mom lifted one hand.
My uncles ricardo and ra’miro moved behinbehind him,They took him by both arms.
Anna stood suddenly. “Mom…”
Mom didn’t turn around.
Her voice softened, but only for Anna.
“Look away.”
Anna’s face crumpled.
Serenity pulled her into her arms.
Harlan was dragged from the room.
The door closed behind him.
For several seconds, there was nothing.
Then, from somewhere down the hall, came one sharp sound.
Final.
The room froze.
Anna flinched.
My stomach turned.
Navi’s hand found mine.
I didn’t pull away.
Mom stood perfectly still.
When she spoke again, her voice had no tremble.
“His family will be cared for.”
No one answered.
“He will be buried with honor.”
Still silence.
Then she looked at every person in the room.
“My daughter is not gossip.”
Her eyes moved to Anna’s stomach.
“My grandchild is not a rumor.”
Finally, she looked at me.
“This is what loose lips cost, Antonio.”
I swallowed hard.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t have a joke.
Mom turned toward the window.
Outside, DeL Sol moved beneath a sky heavy with storm clouds.
“Lock down the pack.”
Carlos nodded once.
“Full security?”
Mom’s eyes hardened.
“Full security.”
Maria closed the nearest law book.
“The Council will notice.”
Mom looked at her.
“Good.”
Aaliyah stared at my mother like she didn’t know whether to hug her or hate her.
Anna was still crying in Serenity’s arms.
And me?
I stood there understanding something Serenity had been trying to teach me for months.
Being Alpha wasn’t about power.
It was about the weight of every decision.
Even the ones that left blood on the floor.
Mom walked past me toward the door.
For one second, she stopped beside me.
“You found the truth,” she said.
“That was your task.”
I looked at her.
“And what did you do?”
Her face didn’t change.
“What an Alpha does when the truth threatens the pack.”
Then she left.
No one followed.
Because in that moment, every person in the room knew the same thing.
The Council was coming.
The prophecy had awakened.
Anna’s secret was no longer safe.
And La Diabla had stepped back into the world.
- Writer
