Chapter 113 113
Denzel’s POV
Rayon, Devon, and Tyrell stared at me as though I had spoken in riddles. Their confusion was justified I could see it etched across their faces but the time for half-truths had passed. They deserved the truth now.
They had seen it with their own eyes. Shifters who should not have existed. Creatures nearly impossible to kill. Immune to silver.
What they had witnessed defied everything we knew, everything we believed was possible and yet it had happened.
“Venessa, meet me in my office,” I linked my wife.
Silence answered me.
I frowned. I knew I had left things unresolved between us, words hanging in the air like a blade waiting to fall.
“Venessa,” I tried again.
Nothing.
Unease curled in my chest as I turned to Rayon.
“Have you told the pack members to assemble on the grounds?” I asked.
He nodded. “Still linking them as we speak.”
I nodded in return. “Please excuse me. I’ll meet you all on the grounds shortly. I just need to check on my wife.”
They agreed without question.
I didn’t walk I ran.
My thoughts spiraled as I sped toward our room. I shouldn’t have left her like that. I shouldn’t have let my pain spill so openly, shouldn’t have voiced my fear the way I did but I was desperate. I was losing her. I needed the Goddess to intervene, to grant me mercy, to let me keep my wife. I hadn’t been thinking clearly.
I reached our bedroom and my heart shattered.
Venessa was on the floor, folded in on herself, sobbing.
I rushed to her side and gathered her into my arms.
“I’m sorry, darling,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I’m so sorry.”
She clung to me, her tears soaking into my shirt as she wept.
“I don’t want to leave you, Denz,” she cried.
The words tore straight through me.
“I’ve held myself together for so long,” she continued, her voice trembling. “I didn’t want to crack. I didn’t want to break. I wanted to be strong for you but I can’t anymore.”
I hadn’t realized how deeply this burden weighed on her. Nigel had already scolded me for letting my fear about the time limit surface, but I had no choice. I was drowning, and so was she.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured again, helpless as she continued to cry.
“I want children,” she said through her tears. “I want to carry them to term. I want to raise them with you, grow old with you. I want time with my father. I want so many things, Denz but I can’t have them.”
Her hand trembled against my chest.
“There’s a clock in my head. Even when I try to relax, even when I try to enjoy a moment, it’s there ticking, reminding me that I don’t have time. I wish this had never happened to me… to us. I hate seeing you hurt. I hate knowing I can’t stop your pain and that it will only get worse because I will leave you anyway.”
Her voice broke completely.
“Leaving you feels worse than damnation, Denz. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to let you go, my love.”
I clenched my jaw, fighting the tears burning behind my eyes.
“Sometimes I want to give up and let everything fall apart,” she admitted. “But I keep trying because I know I’m leaving you behind. I don’t want you to suffer yet I know you will. I know you’ll be hurt when I’m gone.”
Then she said the words that shattered what remained of my composure.
“Move on now,” she whispered. “So it won’t hurt as much when I leave.”
I pulled back sharply, staring at her.
“Move on now,” she continued weakly. “I’m willing to share. You’ll have a companion”
“No.” I cut her off immediately, my voice hard. “Don’t ever ask that of me again, Venessa.”
She froze.
“I slipped today, and I won’t let it happen again,” I said, forcing control into my voice. “But don’t ask me to move on from you. I won’t do it now, and I won’t do it when you’re gone.”
I cupped her face gently.
“I’ll accept the surrogacy plan. I’ll raise our children. They will be my joy, my purpose but I will not replace you. Ever.”
I pressed my forehead to hers.
“We need to be strong. For our world. For the children we plan to bring into it.”
She hesitated, then slowly wiped her tears away, nodding reluctantly.
Every part of me wanted to stay wanted to hold her, to pretend time wasn’t slipping through our fingers but duty waited, and time was already our enemy. Affection would have to wait until tonight… or whatever moments we could steal later.
I helped her to her feet and gently wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks. Then I led her into the bathroom and guided her into the shower. The cold water would help steady us both, calm our racing nerves.
She was silent afterward as I dried her skin with a towel.
So I spoke.
“I need you to be my Luna,” I said quietly. “My Queen. I need you to be strong, Venessa. You are Atabey’s champion. I’m willing to follow your lead but we need an army. We need to prepare.”
Her eyes flashed gold brilliant and unmistakable before fading back to black.
Atabey agreed.
I exhaled slowly.
Truth be told, I had never liked the Goddess much but we were already trapped in this fate together.
And there was no turning back.