Chapter 2
1737 Words
Chapter Two – Six Months of Silence
Anna’s P.O.V.
Six months.
Six months since the flames.
Six months since the world buried Carter Lykoudis.
Six months since I watched everyone I loved learn how to mourn a man I still dreamed about every night.
Grief was a strange thing.
People thought it became easier with time.
They lied.
It simply became quieter.
You learned how to smile when people expected it.
How to laugh when someone told a story about the person you’d lost.
How to wake up every morning and pretend your heart hadn’t shattered before breakfast.
The hardest part wasn’t losing Carter.
It was pretending I’d only lost Carter.
No one knew the rest.
Every morning before sunrise, I slipped away from the Alpha House before anyone else woke.
Not because I wanted solitude.
Because secrets demanded it.
The forest was still wrapped in mist when I reached the small clearing.
A circle of white salt surrounded the moss-covered stones.
Candles flickered without wind.
Ancient symbols glowed faintly beneath the earth.
Aunt Aaliyah was already waiting.
Her fire-red dreadlocks were tied high above her shoulders, and the silver charms woven through them chimed softly as she turned toward me.
“You were almost late.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
“I was two minutes.”
She smiled.
“You’re pregnant.”
“You don’t get to measure time the same way anymore.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I liked you better when you lied to me.”
“I’ve never lied to you.”
“No…”
I laughed quietly.
“You’ve just avoided the truth.”
Her smile faded.
“So have you.”
The words settled between us.
I looked down at my stomach.
Six months.
Loose sweaters.
Long coats.
Strategically missed meals with the family.
Magic.
So much magic.
Aaliyah knelt inside the circle and reached for my hands.
“Ready?”
I nodded.
She closed her eyes.
The symbols beneath our feet pulsed with crimson light.
Warmth spread through my body as she whispered in a language older than any pack.
The air shimmered.
Power wrapped around me like another layer of skin.
To everyone else…
I still looked eighteen.
Still grieving.
Still heartbreakingly thin.
The spell hid every change my body had made.
No rounded belly.
No heightened aura.
No heartbeat beyond my own.
Nothing that could betray the life growing inside me.
When the glow finally faded, Aaliyah exhaled heavily.
Each week the spell demanded more from her.
Each week she gave it anyway.
“You should rest.”
She waved me off.
“I’ll rest when this baby decides to stop growing.”
Guilt settled in my chest.
“You’re exhausting yourself because of me.”
“I’m protecting my family.”
She corrected me gently.
“There’s a difference.”
I swallowed hard.
“What if someone notices?”
“They won’t.”
“What if my mom notices?”
Aaliyah didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she stood and brushed dirt from her knees.
“Your mother notices everything.”
The truth hung heavy in the air.
“Then why hasn’t she?”
Aaliyah looked toward the trees.
“Because she’s grieving.”
“So is Dad.”
“I know.”
I wrapped my arms around myself.
“I hate lying to them.”
“I know.”
“But if the Council learns you’re carrying the first child born of three bloodlines…”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
She didn’t have to.
I already knew.
The stories whispered through every pack.
Magic frightened people.
Hybrids frightened them even more.
A child born of both…
Would terrify the world.
A branch snapped somewhere beyond the clearing.
Both of us froze.
Instinct.
Years of training still lived inside Aaliyah.
Her hand immediately lifted, fire dancing across her fingertips.
The woods fell silent again.
Only after several long seconds did she relax.
“You’ve been spending too much time with my mother.”
She smirked.
“I spent fifteen years trying to keep up with your mother.”
Another smile tugged at my lips.
“I forget sometimes.”
“No.”
Aaliyah’s expression turned distant.
“You were never supposed to know that part of us.”
Las Devoradoras.
The name wasn’t spoken aloud.
It didn’t need to be.
I’d heard the stories.
The women monsters whispered about.
The assassins who appeared without warning and disappeared before the bodies hit the ground.
My mother.
Aaliyah.
Serenity.
Normani.
Legends.
One of them buried.
Three of them pretending that life had become normal.
Nothing about our lives had ever been normal.
Aaliyah stepped closer and rested a hand over my stomach.
Her smile returned.
“Strong heartbeat.”
I smiled despite myself.
“Stubborn.”
She laughed.
“I wonder who the baby gets that from.”
I looked toward the Alpha House in the distance.
“If my parents find out before I’m ready…”
“They won’t hear it from me.”
“I know.”
“And they won’t hear it from Doña Isolde either.”
I nodded.
That made three people carrying the weight of one impossible secret.
