Lucian’s POVAs Aria checked to ensure that her disguise was in place, I stepped out of her personal office and back into the main one. The kids, by now, were showing each other their crayon drawings, while Cathy sat patiently in one of the waiting chairs.Cathy was watching me. Maybe she could see
Lucian’s POVI stormed into the Alpha headquarters building, looking for Jasper, ready to go to war. With my hands curled into fists, I thought I might start throwing punches before I would even be able to speak.My wolf was even angrier, prowling back and forth in my mind, scratching at my consciou
“You should have went with her to Moonglow,” I insisted.“She would have refused me,” he said. “She’d already rejected me.”“But those kids needed you –”“They need their father,” Jasper said. “Their real one.”His words hit me hard, and I finally realized what he was trying to say. “You aren’t the
Aria’s POVI waited until I was back at Cathy’s at the end of the day to pick up her phone and call Jasper. Of all people I knew with the connections I needed, he was the one I could most depend on. Silas was still in Moonglow, too far away to help me, and I wasn’t ready to face Lucian again so soon
Lucian’s POV“No,” I said quickly. “I couldn’t be.”Early in our marriage, Aria and I had tried rather enthusiastically to have children, but we never managed to succeed in getting Aria pregnant. Eventually, I came to the realization that we couldn’t get pregnant, for one reason or another.Likely,
Lucian’s POVI had no idea how some of these nobles received permission to be in this room for this revelation, but at this point, I was beyond caring about logistics. The facts were, they were here and they were giving Aria grief. That was more than enough reason for him to, not just lose his tempe
Aria’s POVI expected some pushback at the hospital, given the revelation. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I imagined it would be something. Though the Healers had been generally accepting of me since my return to the pack, I could still remember the times in the past when they had dislik
Aria’s POVLucian might not have gone to medical school, but he was intelligent and a fast learner. And above all, to my surprise, he took direction well.Together, we started early and worked long until the evening. While I ran the tests, Lucian took notes. If I asked, he would grab me things, or k
Aria’s POVWe all waited with bated breath to see how Harold would handle the medicine. Perhaps I had been too late in providing it? The heart monitor was still beating too quickly. Harold was moaning in pain. The nearby Healers seemed ready to help him along with his passing. Piper and I physically
Aria’s POVAt the hospital, Lucian gave me a final squeeze. “Please help him,” he said.“I’ll do my best,” I promised. Then, breaking away from him, leaving him with Julia in the waiting room, I rushed to the emergency room to see what was going on.Fortunately, one of the nurses lent me a hair-tie
“But the food hasn’t arrived yet,” he said.I couldn’t wait. Feeling like I was going to pass out, I needed out of here.I pushed my chair back and stood. “I’m sorry,” I said.Turning, I hurried away from the table, from the dining room, from the restaurant. I threw the door open and ran outside.Wh
Aria’s POVSilas’s words haunted me long after the phone conversation, and that, combined with my discussion with Cathy and Piper convinced me to at least hear Lucian out. Because of this, when he called me to talk, and asked me to go out on a date with him, I decided to say yes.Now, after dressing
Aria’s POVHow was it, even after all this time, after all this distance, after all the hurt that sat piled up between us – I still so easily fell back into Lucian’s web.I wanted to be stronger, to be harder, and keep up the walls with him, yet every time we’d been around each other, he seemed to s
Aria’s POVMaybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that Lucian finally pieced this together, but the reality of it still hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t know why I thought he would never find out. There was no reason he wouldn’t, especially with Jasper and Lucian’s own parents already in on the s
Lucian’s POV“It’s not possible,” I said.Mom pressed her lips hard together before asking me slowly, “Are you sure? The boy especially looks just like you.”“A coincidence,” I said. It had to be.Because if it wasn’t, that meant that the night of pleasure I had shared with Aria a few months before
Lucian’s POVI knocked on my parents’ door and hugged my mom after she answered. She squeezed me somewhat tighter than usual.“One of my friends told me she saw you working at the hospital,” Mom said as she led me inside.“I’ve been helping Aria,” I told her. “Her friend Cathy was very sick, and Ari
Aria’s POVI hated to break up the scene, wanting Lucian and the kids to spend as much time together as possible, so I watched from a distance for a while, before tracking down one of the nurses to discuss Cathy’s condition.I checked on her a few separate times before deciding that she was healthy