Chapter 42 DANE

My sister was under a tree with a dusty, torn blanket thrown over her. She was still, her skin grayish, but she was breathing.

“She won’t wake up,” Aurora said.

I pulled back the blanket. There was a shadow mark on her chest. It was similar to the one my grandfather had, but it was bigger and still growing.

Aurora gasped and held the children tighter. “I was so worried about the children; I didn’t even think…”

“Evelyn!” I called.

She came and stopped the mark, just like she had on my grandfather, by pressing her hand to Piper’s skin and channeling pure moonlight.

Aurora still held the children—children it was ridiculously clear now were hers.

She’d lied to me. Again.

I shouldn’t have been surprised about that.

I shifted back into human form. Thankfully, only my shirt had torn, so I didn’t have to walk around all the rubble naked. “We need to talk,” I growled.

Aurora blinked at me. Her eyes were still wide and dazed with fear.

Then I watched as her face took on the neutral, polite mask she’d used so much since returning here. “Of course.”

She set the children down and said, “I know you want to stay with me, but I have to speak with Alpha Montague. This is very important. Go to Trajan.”

They sniffed, but after a moment of hesitation and two identical suspicious looks shot in my direction, they obeyed.

I led Aurora away, a little into the trees, out of earshot from anyone else. Then I turned on her.

“How old are they?” I demanded. “The truth. Because my last two living family members have just been attacked by shadows while they were in your presence, and my patience for lies is running very, very thin.”

AURORA

I took a breath. Most of my mind was still with my children, still crying in relief just to realize they were safe.

I tried to force myself to be present, to focus on Dane. He’d saved them. He’d gone into the rubble and carried them both out with barely more than a scratch.

But I hadn’t been able to do the same for him. I hadn’t been able to save Piper. I’d been so frantic; I hadn’t even seen the shadow mark. I could have called Evelyn to her side sooner, could have done more…

“Aurora,” Dane growled. But the sound wasn’t as angry as I thought it would be. He stepped close, took my chin in his hand, and tilted my face up to look into his eyes. “Tell me the truth.”

“The truth?” I whispered. Tears were streaking from my eyes now, because I knew I was trapped. There was no way to stop him from finding out the truth.

I had learned to survive without his love, but I could not survive losing my children.

I swallowed, then whispered, “The truth is, Dane, that you would rather swallow molten silver than mix your bloodline with mine.”

He jerked back, but I wasn’t finished. I stepped toward him. “The truth is you hate me, and I would never subject a child to the treatment you gave me for the three years we were married—sad and crawling after you for love, while you were off fucking your mistress and doing everything you could to make me miserable.”

He crossed his arms and stood as still as stone, not retreating, not reacting, simply listening, his face blank.

“The truth is,” I whispered, “the woman you’ve always actually loved is pregnant with your child. You have an heir or will in a few months. You’ve never wanted or needed me. You don’t want or need them, but I do. So when I tell you they are mine and not yours—mine—let that be answer enough.”

The muscles in his jaw worked, and his eyes cut away from me.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “Get down on my knees? Because I will.”

I sank to my knees in front of him. In all my life, I had never been so afraid. “Please, I am begging you. Move on with your life. Leave me and my children alone. No matter what you think, I don’t need revenge on you, Dane. I swear, once our business is finished, you will never see or hear from any of us ever again.”

For a long time, he was so still, he might have been a statue, but I could see the masked emotion in his dark eyes.

He took me by the elbow and lifted me to my feet. His voice was low and dark. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t beg. I don’t need…”

He cut off again, looked away again. Then his eyes fixed on mine, and I despaired.

Before he opened his mouth, I already knew I’d lost.

Then he said, “You’re coming to the Blue Ridge pack house. You’ll stay there from now on. All of you. Until our business is done.”