Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Demian POV
The ridge wind had teeth that morning. It bit through wool and leather, through skin and bone, and still it wasn’t the worst thing scraping at me.
The worst thing was the secret in my chest.
Amelia hadn’t asked. She hadn’t guessed. Maybe she was too tangled in the whisper’s pull to notice. Or maybe she had noticed and refused to say it, the same way she tried to ignore every warning sign until it bled her dry.
But I knew.
The bond didn’t just hum anymore. It thrummed. Alive, pulsing. Her scent had shifted too, subtle but unmistakable to me—richer, deeper, edged with something primal that sent every protective instinct in me howling.
Amelia was carrying my child.
My jaw locked so tight my teeth ached. The truth scorched through me like fire in my veins. Joy, terror, rage. A mix so potent I wanted to tear the world apart just to make it safe for her. For them.
And she didn’t even know.
\---
By midday, the pack was restless. Corrin’s muttering had sharpened into barbs, Kira’s patience frayed thinner than steel wire, Aelira’s runes scrawled fast and messy into the frost. Even Elian’s jaw was tight as he led us down the slope.
They felt the weight shifting. Not just from the rift, but from her. From me.
And as Alpha, I couldn’t let them walk blind into what was coming.
So when Elian finally called a halt at a narrow clearing, I stepped forward.
The bond throbbed hot under my skin, screaming at me to hold my tongue, to protect her from this. But leadership wasn’t soft. Leadership was command.
And if I didn’t give it now, the pack would fracture before the real fight began.
I drew in a breath sharp enough to freeze my lungs. “Listen.”
Every head turned. Corrin grumbled something, then quieted under my glare. Even Kira’s eyes cut to me, sharp and unreadable.
Amelia frowned, still catching her breath. She hadn’t noticed yet.
Good.
I squared my shoulders, voice carrying over the ridge. “Things are changing. You’ve all felt it. The pull, the weight, the way every damn step closer makes the ground shake harder. You think it’s coincidence?”
Corrin muttered, “Feels like a bloody curse—”
“Shut it,” Kira snapped.
I didn’t flinch. “It isn’t coincidence. It’s her.” I pointed toward Amelia.
Her head jerked up. “Demian—”
I overrode her, iron in my tone. “And it’s not just her. She’s carrying my child.”
The words rang out like a blade strike.
Silence slammed into the clearing.
Aelira’s hand froze mid-rune. Corrin’s jaw dropped. Kira blinked once, slow and sharp, then narrowed her gaze like she’d always suspected. Even Elian’s grip faltered on his blade for the briefest heartbeat.
And Amelia—
Her face drained of color.
“What?”
Her voice was a whisper, low and dangerous.
“You heard me,” I said, the Alpha command thick in my voice. “The bond doesn’t lie. The scent doesn’t lie. You’re carrying—”
Her palm cracked across my face before I finished.
The sound snapped like thunder in the hollow.
Every instinct in me screamed to snarl, to bare my teeth, to remind her what I was. Alpha. Power. Authority.
But all I did was stand there, skin burning, her fury searing hotter than the sting of her hand.
“How dare you.” Her voice shook, not from weakness but from the sheer force of rage. “How dare you say that—here. Like that. To them.”
I opened my mouth, but she didn’t let me speak.
“You think you get to decide when I know? You think you get to tell them before me?” Her fists trembled at her sides. “You arrogant, selfish—”
“Amelia.” My voice was low, but it cut clean through her fury. “I had to.”
Her laugh was sharp, broken. “No, you wanted to. You wanted to stand there like some crown-wearing tyrant, declaring what’s yours. Planting your flag in my body before I even got to breathe the truth myself.”
Her words hit harder than her hand.
The pack stayed frozen, eyes flicking between us like watching a wolf tear its own heart apart.
Kira’s fingers twitched on her blade. Elian’s stare burned like frost. Corrin looked ready to sink into the earth and vanish. Aelira pressed her lips shut, eyes wide with something like pity.
But I couldn’t look at them.
I could only look at her.
“Do you think I wanted it this way?” My voice cracked rougher than I meant. “Do you think I don’t hate that it had to be here, now, like this? But they needed to know. They needed to understand what’s at stake.”
Her eyes gleamed with fury. “No, Demian. What you wanted was to remind them you’re Alpha. That you hold the reins. That you own every secret, even mine.”
Her voice broke on the last word.
And gods help me, I felt it like a blade in my chest.
\---
The silence stretched taut, snapping around us. The pack didn’t move. They wouldn’t—not while this storm raged.
I stepped closer, slow, deliberate, every muscle taut against the urge to grab her, to shake sense into her.
“I don’t own you.” My voice was ragged. “But I will protect you. Protect both of you. Even if it means being the bastard you hate for it.”
Her eyes burned. Her breath shook. “And what if I don’t want protecting? What if I don’t want this?”
The words gutted me.
For a heartbeat, the bond went white-hot, flaring with pain so sharp I thought it might tear clean through me.
But I didn’t let it show. I couldn’t.
“You don’t have to want it,” I ground out, voice low and harsh. “You just have to survive it. And for that, you need me.”
Her silence was worse than any scream.
She turned from me, back rigid, shoulders shaking.
And I knew I’d lost her.
For now.
\---
Elian finally broke the silence, his voice sharp as steel. “We move.”
The others shifted instantly, grateful for something—anything—to break the weight. Corrin muttered under his breath again, too low for me to catch. Kira lingered a heartbeat longer, gaze flicking between Amelia’s back and my face, before vanishing into shadow.
Aelira offered Amelia a hand. She didn’t take it.
I followed behind, as always, my jaw still stinging from her strike, my chest burning worse than the cold.
Because I’d done what I had to.
And in doing it, I’d broken her trust.
But better her fury than her grave.
\---
The climb resumed. Hours blurred. Every step dragged heavier, not from frost or stone, but from the silence between us.
She didn’t look at me. Not once.
And the bond—
The bond buzzed like a wire pulled too tight, fraying strand by strand.
I clenched my fists until blood beaded from my palms.
I’d burn a thousand times if it meant keeping her alive.
But gods, I wasn’t sure if she’d ever forgive me.