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As Alexander’s offer to come upstairs hung in the air between us, I felt panic rise in my chest. My heart thundered against my ribs as I quickly shook my head.
“That’s not necessary,” I said, perhaps too hastily.
One look at Aria and he would know. He would see his own eyes staring back at him. The truth I’d kept hidden for seven long years would unravel in an instant, and I wasn’t ready. Not yet. Not like this.
His jaw tightened, that now–familiar muscle along his cheek flexing with tension. “Right,” he said stiffly, his voice cooling several degrees. “Your daughter’s waiting.”
The way he said “daughter” – like it was a revelation he was still processing – made something twist painfully in my chest. I wanted to explain, to tell him everything.
But the words wouldn’t come. How could I possibly begin to unravel the tangled web of lies, half–truths and painful memories that had brought me to this point?
Instead, I stepped out of the car with a quiet goodbye, clutching the small pharmacy bag he’d given me.
The pills inside felt like a physical reminder of everything that had changed between us in the span of a few
minutes.
As I walked into the hotel lobby, I didn’t look back, though I could feel his eyes tracking my every move.
The hotel room was quiet when I slipped inside.
Mrs. Wallace, the hotel’s childcare service coordinator who had agreed to watch Aria for the evening, rose from the small desk where she’d been reading.
“She went down about an hour ago,” she whispered with a kind smile. “Not a peep since then.”
I thanked her and saw her out, locking the door behind her.
Only then did I let my shoulders slump, the weight of the evening crashing down on me.
I moved to the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror – cheeks still flushed, hair slightly disheveled despite my attempts to fix it.
I looked like a woman who’d been thoroughly kissed… and then thoroughly rejected.
My eyes fell to the small pharmacy bag on the counter. Inside was the emergency contraception Alexander had purchased. I took out the package, turning it over in my hands.
Five years ago, I’d made a choice that changed the course of both our lives forever. Tonight, I was facing another choice.
With trembling hands, I put the pills back in the bag and tucked it away in my toiletry case without taking them. Perhaps it was foolish. Perhaps it was selfish.
But something deep within me couldn’t bear to shut that door completely.
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I showered quickly, washing away Alexander’s scent from my skin, though nothing could remove the memory
of his touch.
After changing into a soft nightshirt, I padded across the room to check on Aria.
She was sleeping peacefully, her dark curls splayed across the pillow, one small hand clutching her stuffed wolf
a gift I’d found for her fifth birthday that she’d immediately named “Shadow.”
In sleep, she looked even more like her father – the same sculpted features in miniature, the same subtle furrow between her brows when she dreamed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, brushing a curl from her forehead. “I’m so sorry for everything.”
I climbed into the other twin bed and closed my eyes, exhaustion pulling me under almost immediately.
In my dreams, I was back in Alexander’s territory, but not as the woman I was now.
I was younger, carefree, my wolf still strong within me. Alexander and I raced through the forest, our wolves reveling in the freedom of the night.
His midnight black fur gleamed in the moonlight as he playfully nipped at my heels, herding me toward a clearing I knew well.
We shifted back to human form, laughing as we collapsed onto a bed of soft grass. His arms came around me, strong and secure, his voice a rumble against my ear.
“My Luna,” he murmured, the title filling me with a sense of rightness that made my heart ache even in sleep. ” My mate.”
His lips found mine, gentle at first, then hungry with need.
Stars wheeled overhead as we made love beneath the open sky, our wolves howling their approval as our bond strengthened with each passionate embrace.
“I’ll never let you go,” he promised, his eyes – those striking gray eyes that had captured my heart from the first moment – burning with intensity. “No matter what comes, Summer. No pack, no Alpha, no power on earth will ever separate us.”
I clung to him, believing with all my heart that nothing could tear us apart…
“Mommy?”
I jolted awake, tears streaming down my face. Aria stood beside my bed, her small face crumpled with concern in the dim morning light filtering through the curtains.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked, quickly wiping away my tears.
“You were talking in your sleep,” she said, climbing into bed beside me. “You kept saying someone’s name.” My heart froze. “What name, sweetheart?”
Her gray eyes – so like her father’s – fixed on mine with unsettling intensity. “Alexander. You kept saying ‘
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Alexander, please‘ over and over.”
1 struggled to breathe normally, trying to mask my shock. “Did I?”
She nodded solemnly. “Is he important to you, Mommy? Is Alexander someone special?”
The innocent question pierced straight through my heart. I pulled her close, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair to center myself.
“Yes,” I finally admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “He was… is… someone very important to me.”
“Like Daddy was?” she asked, referencing the story I’d told her about a brave wolf who had loved us both very much but had gone to heaven before she was born.
“Yes,” I whispered, the half–truth burning my tongue. “Like Daddy was.”
She was quiet for a moment, her small fingers tracing patterns on my arm. “Can I meet him someday? Alexander?”
My heart twisted painfully in my chest. I hugged her tighter, fighting back fresh tears. “Maybe someday, baby. If the time is right.”
“I think I’d like him,” she declared with the simple confidence of childhood. “If you love him, he must be nice.”
I couldn’t speak past the lump in my throat, so I just held her, rocking slightly as morning light gradually filled
our room.
Her innocent words had hit too close to home, exposing the raw wound of what might have been.
The buzz of my phone on the nightstand mercifully broke the moment. I reached for it, expecting perhaps a message from Alexander, my heart racing at the thought.
Instead, it was from a number I recognized all too well:
*Landing at 10AM tomorrow. Be there to pick me up. – N*
Chapter 239