Sooner or later…
Secrets had a way of demanding daylight.I’m with you. I think this is where we start bringing Christa onto the page—not as La Diabla the legend, but as the woman living with impossible choices.
I also want to avoid revealing the Carter secret too early. Instead, we’ll let readers feel that something is weighing on Christa and Carlos without explaining it yet.
The walk back to the Alpha House was quiet.
The morning sun had finally burned away the fog, and DeL Sol was already alive.
Warriors sparred on the training grounds.
Children chased one another between the cabins.
Pack members laughed as they carried supplies across the courtyard.
Life had moved on.
At least…
It looked like it had.
I smiled and waved when people greeted me.
They smiled back.
None of them noticed how carefully I walked.
How often I fought the urge to rest my hand over my stomach.
The spell was working.
For now.
As Aaliyah and I stepped onto the stone path leading toward the Alpha House, the massive front doors swung open.
My mother stepped outside.
Christa Rivera.
Alpha of DeL Sol.
La Diabla.
She wore black training clothes instead of one of her tailored suits, the sleeves rolled to her elbows. A leather holster rested across her back, though the twin blades she once carried everywhere were gone.
Or at least…
Gone from sight.
Her dark hair was braided tightly away from her face, and despite the early hour, she’d clearly already been training.
She always trained.
Always prepared.
Always watched.
The moment her eyes landed on me, I knew she’d noticed something.
Not the pregnancy.
Something.
“You skipped breakfast.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“You’ve said that three mornings in a row.”
“I’ll eat later.”
She studied me.
Not as my mother.
As an Alpha.
Her gaze moved over me so quickly most people would’ve missed it.
My posture.
My breathing.
The slight shadows beneath my eyes.
The way I held my shoulders.
She cataloged everything in less than a heartbeat.
Then she looked at Aaliyah.
“You’ve had her out here since sunrise.”
Aaliyah shrugged.
“She needed fresh air.”
Christa’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Did it help?”
I answered before Aaliyah could.
“A little.”
For several long seconds, nobody spoke.
Then…
My mother stepped closer.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
Such a simple gesture.
One she’d done since I was little.
“You don’t have to pretend you’re okay around me.”
My throat tightened.
“I’m trying.”
“I know.”
She kissed my forehead.
“I miss him too.”
The words nearly broke me.
I nodded quickly, afraid that if I opened my mouth I’d tell her everything.
Everything.
About the baby.
About the fear.
About how every night I whispered Carter’s name and begged the Moon Goddess to let me dream about him one more time.
Instead…
“I’ll be okay.”
My mother smiled.
The saddest smile I’d ever seen.
“I know you will.”
She turned toward Aaliyah.
“Walk with me.”
Aaliyah glanced at me.
“I’ll meet you inside.”
I nodded and watched them disappear toward the edge of the courtyard.
Neither woman spoke for several yards.
They didn’t need to.
After fifteen years together, silence had become another language.
Finally, Christa broke it.
“You’re worried.”
Aaliyah looked ahead.
“We all are.”
“No.”
Christa’s voice stayed calm.
“You’re worried about Anna.”
Aaliyah’s heartbeat kicked once.
Just once.
Enough.
Christa noticed.
Of course she noticed.
“She’s grieving.”
Aaliyah answered carefully.
“So are you.”
“I know what grief looks like.”
Christa stopped walking.
“So tell me what I’m missing.”
Aaliyah met her eyes.
For a terrifying second, Christa’s instincts were almost enough to unravel six months of carefully guarded secrets.
Almost.
Then Aaliyah reached out and squeezed Christa’s shoulder.
“You’re missing sleep.”
A small smile crossed Christa’s face.
“I’ve never been able to lie to you.”
“No.”
Aaliyah smiled back.
“You’ve never been able to lie well.”
For the first time that morning…
Christa laughed.
It was quiet.
Brief.
But real.
Then it disappeared.
“The Council has called a summit.”
Aaliyah’s expression hardened.
“When?”
“Three weeks.”
“That’s sooner than expected.”
Christa nodded.
“Every Alpha will be there.”
“And the Lunas?”
“They requested their own gathering.”
Aaliyah sighed.
“They’re nervous.”
“They’re afraid.”
“Of what?”
Christa looked toward the mountains surrounding DeL Sol.
“Change.”
She folded her arms.
“They’ve been afraid of change ever since I became Alpha.”
“And now?”
“They’ve found something new to fear.”
A cold breeze swept across the courtyard.
Christa’s eyes followed it toward the distant northern peaks.
“I just don’t know what it is yet.”
Far beyond those mountains…
A prisoner pulled against silver chains.
And somewhere between them…
Destiny waited.
- Writer
