My fingers tighten around the phone 170

Aria’s POV
My memory fragments after the dead guard. A black void swallowed my consciousness, and I have no idea how much
time passed. Suddenly, I felt a tremendous impact against my abdomen, the force reverberating through my entire body.
Everything around me was chaos—a jumble of sounds and movements I couldn’t quite grasp. I struggled desperately to wake up, clawing at consciousness, but darkness kept pulling me back under like quicksand.
The pain in my belly was unlike anything I’d experienced before—sharper than training injuries, more terrifying than
battlefield wounds. Each wave of agony sent panic coursing through me, my heart racing so fast I could feel it fluttering
like a trapped bird in my chest.
I could faintly hear Lucas calling for me, his small voice cracking with fear. “Mom! Mom, please wake up!” The desperation
in his cries tore at my heart. I wanted to reach for him, to smooth his hair back and tell him everything would be okay,
but my body betrayed me, remaining limp and unresponsive.
Ethan’s deeper tones cut through the haze too, urgent and terrified. “Aria, stay with me. Don’t you dare leave us.” His
voice broke on the last word, a vulnerability I rarely heard from my strong Alpha. The raw emotion in his plea made my
soul ache to respond, to reassure him.
My abdomen contracted with excruciating pain that radiated outward like fire. Something warm and wet pooled beneath
me, and a horrifying realization dawned—I was bleeding. My twins… oh god, my babies… were they alright? Fear clutched
at my heart as I tried to reach for my belly, but my limbs refused to respond. My fingers twitched uselessly against
whatever surface I was lying on, unable to protect the precious lives inside me.
“We’re losing her!” Someone shouted—a stranger’s voice, clinical and urgent. “Blood pressure dropping!”
No, I wanted to scream. I’m still here. Don’t let me die. Don’t let my babies die. But my lips wouldn’t move, my voice
trapped in a body that had become a prison.
In the midst of this turmoil, I was drawn back to that familiar ethereal space where the Moon Goddess had appeared
before. The transition was sudden—one moment surrounded by frantic voices and beeping machines, the next floating in
peaceful silence. This time, I didn’t feel the initial disorientation or wonder. Instead, a strange familiarity washed over me
as I recognized the soft, glowing landscape. The silvery meadow stretched endlessly around me, swaying grasses
shimmering with an inner light that defied explanation.
The Goddess wasn’t present, but Cassandra stood before me, unchanged from my memory. Her amber eyes watched me
with a warmth that made my chest tighten with emotion.
“Cassandra,” I whispered, her name feeling like a homecoming on my lips.
Her amber eyes crinkling at the corners in a way that made her look both ancient and youthful at once. The silver streaks
in her thick fur caught the ethereal light, shimmering like moonlight on water.
I moved toward her without hesitation, drawn by an instinctive pull that felt as natural as breathing. My feet barely
seemed to touch the shimmering ground beneath them, each step weightless and fluid. She approached with equal
eagerness, her movements graceful and powerful, paws making no sound on the glowing earth beneath us. When we met, she pressed her warm muzzle against my forehead in a gesture so intimate it made my chest ache with longing for
what I’d lost when we were separated.
The warmth of her fur against my skin sent waves of comfort through my being. This wasn’t just a meeting of two
entities; it was a reunion of fragmented parts of the same soul. I could feel her breathe—her chest expanding and
contracting in a rhythm that matched my own, the distinction between us blurring at the edges where our energy
mingled. I ran my fingers through the thick ruff around her neck, feeling the strong pulse beneath her skin—or perhaps it
was my own heartbeat I felt, impossible to distinguish where she ended and I began.
“I’ve protected the twins for as long as they needed,” she whispered, her voice flowing through me like honey-warm tea
on a cold winter night. The sound of it resonated in my bones, familiar yet missed. “They’re safe, Aria. They’re strong. And
now, they’re ready to meet you.”
Relief washed over me in such an overwhelming wave that fresh tears sprang to my eyes, tracking warm paths down my
cheeks. My hands trembled slightly as I reached for her, hugged her as if we’d done this a thousand times before.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion. I still hugged her, hoping to convey the depth of my gratitude
through touch when words seemed insufficient. “For everything. You’ve been my shield all this time.” My eyes searched
hers. “You bore the brunt of it both times I was poisoned. How much that must have cost you…”
1/2
I released her, then pulled her into a tight embrace again that felt like hugging a missing piece of myself. “Have you
healed completely? When will we be able to fight side by side again, as we were meant to?”
She stepped away with a soft whine, her massive form radiating strength even in this ethereal realm. When we separated,
her ears perked forward attentively, her amber eyes gleaming with what I could only describe as a deep, quiet
satisfaction.
“The Moon Goddess has restored me,” she communicated. She lowered her head to press her chest against mine, the
steady thump of her heart resonating through my body. “I’m whole again, ready to return.” Her gaze shifted past me, ears
twitching slightly as if catching sounds I couldn’t hear. The silvery light around us pulsed gently, almost like a heartbeat.
“We just need the right catalyst to reunite properly.”
My brow furrowed, curiosity piquing through my concern. “What kind of catalyst?” I asked, tilting my head slightly. My
hand absently moved to my abdomen, still flat in this ethereal space though swollen with life in the physical world. “Is it
the birth of the twins?”
Cassandra’s ears flicked forward, her head cocking to one side in that characteristic wolf gesture of interest. “It could be
anything.” She circled me once, her fur brushing against my legs, leaving trails of silvery light where she passed. “Or
anyone. Or any moment that awakens our true nature.” She stopped before me, rising to press her cold nose against my
cheek, her warm breath ghosting across my skin. “But now, you must return. Your mate is waiting for you—he’s terrified
of losing you.”
The meadow around us seemed to shimmer in response to her words, the edges of reality wavering like heat rising from
summer asphalt. In the distance, I could hear faint echoes of Ethan’s voice calling my name, the sound muffled as if
coming through water.
Cassandra’s mouth moved from my face to rest briefly against my stomach, and I felt a flutter of movement in response,
as if the twins could sense her touch even in this otherworldly place. “These little ones will be special,” she murmured, her
voice tender. “They already have the strength of warriors.”
The sounds from the physical world grew louder—urgent voices, mechanical beeping, Ethan’s desperate pleas. The
meadow around us began to fade at the edges, reality pulling me back with relentless force.
“Return to them,” she urged softly, taking a step back though her eyes remained locked with mine. “Birth your daughters
safely. I’ll come when the time is right.”
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