Alaria

The scent of antiseptic hit me before the light. My eyes were still closed, but I knew that I was somewhere different. I was not at home. I was not at the cottage.

The smell was sharp. Clean. And even familiar.

My lashes fluttered open, and I blinked up at a ceiling painted in soft gray. Too smooth. Too precise. Not the cottage. Not the forest. Not anywhere I recognized. At least not anywhere that I was familiar with recently. The science, however, was familiar. Though I did not understand how.

I turned my head. The memory of the rogues attacking played in my mind. And my eyes widened as I tried to move but I couldn't.

Pain lanced through my side, sharp and cold. I winced, fingers instinctively going to the bandage at my ribs.

I was in a bed.

White sheets. Fresh linens. Machines humming quietly beside me.

Then I heard it.

A quiet breath. A child’s breath.

“Nasia…”

My voice came out hoarse. Barely there.

I turned more slowly this time, and there she was.

My daughter. She was safe. Curled against the side of the bed, sleeping with her cheek pressed to the mattress and her small hand resting near mine. Her curls were tangled, her lashes fluttering in sleep, but she was unharmed.

Safe.

Alive.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but I didn’t dare let them fall. I did not want her to wake up to see me crying and the pain that I was in, the fear that she must have been in. I didn't know how I got here or where I was in the first place. I lifted my fingers and touched her hair softly. My heart ached with relief so fierce it almost drowned me.

Then I felt it.

A presence. Strong. Controlled. Watching.

I looked up, and my entire body went cold.

Liam.

“She refused to go anywhere that was not beside you. I tried to get her to sleep on the couch. At least it would have been a lot more comfortable for her. But she chose to refuse that as well. She wanted to stay by your side.” His voice made my trust take the man that I vowed myself to never be around was standing right in front of me.

He stood just inside the door, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. His Alpha stance was intact, not a strand of dark hair out of place, but his eyes, his eyes weren’t cold this time. They were not as cold as I saw him the last time that I did, the time where he forced me to sign divorce papers before I left.

His eyes were searching my expression, studying me.

“You’re awake,” he said, looking at me. “I didn't think that you would be for another few days.”

I stayed silent.

“What happened to your voice?” he asked, taking a step forward, but stopping at the edge of the room like he knew coming closer might snap something inside me. “I would assume that a cat did not bite your tongue. You were attacked by rogues, not by cats.”

I swallowed hard. “What… what is this place? Where am I?”

“The infirmary. Blackthorne grounds.”

No.

My throat tightened.

I was back. Back in his territory.

“How long?” I asked. “And why?”

“Two days,” he said. “You lost a lot of blood. The rogues did more damage than you realized. Unless you aimed to die, it was the only place where I knew that you would be safe. And taking you to a hospital would have required explanation. I don't know how I would have been able to explain that you were attacked by wolves to humans. You have been living with them long enough you might know better.”

I reached for Nasia again, brushing her hair out of her eyes, grounding myself in the rhythm of her breathing. “And her?”

“Not a scratch,” he said. “She stayed hidden. Smart girl. She didn't make a sound, but I heard her breathing. I was the one who got her out. She would have fought too. But she saw you and forgot all the fight.”

I didn’t look at him.

I couldn’t.

Not yet.

“You should’ve told me,” he added after a pause, voice low, but rough.

My shoulders stiffened.

“She’s mine.” My words were soft, but steady. “That was always enough. You didn't need to know about her after everything.”

“For you, maybe,” he said. “You don't get to decide that, Alaria.”

My eyes snapped to his. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare stand there and act like you would’ve cared if I told you. You made your choice, Liam. You signed me away. You told me to live my own life. I chose to live at the way that I knew. The way that I could and the way that I should.”

“I told you to live,” he said, stepping forward now. “I didn’t say disappear. I didn’t say raise my daughter in hiding.”

“You didn’t say anything at all,” I hissed, keeping my voice low so I wouldn’t wake her. “You never asked me how I felt. You never even let me speak. You just handed me papers like I was some kind of... transaction. Do you remember I was nothing more than a person that you wanted to get rid of? I was a failure, someone who took advantage of her place, someone who was not worthy to be her Luna. Don't you remember that?”

He flinched, just slightly.

But it was enough.

“You threw me away,” I whispered, “and I protected her from that. I would do it again. Whether or not you like it, you made your choice and I made mine. And I would do it again if I have to, for her sake. Trust me, I would do all of it again.”

Silence stretched between us.

He looked down at Nasia. His jaw tightened.

“She looks like you,” he muttered. “And she has the same stubborn demeanor.”

“She has your eyes,” I said. “And strength, too. Thankfully she does not have your arrogance. She's innocent of that.”

We stood there, worlds apart and tethered by one sleeping child between us. He looked at me, not answering the comeback before he sighed.

“I’ll have a guest house arranged,” he said eventually. “For both of you. You can recover there. You’re safe now. No one is going to harm you. Recover, and then we're going to discuss this. Right now, is not the time to do this.”

I closed my eyes.

Safe.

The last time I’d heard that word, it was a lie.